Where's the best place to buy a PC?

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MilSki

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I've decided on a spec with the help of an article by muckshifter.

2.8GHz Processor Pentium or AMD
1 GB DDR Ram
160MB Hard Drive - 7200rpm
AGP 8x & 128MB DDR Memory
DVD+/-R/RW
on board audio
USB 2
Firewire
17" LCD Monitor.

Where should I get one from.

My local Computer shop is a Dell Reseller. He says he does this now because he has less come back and its cheaper for him than building PCs to order, which is what he used to do. He provides any back up so his customers do not need to contact Dell support which ais now very poor now.

What do think? Should I stay clear or order through him?
 
My local Computer shop is a Dell Reseller. He says he does this now because he has less come back and it’s cheaper for him than building PCs to order, which is what he used to do. He provides any back up so his customers do not need to contact Dell support which is now very poor now. What do think? Should I stay clear or order through him?
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Let us know the specifications, especially MB, and we'll let you know what we think ... If you can control what is being used in your system then you'll have a better chance of not needing any 'repairs' to it.

Ask him to pop in here and have a chat with us ... I'm a systems re-seller also. ;)

I've seen some well spec't Dells at good prices but if anything goes wrong that’s then when all hell breaks loose.
 
Sometimes

I own a Dell - great machine

My ond dell - Load of C**P - nothing worked, phoned up Dell, after 1 hour on the phone, they sent me a new CD Drive the next day (That was what was wrong this time)

so got resolved quickly, this was one of days spent on the phone to dell, long story, so i won't go in to it now

But there support is usually OK!
 
I've had a quote from an internet company for:

Intel P4 2.8GHz Prescott (800)
OCZ PC-3200 EL DDR 512MB x 2
Abit IC7 M/B
Western Digital 160GB 8MB Cache
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600SE 128MB
Cooler Master Case
Sony DW-D22A 16x DVD+/- Dual Layer ReWriter
Iiyama E430S 17" TFT

All other usual bits I already have like keyboard and mouse, speakers, modem etc......

All for £976.61

Any good?
 
That seems very expensive to me! You should be looking at around £700 for something that spec.

For that price I'd expect a much better graphics card and CPU. I'd take a look for some better offers if I were you.

Are you intending to build the machine yourself, or have it assembled already?
 
Just had a very quick look at dell.co.uk and they have:

3.2Ghz CPU
1Gig Ram
19" TFT
160GB Drive
16x DVD RW
128MB X300SE Graphics
Free Printer (not very good one though)
Windows XP + Works

For £950ish, so that beats that offering and that was only a quick search. There will be better offers around.
 
Bet the monitor isn't iiyama, the RAM ocz, or the case coolermaster though, thats where it adds up.

I Dont like the look of the X300SE - my mate bought a Tiny system with an X600 and it couldn't get higher than 3000 in 3DMark2003 - that was with a gig of ram and 3.6(??) P4 cpu. Mind you it was Tiny, and they cut big big corners.
 
Hey MilSki, just out of curiosity , what are you planning on using your computer for? High end gaming? Or do you have something else in mind?

If your wanting to play the latest and greatest games then i suggest you try and get a computer with at least an Ati Radeon 9600XT graphics card. You wont have much joy with one of those "SE" cards or "LE" cards, as they are aimed at the non-gaming side of computing. An Ati Radeon 9800pro is the best value for money card out there at the moment and will handle most games flawlessly paired with a good processor and a tidy amount of ram. So try and get one of those babys fitted if possible.

Dell do some fantastic deals, I own one and am extrememly satisfied with it. They dont use cheap parts, they'll use trustworthy brand manfactured components like Samsung and Maxtor. Though they normally do stick a crappy graphics card in there systems to lower the price. But! that doesnt stop you from selling the graphics card you get with it and buy a new one of your choice ;).

The comp you got spec'd does look nice, but it is pretty darn expensive for what you get. You could build a system that would match that in performance in all areas and even beat it in some for less than £750.

By the way, could i have a look at the internet site you got that quote from please, i've never seen a company use OCZ memory before ;).
 
i'm planning on using the PC mainly for office stuff, internet and Video editing.

My old PC is an old Pentium 233 MMX with 128MB Ram etc. Keeps letting me down. I paid an absolute fortune for it at the time of purchase as it was the best spec you could get then. Now I'm slightly wiser , i think and aim to go more for value for money. I having the PC built for me as I'm uncertain what's compatible with what. Maybe next time or if I need a second PC forthe office I shall build my own.

This spec comes from:

http://www.chillblast.co.uk/

They have some good reviews on some feedback forums.

Anyone reading this used them before.
 
I've used Chillblast before, they really are very very good, you can rely on them. Still a tad pricey though.

If you're going to be doing video editing, I'd say that system they've specced is OK. You will need a minimum of 1Gb RAM and the bigger the hard drive the better. Also, try and stretch the budget to a 9600XT Card, or at least a 9600 vanilla flavour. The SE version sucks.

As an example, 190 minutes of captured raw video footage from VCR takes up 35Gb of space. That figure does get reduced when it's rendered and edited of course, but that's just to give you an idea.
 
You also need room for all the temporary files etc etc...

Mate here atm, editing his college media project from DV cam. Not even the brand spanking new Dell has firewire.

needs lots of space
 
I've been assured that the ABIT IC7 has firewire.

I shall up the graphics card to a pro or XT.
 
I have an IC7-G and i can confirm that mine definatly has firewire.

Get the XT - SUPERB card.

Saying that, i think the 5700LE is easily overclockable to faster than 9600XT speeds though, less than half the price too! (See my review)!

If you dont want anything to do with overclocking take the 9600XT
 
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