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| Thread ID: 84701 | 2007-11-15 06:44:00 | Recommendations for a new PC | jwil1 (65) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 611771 | 2007-11-15 06:44:00 | Hi all, My friend wants to buy a new PC. He has a few prerequisites: - Must have 4MB cache (preferably a processor <2.0GHz) - 3GB RAM (32 bit only) - => 320GB HD - Needs Vista Ultimate I 'built' a PC at Dell's website this evening with these specs and was wondering if it's a good deal: DELL INSPIRON 530 DESKTOP: Core 2 Duo E6550 (2.33GHz, 4MB cache, 1333MHz FSB) Vista Ultimate 22" LCD (E228WFP) 3GB RAM (667MHz) 320GB HD (SATA, 3.0Gb NCQ) 19 in 1 media card reader Nvidia Geforce 8600GT (256MB DDR3) DVD+/-RW dual layer Integrated sound card (7.1) Standard USB mouse/KB 1 Year Next business day coverage Mcafee 30 days trial Works 8.5 Cost: ~$2125 He wants to use it for casual gaming, but mainly just as a PC that will run Vista well, a bit of graphics work, music editing, as well as running Windows '7' when (if!) it comes out. After looking around at HP/Compaq, DSE's, Quay and a few others, this seems to be the best deal. Am I right? Is it advisable to buy from Dell? Are there any other NZ places to build decent PCs online? All help much appreciated. |
jwil1 (65) | ||
| 611772 | 2007-11-15 06:52:00 | Thats a pretty good bundle there regarding the price. My only concern would be regarding the RAM limitations imposed by going with Vista 32 bit when doing music editing unless your friend is not in the pro music editing business. I gather XP is better suited when it comes to gaming variety and quality of gaming. |
winmacguy (3367) | ||
| 611773 | 2007-11-15 07:39:00 | Can you specify what the brands of the components are? Not that it will matter, They will be crap. Are you serious about getting good value for money and a quality computer?, we can help if this is the case, If not, Just buy one of the big brand junkers. And you will have to be willing to ignore winmacguy. |
Metla (12) | ||
| 611774 | 2007-11-15 10:21:00 | Can you post us a price breakdown for each component? | Renmoo (66) | ||
| 611775 | 2007-11-15 14:01:00 | hm........I guess with the added cost of the screen and vista ultimate and the video card that'll add up a bit.......but I built essentially the same system.....well i gutted someones puter which had died and put in new parts and it cost just over $1000 for the parts: ASUS P5K-VM Core 2 Duo 2.33Ghz 4M Cache 1333FSB E6550 2Gb Kingston DDR2-667 Raidmax 520w (37a) Windows XP Home OEM 160gb sata hdd seagate ................ as you can see they're quality parts.........VERY important ! I'll be extremely suprised if any dell pc used asus motherboard for example....... anyway that's only the basic system and I used their case etc.....and only 2gb ram..... In your case I'd be more inclined to use www.pricespy.co.nz to do some price comparisions for your hardware but make sure you get QUALITY....... |
drcspy (146) | ||
| 611776 | 2007-11-15 18:21:00 | If you use price spy , one more thing you need to add in which almost every one overlooks is the postage of the components if they dont come locally and you can collect. Also important you also have to look at after sales sevice , meaning if there is a warranty issue, you have to pack the part back up, post it back to who you got it from - all have to be added into the prices / Decisions. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 611777 | 2007-11-15 19:23:00 | I quickly put this together from playtech's website: ASUS P5K SE Intel P35 ICH9 LGA775 ATX Intel Motherboard Retail Intel Core 2 DUO E6550 2.33GHz Conroe 1333MHz FSB 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 G.SKILL 1GB DDR2-667 (PC-5400) CL5-5-5-15 Western Digital WD3200AAKS Caviar SE 320GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache XFX PV-T84J-UDF3 Geforce 8600GT 256MB Asus DRW-2014L1T Black/Beige 20x Dual Layer Lightscribe SATA DVD Rewriter Cooler Master Centurion 5 Pure Black Color with 430W PSU AOC 210V Black 22" Widescreen 16:10 1680x1050 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit DVD-Rom OEM Logitech Internet 350 USB Desktop Keyboard & Optical Mouse - Black (OEM) $1816.50 All Decent components whereas who knows what dell use at times, generally whatever's going cheap. |
stormdragon (6013) | ||
| 611778 | 2007-11-15 19:30:00 | This is all I can find on Dell's website: Processors Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Intel® Celeron® Processors Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processors Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processors Intel® G33 Express Chipset Operating Systems Microsoft Windows Vista Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic For more details on Dell systems that run Windows Vista® , see www.dell.com/vista. Memory Up to 4GB Dual-Channel DDR2SDRAM (667MHz or 800MHz, 2 or 4 DIMMs) Hard Drives SATA hard drive The Inspiron 530 supports up to two hard drives, each with up to 500GB2 space - a potential capacity of 1TB2 . And with Dell DataSafeTM and RAID 0 options, you can configure your storage to meet your needs, whether it's for storing large quantities of files, backing up system information and files, or improving performance with data striping. * Up to 1TB2 Multiple Serial ATA Hard Drives with both hard drives utilised. * Up to 500GB2 with Dell DataSafe, exclusively offered by Dell - a safe and simple way to help protect your memories from damage due to accidents, system crashes and other disasters. * Up to 500GB2 Single Serial ATA Hard Drive Optical Drive Multiple DVD+/-RW , Combo, DVD-ROM3 configurations available 3.5" Floppy Drive and 13-in-1 Media Reader Available Graphics NVIDIA Graphics 256MB NVIDIA® Geforce® 8600GT 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 7300 LE TurboCache 256MB ATI Radeon® X1300 Pro 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8300GS Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3000 (Intel® GMA X3100) Sound High Definition Audio (HDA) Sound Blaster X-FiTM XtremeMusic with Dolby 5.1 Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio Ports, Slots, Chassis Externally Accessible Video: 1 DVI, VGA and 1 S-Video (with add-in PCI-Express video card) IEEE 1394 (optional): 1 6-pin serial connector USB: 10 ports (4 Front, 4 back) + 2 internal Audio: Six back-panel connectors for line-in, line-out, microphone, rear surround, side surround, two front-panel connectors for headphones/microphone, integrated 7.1 channel sound Network: Integrated 10/100 Ethernet. Broadband ready Expansion Slots PCI: 2 Slots PCIe x1: 1 Slot PCIe x16 (Graphics): 1 Slots Chassis 3.5" Bays: 3 bays (one external; two internal) 5.25" Bays: 2 bays Memory DIMM slots: 4 available Price Spy has very little info on this (or similar) PCs. |
jwil1 (65) | ||
| 611779 | 2007-11-15 19:53:00 | Warranty Seagate Hard drives - 5 yrs Intel CPUs - 3 Years Kingston RAM - 8 yrs ASUS Motherboards - 3 yrs ASUS Graphic cards - 3 yrs DELL Anything - 1 yr. See the difference?? There are some crap components with only 1 yr warranty - most likely you will find them in Dell/Compaq/Acer crap. Get a real PC with a real warranty and decent components. The model of card in that Dell, as usual, is OK but not exactly what you'd choose for gaming. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 611780 | 2007-11-15 20:43:00 | The warranty times are better than name brand PC's BUT some times they mean naff all as well. Some components have 3 - 5 year warranties, but as technology moves on over time, and componets get discontinued, even though they may be still in warranty the manufactures cant replace them. Had this happen with an Asus MB once - I was offered a replacement as close to the original - all very well until the RAM slots were different - so the customer had to purchase new RAM even though the old stuff still worked fine - cant put SD ram in DDR slots. Same with the CPU Board had a socket 478 - new board was 775 - not compatable - new CPU had to be brought. Reason for this Info - simple -- Places like Dell / HP only put 1 years warranties so they dont have this problem. Actually got told that from HP once. Gigabytes Policy on this is - if they cant replace the board and the one they can replace it with in not compatable then refund the Money for the cost of the board - wont help getting the board replaced if ones not available. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
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