[Archived] Buying A New Pc

[Glenn]

AMD clock speeds. I have to say the "pentium equivalent" speed number has caught out a LOT of novice hardware builders. People buy AMD 2700+s (which are as quick as a P4 2.7GHz) and wonder why it crashes like buggary when they set the clock speed of their board to 2.7Ghz instead of 2Hz.

Not being much of a PC gamer, I've not followed this for a few years, but are AMDs still the gamers chip of choice ?

[Biddy]

Not much of a gamer myself so I don't know which processor the gamers go for now. Probably the AMD64 just because it says 64-bit on the box!

I always bought mine on what I get for the money, hence my current chip is an Athlon XP due to it being about £50 cheaper than the equivalent Intel at the time. That must be about 2 years ago now.

[LeftWinger]

Been looking on Dell- and found one with the following spec for £521 inc vat and delivery.

Intel® Pentium 4 processor with HT technology 630 (3.00GHz, 800FSB, 2MB cache)

1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz [2x512]

Is that quick then? I'd be using it for games/uni work/my own business needs. Also- The 1024 MB Ram is for the price of 512 till tomorrow. Is this an offer that they have often- or should I rush into another impulse buy?

All help is much appreciated guys.

[Dan Furness]

Been looking on Dell- and found one with the following spec for £521 inc vat and delivery.

Intel® Pentium 4 processor with HT technology 630 (3.00GHz, 800FSB, 2MB cache)

1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz [2x512]

Is that quick then? I'd be using it for games/uni work/my own business needs. Also- The 1024 MB Ram is for the price of 512 till tomorrow. Is this an offer that they have often- or should I rush into another impulse buy?

All help is much appreciated guys.

319869[/snapback]

Snap it up dude. throw in a new GCARD and your laughing

[Biddy]

Is this an offer that they have often- or should I rush into another impulse buy?

Dell tend to have all manner of deals at different times. A couple of weeks ago they had free shipping and double memory (which it appears they have extended). Sometimes they just have money off (like £100), sometimes they throw in the monitor for free etc.

The free shipping and double memory is a good deal as far as I am concerned. All depends on how much you want this and if you want to wait.

As for the machine, more than powerful enough to do everything you want. It will play new games even with the graphics card they bundle. If you are a serious gamer and want all the effects, shading, resolutions, frame rates etc etc then you will need to fork out for a better graphics card. I would suggest trying the games you want to play first though and I bet you'll decide against buying a £200-£300 card.

For example, I am still using a 2 year old graphics card with new games like Half Life 2 and Doom 3 with no problems at all. My parents still use a geforce 2 mx with no problems as all they play are Age of Empires and Warcraft 3 type games.

Edited May 31, 2005 by Biddy

[Flopsy]

Not being much of a PC gamer, I've not followed this for a few years, but are AMDs still the gamers chip of choice ?

319778[/snapback]

Yeah mainly due to the price compared to the intel chips.

Although a number of games are now throwing their knickers in with Intel. But if you're self building go for the AMD

[LeftWinger]

Swines have put the price up by about £140 today. 10% off on tesco ones at the moment, but will wait for more offers from dell I'm thinking.

[Sydney Rovers]

Been looking on Dell- and found one with the following spec for £521 inc vat and delivery.

Intel® Pentium 4 processor with HT technology 630 (3.00GHz, 800FSB, 2MB cache)

1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz [2x512]

Is that quick then? I'd be using it for games/uni work/my own business needs. Also- The 1024 MB Ram is for the price of 512 till tomorrow. Is this an offer that they have often- or should I rush into another impulse buy?

All help is much appreciated guys.

319869[/snapback]

Snap it up dude. throw in a new GCARD and your laughing

319872[/snapback]

Be very careful with upgrading Dell PCs, Dell pop rivets their cases so it's obvious that you've opened the case. Also means that if there's a problem with your PC, the warranty is void as Dell knows that you've opened the machine.

Edited June 1, 2005 by Sydney Rovers

[Biddy]

Not in my experience, we have many Dell workstations and none of them have rivets or stickers preventing you opening the case.

Anyway, looking at the Dell waranty, they only don't cover you for:-

"damage caused by incorrect installation, use, modifications or repair by any unauthorised 3rd party or yourself;"

So basically, if you broke it, it's your fault. Proving either way is the fun part.

Edited June 1, 2005 by Biddy

[Biddy]

More on the warranty thing, it appears you can get stung for virtually anything you do to your computer.

Just been reading that Microsoft in the US are offering a upgrade from Windows XP to Xp 64 for just $12, however if you accept the upgrade, you then lose your right to use the 32-bit version any more AND you more than likely will void your hardware manufacturers warranty.

Nice.

Edited June 1, 2005 by Biddy

[Glenn]

Be very careful with upgrading Dell PCs, Dell pop rivets their cases so it's obvious that you've opened the case. Also means that if there's a problem with your PC, the warranty is void as Dell knows that you've opened the machine.

320064[/snapback]

Maybe it's a locale thing, because one of the things I like about the Dells here are the nice finger-tightenable screws on the site panels, rather than traditional screws (or worse rivits).

[LeftWinger]

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products...dhs1&l=en&s=dhs

I don't understand Dell. That page has a PC at about £449 or something including delivery and VAT. You click customise and buy- and the price becomes from about from £530. So frustrating- it happens with a few of the so called special offers.

[Biddy]

When you click on customise, it defaults the warranty to something like 3 years. Drop that option down to the lowest one (1 year) and you will get it back at the advertised price.

Ah yes, under "Extended Service Packs" drop it down to either 90 day collect and return to save £94 to bring it down to £449. Would not recommend that though

or

select Basic Lite 1 yr NBD to save £58.75, that brings it down to £484

Edited June 2, 2005 by Biddy

[LeftWinger]

When you click on customise, it defaults the warranty to something like 3 years.  Drop that option down to the lowest one (1 year) and you will get it back at the advertised price.

Ah yes, under "Extended Service Packs" drop it down to either 90 day collect and return to save £94 to bring it down to £449.  Would not recommend that though

or

select Basic Lite 1 yr NBD to save £58.75, that brings it down to £484

320431[/snapback]

Cheers mate. I went for the cheapest options in the end. This is what I've ordered-

Dimension 8400 P4 530 with HT tech. (3.00ghz, 800fsb, 1mb cache), with windows xp, 1 yr collect and return service, 1024 MB DDR2 Ram, 160gb hard drive, 15" flat panel monitor, cd/dvd drive, speakers, keyboard. and mouse with Works 7.0 and a few bits of other software. Came to £532. You reckon thats an alright deal?

[Dan Furness]

Very good deal mate

[LeftWinger]

I was told it would be 7-10 working days after placing my order that I'd receive my computer. Then when the order was placed- I was told it was going to arrive on the 14th- which would have been 8 working days. They've now told me it is due to be delivered on the 10th- which is just 6 working days. I've been very impressed with Dell so far. Price is good, and they've kept me informed on the progress of my order all the way through. I'd definitely use them again.