11 replies to this topic

[Harky]

Upon the realization that all the dedicated local computer shops are retarded, I guess I'll need to buy a new computer online. The problem is, I have no idea where a good place to buy is, I never buy things online with the exception of the occasional random thing on ebay - and I'm not keen on buying a computer through there. What I'm asking is if anyone(from the uk) that posts here has bought a complete system online anywhere, or if they know of anywhere I'll get a good deal - I don't have an extremely high budget (around £700, maybe a little more), but I need something that I can use for widespread purposes as it'll be used for studying, playing around with various graphical programs, and gaming among other things.

[jurian]

yeah i know i quit but had to help the guy out

www.dell.com

prolly www.dell.uk too D

finished now frarewell

[Xlithan]

yeah, down with PC world!

[JLH]

pcworld does have some great packages sometimes at incredible prices that can't be beat by building it yourself.
beware all on board motherboard though, make sure you have a proper graphics card like an ati radeon 9700 or above, or the nvidia FX5900 or around there.
i buy components from www.ebuyer.com and www.dabs.com and www.savastore.com of which i'd say savastore is the best company, but you pay a bit more for it. the returns policy on ebuyer and dabs isn't good. ebuyer's takes ages (used it) and i've heard similar from other people about dabs and ebuyer.

[Harky]

Checked out Dell earlier, based on my budget (idealistically under £700) this is the best they could offer:

Intel 875P chipset with support for Intel® Pentium ® 4 processors with 800MHz system bus -
1 Year Collect and Return Service
3.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 Processor with HT technology and 800 front side bus
120GB (7200 rpm) IDE Hard Drive
Midnight grey mini-tower with 8 USB 2.0 ports, 4 PCI slots and AGP 8x slot
Integrated 10/100 Pro Ethernet
256MB Dual Channel DDR 400 (2x128MB)
128MB GeForce FX5200 8x AGP card with dual monitor support, TV-Out via S-Video and DVI
Dell 17" Value (15.9" VIS) CRT Monitor
48x DVD/CD-ReWriter Combo Drive
Dell Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000 Card
Windows XP Home, Microsoft Works 7.0
onboard sound, a few generic extra's that weren't listed in what I pasted - comes to about £670 with VAT/Delivery.

I haven't checked out the other sites yet, but when I look through there I'll paste the best offers I can get with each - any comments would be appreciated, it's been a long time since I've upgraded anything myself (this computer's ancient ) and I'm not quite sure how much I should be spending on most of the components.

Edited by Harky, 26 February 2004 - 06:35 PM.

[JLH]

256mb isn't that much really for today's games, 512mb would be better.
FX5200 is a budgety card, but still pretty powerful, just depends what you want to run, you can get hardware specs and comparisons on www.tomshardware.com

[Harky]

Thanks for the help so far - I've decided to go with dell after checking out every local store within a 50 mile radius, and dozens of sites online.

I'm going to phone in the order tomorrow, and decide on what I'm going to put in there today. Regarding value, and in the long run performance, I'm still not quite sure which will be the best to go for.

For example, if I choose the next level down preset package, there are a few sacrifices(I'll go into this in a sec), but it free's up my budget to upgrade some other things in there which was lacking in the other package I was looking at - such as video card and memory. The next package has a lower quality chipset (i865P as opposed to i875P, thus I have to go with a processor with a 533 fsb. A few other sacrifices also). With this package however, I can upgrade to 512mb ram, and get a better card in there (128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro). Are these sacrifices worth it in the long run, just to upgrade the ram/vid. card? I'll paste the full specs:

Standard Features: Intel 865P chipset with support for Dual Channel DDR
Equipped with Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system
Support For Intel® Pentium® 4 Processors with 533MHz System Base
Midnight grey mini-tower with 8 USB 2.0 ports, 3 PCI slots and AGP 8x slot
Integrated 10/100 Pro Ethernet
.
Hard Drive: 80GB (7200rpm) IDE Hard Drive
Processor Upgrade: Intel Pentium 4 Processor 3.06GHz with HT technology and 533 front side bus
Memory: 512MB Dual Channel DDR (2X256MB DIMM)
Video Card: 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro card with dual monitor support, TV-Out via S-Video and DVI
Monitor: Dell 17" Value (15.9" VIS) CRT Monitor
Optical Drives: 48x DVD/CD-ReWriter Combo Drive
Network Interface: Dell Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000 Card
Few other things that don't matter, and/or are the same as the first package I pasted anyway. This one comes to about £30 cheaper than the first that I pasted a few posts ago.

[Harky]

Going to bed now, anyone with an opinion of which of the two I should order should make it now, I'm phoning it in tomorrow morning (after reading this :D).

[Flux]

For the record, the 875p chipset isnt properly utilized by a 3.0 processor. 865 generates just as solid a performance at a significantly reduced cost.

I may be mentioning this a bit ex post facto, but it's worth a shot. Good luck.

[JLH]

i agree, there is next to no difference between the 865 and 875
as far as i was aware, the 865 could run a 200mhz fsb

[Harky]

I see, well I guess I'll go with the second one - about to phone it through. Thanks for all the help.

[Iron_Maiden]

www.Misco.co.uk

Got my computer from here, and i got free next day delivery... They have nice system setups too all at low low prices lol i should get payed for advertising them

Edited by Iron_Maiden, 01 March 2004 - 01:10 PM.