In the market for a new PC

[Armus]

Greetz,

The death of a hard disk on Sunday, and the fact that my PC is only a PIII 600 has led me to the conclusion that I should start thinking of replacing my existing PC. Having been out of the PC-buying market for the past few years, I'm looking for suggestions on which make to buy. I've considered bulding it myself, but there is almost no difference in price between doing this or buying a complete system.

So what would you guys suggest? I'm looking for good customization options from the manufacturer. Basic spec of machine is:

P4 2.5GHz+
512Mb RAM
Internal space for 2x 80Gb IDE hard drives and 2x CDROM drives
ATI Radeon 9700 VGA Card (not vital to have this, as my existing machine has an ATI Radeon 8500 card)
In-Build Network Card
4 free PCI slots

I've been looking on the Dell website, and there's some fairly good offers on this kind of spec; prices around the £1500 to £1600 mark including VAT and delivery.

Cheers.

 

[Slipurson]

whatever you do, do not buy a DELL. you will have hell trying to get help when there will be something wrong with the computer...

i would suggest buying the parts and build your computer yourself, but if you don't have the knowledge or the urge buy a "non-brand" computer anyway, in the end it is cheaper and easier to upgrade when wanted...

 

[danskmacabre]

Hard to recommend what to get really.
So much of it is up to personal preference.
For example, I'd probably go with an AMD processor and a Geoforce 4 TI series vid card.

 

[[Cerebus]]

In my humble opinion, I would have to recommend building one yourself.

You can have a top computer for far less than £1500 and you have the advantage of knowing the inside and out of it, being able to create a system that you will easily be able to upgrade when you want and well, it'll be cheaper.

If you know how, that is. If not, sorry

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

If you can't build one yourself (which is not too difficult with some literature) - don't get a Compaq either.

If you want to get a comp from 'the shelf', get a Fujitsu/Siemens one.
Good quality, top service and easily upgradable.

 

[[Cerebus]]

Whatever you do, don't get a computer from 'Time'.

They are just an awful company, cowboys, plain and simple.

 

[Armus]

Well, looks like I'll have to go down the DIY road then. I don't mind though (that was one of the things I enjoyed in this and my last job). The main reason I was looking at a manufactured machine was credit. The balance on my credit card, while not overly stretched, is higher than I like at the moment, so I guess it will be a few more months before I can start ordering the parts. Still, by then, Serial ATA should be on the market fully, so I should be able to base the components around this.

 

[old.tRoG]

i went to PCWorld and ended up buying an emachine.

Never heard of the company, and haven't phoned the helpdesk yet.

*here's hoping*

 

[danskmacabre]

Originally posted by [Cerebus]
Whatever you do, don't get a computer from 'Time'.

They are just an awful company, cowboys, plain and simple.

Agreed, I've heard lots of horror stories about Time Computers.
Also, one of my friends bought one from them and he had LOTS of problems with just getting the right PC he ordered and the support is crap...

 

[[Cerebus]]

I had a friend who bought a new one, opened it up and it had failed that test thing that all computers have to be put through.

Apparantly they just use any old crap in their 'new' machines. Old second hand parts etc...

 

[Jupitus]

In fairness to DELL, I bought a tower system about 6 months ago - good spec, for around the kind of budget you are looking at, and I have not had any problems other than my GeForce3 occasionally overheating (I keep meaning to put a beefier fan in, but haven't got round to it yet)... not saying DELL rule the world, just offering my experience

Before you all hammer on me about spending too much, I decided to say what the hell and buy one rather than build because I've spent 10 years always making a PC out of old parts of some sort Couldn't be arsed, in other words

Good luck with your new system

Jup.

 

[danskmacabre]

Originally posted by old.tRoG
i went to PCWorld and ended up buying an emachine.

Another friend of mine in the UK bought a PC from PC world.
And while they're not the Best or Cheapest, He was happy enough with it and he said the support was OK..

So if you really can't be bothered building your own PC and you wanna get finance instead of using your Credit card, I also recommend PC World.

 

[[Cerebus]]

Maybe try Scan as well.

In fact, everyone bookmark it and check the deal of the day page every single day.

 

[Nalikin]

Originally posted by [Cerebus]
Whatever you do, don't get a computer from 'Time'.

They are just an awful company, cowboys, plain and simple.

I agree , leave Time systems alone , i bought off them , within 4 weeks my sound card packed in , took me 10 weeks to get a new one . Had nothing but problems with it .

 

[ONE>Kid]

If i was gonna recommend any big company pc deal itd have to be evesham , pretty certain they are the best

www.evesham.com

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

*hammers Jupitus for buying a Dell*

 

[boni_ofdavoid]

www.novatech.co.uk

Very good prices and the best hardware around.

If you shop here and make it yourself or get someone else to you will have an excellent pc at half the cost of a bundled pc.

Beware PC bundles, esp all those listed above (particualrly PC World), its a known fact that all PC bundles contain a few substandard parts included cause of dodgy OEM deals. Thats how they make their money...

 

[Armus]

Some nice alternatives posted here, thanks. I did find another site www.overclockers.co.uk and was thinking of building it myself; there are some good processor/motherboard/memory bundles there, but the Novatech site seemed to blow it away. Their pre-configured deals aren't close to what I wanted, but there's an area where you can create a customized PC - I found almost exactly what I'm looking for (apart from the GFX card) for a price of £1390 inc. VAT. The PC is a better spec, and cheaper than what I was looking at on Dell's site, plus they have credit facilities.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[Brunore]

Originally posted by Armus
Some nice alternatives posted here, thanks. I did find another site www.overclockers.co.uk and was thinking of building it myself; there are some good processor/motherboard/memory bundles there, but the Novatech site seemed to blow it away. Their pre-configured deals aren't close to what I wanted, but there's an area where you can create a customized PC - I found almost exactly what I'm looking for (apart from the GFX card) for a price of £1390 inc. VAT. The PC is a better spec, and cheaper than what I was looking at on Dell's site, plus they have credit facilities.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Overclockers charge way more than they should on the products and even more on delivery, the returns service is total shit, they try making out that you damaged the stuff!!!

This happend with me when I bought a CPU that had bent pins on arrival and to a mate who bought a motherboard that did not work and had parts missing, both times they said it was our fault.

Another good place is www.komplett.co.uk VERY nice prices and low shipping.

 

[old.dittytwo]

DO NOT USE TIME

TIME NO NO

hate them with avengance

anyway for cheap stuff

try
CCLCOMPUTERS

always good

 

[decline]

Originally posted by old.tRoG
i went to PCWorld and ended up buying an emachine.

Never heard of the company, and haven't phoned the helpdesk yet.

*here's hoping*

Emachines is a yank company.

Me, being a yank, see many reviews over these computers.

Basically, they are shit.

They take all the cheapest components possible and cram it into a box touting decent specs, and sell it for a low price.

Be looking into buying another new system soon.