advice please on new pc

[lvr989]

after buying my new scanner, the pc i use.....pentiun 2 with 96mb of memory
is too slow and keeps running out of memory and falling over....so looks like new
pc time.....i'm considering buying a pc from this place....
http://www.expresspc.co.uk/
as they are just across the road from where i work....
the top of the ready made they do is....
http://www.expresspc.co.uk/index.php?system=9
does this seem over the top? or can i get the same cheaper elsewhere?
why would i want a dvd drive over a cd drive?
advice please.

[lvr989]

why not the bottom of the range....
http://www.expresspc.co.uk/index.php?system=9
with an upgraded memory?

[R0Y]

Have a look also at www.dell.co.uk (http://www.dell.co.uk) got some good deals around and you can always have yours built to your requirements (so they say). I know people who have got good deals from them and been impressed woth their service, IE spec as ordered and delivered when said. Suppose the best place to start Bob is decide what you want it to do and how fast and how much budget your prepared to throw at it, rather like a series landy restoration in a way:D

[P00DLE]

what else are you going to use it for other than the scanner seems like a lot of pc for scanning pice imho

[Lighting90]

As Bhod says, decide what you need it to do first and then work out your spec.

For instance our main PC we have has it's spec sorted for using cad packages and desktop publishing, which means it plays games okay but is not the best for that.

But a machine designed for playing games is not the best for cad packages... :)

[jjsaul]

build your own :p

i did, you can choose exactly what you want to spend your money on, eg: if you dont want/need sound then dont bother, save the money or put it towards mor RAM etc etc

dead easy to put together, you just need a basic idea of what you're doing (look on t'internet or ask someone to show you) and a philips screwdriver.

[lvr989]

i don't play games on the pc.....use a ps2......but would like the extra
memory for scanning and handling photographs.
the link i put at the start of the thread is for a place in wolverhampton, very
near to where i work.....i have been told that if i buy one of the cheap
machines and put some of the extra memory on that i want, it may not be
so easy to expand/add to as if i'd bought one of the more expensive machines.
so the initial outlay may be a false economy and if i do want to add to a cheap
machine, the final cost may be more than buying an expensive one with all
the bells and whistles...?

[dynamited]

Not quite worth building your own sometimes... especially if you`re not recycling parts.... its just easier to buy one off the counter... stick in and off you go.

Arent there any decent off the shelf pcs at discounted prices in some clearout sale?

The high end pc.. does have alot of stuff.. but i dont know if the price is fair, i cannot compare to locally. Just noticed it doesnt have a monitor... so I cant quite see its price justification. If your pc is `that old` ( no offence...) look for a monitor in the package too.. as you`ll soon find you`re old one not working.

But if its to be used for photo editing only... its a bit over the top. But its got alot of room for expansion.... video editing, gaming, etc. if you`re going to go into that.

[Lighting90]

Building your own also has some downfalls, and that is sometimes some parts are not compatible with each other, you may have the best graphics card, hard drive, sound card etc etc, but they may have conflict issues. A friend of mine built his own and had no end of problems, and later found the graphics card was giving the problems, and had to go out and buy another brand of card to solve the problem.

Dell are quite good and seem to give good value for money for the middle of the road PC's.. (I have two...) only snag is that the mothercard is unique to dell so if it goes wrong, you can only get a new one from Dell and they are not cheap when it comes to replacements.

Also try www.simply.co.uk (http://www.simply.co.uk) or even toys r us if they are having a sale, likewise you can pick up a bargin sometimes from pc world in the sales of end of lines.

For working with images and scanning and photowork then actually a mac is the best machine to buy rather than a pc.

dynamited is right about the monitor, esp if it is a crt, as they don't last for ever, it would be so frustrating to get a new computer, plug it all in for your old monitor to suddenly die on you.. if you get a monitor as part of the pc package, normally it is cheaper than buying it later.

[fletch]

Looks a little on the pricey side, but the advantage of having a supplier close by is you can go and listen to how noisey the beast is. I bought a PC from HP and it sounds like an open portal to hell when turned on :thedevil: PSUs and hardrives all vary in how quietly they operate. You can also take it back and have a face to face if after the purchase it fails.

DELL will offer you a better spec for your money or the same spec for less. But before you make a purchase try to phone the DELL support line and see how long it takes to get through. You can then tell them how long it took.

The 400W PSU *might* be slightly under specified if you want to drop in the drive from your PII. Depends on whether they are quoting peak performance, you would have to ask the man. The graphics card is not powered so you would probably be ok.

laters,

Greg

[P00DLE]

The 400W PSU *might* be slightly under specified if you want to drop in the drive from your PII. Depends on whether they are quoting peak performance, you would have to ask the man. The graphics card is not powered so you would probably be ok.

laters,

Greg

are you sure i ran a pentium 4 system as a server running 2 optical drives and 6 hard drives on raid, tower case ran 8 fans as well and that was on a 350w psu

[fletch]

Hi chris,

you could be right, but have a look at:

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/maxpc/index_cases.htm

its a rough guide to power requirements of various PC components. Toting up for the spec given and you get approx 250W requirement. Multiply by 1.8 (to quote from the site: The multiplier takes into account that today’s systems draw disproportionally on the +12V output. Furthermore, power supplies are more efficient and reliable when loaded to 30% - 70% of maximum capacity) gives you 450.

I guess express PC know what they are doing and will put together a system with the correct power supply, but they may recommend a higher spec power unit if you know the system is to take the draw of a second IDE drive.

I would ask before purchase.

Greg

[jjsaul]

AFAIK my pc has a 350W PSU.

I am running AMD XP2600+ processor, 512MB DDR RAM, 2x IDE HDD's, 1x SATA HDD, 1x CDRW, 1x DVD, 5 PCI cards and a few USB powered things as well....

[TheGurkha]

Novatech (check their web site) do ready made and have a web-based tool for plugging in all the its and seeing what the prices will be for the bits you choose if you want to create your own. they also have good support. I have used them several times, and so have some of my work colleagues.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/home.html

But, get it straight in your own mind what your needs are then build the beast to suit, don't just get the best monitor, best graphics, most memory, fastest 7 largest hard disk, writable dvd etc etc if they won't really change your life. I know people who only word process or send email, so they haven't changed their machines in years. 'As long as it keeps up with my typing, it's fast enough for me - why upgrade?' as one of them said.

[Newsreader]

I got a Dell last year and I'm very pleased with it. Very good price, very good spec, very good service. :)

[cenick]

I could do you a hp compaq p4 2.8mhz 512mb 40gb hd etc etc for a lot less than prices youve been quoted, if youre interested.