# Getting a new Desktop today. Need abit of advice.



## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

Ok want a new computer today. Just want abit of advice (Saint?  ). Will just go into pc world as its easy.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk

Any suggestions?

Oh mainly use it for games and the net. But want the best possible performance out of the games.

How about these 2?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/st...0&tm=undefined&sku=085705&category_oid=-27735

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/st...0&tm=undefined&sku=468543&category_oid=-27735

The Advent seems to be twice as good and cheaper. Whats the difference?

or this one?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/st...0&tm=undefined&sku=568874&category_oid=-27735

Doh found another

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/st...4&tm=undefined&sku=218870&category_oid=-27743


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## Mrs Wallsendmag (Dec 13, 2005)

First suggestion DON'T GO TO PC WORLD much cheaper elsewhere Dell,Mesh etc.


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

Wallsendmag II said:



> First suggestion DON'T GO TO PC WORLD much cheaper elsewhere Dell,Mesh etc.


I know but its convience...Not owrried so much about price...Just want a decent system...Today...Well infact in about an hour


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## digimeisTTer (Apr 27, 2004)

If you want it for games your main priority is a good graphics card and RAM.

The last one should suffice 256 Mb X700 fairly good card and 2Mb RAM.

don't buy anything with less than a 256Meg card and at least 1 Meg RAM

What sort of games tho'?


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

digimeisTTer said:


> If you want it for games your main priority is a good graphics card and RAM.
> 
> The last one should suffice 256 Mb X700 fairly good card and 2Mb RAM.
> 
> ...


Long boring strategy games....War games like total war series the new Star wars game etc


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## sonicmonkey (Mar 20, 2004)

digimeisTTer said:


> If you want it for games your main priority is a good graphics card and RAM.
> 
> The last one should suffice 256 Mb X700 fairly good card and 2Mb RAM.
> 
> ...


Andy - I'm sure you meant to say 1 *gig*/2 *gig *of RAM


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

BTW - am here if you want some feeback or am I too late?


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## sonicmonkey (Mar 20, 2004)

From the choice above the last link would be a contender. Its got a Dual Core processor, decent graphics card and a good TFT.

Although I'd loathe to hand over any money to PC World the advent range isn't all that bad, I've got one under my desk which I inherited and its not let buggered up in 18 months and I do tend to work my PC's hard with running virtualization software near enough 24/7.


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

At last only been waiting in for you to appear....Yes need some feedback please


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

sonicmonkey said:


> From the choice above the last link would be a contender. Its got a Dual Core processor, decent graphics card and a good TFT.
> 
> Although I'd loathe to hand over any money to PC World the advent range isn't all that bad, I've got one under my desk which I inherited and its not let buggered up in 18 months and I do tend to work my PC's hard with running virtualization software near enough 24/7.


My current one is advent...With what appears to be a dodgy motherboard. could get it fixed but im a sad git. Who just goes out and buys a new one. Had it for a couple of years though. Bout time i got something else.


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

saint said:


> BTW - am here if you want some feeback or am I too late?


No not to late at all.  Thanks


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## sonicmonkey (Mar 20, 2004)

Given a choice I would widen my options and consider the likes of Mesh and Dell but as you want it today....

I've never been a fan of anything PC World as they man the store with illiterate ars*holes who wouldn't know a mouse from a monitor, so take anything they have to say with a large pinch of salt (may I suggest taking ear plugs and nodding once every 10 seconds whilst he is talking to you?) and go in there armed with exactly what you want/need.


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

sonicmonkey said:


> Given a choice I would widen my options and consider the likes of Mesh and Dell but as you want it today....
> 
> I've never been a fan of anything PC World as they man the store with illiterate ars*holes who wouldn't know a mouse from a monitor, so take anything they have to say with a large pinch of salt (may I suggest taking ear plugs and nodding once every 10 seconds whilst he is talking to you?) and go in there armed with exactly what you want.


Why i thought id ask on here. im not sure if the ones ive picked are the best ones out of the range pc world do. They just sounded good. PC world is a five minute drive from me. Im impulsive and impatient. So PC world is the easiest way to go.


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

New money, eh?

Can't spend it quickly enough, can you? :roll: :lol:


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

jampott said:


> New money, eh?
> 
> Can't spend it quickly enough, can you? :roll: :lol:


I've always been the same Tim...If ive got it in my pocket. It's gone.


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

genocidalduck said:


> jampott said:
> 
> 
> > New money, eh?
> ...


Lots of pickpockets in Essex then? :lol:


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

jampott said:


> genocidalduck said:
> 
> 
> > jampott said:
> ...


It isnt just Essex....It happens where ever i go.


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Am loathed to say this but I'd go for the AMD based Packard Bell :?

Why?

Well...... (yup more dots) 1st off the AMD 3800+ is a very good cpu and runs faster and cooler than the Intel chip. One part which is missing from the PCW add is the fact that the iPower is a SLi based machine - ie: you can cheaply add and additional 6600gt card into it and get a fast games machine.
Don't worry too much about the 1gb RAM - upgrading to 2gb Ram if you want will be cheap!
Hard Drives - 2x 250gb Sata Drives. Plenty of peripheral connections too!
It is a bit expensive - well you could buy and build better/cheaper but as you have said you want one off the shelf.

The Philips (last link) looks ok - dual core cpu - but again it's an Intel and running a dual core on Windows XP MCE is a bit daft as there won't be any real performance enhancement. Again not bad peripheral connections inc what looks like a wireless networking port. Graphics are on par with the Packard Bell but there is no ability to enhance them. This MCE machine should be the one with the 500gb storage!!

To conclude - go for the Packard Bell  (you'll never get how painful that is to say) for around Â£200 this machine can be made into a decent games platform.

Or keep your money and I'll post a How To.....Build a good games machine for the same money.


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Duckie :-* re the PM there is nothing there that really is of any interest or any good other than the ones mentioned :?


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

saint said:


> Duckie :-* re the PM there is nothing there that really is of any interest or any good other than the ones mentioned :?


Thanks Saint...Knew i could count on you 

Now off to part with some money
[smiley=mexicanwave.gif]


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## BAMTT (Feb 22, 2004)

I've got an Advent T9202 i think its about a year old and tbh nothing, not even Dell could get near the spec for the price, the only issue i've had is with the cooling, and find to keep it running well i vacuum the inside as the fan ontop of the processor heatsink sucks in all kinds of crap :?

get one with memory card reader v.handy IMO


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Is the CPU fan the only cooling fan inside your case? (Excluding the power supply fan and motherboard fan if there is one)


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## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

Please dear god do not buy a pc from PC World.

I worked for their national support call centre for over 2 years and can honestly say there is not one brand of pc they sell which I would reccomend for any purpose apart from a doorstop.

If you want more advice let me know I'm not too late and I'll help.

*EDIT:* Just read page 2 and I feel I'm too late 

Nick


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Nem said:


> Please dear god do not buy a pc from PC World.
> 
> I worked for their national support call centre for over 2 years and can honestly say there is not one brand of pc they sell which I would reccomend for any purpose apart from a doorstop.
> 
> ...


I think we made him aware of this but he was set on getting something off the shelf quickly. :?


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Nem said:


> Please dear god do not buy a pc from PC World.
> 
> I worked for their national support call centre for over 2 years and can honestly say there is not one brand of pc they sell which I would reccomend for any purpose apart from a doorstop.
> 
> ...


You'll find this cheeky but - if you worked for their call centre for two years what on earth do you know about pcs?


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## BAMTT (Feb 22, 2004)

saint said:


> Is the CPU fan the only cooling fan inside your case? (Excluding the power supply fan and motherboard fan if there is one)


There is the power supply fan, What i believe is the processor fan with an air intake to the external wall of the pc , and a small fan on the mother board i think


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

BAMTT said:


> saint said:
> 
> 
> > Is the CPU fan the only cooling fan inside your case? (Excluding the power supply fan and motherboard fan if there is one)
> ...


Ok - am too lazy to look -if you don't mind what cpu is in the pc?

Inorder to have decent cooling within the pc you need to try to create an airflow over the pc components - a hot cpu is not the only cause of a hot pc.


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## BAMTT (Feb 22, 2004)

One of these i think Intel Pentium 4 550J (3.4 GHz) I'm a bit of a nimpty on these things


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

BAMTT said:


> One of these i think Intel Pentium 4 550J (3.4 GHz) I'm a bit of a nimpty on these things


That's fine - I'll need to look up the case type now anyway - see if I can point you in the right direction to get things a bit cooler.


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## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

saint said:


> Nem said:
> 
> 
> > Please dear god do not buy a pc from PC World.
> ...


Technical repair call centre, not sales. Or were you just getting at the fact that 'most' of the people who work there are computer illiterate? 

It a totally pot luck call you make if you get someone who, like me, knows what they are talking about or if you get someone trained to go through certain diag steps 1 by 1. I spent 2 years in an enviromnet where the last step was to send a engineer out on site to fix a problem, you lost your bonus if you sent a person out and you could have fixed it over the phone so you get to know which systems they sell have which problems and how to fix them quickly.

I'm now a User and Technical Support Engineer for the NHS which is considerable more demanding as we support acute sytems accross 3 hospitals. My main home pc is all hand built and has a custom water cooling setup for the cpu cooling. Only last week I bought yet another new gfx card for Â£340 so I know about system performance. Not that you were having a go at me personally I know, but just thought I'd explain anyway 

Wasn't meant to be a showy offy rant, so anyway I'll shut up.

If he buys the PB I'll have to go down there and slap him myself tho!

Nick


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

I was only joking - but you're aware of what it's like anyway. Nothing directed at you.


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## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

saint said:


> I was only joking - but you're aware of what it's like anyway. Nothing directed at you.


I know mate 

But there really are some cluless people who work there tho. Quite unbelivable really.

Nick


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

O.K got the Packard Bell..Was happy i didnt have to buy another graphics card as it already has 2 x 6600GT. However asked them to upgrade my RAM. Which they said no problem. Goes back in an hour only for them to tell me that they only sell double sided RAM and it wont work on my system as it only reads single sided. Which they dont sell :?


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Did not think that was still an issue :? Any idea on the motherboard make?

And you won a watch with the 2x sli'd gts


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

saint said:


> Did not think that was still an issue :? Any idea on the motherboard make?
> 
> And you won a watch with the 2x sli'd gts


Won a watch? :? I got Norton for free 

No idea on the motherboard make. Now just got to find somewhere on the net where i can get single sided RAM.....(More dots) Hint hint


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## BAMTT (Feb 22, 2004)

saint said:


> BAMTT said:
> 
> 
> > One of these i think Intel Pentium 4 550J (3.4 GHz) I'm a bit of a nimpty on these things
> ...


Thks Saint will get the exact specs when i get home tonight

Oh sorry for taking it a bit O.T Mr Duck


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

BAMTT said:


> saint said:
> 
> 
> > BAMTT said:
> ...


No worries.....Look at my posts im the master off it


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

Motherboard 
Socket Socket 939 
Number of PCI slots (total/free) 2 conventional PCI, 2 PCI Express x1, 2 PCI Express x16 / 2 free

If that means anything :?


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