Advice please re: buying a new pc

Larry Bee

Hi Folks,

AS the title suggests, my current pc is dying and I'm looking to buy a new one. The last pc I actually bought was a Win 98 PC with 10 gig hard drive and a whopping 64 MB RAM, way back in 1999, which I added bits and bobs and upgraded to Win 2000. Since then I was given a computer for a wedding pressent back in 2005. So, to say I'm out of the loop in knowing what to look for in a computer, is a bit of an understatement.

I'll be using it for surfing and storing music movies and stuff on it.
I'll be editing mosic/pics on it, but won't be gaming, but the missus may play a bit of Freecell on it.
I'm looking to get at least 2TB of hard drive, but if need be, I can get 1TB and pop in another HDD in at a later date.
A while ago the network card got fried in a storm, causing me all sorts of problems, so one or two spare slots for that would be nice on this PC.
I'm hoping to get Win 7 as opposed to win 8. Also, one without a load of software coming preinstalled would be lovely.
The bad news my budget: €600, tops.

Here's a few that are catching my eye:

Dell Vostro €564.72
Intel Core i5 (3rd Gen Quad-Core )
RAM: 4 GB
Hard Drive1 x 1 TB - SATA-300
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Edition


The Orion I3 450 €600
Intel i3 Dual Core Processor i3-3240
RAM: 8GB)
2 x 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit


Are Intel processors still way better than AMD?
Is there a noticable difference between i3 and i5 processors?
Is 8 gig RAM more important than a faster processor?
Windows 32 bit or 64 bit?
What other questions should I be asking?

Thanks in advance
John

STEINBERG

For what you said you want to do,, i would go with the Orion i3 450,,, for the sake of €36 you will be getting double the RAM and Double the HDD space.... we could talk all day or even argue about why this is better than that and so on... At the end of the day you want a computer for surfing the net,, storing movies and music and the missus wants to play Freecell.

You could go with even cheaper machines that would suit your needs very well, but as those are the two you mentioned i would suggest the Orion i3 450,, €36 for double the memory and the HDD space.

For what you want 32 bit or 64 bit does not matter.

CrinkElite

The smart money says build one yourself. All the kids are doing it these days and it's about as technically challenging as programming the VCR was back when you bought your last machine.

The pre-built machines may look OK on paper but you'll be getting nasty/cheepo parts.

One of the most popular methods for less confident buyers is the German company HardwareVersand.de
You can buy all the parts there at competitive prices and they'll even assemble it for you for a small fee (€20 last time I checked)

If you go with DELL you may be locked into them for future upgrades as they use proprietary form factors that are not compatible with the wider market.

I would say AMD are the best bang for buck at your price range but I haven't been keeping up to date with things lately.
For this reason I'll leave it to the regulars inform you on the best way to go.

the_syco

Larry Bee wrote: »

The last pc I actually bought was a Win 98 PC with 10 gig hard drive and a whopping 64 MB RAM, way back in 1999, which I added bits and bobs and upgraded to Win 2000

So you know what the inside of a computer looks like? Awesome. The parts have changed a bit, but not that much; they'll still only fit in one place.

Larry Bee wrote: »

I'll be using it for surfing and storing music movies and stuff on it.
I'll be editing mosic/pics on it, but won't be gaming, but the missus may play a bit of Freecell on it.

Build it yourself, and you'd have a fairly kick-ass system. What software do you use for editing the music/pictures?

=-=

Fill the following out, and post it to http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=842 and someone will help you (probably on Monday, though).

Or spend the €600 on a 5 month old PC from the likes of Currys which you'll find it hard to upgrade, and may not be faster than your current machine...

If you want to ask about a new build, please include as much of the following information as possible in your thread:

1. What is your budget? [€xxx]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Video editing/3D Modelling/HTPC/Internet] (If gaming include which games)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes/No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] (If possible state brand and model of the parts to ensure compatibility)

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes/No]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] [Yes/No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin City/Cork City/Kerry/etc.]

BloodBath

You don't need much cpu power for your requirements. Something like the build below has everything you need and a still powerful quad core processor with decent built in graphics that will actually run a lot of games if you wanted to.

There's even enough room to throw in a good 22" 1080p monitor. I'm guessing your old one probably needs replacing as well.

It includes assembly and delivery.

Item|Price
8GB-Kit A-DATA XPG G Series PC1600 CL9|€60.59
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.94
Cooler Master N200, mATX-mini-Tower, schwarz, ohne Netzteil|€33.19
Samsung SH-118AB schwarz|€12.24
TP-Link TL-WN781N, 150Mbps, PCIe x1|€9.44
LG 22EA53VQ-P|€125.83
Rechner - Zusammenbau|€20.00
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€89.00
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 300W|€30.66
AMD A8-5600K Accelerated Processor mit AMD Radeon HD 7560D Grafik Box|€83.02
ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M, FM2, mATX|€59.27
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€599.17

Larry Bee

Thanks for all the replies, folks.

We had a gaggle of 6 year old princess' around for a birthday party today and I'm shattered.
Building your own computer via that German site looks the way to go, but a bit daunting. I'll have a better look over the weekend and throw up a post in the PC Building forum when my nerves settle down a bit.

Again, thanks for the advice.
John

Amirani

Larry Bee wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies, folks.

We had a gaggle of 6 year old princess' around for a birthday party today and I'm shattered.
Building your own computer via that German site looks the way to go, but a bit daunting. I'll have a better look over the weekend and throw up a post in the PC Building forum when my nerves settle down a bit.

Again, thanks for the advice.
John

You can pay them an extra €20 and they'll build it all for you.

uncle_sam_ie

NiallSparky wrote: »

You can pay them an extra €20 and they'll build it all for you.

Yeah, at least with hardwareversand you're getting better components for your money. The other guy's put in cheap crap to make more money off you.