New Pc from Pc World/Argos

OkeyDoke12

I know theres a guide at the top of the page but I am not looking to build the computer myself i'm looking to get a desktop pc to replace my laptop as its really slow and tbh i'd rather use a desktop over pc. I have a budget of €500 and the main uses of the computer would be for college assignments and playing Football Manager on steam. I haven't got a clue where to start and any help would be appreciated.

Xenoronin

500 will get you a piece of trash from argos and pc world, while a build from here would get you something that will actually run well. Not even saying this because it is the PC building forum. I just checked the specs of some 500euro PCs from Argos and PC world and they are pretty damn woeful. Nothing but Celeron processors and AMD APUs.

Fill out the template from the stickies and mention where you are based. If someone on here is near you they might put it together for you for a few quid or even for free if they like doing it.

For 500 you'd be looking at:
i3 4160 (better than anything I saw in the prebuilt PCs)
8gb ram
1tb hdd
450W PSU (bit high but just in case you want to put a graphics card in there down the line)
Case
Motherboard
Monitor
Keyboard + Mouse

OkeyDoke12

What is your budget? €500. Can go a little bit more if needed.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Home PC for college use and play Football Manager on Steam.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Nope

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes

5a. If yes, what size do you need? Not too fussed tbh. Something thats a "decent" size

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Keyboard and Speakers

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Not really bothered.

8. How can you pay? Any

9. When are you purchasing? 5 year old laptop is on its last legs.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? I'm in Dundalk but I might know someone who could help me out.

Thanks!

Digital Solitude

Pentium G3220 €60
1tb HDD €50
120gb SSD €60
300w PSU €30
B85 board €60
Case €40
4gb RAM €30
Total €330

Windows is 20, loads of room for a monitor

OkeyDoke12

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Pentium G3220 €60
1tb HDD €50
120gb SSD €60
300w PSU €30
B85 board €60
Case €40
4gb RAM €30
Total €330

Windows is 20, loads of room for a monitor

Where would I order this from?

TerrorFirmer

Can get new PC's cheap enough if you don't want to build. This is €282 from Dabs.ie.

G3240
4GB
500GB
Windows 7 Pro

Loads of choice on dabs in terms of monitors as well but shouldn't cost you more than €400 delivered your door for the setup + nice monitor, and you don't have to build anything.

Xenoronin

Looks like Terror's advice is best for you. Forgot to look at the other PC vendors Only benefit of the self build Digital posted would be the SSD. Can look into that in the future if you want to speed up your PC a bit more. I would actually step into PC World/Currys to pick up a monitor, keyboard and mouse. They aren't as overpriced as everything else.

OkeyDoke12

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Can get new PC's cheap enough if you don't want to build. This is €282 from Dabs.ie.

G3240
4GB
500GB
Windows 7 Pro

Loads of choice on dabs in terms of monitors as well but shouldn't cost you more than €400 delivered your door for the setup + nice monitor, and you don't have to build anything.

Just about to order that but it seems to be discontinued.

Can someone provide me with a link to a similar type of computer

Cheers

Xenoronin

http://www.dabs.ie/products/lenovo-thinkcentre-e73-sff-intel-pentium-g3240-4gb-500gb-windows-7-professional-64-bit-9TJC.html?src=3

OkeyDoke12

Xenoronin wrote: »

http://www.dabs.ie/products/lenovo-thinkcentre-e73-sff-intel-pentium-g3240-4gb-500gb-windows-7-professional-64-bit-9TJC.html?src=3

If I order this one then I have to order a vga monitor a HD monitor is not compatible?

Xenoronin

Only has VGA and DisplayPort ports. Can check your monitor to see if it supports either. DisplayPort would be recommended over VGA.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Hi OP! As he's already commented on thread - TerrorFirmer built me a PC a few weeks back, I think I paid somewhere around 480 for it and it was delivered to my door, perfect. Does everything I want plus more. The same PC in a PC world or another bricks and mortar shop would be close to double that. At the time I did look up those stores and they really were bad PCs for the money.

OkeyDoke12

Xenoronin wrote: »

Only has VGA and DisplayPort ports. Can check your monitor to see if it supports either. DisplayPort would be recommended over VGA.

http://m.dabs.ie/products/fujitsu-b24t-7-progreen-24--1920x1080-5ms-dvi-hdmi-usb-led-monitor-9B03.html

Would that one there be alright ?

justsomebloke

would you not be better off buying a laptop and a seperate monitor and keyboard and mouse. chances are if it is for college work you would want to bring it into the library?

OkeyDoke12

justsomebloke wrote: »

would you not be better off buying a laptop and a seperate monitor and keyboard and mouse. chances are if it is for college work you would want to bring it into the library?

I have a laptop already and although it's on its last legs it will last me my final year of college.

I'd much rather a desktop for the house.

OkeyDoke12

Think I'll go for this set up

Is this ok??

Xenoronin

Yup, looks fairly solid for the money.

OkeyDoke12

Xenoronin wrote: »

Yup, looks fairly solid for the money.

Purchased it yesterday just a quick question the order is currently processing. Do dabs normally take long to process and deliver ?

Xenoronin

From what I remember, this being 6 years ago, i had no problems. It was delivered via courier. I had a lot of parts so probably took the guts of a working week to arrive. This should be shorter.

OkeyDoke12

Xenoronin wrote: »

From what I remember, this being 6 years ago, i had no problems. It was delivered via courier. I had a lot of parts so probably took the guts of a working week to arrive. This should be shorter.

It was dispatched this morning. They gave me a tracking number but it's not available yet. Is the computer been shipped from the UK or Ireland?

Xenoronin

To my knowledge, they are completely UK based so from England.

OkeyDoke12

So I bought the computer without realising that I'd need to buy a wireless dongle to enable me to collect to the internet wirelessly.

Can anyone reccomend a cheap dongle to buy? I seem to recall dealz or one of the other 2€ shops sell them but they're probably ****e??

Xenoronin

Would recommend looking into homeplugs if you cannot extend a wire to your modem.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-PA411KIT-Powerline-Adapter-Starter/dp/B0084Y9N3O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441873310&sr=8-1&keywords=homeplug

Must faster and more reliable than Wireless

Saruman

OkeyDoke12 wrote: »

I know theres a guide at the top of the page but I am not looking to build the computer myself i'm looking to get a desktop pc to replace my laptop as its really slow and tbh i'd rather use a desktop over pc. I have a budget of €500 and the main uses of the computer would be for college assignments and playing Football Manager on steam. I haven't got a clue where to start and any help would be appreciated.

What sort of laptop do you have? If it's a halfway decent spec then simply getting an SSD drive and cloning everything over will turn it in to a rocket compared to how it is at the moment.

Never underestimate how much faster an SSD is over a traditional hard drive. It can turn an old PC that takes 20 minutes to settle down on boot into something that is usable within seconds.

Otherwise, make sure you get an SSD, at least as your boot drive on the new computer.
A 250ish GB drive can be purchased for about €90.

DVD-Lots

Can't really recommend a cheap dongle, went that way myself a couple of times and they were terrible, kept dropping the signal etc. Went with this recently and it was a HUGE improvement, even through a floor and a couple of walls.

http://www.dabs.ie/products/tp-link-300mbps-wireless-n-usb-adapter-77RN.html?src=3

OkeyDoke12

Might just buy this one from Argos

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1420579.htm

Is this one ok ?

Xenoronin

It'd do for now. If it doesn't perform well then you have alternatives mentioned