Computer Help

[mspdan]

Hi guys,

might not be right section so apologise now if not.

Basically after 8 years my pc has decided a couple weeks ago that it doesnt want to power up and when it does wont display anything or turn off without being unplugged.

it was a pretty basic pc anyway and its been repaired several times and upgraded but i think its time for a change.

as i have not really done alot with a pc of late i am completey baffled as to what to look for, but im sure some of you out there maybe could help???

im currently using a shared pc but would like my own back so i can use it as i please..

heres the specs of what i had (pretty basic):

Philips MT1700
Pentium D 820
Windows 7
1GB DDR2 (400Mhz)
160 GB Hardrive
16 x Rewriter
NVIDA Geforce 256 Mb Graphics

It is used for mainly surfing the web and videos, but i do keep alot tabs open (i know it doesnt help), there is alot of music stored on it to (although thinking of getting external hardrive for it)

Although it worked fairly quick im after something quicker

This bit may make it harder i do have younger family members who use it from time to time, with a younger brother who plays Oblivion if anyone is familiar with it, i know its a fairly demanding game.

I know that will make it more expensive to get a pc as it needs to be slightly gaming based but i was hoping a budget of £300 would cover it, however the cheaper the better?

Ideally im looking for something faster than mine which can be upgraded, i would prefer new with peace of mind but i will consider used...

Can anyone help with what i need to be looking for or have any links to anything??

I did get sent this link to an ebay one but im unsure to it:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191025096255?s...1423.l2649

Just hoping someone can point me in the right direction

Many thanks all

[WiNgNuTz]

IMO, thats actually not a bad rig for that money. I'd invest a few quid in a solid state hard drive as well to run your OS from, but that seems like a pretty good base to work with, should suit your needs quite nicely.

[mspdan]

thankis mate just wasnt sure what to look for tbh

[Eeyore]

The specs on that look good and it seems cheap tbh. You can get some nice 22" monitors for cheap now as well.

For the record though I jumped on the solid state band wagon when they first became common place. I have had 2 computers where they have only lasted a year. The problem is that although they have no moving parts and are super fast they do 'wear out'. I have bought another one as I thought mine was faulty but after it happened to another computer and speaking to other people this is a problem with SSDs in general.

So in conclusion i wouldnt bother. Id probably get another 1TB HDD for that rig and put them in RAID to backup your data so you can never lose your files.

[Daniel306]

I use a 500gb 840 pro SSD, laptop goes from switched off to firefox running in under 10 seconds, its got a 5 year warrenty so cant see any problems with that

[Scott]

The problem is data loss and being without a drive while yours is replaced under warranty. If you have rigorous backup routines and don't depend on your pc then it's fine.

[Eeyore]

Im going to hijack this thread. What actually means you have the warranty? is there a piece of paper you need to keep?

[WiNgNuTz]

Proof of purchase i would assume Sam, like a receipt.

[Eeyore]

Ive bought all of my stuff off ebuyer so the order details are all still on their site. Is it a matter of getting in touch with the manufacturer or the seller?

[WiNgNuTz]

That would certainly be the first step...

[Niall]

I use a 500gb 840 pro SSD, laptop goes from switched off to firefox running in under 10 seconds, its got a 5 year warrenty so cant see any problems with that

Ive got the 256gb version. Mines booted to the log on screen in 6 seconds. Would never go back to a normal drive now!

[mspdan]

right so im getting a bit lost maybe its because im tired but the vie won this pc is, bin it and look for something else or worth the money?

thanks

[Eeyore]

Well... apparently its a dual core 2.8Ghz processor so its not the worst ever... It depends what you use it for. You could get something better for easily under £300. You dont actually know whats broken. if its the graphics card then it could be £25 to fix it. If its the motherboard then its probably worth buying a new pc.

[mspdan]

i have already had one motherboard in my pc and its done nearly same thing again two months ago...

tbh thinking a new pc as its 8 years old just dont know what to look at in my price range, whats the best deal ideally.

dont suppose you could have look for me see whats about give me some idea?

many thanks

[Daniel306]

840 pro is 5 years, the others are 3

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/s...ranty.html

[Eeyore]

Ok right here we go...

What you want to be looking for is at least 8GB of DDR3 memory, 500GB storage space, and for graphics you can always add a PCIe graphics card if it doesnt cut it. Process wise we want a dual core running 3Ghz+ at the minimum but prefereably a quad core @3GHz+. For manufacturers of processors you have either AMD or intel. AMD are cheaper but I prefer intel because ive always had them. With the intel range you have the i3 i5 and i7. The i3 is mostly dual cores, the i7 is most quad cores and the i5 is a mixture of dual and quads.

Presuming a budget of around £300 you can get the following with a quad core i5 processor.

http://www.ebuyer.com/579786-zoostorm-de...-7873-1214
http://www.ebuyer.com/570059-zoostorm-sf...-7873-1107

None of these come with windows so youd need to get hold of windows 7 64 bit.

I always use ebuyer as they have been brilliant for everything I have ever bought and seem to have very competitive prices. Their delivery is also awesome. I have ordered parts in the evening and they have arrived before 9am the next morning!

With regards to that ebay PC in the first post. It does seem like a very good price but i have always avoided buying custom made machines on ebay. Sure I normally build my own but i make sure quality parts go in. It seems doubtful that they can include a genuine copy of windows and games for that price.

Hope this points you in the right direction and gives you a few ideas.

[mspdan]

thanks buddy for help that custom build doesw not include windows operating system with it just tower and games which i dont need tbh but always handy for little ones when round

that first link looks a bit better spec than the one on ebay aswell thanks buddy

[Eeyore]

thanks buddy for help that custom build doesw not include windows operating system with it just tower and games which i dont need tbh but always handy for little ones when round

that first link looks a bit better spec than the one on ebay aswell thanks buddy

No problem. I have just recommended that first one too a business as well. Zoostorm is really a budget brand but it seems to be producing decent stuff these days and as long as you know the components in it there is much of a muchness between all manufacturers.

What you need to watch out for is the likes of Dell and Sony have custom shaped components which means you cant upgrade parts.

[deggerz]

The newer amd chips are good bang for your buck don't worry massively on clock speeds it's down to the architecture of the chip itself, stay away from budget Dell, hp etc there not built to last and are utter piles of shit, get a custom built machine, that way when the motherboard Shits itself it'll only cost you 30-40 quid to replace

[Eeyore]

The newer amd chips are good bang for your buck don't worry massively on clock speeds it's down to the architecture of the chip itself, stay away from budget Dell, hp etc there not built to last and are utter piles of shit, get a custom built machine, that way when the motherboard Shits itself it'll only cost you 30-40 quid to replace

Its all down to the architecture of the chip? err... im fairly sure the clock speed is the main thing!

THe budget brands tend to have cheap proprietary parts so you cant swap them out. Any decent machine should be able to have swappable parts. But yes try to avoid budget hp and dell.

[deggerz]

It does help don't get me wrong, remember the old days when an Athlon at like 1.8ghz would be quicker than an Intel at 3ghz, then Intel bought out the core 2 duo's and amd were nowhere to be seen? It's down to how the cpu is able to process the data and the route it has to take and the intruction sets it uses, when you get a cpu of the same architecture ie. An i5 2.4 ghz v 2.8ghz then of course the higher clock speed will be the quicker cpu but different cpus handle data more efficiently than others

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If that wasn't the case then we could say that an old 1.8ghz sempron would be the same speed as a newer am2 sempron at the same clock speed