new desktop

Posted by: Right Wing on 17 September 2006

Now then lads.

Ok, so the time has come around again for me to replace my computer for work.

I have had VAIO's in the past, they have been great but are fairly pricey.

I currently have a dell dimension 5150 (70gig HD) / 1024DDR2 RAM).

On the dell site I have seen these two

Components
PROCESSOR AMD® Athlon™ 64 X2 Processor 5000+ MEMORY 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz [2x512MB] Memory

HARD DRIVE 320GB Serial ATA RAID 0 Stripe [2x160GB 7200rpm drives with DataBurst™ cache] edit

OPTICAL DRIVE(S) 16 X DVD +/- RW Drive edit
GRAPHICS CARD 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro graphics card edit

= £788inc VAT

or.... . .

PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® D 945 Dual Core Processor (3.40GHz, 800MHz fsb, 2x2MB cache)

MEMORY 2048MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz [4x512] Memory

HARD DRIVE 250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache

OPTICAL DRIVE(S) 16x max. DVD+/-RW Drive edit
GRAPHICS CARD Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950


@ £819inc VAT.

So for the money which would be best, I probably would be better off going for the one with 2GIG DDR RAM.

I suppose the real question is - Which processor is said to be better?

I use the computer for web brousing etc, storing music, burning etc, oh and excel for work.



thanks for your time . . .
Posted on: 17 September 2006 by jasons
If you go to the Small Business section and spec exactley the same pc, you can get it cheaper.

I know coz i have literally just tried.

From my little experience you want to try and max out as much as you can afford. More Ram, faster processor, bigger hard drive etc.

If you are going to be doing a lot of photo work and the like, then its best to go for a good seperate graphics card and not an integrated.

As for processor, its your call. Both are very good but if it was me, i would go with what i know and choose the Intel.
Posted on: 17 September 2006 by Right Wing
Thanks for that ill have a look, were you aware though that business computer prices on the site dont include VAT?

this might be the reason why perhaps?


Cheers
Posted on: 17 September 2006 by jasons
Yes i was aware, and it doesnt include shipping, but they are offereing it with free delivery at the mo.

I just specced a fairly bog standard pc and it came out at approx 490 in the retail part.
Business part it came out at approx 450 with delivery discount!

Its not always the case. It just depends what offers they are doing.
Posted on: 18 September 2006 by Jono 13
quote:
Originally posted by Right Wing:
Now then lads.

Ok, so the time has come around again for me to replace my computer for work.

I have had VAIO's in the past, they have been great but are fairly pricey.

I currently have a dell dimension 5150 (70gig HD) / 1024DDR2 RAM).

On the dell site I have seen these two

Components
PROCESSOR AMD® Athlon™ 64 X2 Processor 5000+ MEMORY 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz [2x512MB] Memory

HARD DRIVE 320GB Serial ATA RAID 0 Stripe [2x160GB 7200rpm drives with DataBurst™ cache] edit

OPTICAL DRIVE(S) 16 X DVD +/- RW Drive edit
GRAPHICS CARD 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro graphics card edit

= £788inc VAT

or.... . .

PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® D 945 Dual Core Processor (3.40GHz, 800MHz fsb, 2x2MB cache)

MEMORY 2048MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz [4x512] Memory

HARD DRIVE 250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache

OPTICAL DRIVE(S) 16x max. DVD+/-RW Drive edit
GRAPHICS CARD Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950


@ £819inc VAT.

So for the money which would be best, I probably would be better off going for the one with 2GIG DDR RAM.

I suppose the real question is - Which processor is said to be better?

I use the computer for web brousing etc, storing music, burning etc, oh and excel for work.



thanks for your time . . .


You really want a mix of the two. The disk array and graphics of the AMD box with the processor and memory of the Intel box.

Also make the disk array raid 1, mirror, with two 320GB disks, as this is more reliable. If one disk fails you will not lose any data just a disk.

Jono
Posted on: 18 September 2006 by SteveGa
Also have a look at their outlet site. Sometimes there are very good deals here. I buy all work PC's from the outlet.
Steve