Colinjb Posted 14 February, 2010 Share Posted 14 February, 2010 Ok, I am totally out of the loop regarding PC hardware, The last one I bought was 5 years ago and it's still going, just. So, I need a new one, have a limited budget and need to know what equals a 'good spec.' So, what should I look for in terms of: Processor Graphics Card Ram And anything else important in the modern sense of things...... I appreciate any sensible advice people can give. Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint_stevo Posted 14 February, 2010 Share Posted 14 February, 2010 what do you use it for mainly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colinjb Posted 15 February, 2010 Author Share Posted 15 February, 2010 Mainly for Football Manager, web surfing and occasional personal admin. That's about it. The 3D match engine on Football Manager is probably the most it'll ever be tested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdearlove Posted 15 February, 2010 Share Posted 15 February, 2010 Take a look on the Novatech site. They have some decent machines for not a lot of money. If you have a bit of knowledge of the insides of a PC then you could evne go for one of the barebones PCs and reuse your existing Hard drive and CD/DVD drive. I bought my daughter a barebones plus a HDD and DVD RW from them for the grand total of 215 quid. The onboard graphics is sufficient for FM but anything more intensive would need a separate graphics card for another 50 quid or so. Best bet - decide how much you want to spend, post it on this thread and there are several people who will make suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 15 February, 2010 Share Posted 15 February, 2010 General advice: Processors: quad cores for huge performance, and expensive. 2 cores for everyday. AMD is cheaper, as always, and Intel are not always better. Of the 2 core Intel processors, they still do Dual-Core and Core-Duo. Core-Duo are better, and more expensive. RAM: Whatever it is, get as much as you reasonably can. If you are going to be running the new Windows 7, then don't bugger about. Get 4Gb. If Vista then 1-2Gb would be fine. If, you decide not to buy an OEM OS from the manufacturer [say Novatech], then your old Windows XP could dance about in 2Gb and run like it has a rocket up its arse. Graphics: You don't need Super-Duper graphics for browsing and Football Manager. But it would do no harm at all to get a separate card with at least 512Mb of Graphics RAM. Future proofing and all that. HDD: Don't like the reliability of these high density drives. I think HDDs are less reliable than they used to be. But it could just be my perception. I run 2 HDDs. 1 for System and 1 for Data. Novatech are flexible enough to build you something like this, but you can do it yourself, as mentioned above. Get a much smaller sized HDD available for the system, as only OS/programs/temp files/viruses/etc... will be stored there. The Data HDD could be as big as you like. The side benefit of this is that if the System HDD ever fails, you don't lose your data. Power Supply: Spend a little money and get a quiet one that is powerful. What you don't want in 3 months time is a fan that is noisy, even if it goes quiet after a minute. In another 6 months it'll be whining all the time. To be honest, anything else, like DVD writers and separate sound cards are just frills. Add them or not, as to your requirements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dark Sotonic Mills Posted 15 February, 2010 Share Posted 15 February, 2010 Question one: What is your budget? Oh, StL's comment on PSU fans could equally apply to wives... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFrost Posted 15 February, 2010 Share Posted 15 February, 2010 General advice: Processors: quad cores for huge performance, and expensive. 2 cores for everyday. AMD is cheaper, as always, and Intel are not always better. Of the 2 core Intel processors, they still do Dual-Core and Core-Duo. Core-Duo are better, and more expensive. RAM: Whatever it is, get as much as you reasonably can. If you are going to be running the new Windows 7, then don't bugger about. Get 4Gb. If Vista then 1-2Gb would be fine. If, you decide not to buy an OEM OS from the manufacturer [say Novatech], then your old Windows XP could dance about in 2Gb and run like it has a rocket up its arse. Graphics: You don't need Super-Duper graphics for browsing and Football Manager. But it would do no harm at all to get a separate card with at least 512Mb of Graphics RAM. Future proofing and all that. HDD: Don't like the reliability of these high density drives. I think HDDs are less reliable than they used to be. But it could just be my perception. I run 2 HDDs. 1 for System and 1 for Data. Novatech are flexible enough to build you something like this, but you can do it yourself, as mentioned above. Get a much smaller sized HDD available for the system, as only OS/programs/temp files/viruses/etc... will be stored there. The Data HDD could be as big as you like. The side benefit of this is that if the System HDD ever fails, you don't lose your data. Power Supply: Spend a little money and get a quiet one that is powerful. What you don't want in 3 months time is a fan that is noisy, even if it goes quiet after a minute. In another 6 months it'll be whining all the time. To be honest, anything else, like DVD writers and separate sound cards are just frills. Add them or not, as to your requirements. Depends what you buy, I work for a company which sells photolab kiosks, we have stopped buying Seagate HDs now because their so unreliable and we have had so many failures. We've gone for Western Digital now who are way better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colinjb Posted 15 February, 2010 Author Share Posted 15 February, 2010 Question one: What is your budget? Oh, StL's comment on PSU fans could equally apply to wives... My budget is about 400 quid. Ideally less. I don't need a monitor, just the PC itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgerx16 Posted 15 February, 2010 Share Posted 15 February, 2010 Take a look on the Novatech site. Built in Portsmuff But other than that, good spec and good value. ( I wonder if they'll let you have a system now and let you pay for it WHEN you win the lottery ) ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Townhillsaintsfan Posted 4 March, 2010 Share Posted 4 March, 2010 I obviously couldnt start a topic myself but can anyone tell me the best way of getting the newest microsoft office fairly cheaply? Im a student and am finding that microsoft office 2003 doesnt do everything I need to, particularly when I need to download and open documents from the uni network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 4 March, 2010 Share Posted 4 March, 2010 Depends what you buy, I work for a company which sells photolab kiosks, we have stopped buying Seagate HDs now because their so unreliable and we have had so many failures. We've gone for Western Digital now who are way better. Well that's funny because I stopped using Western Digital because they were so unreliable. I started using Seagate HDDs again, after many years of not doing so, and I haven't had a peep of a problem Must find some wood to touch..! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 4 March, 2010 Share Posted 4 March, 2010 Built in Portsmuff But other than that, good spec and good value. ( I wonder if they'll let you have a system now and let you pay for it WHEN you win the lottery ) ? I always content myself that they are actually situated in Porchester, rather than Portsea Island, which is effectively Portsmouth. They're addressed as Portsmouth, probably because they were in Dundas Way, Portsmouth, many years ago. They were actually pretty crap back then, but they've improved out of all proportion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skintsaint Posted 4 March, 2010 Share Posted 4 March, 2010 I obviously couldnt start a topic myself but can anyone tell me the best way of getting the newest microsoft office fairly cheaply? Im a student and am finding that microsoft office 2003 doesnt do everything I need to, particularly when I need to download and open documents from the uni network. try downloading open office for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son of Bob Posted 5 March, 2010 Share Posted 5 March, 2010 I obviously couldnt start a topic myself but can anyone tell me the best way of getting the newest microsoft office fairly cheaply? Im a student and am finding that microsoft office 2003 doesnt do everything I need to, particularly when I need to download and open documents from the uni network. Try downloading this and you should be fine sticking with Office 2003. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displayLang=en Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesaint sfc Posted 5 March, 2010 Share Posted 5 March, 2010 Get this: http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/624842/dell-vostro-430-core-i7-860-quad-co Ignore everything everyone else has said in the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsdinho Posted 5 March, 2010 Share Posted 5 March, 2010 Built in Portsmuff But other than that, good spec and good value. ( I wonder if they'll let you have a system now and let you pay for it WHEN you win the lottery ) ? Its not technically in skatesmuff, I used to work there, the city boundry ends about 100m down the road. Phew, for a minute there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint_stevo Posted 5 March, 2010 Share Posted 5 March, 2010 Get this: http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/624842/dell-vostro-430-core-i7-860-quad-co Ignore everything everyone else has said in the thread. Agree. i7 processor? Very nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smirking_Saint Posted 5 March, 2010 Share Posted 5 March, 2010 I obviously couldnt start a topic myself but can anyone tell me the best way of getting the newest microsoft office fairly cheaply? Im a student and am finding that microsoft office 2003 doesnt do everything I need to, particularly when I need to download and open documents from the uni network. Software4students.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smirking_Saint Posted 5 March, 2010 Share Posted 5 March, 2010 Get this: http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/624842/dell-vostro-430-core-i7-860-quad-co Ignore everything everyone else has said in the thread. That'll do all day long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecuk268 Posted 5 March, 2010 Share Posted 5 March, 2010 Its not technically in skatesmuff, I used to work there, the city boundry ends about 100m down the road. Phew, for a minute there.... Decent company, Novatech. I've been in IT for nearly 30 years so I know my way round a PC. Phoned them up pretending to be a newbie, but they didn't bull**** me, They just gave sensible advice and explained all the options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesaint sfc Posted 5 March, 2010 Share Posted 5 March, 2010 Scan are the best for free advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint_stevo Posted 5 March, 2010 Share Posted 5 March, 2010 Scan are the best for free advice. Again, worryingly, i agree Aria do some good priced stuff n all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weston Super Saint Posted 5 March, 2010 Share Posted 5 March, 2010 I obviously couldnt start a topic myself but can anyone tell me the best way of getting the newest microsoft office fairly cheaply? Im a student and am finding that microsoft office 2003 doesnt do everything I need to, particularly when I need to download and open documents from the uni network. Save all of your money - not just some of it!! - and download Open Office. Simples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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