Buying a New PC

[stew1954]

Hi Guys,

I think I've murdered my motherboard and CPU on my existing pc and have been quoted £269 to repair. I would probably be better buying a new pc and have found the following and would respect any advice on preference from yourselves:

Family PC £299 (LIDL)
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
320GB SATA hard drive with 7200rpm
nVIDIA graphic machine nForce 6100 (128MB shared memory)
RAM: 1,024MB DDRII memory
Superfast DVD burner, writes DVD ±R/RW, dual layer +R, CD-R/RW, reads 16x DVD-Rom, 40x CD-Rom
Corded keyboard and mouse
6 in 1 card reader
Huge OEM software package with the latest Microsoft Vista™ Basic Home Edit
Supplied with mains adaptor, EasyInstall CD, instructions and more
Free 3 year manufacturer's warranty
Price per item was £399 *compared to last year

Acer Aspire T180 Desktop (AMD Athlon 64 4000, 160GB HDD, Windows Vista Home Premium) £279
Processor: ATHLON 64 4000 Dual Core
Memory: 2 x 512MB DDR-400 (Max 4GB)
Hard Drive: 160GB, 2 SATA HDD 3.5" bays
Graphics Card: VGA on board, nVidia GeForce6100 with nForce 405
Optical Drive: DVD Burner dual and double layer with an option of a second DVD drive
Connectivity: Gigabyte (10/100/1000) Lan solution, 6 x USB 2.0 ports with 3 in front, 2 x PCI, 1 x 1X PCIE, 1 x 16X PCIE, PS/2 Keyboard port, PS/2 Mouse port, Parallel Port, Serial Port.
Audio Connectivity: Line In, 2 x Line Out (one in front), 2 x MIC In (one in front), Realtek ALC880 (7.1 Channels)
Operating system: Windows® Vista Home Basic
Additional Software: Acer eRecovery Management, Acer ePerformance Management, Acer eDataSecurity Management, Norton AntiVirus" 2006, Adobe® Reader® 7.0, CyberLink® PowerDVD®, NTI CD-Maker" Gold
Additional Hardware: Speakers, PS2 keyboard and mouse

Acer Aspire T660 Desktop Unit (Intel Celeron 352D, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, Windows Vista Home Basic) £202
Processor: Intel Pentium D 352
Memory: 512MB RAM DDR2
Hard Drive: 80GB, 4 SATA HDD 3.5" bays
Graphics Card: VGA on board, ATI RADEON® XPRESS 1100
Optical Drive: DVD Burner dual and double layer with an option of a second DVD drive
Connectivity: Gigabyte (10/100/1000) Lan solution, 6 x USB 2.0 ports with 3 in front, 2 x PCI, 1 x 1X PCIE, 1 x 16X PCIE, PS/2 Keyboard port, PS/2 Mouse port, Parallel Port, Serial Port.
Audio Connectivity: Line In, 2 x Line Out (one in front), 2 x MIC In (one in front), Realtek ALC880 (7.1 Channels)
Operating system: Windows® Vista Home Basic
Additional Software: Acer eRecovery Management, Acer ePerformance Management, Acer eDataSecurity Management, Norton AntiVirus" 2006, Adobe® Reader® 7.0, CyberLink® PowerDVD®, NTI CD-Maker" Gold
Additional Hardware: Speakers, PS2 keyboard and mouse

Thanks in advance

 

[T4i]

Most future proof are the DDRII machines m8.

I've found DDRII to make a nice boost of performance over DDR, CPU speed doesnt really make any difference to everyday usage unless you benchmark and want to be competative.

Family PC £299 (LIDL)

 

[jasperconran]

I would look at mobo and cpu Deals about. U would build a better and cheaper tower. If u did it your self.But if your not up for this... Out of the three deals you have looked at the Family PC £299 (LIDL) is the best... imo My sister got a Pc from them She had great surrport when she had a problem.

The question is what you going to use your PC for...?

I agree DDR 2 is more future proof.. But you dont get a big boost of performance unless you have top end ram.. But you have bigger option when upgrading.

( DR2 PC4200 - Clock Speed (MHz): 533MHz Or DDR PC3200
- Clock Speed (MHz): 400MHz)

 

[The Dentist]

Which idiot quoted you £269 to repair a pc? No single part costs that much, unless its a high end graphics card. if the damage is that bad, just replace the part.

 

[cableguy101]

acer r really good for laptops, and u can buy a 3 year warranty extension for next to nothing, but the biggest problem with acer is that they DO NOT provide u with a operating system cd, so if u have vista installed u will miss out on features such as boot up repair.

 

[RobbinHood]

£269 to repair a pc ? damn, i could build a whole new system for that!
but personally i'd just replace the motherboard and cpu if thats what is faulty.
and i'm sure you would get all the help and support needed here if your not confident enough to replace them yourself. :eater: