Advice on new pc

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by sobeit, Mar 18, 2012.

  1. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    Hi all.
    My old home made pc has died.
    I'm now after replacing it.
    I don't need an all singing all dancing affair and have two types to look at, a ready made and a diy.
    Could someone take a look and tell me which would be my best bet?

    This is the ready made http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200704429960?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
    Mobo is a Asus AM3 78L-M LX V2
    PSU is generic 450w that comes with the case.

    For self build I was looking at a mobo bundle http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-a...thlon-ii-x4-631--4gb---radeon-6670--7Y50.html
    Plus a 500GB Seagate SATA HDD
    Corsair 600W CX V2 PSU

    Both will cost pretty much the same but i'm not too savvy on cpu power, on board graphics etc.
    Any help will be much appreciated.
     
  2. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    Self builds are less cost effictive these days. Pre built systems will give you better bang for your buck. With self builds you will probably get better quality components but unless you plan to overclock there isnt really the need.
     
  3. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    Have a look on PC World, dabs and ebuyer to see what offers they have on
     
  4. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    Hi Tueur.
    Thanks for the replies.
    Just a quick one, are the links I put in my original post working for you?
    I ask because you mention looking at Dabs for offers, one of the links was for Dabs.
     
  5. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    The dabs one worked but the ebay one is blocked by my company firewall. Your dabs link is to components rather than complete systems. Unless you overclock there is no benefit to building it yourself. so look for prebuilt system on dabs, ebuyer and PC World. I wouldnt ever giv my PC to PC world to fix but they do have some good deals on new PCs
     
  6. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    I'll take a look at pc world but from what i've seen in the past their stuff is very basic.
    I doubt if I will find a better ready built than the one on ebay.
    1.5tb HDD, 8gb DDR3 1333mhz RAM, Quad core AMD Bulldozer 4.0ghz CPU, new case and dvd rw all for under £300.
    No OS but i've got that.
    Don't know much about the CPU speeds though.
     
  7. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    you will find better spec PCs but prob not cheaper. I am always a little bit dubious about buying PCs as new from ebay. Depends on what warranty you get. that buldozzer chip is ot performed by the i5 2500 chip. I was quite excited about buldozzer but it has been massively delayed and hasnt been worth the wait.

    Oher points to note. It does not come with an OS installed so you will have to shell out £80 on Windows 7 and there is no dedicated graphics card wic will mean that gaming wont be great.

    the 450w PSU is too light if you were to put a dedicated graphics card in at a later date.

    What you planning on using the PC for?
     
  8. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    Do you have an existing PC? if so what spec? and what is your budget? My last post was a bit negative so sorry bout that. Its just that AMD are way off the mark at the minute and whilst that PC is £300 it may only last a couple of years if you plan to game with it.
     
  9. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    The ebay people operate about 8 miles from me and I can pick up if I want.
    Warranty 12 months.
    I have windows 7.
    One of my concerns was the PSU, no good getting a 'deal' and then having to spend to 'upgrade'.
    The self build pack has a much better PSU and a half decent graphics card.
    It is the CPU's that confuse me nowadays.
    When I built mine 5 years or so ago you looked at the speed and it was pretty simple.
    Now, with quad cores etc the higher ghz don't mean the CPU has better performance so i'm confused.
    Usage wise, I'm not a huge gamer (getting on a bit now) but wouldn't mind being able to up the graphics if needed.
    Dilemmas.

    Your other post came through while I was writing.
    Don't worry about being negative.
    I always look at things that way then if it turns out to be good it's a bonus.
    As for the pc that has just died, Windows 7 Ultimate,K7NF2-RAID Mobo,Ath xp 3200+ @2.2Ghz 1.5gb RAM,NVIDIA GeForce 6600,WD 120gb HD
    It was a good 5 years old so.................................
     
  10. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    This bundle will blow you entire budget so it would be good to know what PSU you currently have but the CPU is better than either of the ones you originally linked to. The FSB will run at 1866mHz. The intel Chips have integrated HD Graphics which will prob compare to your current GPU. Just means you wont have the budget to upgrade your HD or PSU
    http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-intel-performance-bundle--includes-p8z68-v-lx-motherboard--intel-core-i5-2500k---8gb-ddr3--7VJG.html?q=bundles&src=16
    You should be able to reuse your case maybe existing PSU and HD. then at a later date if you need to you could buy another HD.

    Just depends what died on your current rig
     
  11. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    Incidentally I have always bought AMD for every rig I have built but I would go intel if I was putting one together today.
     
  12. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    Had all sorts happening on my old pc.
    Been going on for a few months and swapped out loads of bits for other bits I had and decided it was either the mobo, the PSU or the CPU.
    Had a PSU go bang once and blew the whole rig so I would be a bit dubious about using the PSU I have now.
    It's a Cooler Master 400w and was ample for the stuuf I had running but it is a fair few years old now and not worth the risk.
    That's what's putting me off the ebay rig, if I didn't like the graphics and wanted a card then with a new PSU that's another 100-150 quid on top.
    The happy medium seems to be my DABS pack. Yours is a much better spec but then I would need a card and PSU taking it to 400-450.
    I think the bundles have the CPU pre mounted and tested, not sure if the RAM and graphics are fitted too?
    Ho hum, computers will be obsolete by the time i've made up my mind!
     
  13. Dakar Holmes

    Dakar Holmes Private E-2

    If you are buying a PC for home, it must have the best graphics specs and the best sound card. At home, most of us like to play video games and enjoy songs.
     
  14. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    Ah Dakar, in an ideal world....................
    Computing is not my main hobby (drums are, which are quite expensive) so I couldn't justify paying a small fortune for a pc, I am attempting a happy medium.
    It's proving more difficult than I thought!
     
  15. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    disagree entirely. Home use could be anything from gaming to simple browsing and word processing. you need the right system for the job.

    As far as specs go, unless you are doing serious gaming the onboard GPU on any of the systems be fine. They do an i3 bundle that is a little cheaper and may allow you upgrade the PSU within budget. As far as installing the components go, it is a piece of cake and if anything having them shipped separately will reduce the risk of damage to the components.

    IMO spend a bit more on the MB, CPU and RAM now and the system will last longer with minor upgrades.
     
  16. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    Tarnations.
    Right, down to basics.
    Of the two that are in my op, which is the better CPU?
    I'm pretty sure the self builds graphics card is better than the eBay on board.
    The eBay RAM is better than the self build.
    The Self build PSU is better than the eBay rig.
    The eBay rig has a much larger HDD.
    It really is down to the CPU's.
    I don't want to spend any more.
    If the eBay CPU is better then I can upgrade the PSU if I add a card.
    If the self build CPU is best then I can put up with the old case, smaller HDD and my old DVDRw's.
    So where do I find out which is the better CPU?
     
  17. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    If I had to chose between the two in your OP I would go for self build. reasons as follows.

    The ebay system does have a better CPU but there is more to a system than just the CPU.

    The self build has a dedicated GPU so it wont eat up any of your system RAM The ebay build may have 8GB but the integrated GPU will take a wedge out of that so you may only have 6GB available. The PSU in the ebay PC will be a stock piece of :crap. Your Corsair will be much more stable and reliable.

    If you wanted to you could upgrade your RAM on the self built and either drop in another 4GB for £20-£30... or take out the 4GB and drop in 8GB worth of 1600MHz which will run faster.

    I theory the ebay PC is speced out higher but I dont think it will have the same balance and quality. It sounds stupid but matching components is as important because you can put a mega fast CPU in but other components can either cause bottle necks or instability.
     
  18. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    Ah, now then.
    It was the CPU I was interested in.
    My thoughts are, if I got the eBay system and decided at a later date to upgrade the graphics and PSU then I would have a system with ample RAM and a HDD 3 times the size of the self build.
    If a decent card and a decent PSU would make the eBay system superior to the self build then that would (probably :) ) make my mind up.
     
  19. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    This is true, but remember that RAM and HD are dirt cheap. Prob £80 for a 1TB and £60 for 8GB RAM. The CPU is far superior in the ebay PC. it Retails at £150 alone. That is really what makes me nervous because over half the PCs value is in the CPU which says that the rest of the components are cheap and thus either low spec of poor quality. This inbalance can cause bottle necks.

    TBH I think either PC will be fine for what you want to use it for.
     
  20. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    What I will have to do is ask the chap what make things are. I know the PSU is a 400w generic. I know the mobo is ok and the CPU is good.
    I need to know the RAM and HDD.
    Not much else to ask is there?
    Don't know if you have seen this blokes feedback but he has many thousands and has 100 percent.
    He must be doing something right!
    Thanks for your input so far, it is all helpful and knowing the CPU is decent helps a great deal.
     
  21. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    what motherboard is in the ebay one?

    Im not overly familiar with the Bulldozzer architecture but I expect it still works on the principle that the memory controller is built into CPU. This means that your memory bus rus from the CPU to RAM rather than via the North bridge. In short a cheap AMD board would NOT have the same performance drop as a cheap intel board when compared against a respective, more expensive board.

    also check out the speed of the SATA link.
     
  22. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    Another thought is cooling. On the cheap case if you put in another GPU you may need to beef up your cooling but theat is relatively cheap to do.
     
  23. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    Motherboard on ebay is a Asus AM3+ M5A 78L-M LX V2
    SATA is 6GB if that is what you mean.
    You mentioning cooling, that's another concern, the noise from the fans if the stuff is cheap.
    The PSU I chose for my self build is supposedly whisper quiet.
     
  24. Tueur

    Tueur Sergeant Major

    On the face of it it looks like a decent motherboard but it uses the AMD 760G Chipset. This is about two years old and the Buldozer chips are really designed to work with the 9XX series chipsets. It is basically taking a brand new CPU and putting it in a old motherboard. Im not too sure what the performance implications of this are. I have had a quick google but so far cant find much that is of use. You may want to do some more googling on running the Buldozer CPUs on the 760G chipset. it wast designed with Athlons and Phenoms in mind and only supports the bulldozer chips with a BIOS update. ie

    The 990FX boards designed to work with Bulldozer start from £80-100 for a basic with no GPU etc and the board in the ebay PC is £40. It is basically 2+ year old technology. This is what I mean by cutting corners with cheap components. It makes the PC sound great because it has a flagship CPU but the board it is running in is old technology that was designed before this chip came out. Think I may have muddied the waters again! :confused
     
  25. sobeit

    sobeit Staff Sergeant

    Hahahahahaha.
    The waters couldn't possibly get any muddier for me so muddy away! :)

    At the end of the day I can't expect to pay 280.00 for a ready made pc and expect to be able to ride to the moon in it.
    Some may think it's a bit too much fuss over nothing but i'm just trying to make sure I don't get stuck with a snail that sounds like it's trying for lift off.
     

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