Shark

Not sure on the prices, but I think XP realy needs 256mb?

Any real geeks care to comment?

David

Mog

Hi
just ordered a new machine which i thought was pretty good value
P4 1.9GHz
256 RDRAM
60GB Disk
DVD/CD Rom Drive 16x
CD-RW
64 MB Ge force2Mx
56 Modem
Intel 850 chipset
17 Monitor
Win xp and loads of software
£850+vat (£999 inc)

dsmith

Personally I'd drop a level in processors and take the RAM. Its really only games that need anything over 500Mhz

father_jack

Last PC I bought was a Dell about 2 months ago.
P4 1.7Ghz 256Mb ram - 16xcd writer - cd reader - 32Mb Geforce2 MX tv-out. Nice 19'' monitor. Win XP legal !
£631 + vat - free delivery (if you hassle them)

Mcbrun555

ddr is worth it on yours because ram speed is always way behind processor speed, the technology is not there to match 2ghz.

ram speed is one of the major bottlenecks in a computer if u have the componats to match it (An Athlon can use ddr)

ddr doubles the data rate of ur motherboard hence the whole system runs a lot smoother.

it wil be worth buying a ddr enabled motherboard and perhaps upgrading later but 256mb is around £56 at the mo which is cheep compared to the prices a yaer ago of aroun £50 for 64mb!

please feel free to correct me if i am talking bo11acks, but i hope this helps

Mcbrun555

Doc

Scan don't usually have complete systems in their today page. I know I could build my friends a pc but I haven't got the time and they will be first time pc owners so will need support!

Doc

What home pc would you buy for £800?

A friend has asked me this question and I'm not sure how to advise them. It seems that at this price point you are right in between Durons and Athlon XP's. I would consider Intel if it came in at the right price and performance.

Planned use:- general office tasks, educational software, a few games, internet and image scanning.

I was thinking about a systemax pc from simply.
XP 1700+, 128mb ddr, 40gb 7200rpm HD, CDRW, nForce MB with onboard GeForce 2 graphics 6 channel sound and Ethernet, DVD. Comes in at £833.08 and the 1600 version got a good review in PCPlus this month.

The budget is just for the pc and monitor.

As ram has gone up so much would it be reasonable to run XP Home in 128MB of ram until prices drop again?





[Edited by Doc - 2/10/2002 6:41:52 PM]

ChrisB

I'm with Deano. Any CPU over 500Mhz will quite happily cope with MS Office all day and every day. 256MB or more will mean you can flip between the apps quicker. Image scanning will eat up RAM as well.

The biggest bottleneck for surfing the web is the speed of your connection it's self, not the PC.

Do you already have a monitor to re-use?

[Edited by ChrisB - 2/10/2002 9:39:43 PM]

Doc

Thanks for your replies so far

I have recently built myself a pc from components but at a different price point. The £800 budget is for a friend.

Personally, I have had bad experiences with small pc manufacturers, so I have either bought from big name manufacturers or built my own pc's, however I am completely self taught so I don't claim to be an expert!

I am now leaning towards a Duron 1.2 Ghz and 256Mb Ram. The only question is whether the extra for DDR is worth it? For my machine there was no question but for general purpose use as a home pc I am less sure.

Its hard spending other peoples money, there is a certain amount of responsibility attached!

[Edited by Doc - 2/10/2002 10:01:51 PM]

elgordano

Check out Scan 'Today Only'.
They always have some good deals.
G.

[Added Today Only]

[Edited by elgordano - 2/11/2002 1:09:51 PM]