Tesco computers deals ??
 

Notice that the local Tesco stores are doing the following model / spec pc`s at £599, in the need for a new fairly high spec desktop pc to allow me to use the internet, play a few high spec games ( flight sim 2004 ) etc, just wonder if this one is worth considering ??

HP pavilion t3510.uk-m PC

windows xp professional
1Gb ram
200GB hard drive
17" HP TFT monitor
HP dvdrw with lightscribe tech
9 in 1 card reader

fairly decent spec pc for the price ?? reliable enough ?

I doubt it'll have a good enough graphics card in there for any high end games.
Much better waiting for Aldi to do one of their Medion deals (although you only get the base unit with them it's usually very good value).

Not a bargain by any stretch of the imagination.

It's only a PentiumD 805 processor in it and worse still, integrated X200 graphics!

This will not allow you to run 'high spec' games.

For that £600 budget, you could allow about £130 for a decent 17" TFT which would leave £470 for a base unit (£470 goes a long way these days).

IF you were to self build or recruit a mate to do it, you could reasonable expect:

Decent Athlon64 CPU
1GB Dual Channel memory
Decent motherboard
250GB SATA Hard Drive
GeForce 7900 Graphics
DVD +/- RW
Windows XP Licence

Okay thanks appreciatte your detailed replies chaps, so are you saying a computer off this spec will deffinately not play the latest games- surely not ?? as you may have gathered bit off a novice regards computers hence the questions but surely this particular machine with its pentium d805 processor is still a very quick high performing machine given the hard drive size, memory etc supplied ??

regards the graphics cards what happens if you try to play a high spec game using this particular graphic card ?? will it refuse to play or just look very poor ??

just seems a minefield off available stuff out there around this £600 level !!!

The problem is that it's not a graphic card as such, its' integrated into the motherboard and as such, borrows its resources from the system RAM.

The system does however have a PCI-Express slot so if you bought it and found it isn't playing games particularly well, you can fit a 3rd party graphics card to boost video performance.
This would probably invalidate your (12 month) warranty though.

If you know anyone that works for Tesco, they could get you an additional 10% off the price. It will no doubt drop to £499 within 2-3 weeks if they're not selling really fast too!

I'm not saying it's not a good buy, a lot of people still prefer to buy a bundle from a 'high street' vendor for peace of mind, but you could get a better deal elsewhere (IMHO).

Try calling your local computer shops to see if they're offering anything special. Seasonally, this time of year forces even the greediest independant to offer strong deals and the recent drop in CPU prices should allow them to build you a tip-top machine well within your budget.

Okay thanks again so much for your very informative reply there, appreciatte your assistance.

just wonder if you happen to know what price I would have to budget for to fit a decent graphics card to this pc ?? any recommendations on what card is a good buy these days ??

cheers,
john

My brother bought a £549 pc from tesco a couple of months ago, after 2 weeks the digital memory card reader failed and last week the motherboard went tits up.

Okay mate, not to good that !! just wonder what make/ model off pc it was from tesco any idea ??