Wanting new machine, looking at something like this:

[Phill]

Dell Studio XPS 7100


PROCESSOR AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (3.20GHz, 512kx6) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM English Genuine Windows®7 Home Premium SP1 (64 BIT) edit
SYSTEM RECOVERY OS Media MUI Windows® 7 SP1 Home Premium (64 BIT) Resource DVD edit
MONITOR 24in ST2420L UK/Irish Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor (VGA, DVI-D and HDMI) edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write) edit
MEMORY 8192MB (4x2GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory edit
HARD DRIVE 2TB Dual Hard Drive Raid 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7200rpm) edit
GRAPHICS CARD 1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 6770 graphics card with Vision Black label edit
KEYBOARD Dell Multimedia Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Black - UK/Irish edit
MOUSE Mouse Included in Wireless Keyboard and Mouse option edit
SOUND SOFTWARE Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Card edit

Floppy Drives and Additional Storage Devices 19 in 1 Media Card Reader


I think this is the kinda thing I want. Suggestions for much cheapness?!!!

[regalkings]

re morgage lol

[ducati]

Dell online you can build your own machine (virtually).

[Phill]

I don't really like Dell but they do let you 'play' with the options online.

I'd rather have something running XP rather than windies 7 so it can actually do stuff without grinding to a halt, doesn't need huge HDD storage but nothing wrong with plenty of RAM. Not built a machine myself for a few years so not up to speed on the latest gubbings.

[ducati]

I don't really like Dell but they do let you 'play' with the options online.

I'd rather have something running XP rather than windies 7 so it can actually do stuff without grinding to a halt, doesn't need huge HDD storage but nothing wrong with plenty of RAM. Not built a machine myself for a few years so not up to speed on the latest gubbings.

Unless you really need HD I'd give it a miss. Very very hungry.

[octane]

Whats your max budget and whats the main purpose of the rig, Gaming, photo or video editing or just to check emails and browse ebay and forums etc

[Phill]

It's for general beggering about, some photo editing (nothing heavy), basic officey type stuff. No gaming but I'm thinking of using it for copying music CD's too and playing them back etc. possibly also (not quite worked this bit out yet) as a tellybox. But I might end up using a normal LCD telly and switch it into PC mode for using the computer.

Budget is £2.50 .......ish

Main thing I'll need help with is the OS, I want something that doesn't fall over like W7. I don't know these days what background systems & process I can remove to free up system memory.

[octane]

What issues do you have with windows 7, Not sure on your pc habits but most operating system/software failings are caused by the end user. Quite a lot of unneccesary programs by default are set to load at startup and the more there is causes a bottleneck for the CPU etc slowing the pc down. Plus with them running in the background they are silently updating or popping up telling u that updates are available.

Check when adding new software as part of the package sometimes includes additional unwanted crap such as toolbars etc and requires unchecking of boxes to stop them being installed.

Look at your taskbar in the bottom right where the clock is, Ive seen pc's/laptops with well over 10 icons by the time the system has booted up and sometimes can take a while as there all jostling for access to the system. If you need to use a program then manually open up that software so its using system resources when you require it too.

Other issues obviously are adware/spyware or virus related and as long as your using a decent package then you should be fine.

I find a good cleanup program such as window washer or ccleaner to clear out all the temporay internet files etc etc helps out and if im installing/uninstalling a lot of stuff then a defrag now and then will keep things smooth.


Anyhow looking at dells site for that spec your over £900 so £2.50 aint gonna get u much or did u mean £250

[Vistravi]

Win 7 fall over???? You runnin 64bit version by any chance? Try the 32bit. That version is far more stable. Only other option for you is Ubuntu (think that how it's spelt) not for the faint hearted.

I take it the budget is £250 not £2.50?

General rule for PC systems just now is like this:

Single Core (P4) £100 - £200
Dual Core (Core 2 Duo) £200 - £350
i3 Core (or Phenom) £350 - £600
i5 Core (or Phenom) £600 - £800
i7 Core (or Phenom X6) £750 - £1000+

Of course this is dependant on specification and whether you go for, second hand, refurb or new.

I've got to negotiate with a new supplier on Monday as a few clients have approached me recently wanting PC builds. I should be able to have a quotation for you should you want it.

Also depends what you want with it,

HD LED Projector unit?
Sound system to go with that?
Special software? (Adobe packages, Soundwave)
External wirless storage hub?
Media centre case?

If you want it we'll try to find it. Check out our website should you want to find out more about us.

I've sent you a PM.

[Kodiak]

How about this, I think it is not a bad price either at £695.95 :-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMD-Phenom-X6-Gaming-PC-Blu-Ray-8GB-1-5TB-8GB-HD-5770-/110617841886?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item19c15650de

[Niall Fernie]

or this for £250

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Home+and+Office/Family+PCs/Proteus+E450+Desktop+PC+?productId=44383

You'll need monitor keyboard and mouse, but I take you have them already.

Put ubuntu on it and use gimp for photoediting, videolan for movies/dvds and libreoffice for office. Cheap and powerful enough. I use ubuntu everyday for everything except gaming (although WoW plays nice with Wine and Ubuntu)

If you want to use it for TV, have a read about myth and all its glory, as long as you get a compatible card (and there are many its easy to set up)

[shazzap]

Iv'e got aPackard bell EasyNote TM running on i3 windows 7 . Very pleased with it.

[Vistravi]

Kodiak got a good one there, except there is no O/S and no periferals, price works out the very similar to Dell's offering only without the warantee.

Aria system is missing a few essentials too, again no O/S, no wireless and no periferals. I also don't think much of GPU and Processor.

I've got some options I'll be offering through ADVance systems.

Budget system

Cheapest half good tower system I can build. Second hand case with new bits.

Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz
Gigabyte motherboard
4GB DDR3
Onboard GPU
500W PSU (Second hand PSU offered for an even lower price!)
DVD RW Drive
Wireless 150 Bp second
Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit Genuine

£324.41 with no periferals

ALSO with periferals...........

24" monitor
Second hand 2.1 Speakers
Keyboard & Mouse

Total for system £485.36

Parts can be uprated at additional cost. There can only be a limited number of these as my supplier is shifting these components FAST. Also dependant on what case you choose and whether you would like an uprated fan system or ambient lighting.

DELL'S CLOSEST MATCH TO THIS COSTS £706.08

I can run this deal or one similar for rest of the week (Tuesday to Sunday) PM or call for details.

High end system.

Processor (CPU): AMD AM3 PhenomII X6 1055T 9MB Cache
STANDARD 2.8Ghz Per Core = 16.8Ghz Total Power
OVERCLOCKED To 3.5Ghz Per Core = 21Ghz Total Power*
Stable 25% Overclock For Performance

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-770T-USB3 Featuring AMD 770 Chipset
With 16 x PCI-E, 2 X PCI & 16GB DDR3 RAM Support & NEW USB3.0 Ports

Memory: CRUCIAL 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz PC10600
Premium Performance Branded Ram

Hard Drive: SAMSUNG 2 x 500GB SATA2, 7200 RPM & 16MB Cache
SET UP IN RAID0 FOR PERFORMANCE = 1TB (+ 1TB for £50.00)

Optical Drive: SONY 24XDVD+/-RW Lightscribe With Dual Layer/Format (+Optional Blu Ray drive from £50.00)

Graphics Card: GIGABYTE ATI Radeon 5850 1024MB
Direct X11 & Pixel Shader 5 With DUAL DVI & HDMI Outputs

PSU: 750W

Connections: 12 x USB2.0 & 2 x USB3.0, Gigabite LAN 10/100/1000
7.1 HD Audio & 1 x Firewire & Mini Firewire Ports
1 x Coaxial & 1 x Optical S/PDIF Out connector

Software: MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 PREMIUM 64BIT
AVG Anti-Virus Package
Open Office Suite Inc Word Processing/Spreadsheets
Nero Burning Version 9.0

Perifierals: 24" monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse.


Priced @ £1050.00 or £1150.00 with extras inc VAT

[Bobinovich]

If you're looking for something pretty quick to handle XP just now (so long as you've got an XP license or can lay your hands on one somewhere as it doesn't come with one) which could also be upgraded to Windows 7 in the future, then I can heartily recommend this cracking wee beastie (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/251310). It multitasks like a dream under XP and priced at under £220 with another £12 or so carriage (ignore their free delivery - we don't get it up here) it even comes within your £250 budget, albeit not with the spec. you'd like!!!

[Phill]

Thanks all for your replies, gven me a few things to think about.

Cheers

[RecQuery]

An alternative to Dell that I like is PC Specialist (http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/) very highly rated, more customisation options, with better prices etc.