Please Help Me Find A New PC - I Know Nothing!

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purpleronnie

New Member
Hi everyone,

I'm after a new PC I dont need a monitor or printer just the tower bit :)

I dont play games online or anything.

What I need the PC for is for work. I need to be able to open large programmes maybe 2 or 3 at the same time (like ADOBE). Thats my main concern being able to open all these applications up and not waiting forever like I do now.

So I wondered what I should look for to achieve this?.

I also not sure what type of Operating System I should get? I want windows but unsure which is the best / fastest / most stable version.

Plus if theres anything else I should look for too. I'm only looking to spend £300.

Thanks so much, I hope you can help a complete PC Moron.
 
Well, sorry but I know next to nothing. That is, when I need something I do a crash course in all this stuff then when things are running fine again I seem to forget about it all. This forum seems like a good place to explore.

So I am basically saying, don't feel bad about knowing very little.
 
300 pounds = $435 right?

hmm well building a computer yourself from individual parts isnt too hard. Maybe you can list what you want and someone around here can find each part. newegg.com is a good place to start. Take a browse around there and get an idea for whats out there and how much it cost. Theres probably companies out there that will build you one, other then dell or hp etc., but I've never taken that route. Bought my first computer as a Dell and then been creating my own as time passed.

what you need is...

computer case
computer case fans
power supply
hard drive(s)
dvd/cd/blu-ray drive(s)
motherboard
processor, processor heatsink and fan
memory
video card/onboard video
operating system
- sound and network should be built into the motherboard

This is what I suggest...

processor: Intel core 2 duo, Intel core 2 quad
memory: ddr2 or ddr3 and either 2 or 4 gb
video card: radeon 4850 or 4870
hard drive: 7200 rpm and alteast 300 gb or so
power supply: atleast 500W

everything else is really up to you just as long as all the components works together
 
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I don't know if a Core 2 Duo processor would fit into the budget they have for a computer. You may want to look at an AMD Athlon X2 processor instead of the Core 2 Duo processors. The Core 2 Duo processors are faster than the Athlon X2.

If you can, post some links to computers you are looking at and we can give you educated opinions on what you are looking at.

Your best option is to pay someone to build a system for you though. You will get better parts and an operating system disc.
 
Had a quick look on PC World, how does this one sound for what I need:-

276572.jpg


Processor Type AMD Phenom 9550
Processor speed 2200
RAM Memory 4000 MB
Hard Disk Capacity 500 GB
Drives Fitted DVD RW
Drive Speed (DVD/CD) DVD 16x DVD RW 16x
Drive Speed (CDRW, CDROM, DVD) 52
Graphics Memory 256 MB
Graphics Description ATI Radeon X1200
No of USB connections 4

£329 free delivery.
 
Advent is PC Worlds own brand. My bro had an Advent laptop, and it was basically crap. Battery lost all its charge capacity and the DVD drive broke after about a year. It was just out of warranty. It never got what I would describe as abnormal use.

So I think that they use cheap components, which if its a work computer I am assuming its going to be on for 10 hours a day (?), may start failing pretty soon, epsecially stuff like the PSU as 2048Mb said.

It looks nice though! But all that is my opinion. Hope that helps, Doug.
 
I'd recommend at least looking at Dell to see if you can get a rig in your price range. Dell makes high quality builds. I had one for over 8 years and the only thing that went bad was the internal battery that keeps track of date and time. Check that, the peripheral speakers also went sour on me about 6 months ago.
 
Older phenoms are not good for gaming compared to Intel. Phenom II is better, or at least now it's on par with Intel offerings
 
konsole said:
300 pounds = $435 right?


processor: Intel core 2 duo, Intel core 2 quad
memory: ddr2 or ddr3 and either 2 or 4 gb
video card: radeon 4850 or 4870
hard drive: 7200 rpm and alteast 300 gb or so
power supply: atleast 500W

everything else is really up to you just as long as all the components works together
Click to expand...

why would he need a 4870 a 200 dollar video card for using adobe thats a gamming card lol will be a waste of money for what hes doing the onbored vid wouldve been adiquite
 
building your own

apple.com
alienware.com
both of these will be a bit more expensive though
but other than these 2 sites I do not know anything Dell might have something though
 
bengal85 said:
building your own

apple.com
alienware.com
both of these will be a bit more expensive though
but other than these 2 sites I do not know anything Dell might have something though
Click to expand...

You can't build your own Apple or Alienware for that matter...

Might I recommend going with an AMD processor? When you're on a budget it's the best way. Also, the ASUS M3A78-CM makes a nice motherboard with built in graphics... other brands to look into are Gigabyte and MSI. :)
 
I would recommend doing that crash course again. Learn how to build a computer now so you can build your own by yourself in the future. Do a little research on each individual thing I have listed in my first post. For instance what is top of the line now, what is outdated, and what are good "bang for the buck" parts. here is the order I would look for parts...

1. motherboard - either mATX or ATX form
2. processor - make sure it fits the processor socket on the motherboard, somewhere in the 2-3 ghz range
3. memory - make sure the motherboard can support the type, amount and number of individual memory sticks
4. power supply - just has to fit the case form of mATX or ATX and have enough power to supply all your stuff, 500W - 750W is a good range. They have adapters that attach to all the various components like the motherboard, drives, fans etc.
5. optical drive - an internal dvd burner can be installed inside the computer case and will burn, read and write dvd's and cd's (blu-ray will do everything if you want that route)
6. video card - PCI-Express is the common form now and just make sure the motherboard has a PCI-E slot either x1, x4, or x16 (x16 2.0 video card and capable motherboard is best setup). You can also buy motherboards that have built in video if your not going to doing intensive video stuff like games.
7. sound and network - just make sure the motherboard has built in audio and network or you need to purchase seperate cards
8. case - either mATX or ATX form and make sure the case, the motherboard and the power supply are all the same form (often times cases will come with power supplies)
9. case fans - "alteast" 2 case fans making one sucking in cool air and the other blowing how air out. The computer case needs to have screw holes to mount the fans (80mm, 90mm, 120mm are some common sizes)
 
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