Advice on buying a new PC

Smike · 12th April 2005, 12:36 PM

I'm thinking of either replacing my current PC with something better, and using the old one to play around with linux etc on, or buying a new, crappy one to play around with Linux on, or buying a new one that I can boot to either windows or Linux on, and selling my old one.

Budget: absolute max Â£150 (I'm cheap)

My current computer:
pentium 3 1Ghz
256 RAM
30Gb HD (a 20 + 10)
network card
NVidea GeForce MX 400 64mb Graphics card
Windows ME

If I do buy a new PC, can anyone recommend any places to buy them (in UK).

If I'm using one system to run Linux, It doesn't really need an OS with it.

Any Questions?

ETA: I'm perfectly happy to build my own PC if It'd be cheaper

Your time starts.......Now!

Vitnir · 12th April 2005, 01:16 PM

For that price you will be pretty much be forced to buy a selective upgrade: Motherboard+CPU+RAM.
If the new CPU will get enough juice from the old power supply that is (300 watts should be ok). If you don't use games that use 3D-graphics you can at least keep the old card.

American · 12th April 2005, 01:39 PM

Give in and go Mac, already. Tiger is out this month, they have a good selection of hardware, finally, and decently priced too...

http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/05/0...?tid=179&tid=3

RSLancastr · 12th April 2005, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Smike
Budget: absolute max Â£150 (I'm cheap)

Perhaps you could buy higher-quality food for the hamster running on the treadmill?

As for American's suggestion, I am thoroughly convinced that Macs are your best bet if you are a professional graphic artist, or if you are gay. If you are a gay, professional graphic artist, you have no choice.

webfusion · 12th April 2005, 09:47 PM

Used iMac Â£80
Mac-compatible software Â£70

The look on your friend's face when you show him the Mac --- priceless !

Image courtesy of 'mac-sucks.com'

Smike · 13th April 2005, 12:54 AM

Bear in mind that the budget of Â£150 does not include any revenue generated by selling the old PC. However, for this option the new one must have a large HD to allow for multiple boots.

Also, the old one must be sold without an OS, as the ME CD belongs to my brother.

richardm · 13th April 2005, 01:24 AM

Phew, Â£150 is pushing it - have a look here though: Change the "Sort by" to "Low Price".

There are complete systems there as cheap as Â£75. Including monitor! You're not getting much by modern standards, but ten years ago we were using these as main servers

Vitnir · 13th April 2005, 01:56 AM

Prices seem to have dropped to a point where you can fit a HD in the bundle CPU+MB+RAM for that price. Windows ME can't handle more than 512 Mb Ram so there is no point in getting more than that. I also have a preference over AMD over Intel since I think AMD has a better price/performance ratio.
This assumes your old computer allows a different MB so if you got a Dell/Compaq etc this wont work. A regular miditower is best.

clusterm2 · 13th April 2005, 04:04 AM

Buy Micro Mart (weekly everyThursday) or if you're really that cheap take a pen and paper to Smiths

bigred · 13th April 2005, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RSLancastr
Perhaps you could buy higher-quality food for the hamster running on the treadmill?

As for American's suggestion, I am thoroughly convinced that Macs are your best bet if you are a professional graphic artist, or if you are gay. If you are a gay, professional graphic artist, you have no choice.

LOL

About sums it up.

I don't know what that coverts to in US bucks, but you can get a very respectable system for $250-300 now. Amazing.

Stitch · 15th April 2005, 04:34 AM

www.scan.co.uk

Doomdude · 15th April 2005, 03:57 PM

I am afraid that Â£150 will buy you nothing of use, best to stick with your current PC and save up some more cash

a_unique_person · 15th April 2005, 06:16 PM

150 pounds will get you something very respectable, but not leading edge. I am the king of doing it on the cheap, and I can play the latest games, (not at the fastest frame rate or resolution), quite happily.

Go for a 'box' bundle, making sure you get a half decent graphics card. You use the old keyboard, mouse, screen. A switch box can be used to swap to the old pIII, or just telnet to it, etc. There are plenty of free programs that will let you do that.

your 150 pounds is about $450 Aus. (sad, isn't it).

Sempron 2200 $75
Mobo all in one $115 (you have to make sure it has an AGP slot!)
Ram 512 MB $65
HD 80GB SATA $85
Box & PS $100
Video Card about $100

OK, so it broke the budget. You can use the old PS/Box with a Sempron, if the PS is big enough, saves $100, then you do squeeze in. The 'computer swap meets' will have all this stuff slightly cheaper again.

Terry · 19th April 2005, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RSLancastr
[...]I am thoroughly convinced that Macs are your best bet if you are a professional graphic artist, or if you are gay. If you are a gay, professional graphic artist, you have no choice.

Oh man, are they going to endorse my queer card again? Three more points on that puppy and I have to turn het... If I buy my sweetie a mac mini will that make up for the 20+ PCs and 5 Sun workstations?

--Terry.

Smike · 20th April 2005, 07:14 AM

Thanks, especially to those of you who gave useful advice.

I think I've decided to get a new PC, and possibly sell my old one if neccesary. (or keep the keyboard, monitor etc. and sell the parts that I don't want)

It seems that I am likely to get the best value buying the bits and assembling it myself. However, as I've never done this before, I need to know exactly what I need to buy. Could someone give a a list, maybe with a few less acronyms that AUP's please? Or maybe a useful link?

I've found a site that looks good for buying stuff, and as there's a shop near me I shouldn't have to pay postage.

http://www.refreshcomputers.com/default.asp

Thanks

bigred · 20th April 2005, 08:11 AM

IMO you don't really save much putting together yourself anymore. Course if you want to just for fun go for it, but last time I shopped parts and then looked at a similar system being sold in a store, there was precious little diff, FYI.

Re. selling your old PC, I would just suggest you be realistic. Given how old it is, you might be better off just giving it to charity or a friend/family member.

a_unique_person · 20th April 2005, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Smike
Thanks, especially to those of you who gave useful advice.

I think I've decided to get a new PC, and possibly sell my old one if neccesary. (or keep the keyboard, monitor etc. and sell the parts that I don't want)

It seems that I am likely to get the best value buying the bits and assembling it myself. However, as I've never done this before, I need to know exactly what I need to buy. Could someone give a a list, maybe with a few less acronyms that AUP's please? Or maybe a useful link?

I've found a site that looks good for buying stuff, and as there's a shop near me I shouldn't have to pay postage.

http://www.refreshcomputers.com/default.asp

Thanks

Whoa, there. If you don't know that much about this stuff, you would be better off just going for a 'box' upgrade. It won't cost much more, (as has been noted), but you won't have to put it together, either. If you haven't done this sort of thing before, you stand a good chance of making a mistake and breaking something. You then just use the old keyboard, monitor, etc.

Wudang · 21st April 2005, 06:06 AM

www.novatech.co.uk do quite good bare bones upgrades. See also cclcomputers.co.uk, ebuyer.com and aria.co.uk.

Vitnir · 21st April 2005, 08:01 AM

If you want to choose exactly what components you want in a system you need a company like this
There you can only pick components that work together.

To get a decent value withing the budget the only option IMO is to buy parts to replace the current bottlenecks.
BUT
It is quite possible to slip with a screwdriver and wreck the mainboard or CPU so, do you feel lucky?

12th April 2005, 12:36 PM	#1
Smike Innocent bystander Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: UK Posts: 2,111	Advice on buying a new PC I'm thinking of either replacing my current PC with something better, and using the old one to play around with linux etc on, or buying a new, crappy one to play around with Linux on, or buying a new one that I can boot to either windows or Linux on, and selling my old one. Budget: absolute max Â£150 (I'm cheap) My current computer: pentium 3 1Ghz 256 RAM 30Gb HD (a 20 + 10) network card NVidea GeForce MX 400 64mb Graphics card Windows ME If I do buy a new PC, can anyone recommend any places to buy them (in UK). If I'm using one system to run Linux, It doesn't really need an OS with it. Any Questions? ETA: I'm perfectly happy to build my own PC if It'd be cheaper Your time starts.......Now!
	__________________ 'As notable chicken superior court judge Sir Peckpeck Eatsbugs-Smythe once said, "the only thing we have to fear is space lizards with atom ray guns from beyond the moon." As true today as when it was said.' - TragicMonkey

12th April 2005, 03:32 PM	#4
RSLancastr www.StopSylvia.com Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Salem, Oregon Posts: 15,543	Re: Advice on buying a new PC Quote: Originally posted by Smike Budget: absolute max Â£150 (I'm cheap) Perhaps you could buy higher-quality food for the hamster running on the treadmill? As for American's suggestion, I am thoroughly convinced that Macs are your best bet if you are a professional graphic artist, or if you are gay. If you are a gay, professional graphic artist, you have no choice.
	__________________ Who is "Kaz?" Read about her at www.StopKaz.com. Curious about Sylvia Browne? Read about her at www.StopSylvia.com. Ever wonder "What's the Harm?" with psychics, alternative medicine, etc?

12th April 2005, 09:47 PM	#5
webfusion Philosopher Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Near I-95 Posts: 6,216	gay mac Used iMac Â£80 Mac-compatible software Â£70 The look on your friend's face when you show him the Mac --- priceless ! Image courtesy of 'mac-sucks.com'

13th April 2005, 12:54 AM	#6
Smike Innocent bystander Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: UK Posts: 2,111	Bear in mind that the budget of Â£150 does not include any revenue generated by selling the old PC. However, for this option the new one must have a large HD to allow for multiple boots. Also, the old one must be sold without an OS, as the ME CD belongs to my brother.
	__________________ 'As notable chicken superior court judge Sir Peckpeck Eatsbugs-Smythe once said, "the only thing we have to fear is space lizards with atom ray guns from beyond the moon." As true today as when it was said.' - TragicMonkey

13th April 2005, 01:24 AM	#7
richardm Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 9,270	Phew, Â£150 is pushing it - have a look here though: Change the "Sort by" to "Low Price". There are complete systems there as cheap as Â£75. Including monitor! You're not getting much by modern standards, but ten years ago we were using these as main servers
richardm Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 9,270	__________________ Rimmer: Look at her! Magnificent woman! Very prim, very proper, almost austere. Some people took her for cold, thought she was aloof. Not a bit of it. She just despised fools. Quite tragic, really, because otherwise I think we'd have got on famously.

12th April 2005, 01:16 PM	#2
Vitnir Muse Join Date: May 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 669	For that price you will be pretty much be forced to buy a selective upgrade: Motherboard+CPU+RAM. If the new CPU will get enough juice from the old power supply that is (300 watts should be ok). If you don't use games that use 3D-graphics you can at least keep the old card.

12th April 2005, 01:39 PM	#3
American Illuminator Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: CA Posts: 3,842	Give in and go Mac, already. Tiger is out this month, they have a good selection of hardware, finally, and decently priced too... http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/05/0...?tid=179&tid=3

13th April 2005, 01:56 AM	#8
Vitnir Muse Join Date: May 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 669	Prices seem to have dropped to a point where you can fit a HD in the bundle CPU+MB+RAM for that price. Windows ME can't handle more than 512 Mb Ram so there is no point in getting more than that. I also have a preference over AMD over Intel since I think AMD has a better price/performance ratio. This assumes your old computer allows a different MB so if you got a Dell/Compaq etc this wont work. A regular miditower is best.

13th April 2005, 04:04 AM	#9
clusterm2 Scholar Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Wirral Posts: 117	Buy Micro Mart (weekly everyThursday) or if you're really that cheap take a pen and paper to Smiths

13th April 2005, 03:04 PM	#10
bigred Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 12,538	Re: Re: Advice on buying a new PC Quote: Originally posted by RSLancastr Perhaps you could buy higher-quality food for the hamster running on the treadmill? As for American's suggestion, I am thoroughly convinced that Macs are your best bet if you are a professional graphic artist, or if you are gay. If you are a gay, professional graphic artist, you have no choice. LOL About sums it up. I don't know what that coverts to in US bucks, but you can get a very respectable system for $250-300 now. Amazing.

15th April 2005, 04:34 AM	#11
Stitch Muse Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: On the fence Posts: 672	www.scan.co.uk

15th April 2005, 03:57 PM	#12
Doomdude Scholar Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Guildford,Surrey,England Posts: 53	I am afraid that Â£150 will buy you nothing of use, best to stick with your current PC and save up some more cash

15th April 2005, 06:16 PM	#13
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Mt Disappointment Posts: 33,331	150 pounds will get you something very respectable, but not leading edge. I am the king of doing it on the cheap, and I can play the latest games, (not at the fastest frame rate or resolution), quite happily. Go for a 'box' bundle, making sure you get a half decent graphics card. You use the old keyboard, mouse, screen. A switch box can be used to swap to the old pIII, or just telnet to it, etc. There are plenty of free programs that will let you do that. your 150 pounds is about $450 Aus. (sad, isn't it). Sempron 2200 $75 Mobo all in one $115 (you have to make sure it has an AGP slot!) Ram 512 MB $65 HD 80GB SATA $85 Box & PS $100 Video Card about $100 OK, so it broke the budget. You can use the old PS/Box with a Sempron, if the PS is big enough, saves $100, then you do squeeze in. The 'computer swap meets' will have all this stuff slightly cheaper again.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. For if a man pretend to me that God hath spoken to him supernaturally, and immediately, and I make doubt of it, I cannot easily perceive what argument he can produce to oblige me to believe it. Hobbes

19th April 2005, 03:51 PM	#14
Terry Zeitgeist-impaired Technical Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: logged in to the server Posts: 6,450	Re: Re: Advice on buying a new PC Quote: Originally posted by RSLancastr [...]I am thoroughly convinced that Macs are your best bet if you are a professional graphic artist, or if you are gay. If you are a gay, professional graphic artist, you have no choice. Oh man, are they going to endorse my queer card again? Three more points on that puppy and I have to turn het... If I buy my sweetie a mac mini will that make up for the 20+ PCs and 5 Sun workstations? --Terry.

20th April 2005, 07:14 AM	#15
Smike Innocent bystander Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: UK Posts: 2,111	Thanks, especially to those of you who gave useful advice. I think I've decided to get a new PC, and possibly sell my old one if neccesary. (or keep the keyboard, monitor etc. and sell the parts that I don't want) It seems that I am likely to get the best value buying the bits and assembling it myself. However, as I've never done this before, I need to know exactly what I need to buy. Could someone give a a list, maybe with a few less acronyms that AUP's please? Or maybe a useful link? I've found a site that looks good for buying stuff, and as there's a shop near me I shouldn't have to pay postage. http://www.refreshcomputers.com/default.asp Thanks
	__________________ 'As notable chicken superior court judge Sir Peckpeck Eatsbugs-Smythe once said, "the only thing we have to fear is space lizards with atom ray guns from beyond the moon." As true today as when it was said.' - TragicMonkey

20th April 2005, 08:11 AM	#16
bigred Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 12,538	IMO you don't really save much putting together yourself anymore. Course if you want to just for fun go for it, but last time I shopped parts and then looked at a similar system being sold in a store, there was precious little diff, FYI. Re. selling your old PC, I would just suggest you be realistic. Given how old it is, you might be better off just giving it to charity or a friend/family member.

20th April 2005, 04:54 PM	#17
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Mt Disappointment Posts: 33,331	Quote: Originally posted by Smike Thanks, especially to those of you who gave useful advice. I think I've decided to get a new PC, and possibly sell my old one if neccesary. (or keep the keyboard, monitor etc. and sell the parts that I don't want) It seems that I am likely to get the best value buying the bits and assembling it myself. However, as I've never done this before, I need to know exactly what I need to buy. Could someone give a a list, maybe with a few less acronyms that AUP's please? Or maybe a useful link? I've found a site that looks good for buying stuff, and as there's a shop near me I shouldn't have to pay postage. http://www.refreshcomputers.com/default.asp Thanks Whoa, there. If you don't know that much about this stuff, you would be better off just going for a 'box' upgrade. It won't cost much more, (as has been noted), but you won't have to put it together, either. If you haven't done this sort of thing before, you stand a good chance of making a mistake and breaking something. You then just use the old keyboard, monitor, etc.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. For if a man pretend to me that God hath spoken to him supernaturally, and immediately, and I make doubt of it, I cannot easily perceive what argument he can produce to oblige me to believe it. Hobbes

21st April 2005, 06:06 AM	#18
Wudang BOFH Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sheffield Posts: 8,247	www.novatech.co.uk do quite good bare bones upgrades. See also cclcomputers.co.uk, ebuyer.com and aria.co.uk.
	__________________ Aphorism: Subjects most likely to be declared inappropriate for humor are the ones most in need of it. -epepke

21st April 2005, 08:01 AM	#19
Vitnir Muse Join Date: May 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 669	If you want to choose exactly what components you want in a system you need a company like this There you can only pick components that work together. To get a decent value withing the budget the only option IMO is to buy parts to replace the current bottlenecks. BUT It is quite possible to slip with a screwdriver and wreck the mainboard or CPU so, do you feel lucky?