Does this spec for a desk top look ok or am I wasting money ?

A

adacoo499

New member
Hi - I am a real novice and have followed the advice from PC Specialist to use this forum to get advice - below is the spec I have selected - any advice / help / pointers would be great !

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz) 1333MHz FSB/6MB L2 Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P5G41T-M LX2 S: DUAL DDR3, S-ATA II, 1 x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x1, 2 x PCI
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA775 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Firewire & Video Editing
NONE
TV Card
NONE
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
NONE
2nd Monitor
NONE
DVI Cable
NONE
Keyboard & Mouse
NONE
Mouse
NONE
Speakers
NONE
Webcam
NONE
Headsets (VOIP)
NONE
Surge Protection
NONE
Printer
NONE
External Hard Drive
NONE
Home Installation
NONE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, Lifetime Tech Support)
Data Recovery
NONE
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price (excluding VAT)
£460.43

Price
£541.00

Order Quantity
1

Bulk discount
£0.00

Total order price (Ex VAT)
£460.43

Total order Price

£541.00

Payment method


Delivery details
 
LDUK

LDUK

Master Poster
What exactly would your Desktop be used for? This will help us find out what you need.
If it's just for a normal PC that you would use for web browsing, or looking at photo's etc then there are a few things I would change.

RAM - You will definatly not need 8GB of the stuff,I would go for 4GB or maybe even 2GB.

Intergrated graphics sucks, but if your using it for how I stated, it's more then fine.

I would go for a 450W Power Supply just in case.

And I see you don't want an operating system? I suppose you have your own, if so what is it?
 
Last edited:
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
As LDUK has stated, this machine is out of balance as you've got too much RAM when compared to the rest of the specification. You will be OK with a 350W PSU if you select 4GB of RAM.

Are you sure you do not want an operating system if you are a novice? Installing your own version of Windows can be tricky if you don't know what you're doing...
 
steveuk87

steveuk87

Super Star
you only want a duel core? thats the lowest of the current technology thats out and even though its fast can still get a bit bogged down, if your going for gaming i would suggest 4GB RAM and a Quadcore processor! Also 450Watt power :)

Steve
 
Matt

Matt

Bright Spark
Agree with all the others. If you only intend to use it for browsing, and or watching dvds with some light gaming (think sims 3 and other games that don't require much power) then a core 2 duo chip and 2 gig of ram is more than enough. If you do intend to do light gaming, i would move away from integrated graphics and pick up a low spec ati or nvidia card.
 
LDUK

LDUK

Master Poster
PCS said:
As LDUK has stated, this machine is out of balance as you've got too much RAM when compared to the rest of the specification. You will be OK with a 350W PSU if you select 4GB of RAM.

Are you sure you do not want an operating system if you are a novice? Installing your own version of Windows can be tricky if you don't know what you're doing...
Click to expand...

I would guess that a graphics card might come into play in the future. Maybe if they decide they would like to game on it. So I thought if they had a 450W, they are more future proof.
 
A

adacoo499

New member
Great advice - thanks everyone !

;)

Cheers to all for your feedback - having listened to what you have said I have amended the quote - see below: ( I have a an existing operating system - Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 2002 - is it worth ditching this for the suggested Windows 7 from PC Specialist ? / also I have a Voodoo 3 2000 graphics card in the PC I am replacing - can this be re-used in the new motherboard or is it worth ditching for the NVIDIA one below)

Use of PC - internet surfing / pictures/ video / light gaming


Any further thoughts very welcome before going ahead - thanks

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK FUSION CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9500 (2.83GHz) 1333MHz FSB/6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P5G41T-M LX2 S: DUAL DDR3, S-ATA II, 1 x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x1, 2 x PCI
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT220 PCI EXPRESS
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£25)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA775 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Firewire & Video Editing
NONE
TV Card
NONE
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
NONE
2nd Monitor
NONE
DVI Cable
NONE
Keyboard & Mouse
NONE
Mouse
NONE
Speakers
NONE
Webcam
NONE
Headsets (VOIP)
NONE
Surge Protection
NONE
Printer
NONE
External Hard Drive
NONE
Home Installation
NONE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, Lifetime Tech Support)
Data Recovery
NONE
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price (excluding VAT)
£468.94

Price
£551.00

Order Quantity
1

Bulk discount
£0.00

Total order price (Ex VAT)
£468.94

Total order Price

£551.00

Payment method


Delivery details
 
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
I would recommend Windows 7 Home Premium if it sits within your budget, as it's a big improvement in Windows XP and will make your PC more future-proof.

Your Voodoo graphics card will not fit into this PC unfortunately, it's likely to use an AGP port and we only sell motherboards that use PCI Express ports now.

The specification you have selected is average, I would suggest you follow my suggestions below to get a better specification, which is also cheaper (£516 delivered):

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK FUSION CASE inc. 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-540 Dual Core (3.06GHz, 4MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P7H55-M SI: MICRO ATX VALUE MAINBOARD,USB 2.0 & SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT220 PCI EXPRESS
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1156 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, Lifetime Tech Support)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
 
Last edited:
A

adacoo499

New member
Cheers - everyone seemed to by suggesting a 450w power supply ? Is this not your thoughts - looks like just an extra £25 ?

Thanks
 
HMFC_Riley

HMFC_Riley

Enthusiast
adacoo499 said:
Cheers - everyone seemed to by suggesting a 450w power supply ? Is this not your thoughts - looks like just an extra £25 ?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Only if you ever plan to upgrade it. If you take the 350w and upgrade parts in the future it could cause you some problems with lack of power.
 
A

adacoo499

New member
Hi - thanks for your suggested spec which looks like the answer - but the Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-540 Dual Core (3.06GHz, 4MB Cache) + HD Graphics - does not appear to offered on the drop down box on the web site - how can I translate your suggestion into a formal quote and then order ?

Cheers
 
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