Home-use desktop advice needed!

kazaam

Active member
I am in a dilemma. I need a new desktop base unit.

Firstly, I am looking for people's experiences with PC-specialist, i.e. their service, quality, after-sales service, etc.

Secondly, my system will be for general home use. I want to make sure this seems ok and there something that is going to cause problems (i.e. not big enough fan, etc).
I am not tooo tech savvy so forgive me.

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK FUSION CASE inc. 2 FRONT USB

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache)

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 ATI RADEON™ HD 5670 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 113rd Memory Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

DVDDrive
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
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS

Firewire & Video Editing
3 Port IEEE 1394a Firewire PCI Card

My budget is £500-£600
 

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
The specification you've put together is well balanced and will be more than adequate for general home use! :)

As for our quality and service, we try our best. Perhaps our forum members will comment on this later on when they log on.
 

kazaam

Active member
The specification you've put together is well balanced and will be more than adequate for general home use! :)

As for our quality and service, we try our best. Perhaps our forum members will comment on this later on when they log on.

It's between PC-Specialist & ***.

I have read fantastic reviews about both, but only bad reviews for PC-Specialist. I realise most sites will have some bad reviews.

Well, I'll probabaly be ordering within the next few days so will think about it.

I want a functioning HDMI, does the PC above have this?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
It's between PC-Specialist & ***.

I have read fantastic reviews about both, but only bad reviews for PC-Specialist. I realise most sites will have some bad reviews.

Well, I'll probabaly be ordering within the next few days so will think about it.

I want a functioning HDMI, does the PC above have this?

You say you've read fantastic reviews about both, but then you say you've only read bad reviews about us? Which one is right? Here are some independent reviews of us:

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/online-shops/pcspecialist-co-uk/reviews/

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews106007.html

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/www_pcspecialist_co_uk__6267622/SortOrder/2

http://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Here are another 1,500 individual testimonials: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/testimonials/ and here are our latest magazine reviews: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/reviews/

It's interesting that you're read positive reviews about this other company, because I searched and could only find 5 reviews in total...? And the only way I can find them is by searching google for "pc specialist" as they include our name in their meta tags and copied our keywords.

The spcification will have HDMI fitted to your graphics card, along with DVI. :)
 

kazaam

Active member
You say you've read fantastic reviews about both, but then you say you've only read bad reviews about us? Which one is right? Here are some independent reviews of us:

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/online-shops/pcspecialist-co-uk/reviews/

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews106007.html

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/www_pcspecialist_co_uk__6267622/SortOrder/2

http://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Here are another 1,500 individual testimonials: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/testimonials/ and here are our latest magazine reviews: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/reviews/

It's interesting that you're read positive reviews about this other company, because I searched and could only find 5 reviews in total...? And the only way I can find them is by searching google for "pc specialist" as they include our name in their meta tags and copied our keywords.

The spcification will have HDMI fitted to your graphics card, along with DVI. :)

Oops. :p I meant the only bad reviews I have read have been about PC-Specialist have. And yes you are absolutely correct, PCS has much more reviews than ***, and therefore it is bound to have negative reviews.

At the moment, I am swaying more towards yourselves to be honest.
Only thing now is, I am not too keen on any of the cases on here, but it's too much hassle ordering one then sending it to PS. Hmmm. (God, I must sound soo picky and fussy atm). It's going to be kept in the upstairs hallway so I want it to be something I quite fancy.

I quite like the following:

csasusta9l1nopsu.jpg
nzxthu001b.jpg
 
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kazaam

Active member
How do these specs seem instead:

Case
Choose Your Own Case - Click Here to Enter Details (Required)

Processor (CPU)

Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache)

Motherboard
ASUS® P7H57D-V EVO: FULL ATX, TRUE USB 3.0 & SATA 6.0GB/s

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)

Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT220 PCI EXPRESS

Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)



DVD 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
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED



Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Just for general fairly light use, is the above graphics card ok?

Also, if I order the case, can I have it sent to PS sstraight from the retailer?

How powerful a PSU do I need for this system :-s
 
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Meds

Moderator
Moderator
In regards to the case, I would give our Sales Team a call on Tuesday to see what they can do - if it's possible we may be able to order the case in for you and add the cost onto the price of the PC. The Sales Team will be able to confirm this for you.

The specification looks good, a 450W will be more than adequate for the components you have selected so you can save a bit of money changing from the 600W.
 

kazaam

Active member
In regards to the case, I would give our Sales Team a call on Tuesday to see what they can do - if it's possible we may be able to order the case in for you and add the cost onto the price of the PC. The Sales Team will be able to confirm this for you.

The specification looks good, a 450W will be more than adequate for the components you have selected so you can save a bit of money changing from the 600W.
That's absolutely fantastic.

Would I be able to email instead since I am away quite a lot of this week so it'll be difficult to call-in?
I don't really know how graphics cards work but will the 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT220 PCI EXPRESS be fine for a HD display if I want to upgeade in future. and my current standard resolution monitor wire only has VGA, will this work fine?

I want to make sure that everything will work fine.
 
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