Classic British Flight Sim

At last it is time for a new PC, hopefully one that won't melt.

I mainly use it for work - CS3 studio - so it doesn't need to be the most powerful, though maybe I would like it to work with FSX/11.

My budget is around £500 and I know I am pushing when I want:

- 4GB RAM
- Dual hard disk
- 512MB GPU

Despite the huge difference in price between retailers on what looks like the same spec (to me) I have found a few that look like good value...

- http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/produ ... 20_d10x402~~
- http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149061

I am wary of buying from large shops (and I know cheap Dell's are held together with spit) but the cost of going to a more sophisticated retailer (I have looked at PC Specialist and Cyberpower) is just way too high for me. I would love top quality components but I guess I'll need a real job and stop being a student for that.

Any advice, if you have seen any offers or think I should build one myself please let me know - I'm so confused by it all! Am I even looking in the right area?

Hi Hinch, I used to swear by Dell and although I found them to be good when it came to upgrading.......that is another story!!

Have you thought of trying out a local computer shop to see what they would charge?

Regards
Nigel

Hi Nigel,

Yes I have called in a local shop but they seem a little out of touch and will offer a dual core and 2GB of RAM for £500 - since PC World offer that for £200 less I will have to stick to big retailers I think.

What are your experiences with Dell? I have only had them when at school and I remember them being badly put together. I have heard some good things about the XPS systems but some bad too.

Has anyone got any experience with Mesh? (www.meshcomputers.com) I thought they had gone when I was about 10! They're very cheap...

Don't mention Mesh in fron't of Tony!

By all acounts Tony had a hell of a time with them.

Dell are useually fine, and a good bang per buck.

Hi Hinch

I found the Dell to be extremely reliable, likened to that of the old Morris Minors....Mine never let me down (had two) and I kept them running for six years each.

Where I work, City Council, they have used Dell for a long time no problems.

The guarrantee is good as well, though what-ever make you go for if dealing direct with the manufacturer make sure before you buy whether they pay for the carriage of the computer back to their factory or you have to. As far as I know Dell still covers the cost of carriage in the unlikely event of anything going wrong and it has to be returned under warranty.

Good luck

Regards
Nigel.

Sorry for this rather long post - several ideas at once:

Have you looked the Dell Outlet? This seems to be the place where cancelled orders go. Choice depends on what they have available and the good stuff goes quickly.
As an example, on the Vostro page http://outlet.dell.com/Emea_Dfo/EuDispa ... aint=VOSDT
take a look at system "FXREK35J" on that page. Not sure if it has a DVD/RW or not.
If anyone does buy from here print out the specs page for proof of what you ordered. It doesn't appear anywhere else and disappears after you have bought it.

Then there is the Dell Factory Outlet on eBay where the scratched systems go: http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/dellfactoryoutlet/
Nothing of interest on there right now.

And while talking of eBay, I bought two systems from a company on eBay last year. And it looks like they are still going:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/QUAD-CORE-2-Q6600 ... 911.c0.m14

So what is wrong with this system?
Asrock would not be my first choice of motherboard, but that one looks reasonably spec'd (and the ones in the PCs I bought are still going).
9500GT is a budget graphics card.
Based on my machines, the PSU will weigh about 8 ounces and not be capable of handling any upgrades.
Is it worth £305? Not sure.

I paid slightly more almost exactly 12 months ago for a Q6600 with 2Gb RAM, 8500GT graphics and 320Gb HDD. And slighty less for an E6750 system. Since then most of the components have been moved around between other PCs but I don't doubt that they would have been running ok so long as I had not pushed the PSUs. The only problems with BOTH machines was the memory needed reseating on arrival to get them to boot up!

So you pays your money and takes your choice. If you want a PC with a guarantee and one that you will not upgrade too much, Dell is interesting. As an inveterate fiddler with PCs, I'm not certain that Dell motherboards can be easily recycled into another PC. They also use their own PSUs which are not always a standard shape, so forget upgrading the PSU. My preference for items that I can swap when needed. And sell the remains on eBay

That probably doesn't help, but Ben might have some worthwhile comments on the different choices.

Ian

Interesting comments and further investigation of Mesh has crossed them off the list.

I am very much interested in a computer offered by PC Specialist, it is £30 less and a higher spec than the Dell XPS I configured:

- Intel Q8200 Quad Core
- 4GB Corsair RAM
- 80GB + 160GB RAID HD
- 1GB Nvidia 9600GT
- 450w PSU
+ better fans + firewire + 1yr warranty free collect and return

£628 inc. VAT and Delivery

I'm impressed because of the quality of the components (such as an Asus motherboard and Corsair RAM) and I would much rather have the 9600GT than the bottom of the line ATI card.

Is the spec above a good deal? I suspect I need a more powerful power supply - does anyone have experience with PC Specialist?

see later comments in:

http://www.cbfsim.org/cbfsim/cbfsBB/vie ... 32&t=14988

Oki doke, I'll up it to a 600w and I think I'm done - I did read that topic but all the numbers of those components confuse me!

If I can I will list off all the components for a check with someone in the know - I don't want any "oh that doesn't work with that bit" shenanigans.

My machine is from PC specialist. I selected the parts I wanted and within 8 days it arrived. From my experience they are a great company and I'll be buying from them again. One years interest free credit too which is useful. You can pay bits of the outstanding amount off during the first year if you want or leave the full amount until the end of the term. It's very flexible which I liked. Thumbs up from me