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Desktop Computer

For those lifers considered to be clued up in the art of "computing" I was hoping for some advice..

I'm in the market for a new desktop computer, I will be using it for word documents, Internet browsing and some hardcore football manager playing.

Can anyone point me in the right direction on what I should be looking at getting? I have no idea about how processors etc work..

Any help is much appreciated.

Thank you.
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Comments

  • edited June 2015
    If that's all you will be doing I would imagine that you would struggle to find a computer (or laptop) that wouldn't be more than adequate.

    Not that you should follow my advice, but I've always bought my PCs from Dell and they have an outlet store that saves you a lot of money if you are happy with a computer that might have been returned for some obscure reason (not faulty) and might have the odd scratch or dent. However, you might find that they only have expensive machines - all be it they will be discounted.

    You can browse their computers here:

    http://www.dell.com/learn/uk/en/ukdfh1/campaigns/splitter

    If you are looking for a computer and don't, already, have a monitor you might find that a low end laptop will be cheaper.
  • Just out of interest, what's wrong with your old one? A couple of two years ago (when I heard that Microsoft were going to stop supporting XP) I decided to have a bash at a little DIY on my ancient Dell Dimension even though I'm no computer expert.

    I lobbed in some new Crucial RAM (their system scanner tells you what's compatible), a new larger hard drive and loaded up Linux Mint as an operating system. Changing over the hardware was easy peasy even for a wombat like me and the machine has been trouble free ever since. (Touches some wood!) So saved the cost of a new machine for a few years anyway. And it was quite good fun and satisfying when it powered back up.
  • Prior to building my PC I used a Dell computer... Really good little machines
  • edited June 2015
    Why buy new?

    You get some serious bang for your buck from these boys...

    https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/moreinfo/about/

    Used them for donkeys years, swear by them.
  • edited June 2015
    Any PC would do the browsing.

    For FM you want a fairly decent clocked processor & an Solid State Drive instead of a Hard Drive.
    You don't need to but makes it much much better when your playing a game with over 140,000 players.

    SSD will make the system boot much faster as well.
  • Insist on an SSD and 8gb ram minimum. Anything else is a luxury.

    I'll build you a superb machine for £450
  • Thanks lads for your input. I don't have a desktop so this will be a new purchase for me.

    SSD?

    Is this dell place the best place to get a desktop?
  • Solid state drives. Traditional hard drives are spinning disks and are comparatively slow.

    A traditional spinning disk will read information at approximately 100mb/s. An SSD will read at about 500mb/s. Imagine how much faster a pc is if it can access information that quickly, rather than having all the other components waiting for the hard drive to do its job.
  • My last three have all been Dell, over a decent period of time. Latest being an all in one screen/PC thingee. I'm no expert but they have always done the job for me until technology and the photo programmes I use overtake them eventually.
  • I do not recommend all-in-one screen computers as they are powered by laptop components and won't age well.
  • Sponsored links:


  • A vote for Dell from me.
  • I will check out the above link then!!! Any particular models I should be looking at ?
  • edited June 2015

    I will check out the above link then!!! Any particular models I should be looking at ?

    One with big tits, should make you floppy drive hard.
  • The only difference between the manufacturers of these desktop machines are what case they put on them. Inside they are all the same and as reliable as each other.
  • Been thinking about getting a PC for France (got an all in one dell at home and I have to say it has been fantastic) unbelievable what you can get desktop wise for about £500 these days.
  • Any particular model of Dell?
  • Why buy new?

    You get some serious bang for your buck from these boys...

    https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/moreinfo/about/

    Used them for donkeys years, swear by them.

    @soapy_jones good products? Having a look on the site today, may order if they deliver.
  • Why buy new?

    You get some serious bang for your buck from these boys...

    https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/moreinfo/about/

    Used them for donkeys years, swear by them.

    @soapy_jones good products? Having a look on the site today, may order if they deliver.
    Never been let down. Delivery pucker as well. Its all reconditioned stuff but the way these big firms change their IT every couple years its pretty current.
  • Why buy new?

    You get some serious bang for your buck from these boys...

    https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/moreinfo/about/

    Used them for donkeys years, swear by them.

    @soapy_jones good products? Having a look on the site today, may order if they deliver.
    Never been let down. Delivery pucker as well. Its all reconditioned stuff but the way these big firms change their IT every couple years its pretty current.
    @soapy_jones what would you recommend for a gaming computer?
  • That's where my advice breaks down mate. Not a gamer just buy bits and bobs regularly for work. You might get better advice but I would say pay top dollar for the top processor speed and screen resolution. Anyone else?
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  • edited August 2015
    For gaming you need lots of RAM, a graphics card with a lot of RAM and a fast processor. Gaming machines tend to be the more expensive as the more high end components the more expensive everything else has to be to stop the machine from melting.

    SSD is a given nowadays anyway tbh.

    Being a pc gamer is more of a hobby than console gaming as not only are you buying the latest games but every so often you'd need to upgrade RAM, then maybe your graphics card and other compatible components

    It just depends on how "hardcore" you want to go, you can buy a high end gaming machine and can last you a long time with no upgrades, but eventually the technology will surpass your computer and you'd need another expensive machine. So In that sense upgrading gradually makes more economic sense.

    I'm a motion graphics artist/video editor and need similar machines. Even though we tend to use macs where I work. Not a lot can go wrong and when it does its apple's fault and every one else is having the same problem

    I wouldn't recommend macs though for gaming as not many are playable on macs without installing windows on a portion of your hard drive
  • Plus macs just use laptop components and aren't very powerful
  • @kentaddick thanks for the advice. So RAM and a graphics card? If I'm honest I'll be using the PC for some football manager, Microsoft Word and casual internet browsing. I won't have a massive collection of games.

    Would everyone else recommend a dell or something from the website @soapy_jones recommended?
  • Plus macs just use laptop components and aren't very powerful

    It depends what macs you use...

    If it's just for football manager then I wouldn't go ape shit on the graphics card, what other games do you play?
  • Plus macs just use laptop components and aren't very powerful

    It depends what macs you use...

    If it's just for football manager then I wouldn't go ape shit on the graphics card, what other games do you play?
    @kentaddick The Sims games. That's about it really.
  • Plus macs just use laptop components and aren't very powerful

    Plus PCs get infected with viruses, worms and Trojans and you end up as part of some Russian mafia's botnet.

    Basically, decide which operating system you prefer (Mac, Linux, or Windows) and will run the games, then get a new or up-to-date used machine with a decent processor and as much RAM as you can afford. Seeing as the days of £40 a Megabyte are long gone, you can generally afford to max out the RAM on most boxes these days.
  • Plus macs just use laptop components and aren't very powerful

    Plus PCs get infected with viruses, worms and Trojans and you end up as part of some Russian mafia's botnet.

    Basically, decide which operating system you prefer (Mac, Linux, or Windows) and will run the games, then get a new or up-to-date used machine with a decent processor and as much RAM as you can afford. Seeing as the days of £40 a Megabyte are long gone, you can generally afford to max out the RAM on most boxes these days.
    @AddicksAddict can you recommend a particular one? Have no idea where to start
  • Are any of these any good for what I'm after???

  • If you're just playing basic games like the sims, It'll work on low settings on those machines with the i5-2400 CPUs. If want it to run well, you'll need a graphics card which probably won't fit in those machines.

    On Ebuyer (a site I've used regularly), you can pick up a solid, affordable PC with a graphics card that will work just fine. This one (http://www.ebuyer.com/719686-zoostorm-gaming-pc-7260-5102) has lots of ram, a decent graphics card and an intel CPU with windows. But then again I don't know what your budget is.
  • @CrayAddick The first thing you should decide on is your budget. Do you have a figure in mind?
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