My PC died. Any help finding a new one? :)

louise-knight

louise-knight

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Louise Knight
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Hello! My PC has given up the ghost, I've rescued my internal hard drive but am on the look out for a new system but I don't really know what I'm looking for! Can any one offer any advice?

It needs to have the ability to run at the very least photoshop CS3 and CS5 when I can upgrade.
Fast processor, big hard drive, lots of RAM.

Budget approximately £500 but we're hoping to get windows 7 and a basic version of office with it too if possible (just need word and excel).

Not interested in building my own, but will happily add hard drives and the like to a ready made system.

MUST be able to multi-task.

I'm looking at one of these two, but if anyone has any other suggestions, please fire away :) I know the iRush is a gaming PC, but it would be fast and actually contains most of what the iFlame pro contains but with an additional HDD. I've contacted them to find out what graphics cards they both have.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/pc/range/iflamepro.html
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/pc/range/irush.html

(Please note: I do NOT want a dell!!)

Thank you!
 
neil_g said:
Why not a dell? There are some very nicely spec machines for the cash
Click to expand...

Because the last machine was a Dell, I've heard nothing but problems from them, and their customer service isn't the best.

Any advice on the machines I posted, or others?
 
I would go for the first link but pay a little extra for a decent PSU. The one supplied isn't realy up to it.

The second one you've linked to has 2 drives but as you already have one you don't need it.

Both will run CS5 without breaking a sweat.
 
as an apple fan id look at second hand macs, I recently bought for a friend, a macbook 2.2ghz Intel core 2 duo and 2gb of ram for £550, it should last for 3-5 years even though its second hand (thats slightly more than the average PC lifespan) but the real bonus is it came with:
CS5 master collection,
Aperture 3,
Microsoft office for mac,
final cut pro, roxio toast titanium,
Iworks 09,
Ilife 11,
and for only an extra £50 on budget you get a free upgrade to CS5 plus loads more software! (all software worth over £3000 when put together!)
Jack
 
for £500 a core2 duo is a little underspec'd concidering an i5 will tear that a new one :)

id agree with chris, the specs on the first one are pretty good value but a 380w power supply is a little measly.
 
to be honest for £500 you'd hard pushed to beat a Dell. second are always more likely to cause problems in the short term.
 
What's up with your current machine? Is it not repairable and upgradable? You may well get more for your £500. Especially if you already have the hard drives and components, etc.
 
I can't recommend overclockers highly enough. I have had one of their systems for a couple years and it's been the best machine I've ever owned. I recommended them to a few friends who have had the same experience.

They do pre-built bundles or if you're feeling adventurous you can configure your own. Specific things I'd recommend are:

- 64 bit hardware and OS
- Quad core processor
- 8 GB RAM
- SSD main hard drive for running OS and apps (much faster than IDE or SATA).
- Secondary large SATA drive for your data, eg your pics and vids - maybe 2TB

Have a look at the bundles on here:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk

If you'd like me to recommend specific models or configuration options I can have a look and pick something out for you.
 
joker2006 said:
Looking at those pics the onboard gfx would put me off
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For most people, integrated graphics is fine. If you don't like integrated, spend £25 on a cheap 512MB 8400 series graphics card which will be fine for picture editing. Hardly going to break the bank... It's a pretty powerful machine for a good price.

As has been said elsewhere though (I think on that bundle too) it might be sensible to replace the power supply.
 
arad85 said:
For most people, integrated graphics is fine. If you don't like integrated, spend £25 on a cheap 512MB 8400 series graphics card which will be fine for picture editing. Hardly going to break the bank... It's a pretty powerful machine for a good price.

As has been said elsewhere though (I think on that bundle too) it might be sensible to replace the power supply.
Click to expand...

plus its got 8gb RAM, so its not exactly going to be lacking once the integrated graphics has taken some memory.

also is it the i5 that handles on board graphics better anyway?
 
Onboard graphics are suitable for most people unless they are looking to play games and the majority of onboard solutions play HD content etc no problem.

As with any PC on a budget, if you want a higher spec in one area, you have to take from another.
 
There seems to be an echo... cho... ho.. o... in here :D
 
arad85 said:
There seems to be an echo... cho... ho.. o... in here :D
Click to expand...

Lol :D

Whilst I remember, just wanted to say that integrated graphics will be fine and you might wanna look at replacing the PSU should you want to upgrade the PC.

:p:p:p
 
iRush from Novatech
£549.98
CPU: Core i5 2400 @ 3.1Ghz 6mb cache (quad core)
RAM: 4gb 1333mhz DDR3
Hard Drive: 2x 500gb
Graphics: Onboard
PSU: 400W Novatech

iFlame Pro from Novatech
£479.99
CPU: Core i5 2300 @ 2.8Ghz 6mb cache (quad core)
RAM: 4gb 1333mhz DDR3
Hard Drive: 500gb
Graphics: Onboard
PSU: 350W Generic

Zoostorm Advanced Media from ebuyer
£489.00
CPU: Core i5 650 @ 3.2Ghz 4mb cache (quad core)
RAM: 8gb 1333mhz DDR3
Hard Drive: 1tb
Graphics: Onboard
PSU: Unknown, Generic

Fabro i5 2400 from DinoPC
£517.29
CPU: Core i5 2400 @ 3.1Ghz 6mb cache (quad core)
RAM: 8gb 1333mhz DDR3
Hard Drive: 1tb
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GT 440 1GB
PSU: 400W Xigmatek (£9.70 extra for 500W)

Primo Pterosaur from Overclockers
£489.98
CPU: Core i5 2300 @ 2.8Ghz 6mb cache (quad core)
RAM: 4gb 1600mhz DDR3
Hard Drive: 500gb
Graphics: Onboard (Nvidia GT 430 for extra £54)
PSU: OCZ 600W StealthXStream II

Primo Neo from Overclockers
£485.98
CPU: Core i3 550 @ 3.2Ghz overclocked to 3.6Ghz (dual core)
RAM: 4gb 1600mhz DDR3
Hard Drive: 500gb
Graphics: Nvidia GT 430 1gb
PSU: OCZ 500W StealthXStream II


A few notes for the above that a few people may find useful...

Core i3 processors are dual core, Core i5 quad core. Intel Core i3, i5, i7 processors with 3 digit model numbers are first generation whilst those with 4 digit model numbers are second generation CPU's often referred to as 'Sandy Bridge'. These are slightly faster then the first gen due to various enhancements.

Power Supplies - I haven't had any dealings with PSU's for some time now but it always used to be the way that big numbers didn't mean the best. It was always about quality and therefore a cheapy 600W PSU could be worse than a branded 400W for instance. A PSU going bang isn't much fun and the smell it lets off is worse than me after a curry.
This probably won't help many but if it helps at least 1 person then great :)
 
Just wait for the next Aldi (Medion) pc to come out, usually bang on spec and decent warranties.
 
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I'd definitely go for something with a branded PSU over a generic and dont forget to check which OS (if any) is installed as default. If you tend up upgrade things, make sure there is sufficient internal bays, USB /Firewire/etc ports to connect up your peripherals of choice etc.

I suspect most i3/i5/etc CPUs could be sufficient given they are all multi-core, would be useful to know what the OP is expecting to use it for as being able to multitask is pretty vague ;)
 
I bought a Novatech Delta last month as my old computer was slowing down quite a bit. You can get it at £299 without windows 7 and load it up yourself.
with 4gb ram and 500hdd it runs fine for my needs(y)
 
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