Is this a good deal?

super_furry

We've got a deal going on with Dell in work whereby we can buy the bellow PC for €750. I'm totally out of touch with the PC scene as my current desktop is still a PIII450 with 128mb of RAM, which was bought when it was pretty much cutting edge. I'd like the PC for gaming and multimedia stuff, so would the specs bellow be considered good value for money and what else (such as a graphics card) would I need to add to it? Cheers lads.

Optiplex GX520 Desktop - P4 630 (3.00ghz/800mhz/2mb, inc NIC)
PCI/PCI Riser (2 FH PCI + 1 LP PCI Card)
Windows XP 32 bit label
1.0GB 400mhz NON-ECC DDRII memory (2*512MB)
160gb (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
16x DVD+/-RW
17 inch flatscreen monitor
keyboard, mouse and all the usual software

silverside

people here will no doubt warn you off dell for various reasons (use of non-standard parts, better to build it yourself, corner cutting on case/psu, etc). On the other hand you get everything ready-to-go, no hassle, and you have one point of contact if anything goes wrong.

the pc you mention seems reasonable value for money but you sould need to add
- a graphics card (e.g. 6800/ 7800 / ati x800) of some sort
- maybe a sound card if you're fussy about sound in games - maybe the onboard is good enough.

In my experience of dell flatscreen monitors, they can be awful (the analogue one without DVI). Check it out first.

so to summarise
- good price
- should be fine for most things
- for games you'll have to get a gfx card
- check out the screen first to see if you like it.
- be aware of potential dell drawbacks.

masteroftherealm

No graphics card option is available as this machine has no AGP or PCI-Ex16 Slot so you can forget about gaming. The Flatscreen is very good I have one myself. Tis a good machine for a decent price as ling as your not into gaming in any way.

silverside

masteroftherealm, surprisingly to me, you are right!

super_furry can you get it in a mini tower case instead? then you would be able to add a graphics card

Orion

IIRC Optiplex don't come in MidiTower. I wouldn't consider that a great deal at all tbh. It's a fairly basic pc and you could get a higher spec for a lower price even from PC World (accepted that they wouldn't be the best brands).

TerrorFirmer

masteroftherealm wrote:

No graphics card option is available as this machine has no AGP or PCI-Ex16 Slot so you can forget about gaming. The Flatscreen is very good I have one myself. Tis a good machine for a decent price as ling as your not into gaming in any way.

Does it have some sort of onboard I assume, what type?

commited

As stated, the optiplex's dont allow you to add an AGP or PCI-E graphics card, whether or not you change the case, so you can forget about gaming.

It is a fairly good deal if you never want to game..


Splash out another €100 and get a much better machine:

From www.komplett.ie

NEC DVD±RW burner, ND-3550A, 16x, Dual, Black OEM

Samsung 17" LCD Syncmaster 710N TCO99 Silver, (1280x1024), 12ms, 600:1, D-Sub

Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 160GB SATA2 8MB 7200RPM NCQ

DDR-DIMM PC3200 512MB DDR CL2.5 Memory 184-P (for DDR-PC400MHz)

Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2 Software English OEM

EPoX EP-9NPA7I, nForce4-4x, Socket-939 ATX, 4xS-ATA, LAN, Sound, PCI-Ex16

AMD Opteron 144, 1.8GHz, Socket 939, 1MB, BOXED w/fan UNKNOWN ETA

In-Win C588 Midi Tower ATX Black Case w/350W PSU, USB 2.0

Total: 869 + €10 del

You'll need to add a PCI-E graphics card of your choice - how much are you willing to spend?

The opteron is a fantastic chip - at 1.8ghz, it runs equivalent to a XP3400+ and it is easily overclockable. I'd guess that the memory is better quality than what dell offers. Fantastic monitor. For a few quid extra you can get a much bigger hard drive. Motherboard is good quality and allows good overclocking options and stability. Case is always personal preference - I added the cheapest Case and PSU bundle, because dell give aweful powersupplies anyway. You'd be better off throwing another €50 at the machine and getting a better power supply.

commited

MobileInfantry wrote:

Does it have some sort of onboard I assume, what type?

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950

Wertz

D12515) Dimension 5150 Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 with HT technology (3.00GHz, 800MHz fsb, 2MB cache), Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2 Unit Price Incl. VAT € 887.40
Catalog Number: 5102
Module Description Show Details
Base Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 with HT technology (3.00GHz, 800MHz fsb, 2MB cache)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2
Memory 1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz (2x512) Memory
Keyboard Dell Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Ire (QWERTY)
Monitor Dell E156FP 15" Flat Panel Monitor - Midnight Grey
Video Card 256MB ATI Radeon® X600 HyperMemory graphics card
Hard Drive 80GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
Floppy Drives Internal 13-in-1 Media Card Reader
Mouse Dell USB 2Button Wheel Mouse
Modem V.92 Data Fax Modem
CD/DVD Drives 48x/32x/48x/16x CDRW/DVD-ROM combination Drive
Speakers No Speakers
Shipping Documents System Documentation with UK Power Cord
Gedis Bundle Reference List D12515 Dimension 5150
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Works 7.0 - English
Standard Warranty 1-Year Collect and Return service
Cover It with Dell Support Services 1-Year Collect and Return service
AntiVirus & Security Software No security subscription
Dell Photo Album Photo Album™ SE Basic
Paint Shop Paint Shop™ Pro® Basic Edition
Order Information Dimension Order - Ireland
Dell Media Experience Dell Media Experience 3.0 Basic
Adobe Reader Adobe Reader 6.0 - English
Promotions Hidden Option Class Reporting -512MB RAM FREE - Double Memory Promo
Dell Internet Order Dell Internet Order.

Dell Colour Printer 720 Qty 1
FREE Dell Colour Printer 720 Unit Price Incl. VAT € 0.00
Catalog Number: 5102
Module Description Show Details
Base FREE Dell Colour Printer 720
Cables No Printer Cable
Standard Warranty 1 Year Next Business Day Exchange Warranty
Printer Driver 720 FI Printer Driver for Dimension
Engineering/Informational Dell Imaging Printer order - Ireland
Order Information Included : 1 x 720 Black Ink Cartridge + 1 x 720 Colour Ink Cartridge
ACCESSORIES
No Additional Printer Ink Cartridge Selected Qty 1
Unit Price Incl. VAT € 0.00
TOTAL Incl. VAT:€ 887.40



______________________
Much better offer IMO, although the 15" screen could be bettered.
Just throw an NEC dvdrw drive in the second bay.
If you can get a discount on the optiplex then I'm sure they'll do you a better deal than the price I got on the configuration page.
Take a look at the Outlet site as well....sometimes a good offer to be had on there and the benefit of being able to add your own monitor is handy...

[edit]
http://outlet.dell.com/Emea_Dfo/EuDispatcher?target=SpecPage&serviceTag=FXDW23EZ&sessionID=DLglGbMk!671335518!801421980!1133027429922
Not a bad deal...comes to €705 after VAT and discount. No monitor with that though...