which to buy?

cacio

I'm looking for a desktop for my younger brother. I dont know a lot about computer specs so would appraciate some help. He's 17 and is into online gaming and things like that. It will mostly be used for games, multimedia and internet. He wants the dell 9200. sorry if I'm being vague but I really dont know alot. thanks for any help.

8T8

The Dell should be okay but the one thing Dell skimp on in most of their machines is in the graphics department which is important for gaming.

This system from Komplett is better value for money as you get a better CPU & much better graphics card the only downside is that it does not come with a monitor though you can add one at the end, I'd go with the Samsung 20" LCD Syncmaster 206BW for an extra €250 that's a 20" widescreen and is a very capable display.

To bring the Dell up to the same spec as the Komplett machine you need to tick the box next to the E6600 in the CPU section and the box for graphics next to the 8800GTX which is the only other other choice but that will put the cost of the system a fair bit higher as the GTX is a flagship part & Dell offer no other in-between units.

Chef1976

its probably worth checking if the games he plays actually require a high end graphics card. Many games dont.

bazwin

can anyone recommend a good place to buy(retail or online)? what are the best models etc....looking to spend around 500 euro....cheers

cacio

Thanks for the replies. He wants a custom built pc so i'm going to post the specs for the exact pc he wants. If anyone knows any better pc or where to get a better price that would be great. hope the post isn't to long.

PROCESSOR Intel® Viiv™ Core™ 2 Duo E6600 Processor (2.4GHz,1066MHz,4MB cache)

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium - English

MONITOR Dell™ 20" UltraSharp™ Wide Aspect Digital/Analogue Flat Panel (2007FPW) - UK/Irish

MEMORY 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]

HARD DRIVE 500GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache

GRAPHICS CARD 256MB nVidia® GeForce® 7900GS graphics card

OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive & 48X CDRW/DVD-ROM combination Drive edit

KEYBOARD Dell™ Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY) edit

MOUSE Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Optical Mouse - Black edit

SOUND CARD Sound Blaster® X-Fi Xtreme Music PCI Soundcard edit

SPEAKERS Dell™ A525 Speakers with Subwoofer edit

Accessories

FLOPPY/MEDIA DRIVES Internal 13-in-1 Media Card Reader & 1.44MB Floppy Drive edit

MICROSOFT SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English edit

Services & Software

HARDWARE SUPPORT Collect & Return, 1 Year Service only edit

SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee® Security Centre™ 8.0 - 15 Month Protection - English edit

Also included with your system

Gedis Bundle Reference List D05926a Dimension 9200

Shipping Documents 9200 English Documentation with UK Power Cord

Order Information Dimension Order - Ireland

Standard Warranty Collect & Return, 1 Year Service only

Dell Internet Order Dell Internet Order.

Promotions Hidden Option Class Memory - Upgrade to 2048MB 667MHZ (From 1024MB)

SYSTEM MEDIA Dimension Resource DVD for Vista (Diagnostics & Drivers)

From € 1,583.33
€ 1,523.32 Includes VAT & Shipping

8T8

The Komplett system I linked to above is the best value for money option when even when you add-on the monitor, the extra money your spending on the Dell is only bringing it up to the same level. It has the 8800 GPU, the E6600 CPU and as good a display as the Dell 2407 plus the same amount of RAM for €1367.

If you prefer buying from Dell & getting the 9200 system just replace the graphics card in it as the 7900GS is a mid-range part at this stage in it's life. Get an 8800GTS 320 for €267 on OcUK or for €260 on Komplett. You can sell the 7900GS to offset a little bit of the cost but if going with a high resolution display like the Dell 2407 then a good graphics card is strongly recommended that is unless he doesn't mind sacrificing details or playing games at lower resolutions.

zod

Cheap base system here