Getting a desktop
Hey guys, I'm grabbing my first desktop soon (my current laptop has pretty much had it), but I know next-to-nothing about hardware and stuff, so... Yeah. I found a prebuilt computer with the following specs for £280:
Operating System: Windows XP.
Processor: Quadcore Xeon - 3.6Ghz (14.4Ghz total)
Ram: 4Gb DDR2
Graphics Card: Nvidea Geforce GT520, 1Gb dedicated memory.
As far as I'm aware it's pretty amazing, but then again it might suck and I just can't tell. Does anybody here know if this is good value for money if I intend to use it mainly for gaming? Sorry to be asking here, but if I ask anyone I know they just stare at me like "Da hell?"
Operating System: Windows XP.
Processor: Quadcore Xeon - 3.6Ghz (14.4Ghz total)
Ram: 4Gb DDR2
Graphics Card: Nvidea Geforce GT520, 1Gb dedicated memory.
As far as I'm aware it's pretty amazing, but then again it might suck and I just can't tell. Does anybody here know if this is good value for money if I intend to use it mainly for gaming? Sorry to be asking here, but if I ask anyone I know they just stare at me like "Da hell?"
Gaming hmm.
Windows 7 for sure. More RAM too would be great.
I don't really know about that CPU and graphics card - they seem pretty good but as they're on a WinXP machine they may be a bit out of date.
Edit: Nice price though
Windows 7 for sure. More RAM too would be great.
I don't really know about that CPU and graphics card - they seem pretty good but as they're on a WinXP machine they may be a bit out of date.
Edit: Nice price though
Well it all depends on the price. That's certainly not top of the line. But if the price is right, it's still a bargain. Personally I prefer Windows XP to the newer stuff, but it's definitely old. At the moment there are only a very few programs you can't run on XP, mostly from Microsoft (coincidence??), but I suppose it's inevitable that there will be more in the not too distance future.
Hehe, no. It means that each core runs at a given GHz, you don't add 'em up.
I thiiink you're getting screwed here. A GT520 is pretty much a low-end card and you could get a more powerful computer for that money.
Also, if the WinXP included isn't 64-bit (it probably is) you can't make use for 4GB.
As Sparrowhawk stated, get a computer with Win7 instead of the 12 year old XP, the RAM is enough though if gaming is your priority.
I thiiink you're getting screwed here. A GT520 is pretty much a low-end card and you could get a more powerful computer for that money.
Also, if the WinXP included isn't 64-bit (it probably is) you can't make use for 4GB.
As Sparrowhawk stated, get a computer with Win7 instead of the 12 year old XP, the RAM is enough though if gaming is your priority.
I see, I see... 
Okay, so hypothetically supposing I were to buy it anyway, if later on I upgraded the graphics card and switched to Windows 7 would that sort out most of the issues? As it currently is, it's still a massive upgrade from the sorts of machines I'm used to using.
Quiztis:
Heh, well I don't know too much as I said, that was just me managing to mind-blow myself xD
Would a more powerful computer just be meaning an improved graphics card, or would it be better in other areas too? Bearing in mind that £280 is probably the most money I'll be able to spend at the moment anyway.
Okay, so hypothetically supposing I were to buy it anyway, if later on I upgraded the graphics card and switched to Windows 7 would that sort out most of the issues? As it currently is, it's still a massive upgrade from the sorts of machines I'm used to using.Quiztis:
Heh, well I don't know too much as I said, that was just me managing to mind-blow myself xD
Would a more powerful computer just be meaning an improved graphics card, or would it be better in other areas too? Bearing in mind that £280 is probably the most money I'll be able to spend at the moment anyway.
Can we get some more info on that Xeon CPU?
Yeah sure, well this is all the info they have readily available, I don't entirely know what I'm looking for here:
HP XW6200 ULTRA FAST QUAD XEON 3.6GHZ
(FROM 2 X DUAL CORE XEON MAKING 4 CORES IN TOTAL)
Bonus Question!
They said that the slot's fine for PCI express cards. What does this mean, could it house a GeForce GTX 550 Ti card if I bought one further down the line?
HP XW6200 ULTRA FAST QUAD XEON 3.6GHZ
(FROM 2 X DUAL CORE XEON MAKING 4 CORES IN TOTAL)
Bonus Question!
They said that the slot's fine for PCI express cards. What does this mean, could it house a GeForce GTX 550 Ti card if I bought one further down the line?
Answer: Yes, any PCI-E card will fit in that slot.
Ah, the CPU is bound to HP it seems. You will not be able to upgrade the CPU without having to buy a new motherboard which I also suspect is HP-bound. I don't like already-assembled computers from the likes of HP, Dell etc. They limit you so much and they stuff the computer full of bloatware from the start.
Ah, the CPU is bound to HP it seems. You will not be able to upgrade the CPU without having to buy a new motherboard which I also suspect is HP-bound. I don't like already-assembled computers from the likes of HP, Dell etc. They limit you so much and they stuff the computer full of bloatware from the start.
They said that the slot's fine for PCI express cards. What does this mean, could it house a GeForce GTX 550 Ti card if I bought one further down the line?
Sure it could, PCI Express is just the current generation of interface for different computer pieces such as graphics cards
Sure it could, PCI Express is just the current generation of interface for different computer pieces such as graphics cards
Would I be needing to upgrade the CPU though? From the looks of it it's pretty powerful already... Although I did read something somewhere saying that Xeon processors, being server-oriented, aren't particularly good for gaming. Would they still be better than, say... A Pentium Dual-Core 3Ghz? (I ask as I have found another computer with the same specs, but with Windows Seven and that processor instead, which is £30 cheaper overall)
Ah okay, thanks, that's awesome then in that case :3 So yeah, the processor is pretty much the only thing concerning me now, or whether that dual-core would be better. One of my aunts says she has a spare copy of Windows Seven from working at a college, so the OS isn't so much of an issue now.
And thank you for putting up with me here, I realise I'm probably becoming kinda annoying with this
Ah okay, thanks, that's awesome then in that case :3 So yeah, the processor is pretty much the only thing concerning me now, or whether that dual-core would be better. One of my aunts says she has a spare copy of Windows Seven from working at a college, so the OS isn't so much of an issue now.
And thank you for putting up with me here, I realise I'm probably becoming kinda annoying with this
I can't really judge the price, since you're in the UK and everything is super expensive there. If it's good compared to other deals you've come across, I guess it's good.
As has been said it's not a top of the line computer though, so if you want to keep on playing the newest games on it, you'd likely have to upgrade sooner rather than later... I can't imagine that setup being good enough 5 years from now. I don't know anything substantial about brands to compare the two, but a quad core that's also faster most certainly sounds like the better one.
As for the OS, I'm with Paul. Not only is XP better, you'll be missing out on the wonderful satisfaction of switching to a fast computer since you're also switching to an OS that hogs a lot more resources.
As has been said it's not a top of the line computer though, so if you want to keep on playing the newest games on it, you'd likely have to upgrade sooner rather than later... I can't imagine that setup being good enough 5 years from now. I don't know anything substantial about brands to compare the two, but a quad core that's also faster most certainly sounds like the better one.
As for the OS, I'm with Paul. Not only is XP better, you'll be missing out on the wonderful satisfaction of switching to a fast computer since you're also switching to an OS that hogs a lot more resources.
If gaming is what you're aiming for though, can't XP only run up to DirectX 9.0 or something? With DirectX 11 or upwards being used you would miss out on all the more recent games.
I've decided on getting an AMD Quadcore 3.6Ghz processor in the end (which is somehow cheaper than the Xeon? Not sure how that works... O.o), so I'm happy with that now anyway
Yeah, I have to admit I kinda prefer XP to Vista and Seven too, but like Sparrowhawk said I don't think a lot of recent games can really run on XP... So I'm most likely going to go with a copy of Windows Seven.
Anyway I think I've settled with what computer I'm going to get now, and I'm planning to just upgrade the RAM and GPU+PSU whenever I can next afford to. So thanks for all the help everybody, it was very useful to hear all your thoughts
Yeah, I have to admit I kinda prefer XP to Vista and Seven too, but like Sparrowhawk said I don't think a lot of recent games can really run on XP... So I'm most likely going to go with a copy of Windows Seven.
Anyway I think I've settled with what computer I'm going to get now, and I'm planning to just upgrade the RAM and GPU+PSU whenever I can next afford to. So thanks for all the help everybody, it was very useful to hear all your thoughts
If gaming is what you're aiming for though, can't XP only run up to DirectX 9.0 or something?
That so? That sucks! I have Windows 7 on my "good" computer, but I've been meaning to get rid of it the next time I format the computer... Maybe I'll come to terms with how almost every change they've made since Windows XP is a change for the WORSE, while waiting for a new, possibly even suckier OS. =)
That so? That sucks! I have Windows 7 on my "good" computer, but I've been meaning to get rid of it the next time I format the computer... Maybe I'll come to terms with how almost every change they've made since Windows XP is a change for the WORSE, while waiting for a new, possibly even suckier OS. =)
