neo-ninja Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Hi All, Around 4 years ago i bought a refurb dell Dimension e521 that is still running strong. (Dual Core, 2.5ghz, 2gb ram, ati silent gfx card) However i am now thinking its time to upgrade and buy a new one. My dilema is do I go dell refurb again ( i have been very happy) but know i am paying prob around £80 too much. Or do i buy second hand on ebay, and save myself around £120 Or do i build myself one? I have around £300-400 to spend and dont want a mega beast, but ideally want it to last the same time and be able to run for the first few years some decent games on decent spec. But also i dont want it to be mega loud so ideally will need to buy a decent brand power supply. Spec i can get on ebay are around, i5 first gen, good gaming card, 500gb+ storage, 8gb ram. Occasionally people pick up a bargain with an i7 or ssd drive. From dell refurb i was looking at this: XPS Dimension 630, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz, 4g ram, 1tb hdd, 1gb GeForce 9800 GX2. If i build one, im prob looking at close to the top £400 mark and would be looking at a spec around, i5, 8gb ram, my old hdd, my old dvdrom, new gfx card. Your combined advice in this would be fantastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK350Z Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 At that budget, its just a case of how much hassle you want. I guess the £80 extra at Dell is covering some kind of limited warranty? Certainly more appealing that an ebay special, although there are loads of small time shops offering re-furbed PCs that will also give you a warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogyRev Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 The extra £80 for a referb from Dell is not such a bad thing, as AK says you will get some sort of warranty. If your happy with your other components then a motherboard bundle is also a viable option. Have a look here for motherboard bundles and bare bone systems...... http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/motherboardbundles/mbb-i5240a.html http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/barebones/bb-23204a.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I say build one, if you have some basic know how. Just do your research to ensure the parts like each other. It's satisfying when it all works (it's a lot easier these days) and you will have a better spec machine at the end of it - in addition to having a better understanding to fix things if they go wrong. I spent £600 5 or 6 years ago and ended up with a machine which would have cost around £1K already built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glrnet Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 PM BM & SMD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 My preference is building one, but then I would go for a higher budget if you want a half decent rig that can play games for the next couple of years. It also depends what else you expect it to do and how well it does it. Decent power supply is a must in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 So is the general feeling that were dead against an Ebay job even though you seem to get quite alot more for your money? And yes the dell refurbs come with a varying warranty between 1 month and 1 year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 You could spec up the hardware in an eBay machine and see if the sum of parts is cheaper and then.self build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 You could spec up the hardware in an eBay machine and see if the sum of parts is cheaper and then.self build. Therein lies the problem as you seem to save around £100-150 which on a £300-£400 is alot. IE heres one that sold not long ago and i would say this went for around £30 too much by my current watching standards i didnt bid as I am really looking for an i5 or i7 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200713680593? ... 1423.l2649 But in terms of spec, i reckon if you price it up its around £400 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Build one or get a specialist to put together a bare bones one, try yoyotech there are pretty reasonable that way you get what you really want and a warranty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MFM Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 If you are going to put a PC together with good components and good back up then the place to check is: http://www.novatech.co.uk/barebonebundles/ They are very helpful. I am not a computer expert but wanted a fast 4 core machine to run radio software. I put one together for £300. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 The trouble im finding, is that from Novatech and elsewhere were the pcs are already built they cant compete in price, for example an I5 2400 barebones system from Novatech is £300 but for that price on ebay you get the same pc with drives, hdd, ssd, more ram and a gfx card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 The trouble im finding, is that from Novatech and elsewhere were the pcs are already built they cant compete in price, for example an I5 2400 barebones system from Novatech is £300 but for that price on ebay you get the same pc with drives, hdd, ssd, more ram and a gfx card. Buy it cheap, buy it twice... At the end of the day it is your money, but if you go for the cheapest option with no backup then you take a risk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 My preference is building one, but then I would go for a higher budget if you want a half decent rig that can play games for the next couple of years. It also depends what else you expect it to do and how well it does it. Decent power supply is a must in my opinion. BM I used to be all into my pc's awhile back. To let you know how far back the best graphics cards was an ati x1900 now amd. Ebuyer used to be the cheapest. I know some people hate Ebuyer but they always been fine. Even when I've had a problem they sorted it. Don't use ocuk as I don't like the owner. Scan and dabs seen to be more expensive. So what's the cheapest place for pc stuff? Components I mean not built ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MFM Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Buy it cheap, buy it twice... At the end of the day it is your money, but if you go for the cheapest option with no backup then you take a risk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Buy it cheap, buy it twice... At the end of the day it is your money, but if you go for the cheapest option with no backup then you take a risk Yeah damn I guess your right, its just the allure of getting a much better pc. I guess on that note i should look at dell refurbs again, so the specs i have are below, and are all around the same price £340inc tax. Model.................... Dimension XPS 630 Case Type.............. Tower CPU...................... Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz Memory (MB)........... 4096 Hard Disk (GB).......... 2x 640 Optical Drive/s.......... DVD-RW Video .................... 1gb GeForce 9800 GX2 Soundcard............... Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer USB Ports................ 8 or Model.................... Studio XPS 7100 Case Type.............. Tower Sliver Case CPU...................... AMD Phenom II x6 1045T 2.7GHz Memory (MB)........... 6144 Hard Disk (GB).......... 750 Optical Drive/s.......... DVD-RW Video .................... 1gb Radeon HD 5770 Soundcard............... Onboard USB Ports................ 8 Model.................... Studio XPS 7100 Case Type.............. Tower Sliver Case CPU...................... AMD Phenom II x6 1055T 2.8GHz Memory (MB)........... 4096 Hard Disk (GB).......... 1500 Optical Drive/s.......... DVD-RW Video .................... 1gb Radeon HD 5770 Soundcard............... SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music USB Ports................ 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I would personally go for something with a slightly better processor like an i5... Can you not use any components from your old system to keep the costs down? A £300ish bare bones with a decent motherboard/processor/ram with your old HD / DVD / Graphics card etc will almost certainly be better than an all new £300ish system like those you mentioned.... Remember if you get a decent core then upgrades will give it fresh life, if you start with a poor core you can spend £100's and it will still be poor... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I got this bundle just before christmas and put it in my existing case with existing optical drive, power supply & graphics card.... my old system was similar to those you mention and believe me this combo is like night and day Yoyotech Warbird Carbon Bundle - P8Z68-V LX Motherboard / Intel i5-2500K CPU / Overclocked @ 4.4Ghz/ Freezer Heatpipe Cooler / 8Gb DDR3 Memory / Built & Tested http://yoyotech.co.uk/item-detail.php?products_id=4376325 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 I would personally go for something with a slightly better processor like an i5... I was led to believe that the AMD X6 processors were 6 cores and therefore better then the i5 standard, not sure about overclocking as really want the system to live for around 4 years. The other trouble i have is the case i have now for my dell is just a bog standard case but is quite small so cant fit in larger newer gfx cards etc.. (Although in ventilation terms its the best case i have ever owned ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Also bear in mind that there are different specs of each processor - ie you can get crap i7's and great i7's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 More cores doesn't mean quicker in every area An unclocked Intel Core i5 2500K - 3.3GHz - 1MB L2 - 6MB L3 will outperform a AMD Phenom II X6 1055T - 2.8GHz - 3MB L2 - 6MB L3 in almost every area, particularly 3d gaming if that's your thing... Anyway none of those Dell systems will be pants it's just you are paying quite a bit for some pretty ordinary parts i.e. the graphics cards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Also bear in mind that there are different specs of each processor - ie you can get crap i7's and great i7's. Very true and no point getting a great i7 and putting it on a crap Motherboard with rubbish ram.... bit like putting a GTR engine on the back of a push bike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I got this bundle just before christmas and put it in my existing case with existing optical drive, power supply & graphics card.... my old system was similar to those you mention and believe me this combo is like night and day Yoyotech Warbird Carbon Bundle - P8Z68-V LX Motherboard / Intel i5-2500K CPU / Overclocked @ 4.4Ghz/ Freezer Heatpipe Cooler / 8Gb DDR3 Memory / Built & Tested http://yoyotech.co.uk/item-detail.php?products_id=4376325 Build your own Just built my new rig, but cost a lot more than £400 i72600k@4.4ghz 16gb Kingston ram Asus P8Z68 Deluxe mothernoard 2x1gb Hard drives 1 256gb Crucial SSD Asus GTX480 graphics card Corsair 850 Watt PSU Going to water cool the cpu shortly though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Lol so now im falling back into the Ebay boat i think. I guess my real question is for £300-£400 what should i be doing? My PC case is not big enough to use so i would need to buy a new one if i went down that route, my hdd is 350gb so i could use that although not sure how much longer it will last, my dvd drives etc i could use fine. (barely use them anyway) GFX is a no go as its useless. I need to have a complete system that is working for the £300-£400 i will sort windows myself so dont need to worry about that. As i said i want to be able to play some games, for a couple of years and then after that the pc will be a internet movie media center pc. I reckon my old pc could go for around £50-70 on ebay, so if i strip it down i need to be saving that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogyRev Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I guess my real question is for £300-£400 what should i be doing? Looking at Beavis' post above ...... saving Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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