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Recently inspired by how easy and cheap it is to shop online from the States and an article in a PC mag, I've decided that it's too tempting just to get a new PC, with XP for my iTunes and A faster processor for my games. However, many queries arose after just a few minutes of investigation.
1) Win XP Pro
against
Win XP Home
What's the difference? I only skimmed over the specs of a couple of comps, but XP Pro seems to merit another 20 or so dollars. What makes it more pricey and would XP Home be perfectly good for my needs (see top of page)?
2) There's a manufacturer called Acer. Never heard of them myself, but do you guys know anything useful; reliability, etc. My current comp is an Evesham, although I would have prefered a Dell, and found out a treasure chest of problems. Like ME's inefficiency with system resources and how Eveshams over heat...
3) Anyone know the HMCE site better than me and can direct me to the import tax for computers or electricals in general.
Any help would be great!
:)
1) Win XP Pro
against
Win XP Home
What's the difference? I only skimmed over the specs of a couple of comps, but XP Pro seems to merit another 20 or so dollars. What makes it more pricey and would XP Home be perfectly good for my needs (see top of page)?
2) There's a manufacturer called Acer. Never heard of them myself, but do you guys know anything useful; reliability, etc. My current comp is an Evesham, although I would have prefered a Dell, and found out a treasure chest of problems. Like ME's inefficiency with system resources and how Eveshams over heat...
3) Anyone know the HMCE site better than me and can direct me to the import tax for computers or electricals in general.
Any help would be great!
:)
Page:
Notorious Biggles wrote:
> This reliability thing is something you've mentioned before, to which
> I pointed out that it was an urban myth.
Well, I'm not qualified to argue either way, because I simply can't remember the reasoning behind it. When it was explained to me, however, it seemed to make a lot of sense so it has made me wary of AMD machines.
> This reliability thing is something you've mentioned before, to which
> I pointed out that it was an urban myth.
Well, I'm not qualified to argue either way, because I simply can't remember the reasoning behind it. When it was explained to me, however, it seemed to make a lot of sense so it has made me wary of AMD machines.
Clazon wrote:
> ME and the overheating and the slowness is dire.
ME is just a mare in the first place. It's not labelled "Muppet Edition" for nothing!
As for the Over heating... Do you know what's causing it? It's funny how you slate a firm for over heating when at the end of the day your current PC is ancient, which is expected with old PC's.
You should feel how hot my DELL SX260 gets! It's only 12 months old and actualy has a warning on it requesting not to touch any of the surfaces whilst in operation!
This is the newer version of my DELL:
[URL]http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/optix_sx280?c=uk&l=en&s=pad[/URL]
It'n not actually a bad little machine, but then it's main use is for testing and nothing else. Occassionaly some surfing and some office work, but thats about it.
One thing I was going to ask, what's the specs of your current PC?
> ME and the overheating and the slowness is dire.
ME is just a mare in the first place. It's not labelled "Muppet Edition" for nothing!
As for the Over heating... Do you know what's causing it? It's funny how you slate a firm for over heating when at the end of the day your current PC is ancient, which is expected with old PC's.
You should feel how hot my DELL SX260 gets! It's only 12 months old and actualy has a warning on it requesting not to touch any of the surfaces whilst in operation!
This is the newer version of my DELL:
[URL]http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/optix_sx280?c=uk&l=en&s=pad[/URL]
It'n not actually a bad little machine, but then it's main use is for testing and nothing else. Occassionaly some surfing and some office work, but thats about it.
One thing I was going to ask, what's the specs of your current PC?
Cheers.
:)
:)
That'd work.
Asus K8V-SE Deluxe S754 VIA k8t800 ATX Sound Gig lAN Firewire USB 2.0 FSB 800 Retail Box 059993 131 £57.43
There you go.
:D
There you go.
:D
Notorious Biggles wrote:
> Clazon wrote:
>
> I have an AMD at the moment and it overheats all the time. So I
> wouldn't quite trust that it's better than a P4 in that sense.
>
> That was ages ago. Things have changed a lot. We've had two process
> shrinks in that time!
Hmmm. I'm sure. It's just that I detest this computer.
ME and the overheating and the slowness is dire.
> Clazon wrote:
>
> I have an AMD at the moment and it overheats all the time. So I
> wouldn't quite trust that it's better than a P4 in that sense.
>
> That was ages ago. Things have changed a lot. We've had two process
> shrinks in that time!
Hmmm. I'm sure. It's just that I detest this computer.
ME and the overheating and the slowness is dire.
Notorious Biggles wrote:
> It's a good motherboard... just it happens to be for a Pentium 4. You
> need a Socket 754 board for a 754 pin Athlon 64.
Balls. Thought I'd done this. Just it happens that Ebuyer don't give you much information about them.
> It's also a really small hard drive. You can get a lot bigger, for a
> not much more. And you will use it.
I can't see myself using more than 60/80 at the absolute max. The 40 one I picked out seems to have the 8MB cache and stuff for a reasonable price.
> The graphics card covers video, most motherboards have sound and USB
> 2.0 and some although not all have Firewire.
Ah, ok. So it's the mobo that needs the capabilities.
> Also, that optical drive will not burn DVDs, although it looks like
> it would play them.
That's ok.
Thanks.
;)
> It's a good motherboard... just it happens to be for a Pentium 4. You
> need a Socket 754 board for a 754 pin Athlon 64.
Balls. Thought I'd done this. Just it happens that Ebuyer don't give you much information about them.
> It's also a really small hard drive. You can get a lot bigger, for a
> not much more. And you will use it.
I can't see myself using more than 60/80 at the absolute max. The 40 one I picked out seems to have the 8MB cache and stuff for a reasonable price.
> The graphics card covers video, most motherboards have sound and USB
> 2.0 and some although not all have Firewire.
Ah, ok. So it's the mobo that needs the capabilities.
> Also, that optical drive will not burn DVDs, although it looks like
> it would play them.
That's ok.
Thanks.
;)
Clazon wrote:
> I have an AMD at the moment and it overheats all the time. So I
> wouldn't quite trust that it's better than a P4 in that sense.
That was ages ago. Things have changed a lot. We've had two process shrinks in that time!
> I have an AMD at the moment and it overheats all the time. So I
> wouldn't quite trust that it's better than a P4 in that sense.
That was ages ago. Things have changed a lot. We've had two process shrinks in that time!
It's a good motherboard... just it happens to be for a Pentium 4. You need a Socket 754 board for a 754 pin Athlon 64.
It's also a really small hard drive. You can get a lot bigger, for a not much more. And you will use it.
The graphics card covers video, most motherboards have sound and USB 2.0 and some although not all have Firewire.
Yes, you'll also need a PSU. Don't skimp on this, a lot of people do and it comes back to haunt them.
Also, that optical drive will not burn DVDs, although it looks like it would play them.
It's also a really small hard drive. You can get a lot bigger, for a not much more. And you will use it.
The graphics card covers video, most motherboards have sound and USB 2.0 and some although not all have Firewire.
Yes, you'll also need a PSU. Don't skimp on this, a lot of people do and it comes back to haunt them.
Also, that optical drive will not burn DVDs, although it looks like it would play them.
Mav wrote:
> P4's usually run quite hot, especially the Prescotts, but they're
> generally considered to be more reliable than the AMD
> processors. A P4 is probably a good choice for a non-gaming machine.
>
> If you do want a PC for playing games though, considering your tight
> budget, AMD are the best option. Go for an Athlon 64 though.
This reliability thing is something you've mentioned before, to which I pointed out that it was an urban myth. In fact, if anything, Intel chips are more unreliable now because using a stock Intel heatsink, if a case has poor airflow, there is a good chance that thermal throttling will kick in and slow the chip down. It's nigh on impossible to get a 3.8 GHz P4 to run at full speed without a third party heatsink.
> P4's usually run quite hot, especially the Prescotts, but they're
> generally considered to be more reliable than the AMD
> processors. A P4 is probably a good choice for a non-gaming machine.
>
> If you do want a PC for playing games though, considering your tight
> budget, AMD are the best option. Go for an Athlon 64 though.
This reliability thing is something you've mentioned before, to which I pointed out that it was an urban myth. In fact, if anything, Intel chips are more unreliable now because using a stock Intel heatsink, if a case has poor airflow, there is a good chance that thermal throttling will kick in and slow the chip down. It's nigh on impossible to get a 3.8 GHz P4 to run at full speed without a third party heatsink.
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