28-11-2012, 03:25 PM
(This post was last modified: 28-11-2012, 04:00 PM by Radio Fixer.)
W7 install is an absolute install doddle Colin. It does more or less everything for you "You need such and such a driver ....would you like W7 to go get it". "Yeah" Ta very much OK". It even sorts all the ISP stuff out for you .... amazing it just does it with no having to ring the ISP. But if buying a mch then try to buy it with W7 on. And this is one place an SSD is wonderful for, “Windows needs to reboot”, “OK” and in about 40 secs its all done. If it needs to do that several times it’s removes a chore!
Nick's recommendation for a small desk top box is fine in one way, in that you dont have to move the desk to get at it. But me, I like a tower (in fact I keep rebuilding in the old ATX one, good box so why chuck it). Plenty of room and I can put in a CPU cooler, and rear fan, with slow ultra quite fans. For me a PC has to be near silent. Modern fans are pulse width controlled by sensors on the MOBO and run real slow most of the time.
I dont play games either although mine has that sort of spec ... you need it for video render and drawing packages. You can get by on a slower mch for the latter but there will be lots of egg timer and yawning.
Not sure you will be able to buy a Dell without Mem and SSD as Nick suggests, maybe he's edging you to DIY. Not hard, hardest thing is deciding what components to put together but he gave you a lead on that. Takes a little courage to shell out lots of cash without a warranty thats all. When I was working non technical girls were shown how to do it and then built them on a regular basis!!
Have a look on Ebuyer, not trying to talk you into anything (your risk!
) but they have pre-assembled and tested bundles for the less confident. MOBO, CPU with cooler and mem ... stick it in a box, add a case fan, a SSD or a HDD or both and a video card. Wack on W7 and away you go. Got a 4 core AMD board that looks pretty good (what does Nick think? AMD always good value to me). Only downer on the MOBO was that I didnt see USB 3 ports but you have a big Gig ext. thats only USB 2 so maybe not bothered. Can always add a cheap PCI card for USB 3 if you need it.
Don’t agree Joe on PC’s not ageing, the improvements in the last 5 years have been huge. It depends what you do of course and what you are used to. Tried to help someone with an old PC recently, I couldn’t believe how slow it was… even opening folders were a groan, yawn, and I was glad to walk away. This one does everything pretty much instantly *, truly a joy to use. * Apart from render of course but that’s massively labour intensive. Great to look in Task Manager and see the 6 cpu cores all wkg … 5 will be flat out and the other ticking along looking after housekeeping or allowing me to do something else, although I tend to leave it to finish.
Gary
Nick's recommendation for a small desk top box is fine in one way, in that you dont have to move the desk to get at it. But me, I like a tower (in fact I keep rebuilding in the old ATX one, good box so why chuck it). Plenty of room and I can put in a CPU cooler, and rear fan, with slow ultra quite fans. For me a PC has to be near silent. Modern fans are pulse width controlled by sensors on the MOBO and run real slow most of the time.
I dont play games either although mine has that sort of spec ... you need it for video render and drawing packages. You can get by on a slower mch for the latter but there will be lots of egg timer and yawning.
Not sure you will be able to buy a Dell without Mem and SSD as Nick suggests, maybe he's edging you to DIY. Not hard, hardest thing is deciding what components to put together but he gave you a lead on that. Takes a little courage to shell out lots of cash without a warranty thats all. When I was working non technical girls were shown how to do it and then built them on a regular basis!!
Have a look on Ebuyer, not trying to talk you into anything (your risk!
) but they have pre-assembled and tested bundles for the less confident. MOBO, CPU with cooler and mem ... stick it in a box, add a case fan, a SSD or a HDD or both and a video card. Wack on W7 and away you go. Got a 4 core AMD board that looks pretty good (what does Nick think? AMD always good value to me). Only downer on the MOBO was that I didnt see USB 3 ports but you have a big Gig ext. thats only USB 2 so maybe not bothered. Can always add a cheap PCI card for USB 3 if you need it.Don’t agree Joe on PC’s not ageing, the improvements in the last 5 years have been huge. It depends what you do of course and what you are used to. Tried to help someone with an old PC recently, I couldn’t believe how slow it was… even opening folders were a groan, yawn, and I was glad to walk away. This one does everything pretty much instantly *, truly a joy to use. * Apart from render of course but that’s massively labour intensive. Great to look in Task Manager and see the 6 cpu cores all wkg … 5 will be flat out and the other ticking along looking after housekeeping or allowing me to do something else, although I tend to leave it to finish.
Gary
