Can anyone tell by this lot whether I got a good deal or not, I had a

Dell Dimensions

2400 3.06GHz 533FSB with HT Technology.
27c Intel Pentium 4 Processor 3.06GHz.
512 MB NonECC 333Mhz DDR RAM Memory (1x512mb)
3.5" Floppy Drive
80GB IDE (7,200rpm) Hard drive.
48x DVD/CDRW Combo Drive.
Sonic Software for CD/RW and combo.
Cyberlink powerDVD V14.
UK-Win XP Home SP1.
Microsoft Works 7.0

Which all went tits up so a neighbor recommended a Friend of theres who repairs computers for a living, he took it away to repair it and was also going to upgrade it, he rings me up 2 days later saying saying that the parts he was going to upgrade it with wouldn't adapt to the dell base how true is this??.

Anyway he said he could build me a new base which would be alot better and more up-to date for £300 so I agreed and he brought it round the next day, so I thought I would post the new and old spec up here hoping that someone can let me know if I got a good deal or not because I haven't got a clue.

At the moment I just use the computer for the usual: Internet, Photos, Itune, etc. Oops nearly forgot PF and porn but was wondering if the spec would be OK for Gaming?

The new Spec excluding the monitor Is

 

Honestly, he's stitched you up. You can buy a similar base unit for about half that price on ebay (like this one: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=160307163057 - but this is infact better!)

He's right about saying you can't upgrade the Dell.

It wouldn't make a great gaming machine. The video card is fairly low power by current standards and the machine needs a lot more RAM (although this is cheap).

 

was the old spec better then?? if so the C#####t probably could repair it and sold it on, saying that it was old I brought it in 2003

 

The new machine is a bit better than the old one.. I suppose on a scale of 1-10, the old one was about 2 and the new one a 3.

 

mate of mine built a phenom quad core PC with 4 gig of OCZ gaming RAM and 8800 GT and spent about the same, if not less than you.

 

e4300 £48.24
msi mobo £26.49 (cant find anyone with 1 in stock)
8500gt £26.44
512 ddrs £8.64
maxtor 160 £34.68
sh202 £15.50


£159.99 total for bits ..
ok so a case and psu ontop and not forgetting the operating system ...
thats all i can say really ...

as for gaming all depends on what you want to play...
look at at least £500 in bits for a reasonable gaming machine tbh ..

 

hes royally ripped you off, im suprised it even runs on 512mb ram! processor is good, thats about it.

 

Dont forget hes used his time putting it together aswell, so i think "stitched up" is abit harsh a word to use really.
But i agree he could of save abit by doing it himself or whatever

It just needs another gig of ram, and abit better graphics card and it will game pretty well.
Both of those would cost you about £150 ish

 

Thanks Eagle for taking the time to price all that up mate, when you see the figures written down like that makes me feel a bit better maybe not so riped off after all but I know there is always a better deal out there if you are willing to look for it, and if you know what all the jargon means, I suppose stick another £30+ on that for the case etc he has probably made about £100ish "every body has to make a living"

 

check what psu hes installed, if its a cheap no name one then it will probably go bang at some point, taking all £300 with it.

 

no probs mate, i dont charge for building pc's should do i know but i love the fun of doing it
can take a bit of time to not build it as such but installing the os then waiting 6 hours for it to download all of microsoft's updates and they say time is money

 

That is a fair comment and I retract it. I didn't read carefully enough and thought it was his neighbour doing it, not a business.

 

That would take me 20 mins to put together so not exactly time consuming

 

OK, as said you have paid over the odds for it, but I would buy these two items, possibly 3 items and you should be ok for gaming Sell the old items on ebay.

2GB of 800mhz ddr2 ram, around £20
Ati radeon 4830 graphic card, around £90
Intel e7300 CPU around £90 * try your old CPU first as it may be ok and there is also a possibilty you can overclock it.

 

It's certainly better than your old system - just needs more ram

So £30 for a boggo case and PSU + £60 for OEM XP - that brings it to £250 - £50 for the build an install isn't unreasonable.

Last PC I built I charged £400 labour - then again it was watercooled with a custom side panel and paint job Normally charge £30 for a build - £60 if that's to include installing and patching Windows.

 

Your telling me you could put a pc together from scratch (properly) in 20mins? including sorting out a brand new case doing all the motherboard connections aswell? i dont think so...........

Not properly screwing everything down and making sure it works 100%

 

BM08- I used to be able to no problem when I used to build them all day (long time ago now!!).. And that'd include ghosting the o/s over too

 

I agree - 20 mins with retail hsf, 1 stick of ram, 1 hdd and one optical drive is about the norm for me as well. Obviously it will be longer if it doesn't boot first time or the case is peculiar.

 

yes 20mins - 30mins is about right. used to do it everyday when i worked in a pc shop!

 

Yeah, as said a real half an hour will do a decent job with tracking internal cables etc.. The only time consuming part is putting the mobo fittings onto the case, matching the led, power connectors, usb (if seperate pins) onto the mobo. Obviously if buidling a high spec system with water cooling, fan speed controls, Raid setup it will take longer.