Hello, I am going to spec out a machine for my parents, they have kb/mouse/monitor etc so i want to just get the box itself,

i am thinking going through Dell, but are there other local, reliable sellers with good warranty and customer service ?

umart has been good in my experience. Bought the last few pc's there and they're the best price without being absolute s***e on service.

After my last experiance with umart ill never buy anything from them again.

Personally I get all my friends and family to buy through CA. Yes, they may cost more but their service is outstanding

the system that they have now is CA, its been going pretty strong for 5 years or so...

msy is cheap and look after me

vista question: which one? or stick with XP ?

vista question: which one? or stick with XP ?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/choose.mspx

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2068721,00.asp

If you're buying it for your parents, Dell all the way. You won't beat their support with the likes of MSY or Umart and they can call Dell when things break on it, instead of you.

Dell wont let me not buy a monitor?

From CA:

$1163

1 x AMD AM2 Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ CPU Retail
1 x Gigabyte AM2 GA-M61SME-S2 AM2 Motherboard
2 x DDR2 1GB Generic 667MHz RAM
1 x 250GB Seagate 7200rpm 16M Serial ATA HDD
1 x ASUS 8600GT 512M PCIe Video Card
1 x * No Backup Device
1 x * No Monitor
1 x Thermaltake Aguila Case Black
1 x * No Keyboard
1 x * No Power Protection Device
1 x LiteOn 20x DVD Writer SATA Black
1 x Integrated Sound Card
1 x * No Speakers
1 x * No Modem
1 x Integrated Network Connection
1 x MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM
1 x MS Office 2007 Basic OEM (No Media)
1 x Internal All-in-1 Memory Card Reader Black



last edited by d0mino at 10:11:03 13/May/08

do your parents need a 3d vid card?

my web surfing boxes all just go with onboard video

On a side note when I picked up a case from ca the other day some older guy came in and was like "Oh hi, I'm after a new motherboard... yeah the one I have is a old slot A motherboard so yeah" haha I could hear the mental groan of the person helping him. "yeah basically u need a motherboard, cpu, ram, hdd and possible a video card" "ohhhh"

lulz

Domino they will, you just need to speak to a human.

My dell account manager put this together for me, which I am looking at getting for our kitchen, IE Media PC really..

1 Inspiron Desktop R210405N - Dell Inspiron 530s Desktop 1 792.00 792.00
Additional Hard Drive -No Additional Hard Drive
Base System -Intel(R) Pentium(TM) Dual-Core Processor E21 1
60
-(1.8GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) 1
Delivery -Standard Delivery: Delivery 9am-5pm - Monday -
to Friday (excl. public holidays)
Dell Services: -2 Years Limited with Next Business Day Onsit 1
Hardware Maintenance e Service
-2 Years Plus Phone Support: Mon-Fri 0800-200 1
0, Sat 1000-1600 EST
Freight Charges -Dell | Inspiron Desktop(TM) Slim Tower Handl 1
ing & Insurance Charges(Australia)
Hard Drive -320GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive with Native Co 1
mmand Queuing
Items included in the -Integrated Fast Ethernet 10/100 1
system
-System Drive DVD kit 1
-Dell(TM) Support Center 1
-Adobe reader (English) 1
-Shipping Documentations 1
Keyboard -Dell(TM) USB Quietkey(R) Keyboard with Silve 1
r Trim (English)
Memory -1GB (2X512) NECC Dual Channel DDR2 667MHz SD 1
RAM Memory
Modem -No Modem
Monitor -No Monitor
Mouse -Dell(TM) Optical USB Mouse 1
-Dell(TM) Mouse Mat 1
Operating System -Pre-Loaded Genuine Windows(R) XP Professiona 1
l (English) OEM Version
-Dell(TM) PC Restore Included 1
-Power DVD Decorder Software 1
-Genuine Windows(R) XP Professional SP2 Edition (English) CD Media 1
Optical Drives -16X DVD+/-RW with Dual Layer Write Capabilit 1
ies
-Roxio Creator 10 1
Remarks -Discount is only valid if the corresponding 1
upgraded item is selected above.
-Limited time promotional offer only. No furt 1
her discounts apply
Security Software -McAfee(R) Security Center(TM) – 30 days tria 1
l
Software -Microsoft(R) Works 9.0 (Does Not Include Mic 1
rosoft(R) Office 2003/2007 Software)
-OEM-Word Processor/Spreadsheet/Database/Cale 1
ndar/Powerpoint viewer/Email Tools
Sound Card -Integrated 7.1 Audio 1
Speakers -No Speaker
Video Card -256MB PCIe(TM) x16 ATI Radeon(TM) HD 2400 Pr 1

do architect programs such as archicad and autocad require 3d cards?

nm, i think they do...

last edited by d0mino at 11:32:34 13/May/08

Yeah they do

Other thing to keep in mind about that case is that it won't take a full height card

my dads pc died last night and im sick of fixing it, so time for a new one
I just put an order in this morning at umart for one of these dooverlackies

Business PC system - $999 w/ 19" lcd

# Intel ATX E6550 CORE 2 DUO 2.33GHz/4MB CACHE/1333FSB/LGA775
# Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L G31 1333MHz Dual DDR2-800 PCI Express x16 Int.VGA
# DDR2 2048MB(2x1G)PC6400 800Mhz Kingston
# Seagate Serial ATA NCQ 250GB 7200RPM 8mb Cache
# Samsung 943N 19 inch LCD 5ms Black
# HP HH-20A1S-H16 SATA 20X DVDRW
# CoolerMaster Centurion RC330 Elite Black with 420W + HD Audio(RC330KKR
# Microsoft Business Hardware Pack Keyboard&mouse USB/PS2 - Retail(Black
# One years warranty

# One years warranty

Heh

if it is for your parents look at the dell soho line, you can (could) get that without monitor, and then chuck on top 3 years next business day warranty and you NEVER have to be bothered by it again - until you tell them to buy a new one in 2.5 years.

oh jmr, what would be a better case? I am looking at this card
1 x ASUS 8600GT 512M PCIe Video Card

also, that case is pretty expensive. i'd be keen on something cheaper.



last edited by d0mino at 13:06:32 13/May/08

Vista: Vista Home would be fine for your P’s.

If you’re going to get a generic PC, then go with Computer Alliance. I have heard good things about MSY (cheap but still good service) but I haven’t personally used them so not going to recommend them. I know CA is good service, although you will pay slightly more. Go with one of the Antec Sonata cases, they’re good and have good PSUs.

As for Dell, unless your parents are uni students living off doll cheques – then avoid. Get a proper name brand PC. IBM (Lenovo) or HP are good (there is also others). IBM are probably the best business PC available – but you pay more and get slightly older technology. HP probably would be a good compromise. That’s what I buy at my current work. Trade-off for name-brand PC’s in general is you pay more and get less. But the entire PC is designed as a unit so the parts play together nicely as opposed to a generic PC where it is not uncommon for say for example a particular RAM to not work with a particular motherboard. And the service is usually much better. If your vid card f***s up with an IBM they’ll send you one the next day. If it f***s up with a generic PC you wait months till the replacement arrives. Better places like CA tend to not have this problem however.

As for video card, Nvidia have a line specifically for CAD type stuff, the Quattro’s. At least that’s what they were when I last looked at them (about a year ago). These will provide good performance for CAD type stuff, but as they’re aimed at business users they are more expensive than the gaming cards.

$1145
1 x AMD AM2 Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ CPU Retail
1 x Gigabyte AM2 GA-M61SME-S2 AM2 Motherboard
2 x DDR2 1GB Generic 667MHz RAM
1 x 250GB Seagate 7200rpm 16M Serial ATA HDD
1 x ASUS 8600GT 512M PCIe Video Card
1 x * No Backup Device
1 x * No Monitor
1 x Antec Sonata III Mid Tower Case
1 x * No Keyboard
1 x * No Power Protection Device
1 x LiteOn 20x DVD Writer SATA Black
1 x Integrated Sound Card
1 x * No Speakers
1 x * No Modem
1 x Integrated Network Connection
1 x MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM
1 x MS Office 2007 Basic OEM (No Media)
1 x Internal All-in-1 Memory Card Reader Black

RAM is cheap, don't get generic and get 4GB.

Sorry domino - I was referring to the case in the quote I pasted, which is a slim case and takes half-height cards.

Regardless, there are a few options available that will fit that case, namely the new Quaddro NVS 285 and 290's which you can just pickup from Umart or similar.

I would definitely advise going for Dell over building it simply for the warranty - the peace of mind that some poor prick has to come out within a business day to fix it is such a blessing.

You should also try and work out what level of CAD card you are going to need, the Tom's charts are a good place to start, although are missing a few of the newer cards.

Parabol: I think Umart and other cheap places are great for uni students who have not much money but lots of time. If a problem occurs, these people have the time and desire to screw around with the thing, taking the bus back and forth to the store to get parts swapped.

But for people who are willing to pay a little extra to potentially save them tens of hours and months of downtime (my bro currently has a vid card that has been gone for months that he purchased from one of the cheap stores that failed), I think CA is great.

Another thing CA is great for is buying for business. I do some private SOHO set-ups and repair type stuff after hours. When I buy PCs for clients I want something that if it breaks, can just be taken back to the store by the client and they can have it back within the next day or two. I would not be confident that this would happen with a cheap store (see my bro's vid card example above).

Yeah I deleted my post before you posted. Don't worry about it, I'm over it.

what the deuce...where did your post go? Did I just imagine it?

Parabol: I think Umart and other cheap places are great for uni students who have not much money but lots of time. If a problem occurs, these people have the time and desire to screw around with the thing, taking the bus back and forth to the store to get parts swapped.

i dunno about umart, i only really buy parts from there, but ive put together a heap of systems from msy

the minor issues ive had, have been sorted same day both times that i took them back (morningside store)

no dramas

So im thinking this one for my folks

$1193

1 x AMD AM2 Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ CPU Retail
1 x Gigabyte AM2 GA-M61SME-S2 AM2 Motherboard
2 x DDR2 1GB Generic 667MHz RAM
1 x 250GB Seagate 7200rpm 16M Serial ATA HDD
1 x ASUS 8600GT 512M PCIe Video Card
1 x * No Backup Device
1 x * No Monitor
1 x Antec Sonata III Mid Tower Case
1 x * No Keyboard
1 x * No Power Protection Device
1 x LiteOn 20x DVD Writer SATA Black
1 x Integrated Sound Card
1 x * No Speakers
1 x * No Modem
1 x Integrated Network Connection
1 x MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM
1 x MS Office 2007 Proffesional Academic Edition
1 x McAfee VrisuScan 2006
1 x Internal All-in-1 Memory Card Reader Black


This is the machine for myself,

$1392

1 x Intel S775 Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz CPU
1 x BONUS Samsung ML-2010 Printer
1 x MSI S775 P35 Neo Combo-F Core 2 Motherboard
2 x DDR3 1GB Micsys 1066MHz RAM
1 x 250GB Seagate 7200rpm 16M Serial ATA HDD
1 x ASUS 8800GS 384M PCIe Video Card
1 x * No Monitor
1 x Antec Sonata III Mid Tower Case
1 x * No Keyboard
1 x LiteOn 20x DVD Writer SATA Black
1 x Integrated Sound Card
1 x * No Speakers
1 x Integrated Network Connection
1 x MS Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit OEM
1 x * No Microsoft Office Software
1 x Internal All-in-1 Memory Card Reader Black

The video cards are confusing me though ...

MSY is good if you know what you are doing. I recently purchased 2 PCs from them, one for my brother and one for myself. I talked to them on the phone and via email and they were helpful in recommending parts, instead of just taking my order and not saying anything. They were able to suggest a decent PSU with enough power and had good recommendations on replacement parts if they were out of stock or if I needed to bring the price down a bit.

When I got one of the PCs it was missing a part, but it was fixed with no hassles.