New Desktop Required - Purchasing Help Please!

[3n1gm4]

Hi guys,

I'm hoping I can find some help here as I'm about to purchase a new desktop and need some assistance with finding exactly what I need for the best price.

I'm not a complete noob when it comes to buying or building machines and I have built several PCs in the past, but it was some time ago and I'm well out of the loop when it comes to hardware specs/pricing and building etc.

I need a pretty basic new machine which will only really be used for surfing the web and playing poker, so I wouldn't imagine requires any kind of high spec these days.

I do also need it to be able to output at 2048 x 1152 via the GFX card's VGA port as I have a monitor already which has this as its nativ res and would like to continue using it. Dual video outputs would also be a plus so that I can use my TV as a second display device. My TV does not have a DVI input AFAIK though, so this would need to be a dual VGA output on the GFX card unless I get a DVI->VGA converter I suppose, or a VGA/HDMI combo - if such a thing exists!

Beyond that, I have no real requirements except that it has wifi and is a decent enough spec that I'm not going to be struggling with speed issues any time soon.

Any advice would be much appreciated and if there is any further information which I can give to help you guys answer, just let me know!

Cheers.

 

[hybrid572]

Even onboard video and an AMD Sempron / Intel Atom is more than sufficient for your needs. Provided you get at least 1GB of RAM, or 2GB if you plan on using Windows, you won't notice any slowdowns as long as you take care of your PC (regular defrags, don't let the HDD get too full and so on). Feel free to spend over that, but unless you're gaming or doing photoshop/video editing or the like, you'll notice no speed increase with anything apart from a solid state drive.

 

[3n1gm4]

Even onboard video and an AMD Sempron / Intel Atom is more than sufficient for your needs. Provided you get at least 1GB of RAM, or 2GB if you plan on using Windows, you won't notice any slowdowns as long as you take care of your PC (regular defrags, don't let the HDD get too full and so on). Feel free to spend over that, but unless you're gaming or doing photoshop/video editing or the like, you'll notice no speed increase with anything apart from a solid state drive.

Hi there, thanks for the reply. Good to know I'm not going to be busting the bank to get what I need.

It is possible that I may do some occassional PS work and would like to do some light video editing in the future - nothing major, just holiday vids and stuff - so I might aim a little over the spec you're describing, but that's useful to get an idea. Thanks.

 

[hybrid572]

No problem

If you're doing occasional light photoshop / video editing work, you can still get away with spending <£300. You definitely shouldn't be breaking four hundred, anyway.

The value "Primo" pre-built systems on the site are the kind of thing you should be looking at. The Pterosaur is overkill, and the Nova/Submission will be a little slow for PS, but all the other systems are spot on for your needs. Even if you plan to build it yourself, this'll give you an idea of the parts you want to get.