Getting a new PC - Evesham any good

[flutlichtjunky]

Hi.

Its about time I get a new PC, my last one was about 4 years ago and its still going strong - P3 500Mhz Dell.

I will use this Pc for a mixture of web development - VB.Net, Photoshop, Dreamweaver etc and dance music production -Cubase SL and probably a few games, but ot really bothered about that.

The best manufacturer that ive seen is alienware with their seagate barracuda drives, but at £2100 for the system ive looked at, it is far to much.

SO ive come across evesham - theirs a store right next door to me! How good are they?? good support / components?

Ideally i want a PC with no soundcard or monitor. As going to buy your A-list 19" Iiyama monitor as the price is good.

The PC ive configured looks like this: Do you have any opinions?

Axis 2600+MKR Office

£1,475.27

AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 1 £144.67 £169.99
Twin 80GB HDD IDE (7200rpm) 1 £61.00 £71.68
1GB DDR (2700) 1 £55.31 £64.99
Splat Design case 1 £0.00 £0.00
52x24x52 CDRW Drive 1 £0.00 £0.00
Sony DW-U14A-BK Multi Format 4x +R/+RW DVD Writer 1 £0.00 £0.00
Radeon 9600 128MB DDR Graphics 1 £0.00 £0.00
nVidia Soundstorm with 6 Channel Audio 1 £0.00 £0.00
Creative Inspire 5.1 5300 1 £0.00 £0.00
Microsoft Windows XP Pro 1 £50.00 £58.75
56K Internal (PCI) 1 £0.00 £0.00
Floppy Drive 1 £0.00 £0.00
Intel Pro 10/100 (PCI) 1 £35.00 £41.13
2 year on-site warranty (3rd year return to base) 1 £0.00 £0.00
2 Port Firewire Card 1 £12.76 £14.99
Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition 1 £0.00 £0.00

What is in going between AMD or INTEL or getting standard DDR or Corsair DDR?

ANY websites with information ill be very grateful for.

[BipolarBill]

Why don't you build your own Alienware PC? It's not like it's hard or anything...

[Someone Stupid]

I've heard nothing but good things about them, but they were more from average users who did mild gaming and websurfing. They program for a living, but hardware is beyond them - so I can't really say for sure, but I know of 4 or 5 that swear by them for those across the pond.

[bblqj78]

I bought a system from them approx. a year back....p4 2.4B, Asus Mobo, 512 2700 Ram, GF4 Ti4200. Good system. Got really good benchmark reults etc. when comparing to other systems etc. at the time. Could even manage a good bit of overclocking and got up to 12700 3dMark 2001. Since then....i.ve upgraded to a 9700pro 1GB of RAM and OC'd everything a bit more. Slight drawbacks....case was boring...so I bought a new case, 250W generic power supply...so upgraded to a 430W Enermax (9700pro and OC'ing demanded it) and a few case fans.
Still...they provided a very good system...with all brand components...and good service. Kick s--t out off other companies like Tiny, Time, and all the others.
If you gonna be overclocking etc. go for the better RAM and check out the power supply etc.

[fishybawb]

I second BpB - build your own. You'lll save some cash, get a system *exactly* to your specs and you'll learn more about your computer (handy when it comes to upgrading). There are plenty of people here who can guide you through the process

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Evasham Micro's have a decent reputation as far as pre-built systems go, for the money though you could probably build a similar ystem yourself much cheaper

--Jakk

[flutlichtjunky]

Thank you very much for your input, much appreciated.

Building my own is not really an option yet as I dont have alot of free time. My plan was to experiment on my old pc and get to know it inside out. Then when im more confident build a second PC for music making and link the 2 using Steinberg system link.

Ive actually made an affordable spec at alienware UK store so I might buy from their. But as you have given a fairly good impression of evesham at least i have a choice.

Why is Office so expensive!! I only want Word and Access but i have to pay for the Pro version which is a bit much!

Oh yeah - Ive tried to look on the net for info on AMD XP3000 compared to P4's. I know im not getting top of the range, but the AMD is a powerful processor isnt it?

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by flutlichtjunky
Oh yeah - Ive tried to look on the net for info on AMD XP3000 compared to P4's. I know im not getting top of the range, but the AMD is a powerful processor isnt it?

You don't need anything more than a 2500+ Barton really. Save some money. Yes - they are quite powerful.

Try this Office alternative:

www.openoffice.org

The price is right!

[G]

Go get PCAdvisor from WHSmiths and cheek the top 10 list at the back.

Evesham and Mesh are sound companies but Multivision is making a good name for itself.

Their machines tend to be of a higher specification and cheaper too. Better value for money all round.

Cheek their website before buying anything though if you go with them, or any company for that matter.

With any company built machine software is a problem so try and get the original discs if at all possible. The recovery disc option is a very poor substitute.

G

[flutlichtjunky]

openoffice looks extremely good - and yes the right is very much right! Thanks for the link! I like the fact that its Word compatible.

The only reason im looking at Xp3000 is the price is £60 difference between the 2800 and 3000. But all ive seen on the net is that they've added 512kb L2 cache.

G - Ill check that mag out, dont usually look as there so many to choose.

Im comparing really alienware to evesham. Its just about money really, because both seem to offer what i want. Just one is about £500 more than the other!!!

[Magua]

Flut, don't entirely rule out building your own computer due to time. I recently built my first computer (all the old ones were gateways/dells) and it took far less time then I had expected. I am fairly knowledgeable about computers but I am no expert.

Either of those companies will build you a fine computer, if you have the money.

[Someone Stupid]

The 2500 Barton (with a 512 cache) isn't that much slower as AMD's PR ratings for everything above the 2800 are screwed up - your getting fewer megahertz per PR gain in megahertz. I'd get the 2800 at most... you aren't getting much more for your money with the 3000.

[G]

That’s ok.

If I were in your position, reading the excellent recommendations about Multivision, this would be my choice right now.

Obviously, until the final buy everything is up in the mix – but Multivision would be my choice unless something better came alone.

How much exactly are you prepared to pay.

G

On the PC mag front this is what I read every month as a subscriber.

If you sign up using the signup information (Computer Shopper, PCAdvisor) within the mag or on the web (PCW) you will get the mag for less than half the RRP and delivered too.

Computer Shopper
PCAdvisor
PCW

If you are serious about buying a new machine pick up each September issue coming out soon.