AMD v Intel ?

[Jay_7]

Just thought I'd update everyone on the state of play with processors.  Intel's Core 2 Quad series has taken huge price reductions recently!  When this thread started, the price of the Intel Q6600 was ?599.99, at the start of the summer this was reduced to ?399.99 and now you can pick one up for around ?170!

Not only that but AMD's Quad core (Barcelona) series isn't far away either and with AMD's traditionaly low prices when compared to Intel will make them a very tempting selection for a computer in the future!  The downside to the Barcelona series is it probably will not be based on Socket AM2.

[RednBlackComeback]

Just thought that, in view of some of the earlier postings, I'd relay my feelings on the Dell pc that I bought recently.

Very happy with it tbh. Hardly any unnecessary software pre-installed. While they don't provide an authentic windows disc, they do provide a re-installation operating system disc. I asked for Microsoft Office to bundled in, and for which they did provide the disc.

All in all really can't complain about Dell. Quick delivery too.

Pipex broadband, on the other hand, is a different story !!!!! :008: :008: :008: :008: :008:

[+Tree]

Dell have made a big leap forwards in the last four to six months and now are providing PCs and Laptops at low prices which outperform HP, etc ? for ?.

I almost changed our company supplier to HP due to the performance lag in Dells earlier this year.

For anyone looking for Servers, I would still stay clear of Dell. There are alleged to be a lot of problems with reliability and compatability issues (we use IBM as the additional capital cost is ouwayed by the reduced risk of problems).

Also, the number of problems we are experiencing with Vista are reducing greatly (although we are still specifying XP as standard)

[Scotty]

Also, the number of problems we are experiencing with Vista are reducing greatly (although we are still specifying XP as standard)

Our company has a policy of not switching operating systems at least until MS release the first service pack for it !!! The principle being that the first service pack usually gives you the system that MS should have released on launch day instead of the advanced beta version they actually shipped !!!

I have Vista ultimate on my new (HP) home system and would strongly recommend people to get something like Norton Ghost or some other backup software. 

I have always kept off-site (or off-computer) backups of my most precious files like photos, web pages etc but like most IT people, I never bothered backing up my actual system that often, figuring I could troubleshoot and solve most problems. With Vista, certainly at the moment, backups are a necessary evil as I have found quite a few programs have issues with Vista and can screw up the rest of the system. Roxio Easy Media Creator is a prime example (and something Dell, Roxio and MS knew about long before it became a published problem) - it killed my system and I had to spend 3 evenings rebuilding my OS and installing all the software I needed. After that, I made sure I had a base image using Ghost and now allow it to do twice weekly system backups and to backup "my docs" every two days. Its worth it !!! If my system ever screws up again, I now have a base image of the computer with all my crucial software pre-installed and several incremental backups that could be restored so its like it was a day or two earlier.

[SMEE]

Pipex broadband, on the other hand, is a different story !!!!! :008: :008: :008: :008: :008:

I too have Pipex. Was a nightmare the first 8 or so weeks. Slows down every so often still but mainly ok. How long have you had Pipex?

[CaleyD]

Tree - which Dell did you get?  I'll be ordering a new PC very soon and I've been hard pushed to find better than what they are offering.

The machine I am looking at is the Inspiron 531 with the following spec....

AMD? Athlon? 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+

256MB nVidia? GeForce 8600GT graphics card

3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM

1.0TB (7200RPM) SATA Dual Hard Drives (2X500GB)

Integrated 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio

Dell? 22" Black Wide Flat Panel

?840 All-in & Delivered.

I'll likely add a couple of other things to the system myself as Dell bolt-ons are generally overpriced. Although I did note that Dell have just caught up on the current drop in price for Memory which has about halved since the last time I priced it.  Their pricing for additional memory is now on a par with Crucial (who I normally use).

[+Tree]

CaleyD

I have a couple of Vostro 400s in transit as we speak (the first time we have had Vostros).

They have 2.33GHz Core 2 Duos with 1333MHz FSB and 4MB Cache

4GB DDR RAM

500GB SATA2 HD

Same graphics card and monitor as your spec

?762 all in (including MS Office 07 SB)

The other recent PCs are top end spec stuff at much higher costs

[RednBlackComeback]

Pipex broadband, on the other hand, is a different story !!!!! :008: :008: :008: :008: :008:

I too have Pipex. Was a nightmare the first 8 or so weeks. Slows down every so often still but mainly ok. How long have you had Pipex?

Only been up and running with them now for just over a month.......However !!! I ordered it more than 4 months ago!!!! They kept feeding me some bull about BT having to dig up the street outside my house cos that's the only way they could get rid of a DACS !! Then suddenly the DACS is gone and amazingly the street is not dug up and BT haven't been seen since 5 days after I first ordered BB.

Then when I'm finally connected I try and take up Pipex's offer of free web hosting. I register and receive a message that it should be available in 24 hours..........................3 weeks later and 2 complaint e-mails later I finally get the webspace !!!!!! BTW sending a complaint e-mail to pipex is a waste of time completely !!!! they take 4 weeks to reply to them ! :008: :008: :008: :008:

As soon as the 12 month contract is up its  :sillywave: Pipex !!

PS . to be fair their connection speed is ok.....consistently getting 7.0mbs

[SMEE]

I dont understand this............BT engineer tested my line and said i have 5 Meg coming into my house. On my wireless router interface....it says am connected about 4.5 meg, yet any online speed test i do is consistantly about 2 meg. Anyone have any ideas whats going on?

[tm4tj]

Commodore 64 does it for me :029:

[Jay_7]

I dont understand this............BT engineer tested my line and said i have 5 Meg coming into my house. On my wireless router interface....it says am connected about 4.5 meg, yet any online speed test i do is consistantly about 2 meg. Anyone have any ideas whats going on?

The value shown in your router interface is the maximum theoretical downstream speed on your phone line.  Your BT engineer just rounded up the way.  The 2MB result on your speed test is your actual downstream speed.

[caleyblue]

was withg pipex /homecall for about 2 years was ok till i had a problem then things just got worse with them even when i cancelled it took nearly 6 months to finally get rid of them had to threaten legal action in the end been back with bt since and no probs so far so wont be changing again in a hurry