Looking for a cheap desktop

[Alex Graves]

So right now I have/use a laptop with an amd turion x2 dual-core rm-70 2GHz processor, 4GB ram, a 186 gb (usable amount) main HDD and 298 secondary HDD, with a 64 bit win7 installed, ATI radeon 3100 graphics card for display, and well that's all the parts I know it has. I was wondering how much/if this http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8128264&CatId=2628 is better then my laptop. I'm hoping to get a decent/cheap desktop soon that can run more then this old laptop, and last me long enough to save up for a more powerful rig in a year or so. The one Im using now can barely handle any new games on the lowest settings without overheating, freezing, and some cases crashing. Im also looking to get back into making games and this one can barely handle photoshop/flash with just one running and nearly crashes when I go to use blender, unity, or any other 3d modeling program/engine. Also of note, this laptop is nearly 7 years old now, the battery has been destroyed and can only hold about a ten minute charge if the laptop does nothing while unpluged (lost a lot of work at one point because of a minor power outage didn't last one minute with flash up.). So yeah, just wondering if that one is a decent buy (I know its off-lease), or if their are any other good ones you can point me to for under 200 without a monitor or under 300 with a monitor, since I will need to get it one way or the other. Before it's asked I don't have a tv to plug it into, the budget right now is small because I'm about to move into my first place and a lot of my non-bill money is going into getting furniture from a table to a bed to the desk for the comps. Oh and when I get the better comp I can use this new old one for storage or a server or some random things so I'm not worried about buying something to turn around and replace it. Thanks in advance.

 

[Frezzato]

snip

I used to work at an HP partner and unfortunately that level of machine would have been replaced at my work a long time ago. It appears to have on-board video, although I'm sure you could get a card for it. To be honest though, upgrading that desktop wouldn't be worth it.

It uses DDR2 RAM, which undoubtedly costs more than DDR3 by now. And the processor is a Dual Core, which predates Core 2 Duo, which in turn predates the latest i series. You won't be doing much gaming on that machine unfortunately.

At that price I would not buy that machine.
[hr]
I think this machine might suit you better. You still won't be playing decent games on it, but on paper it's comparable to a Core i3:

Refurb on Newegg. [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883155698]
$164 on Newegg, free shipping, no tax if you don't live in California (I think).
It's a Dell Optiplex 780 Small Form Factor Desktop with a Core 2 Duo 3 GHz.
Problem is it only has 2GB of RAM, but at least it's DDR3 (I believe).
Also, it only has a 160GB HDD, but at least it has a DVD burner.
This also has on-board video and if you were to give it a decent video card it would have to be a half-height type, so that would limit your choices of aftermarket cards.
Windows 7 Home Premium. The processor is supposed to be 64-bit. I don't know if that means you get 64-bit Windows 7 by default.

According to Crucial [http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=OptiPlex%20780%20Small%20Form%20Factor&Cat=RAM], that motherboard can take either DDR3 PC3-12800 RAM or 10600. A quick search on Amazon shows you can get 4GB of 10600 for a little over $40 [http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-CT25664BA1339-240-PIN-PC3-10600-Memory/dp/B001NA25VS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1369716535&sr=1-1&keywords=DDR3+PC3-10600+2gb+-sodimm]--that is, two (2) sticks of DDR3 2GB modules.
You may have to buy all new RAM depending on how it ships as they might screw you over with a single 2GB stick, and machines of this era perform best with RAM in matching pairs. Best-case scenario is they give you two (2) 1GB sticks of RAM, and since this machine has four slots you could just get the RAM from Amazon and have a total of 6GB of RAM.

[hr]

Hopefully more Escapists will chime in as PC hardware isn't my field of expertise.

I would definitely appreciate others checking my math, so to speak.

 

[AWAR]

I honestly don't think that any of those rigs with on-board intel graphics are going to give you any noteworthy performance gains compared to your current setup.

 

[OneCatch]

That desktop won't give you a performance gain, but if it crashes less that would probably count as an improvement.
The one posted by FizzyIzze will possibly give a slight performance improvement ( more if you upgraded, though that might itself be a pain because of the titchy case), but nothing to write home about.

All thing considered though, it might be worth putting up with the laptop for now, saving up and buying a better one in a few months or so. With a low budget your options really are constrained, and you're basically wasting £200 of the 'future budget' for the more powerful rig.