It's PC Upgrade Time! (Part 2)

So the first question with a new PC is...Intel or AMD?  In benchmarks AMD consistently lag behind Intel, so the answer would seem obvious.  However there is a perceived wisdom on the web that AMD are better for gaming.  This seems to be little more than opinion, but could there be any truth in it?  Well the one edge that AMD does have over Intel is in price.  Clock for clock and speed for speed, AMD processors tend to be cheaper than Intel.  This does mean that the money you save on an AMD CPU could be spent buying a better graphics card, and graphics will affect gaming performance. 

If money isn't an object then I'd go with Intel every time, especially if you're after a Gaming Beast of a machine.  In my case though, I'm upgrading a couple of Pentium 4 machines that are probably just over a decade old, and all they are used for is Sims and Minecraft.  Anything I buy now will be an improvement.  So at the end of the day I'm going to follow the price.

Right, so how did they compare?  Well one thing I found was that some items were better value at one supplier than another, so I could have mixed and matched (for example, Aria sold the best value Windows 7, whereas Web Systems Online supplied the cheapest Graphics card).  However for Aria you have  to factor in carriage, so whatever I save on buying the software from them I'd probably lose in the postage.  However in all cases, Web Systems is just up the road from me, so wherever I bought the majority of the kit, it would make sense to buy the Graphics card from them.

In the case of MD Computers, Aria, Web Systems and Compuplus Direct the price quoted is minus Hard Drive and DVDRW (since I will be scavenging them from the 1st computer), and all prices are inclusive of VAT.  For the 2nd computer I just need to add an extra £60 (inclusive of VAT) for a 1TB Hard Drive.

Vendor	Specification	No HDD	Inc 1TB HDD
Web Systems Online	Intel G2030 Dual Core 3Ghz	£344	£405
Compuplus Direct	AMD A4 3.4Ghz	£338	£398
Web Systems Online	AMD Athlon II 2.7Ghz	£324	£384
MD Computers	AMD Athlon Dual Core 3.8Ghz	£290	£350
Aria PC Technology	Intel Dual Core 3.0Ghz	£252	£312

So in the brand-new component stakes, Compuplus were completely out of the equation, as were Web Systems Online, while Aria pipped MD at the post by about £40.  Aria of course is mail order so I would have to factor in carriage, but that turns out to be only about  £20 inc VAT.

So there we go.  The winner is Aria at £272 (or £332 with a 1TB Hard Drive).

Ah but what about the ex-Corporate side of things?  Well for this I went solely with Bargain Hardware.  Their site allows you to configure bare bones base units with as much or as little as you want (although for some reason they don't allow you to pick No Optical Drive, so I had to select a £2.50 CDRom).  Also the RAM tends to be mostly DDR2 which is lower performing than DDR3, and a bit more expensive due to its scarcity. As before a 1TB Hard Drive is £60 inc VAT.  Note that all quotes include an extra £24 for a graphics card from Web Systems.  Bargain Hardware will supply the base unit with or without graphics, but all of their cards are more expensive than Web Systems.

Bargain Hardware

Specification	No HDD	Inc 1TB HDD
HP Z400 Tower with Intel Quad Core 3.06Ghz Zeon, DDR3	£333	£393
HP Z200 Tower with Intel Core i3 3.06Ghz, DDR3	£227	£287
HP DC5800 Tower with Intel Core Duo 3.16Ghz, DDR2	£204	£264
Dell Optiplex with Intel Core Duo 3Ghz, DDR2	£196	£256

Of course this is second-hand ex-corporate stock, and as such only comes with a 30 day warranty.  Plus it's lower spec than the brand new stuff.  That could be a consideration for some people, but is it for me?  Not really.  It's going to be a huge step up from my current P4s, and I'm sure going to notice the difference.  As to the lack of warranty, well only one component is likely to fail at one time, and the expense of replacement components is still offset by the cheapness of the deal.

So who's the winner?  Well at first glance it's the Dell Optiplex at just under £200.  However let's take a note of a few things here. The Optiplex was manufactured round about 2004, takes DDR2 RAM – and a maximum of 8GB at that.  On the other hand take a look at the £227 HP Z200.  Manufactured in 2011, it uses DDR3 RAM, up to a maximum of 16GB.  In my opinion it's worth paying the extra £31 for a machine that's better spec, newer, and more upgradeable.  Not only that, but it still beats Aria's quote by £40, and I don't have to build it myself!  Oh and the postage from Bargain Hardware? 

Free carriage for any items under 30kg.

HP Z200 for £227 from Bargain Hardware it is then.