Refurbished PC World Base Unit issues

[fire!!]

Hi,

 

I was just looking for a cheap but reasonably priced base unit and came across something that i liked on the PC World website, here is the link, PACKARD BELL X2326 Desktop PC - Save on refurbished PACKARD BELL computers including the PACKARD BELL X2326 at PC World

my only concerns i have with it is that it does not provide me with a great amount of details about what comes with the package, i.e does it have a sound card and other parts that doesn't need to be installed.

 

So if anyone can help me and provide me with extra details about it i would be very greatful, i have also tried to email PC World but they have not replied for 2 days now.

 

Thank You

[dx100uk]

according to the pb website yes all onboard

 

dx

[fire!!]

Thank you dx for a quick reply, can you send me a link of it please, and also that is according to the pb website, doesn't pcworld take any out due to why it is refurbished.just out of topic, are you a gamer? if so what sort of games do you think the pc can run, examples would help

[ForestChav]

Information and Instructions - IMEDIA 2326 BAS - PB80146501 - iMedia - platform_amadeus_imedia - Desktop

[sarajulldin]

seems like a decent system at a good price, remeber it may not come with manuals as the details say, you can download the manuals from the net if need be in the future.

[locutus]

Information and Instructions - IMEDIA 2326 BAS - PB80146501 - iMedia - platform_amadeus_imedia - Desktop

^-^ ForestChav beat me to the link

 

Onboard graphics is never the best option when wanting to game, however that motherboard has a nice enough chipset + you can buy a PCI express graphics card and use that. (more outlay but not essential right this minute... My personal advice would be try this, if you need more oomph to your graphics buy a seperate graphics card)

Edited August 10, 2009 by locutus
^-^ ForestChav beat me to the link

[sarajulldin]

doesnt it have a 256mb 8200 graphics card?? as the link to pc worlds website?

[locutus]

256 meg "shared memeory" (IE uses system memory to emulate graphics memory.)

 

Dedicated graphics cards are always better, but a 256 meg 8200 is a pretty nice chipset so it'l probably be OK. If more oomph is needed the board has a PCI express slot for a card if needed.

[fire!!]

Ok, thanks for the replies, really greatful.

i just looked at another computer and i was just wondering which is better, specifically looking at the the graphics card, here is the link,

 

PACKARD BELL IMEDA3317 Desktop PC - Save on refurbished PACKARD BELL computers including the PACKARD BELL IMEDA3317 at PC World

[locutus]

Information and Instructions - IMEDIA A3317 UK - PT.U090Y.001 - iMedia - platform_amadeus_imedia - Desktop

Full specs of that one.

 

Note it doesn't show the graphics on the motherboard, so thats a plus (as it will be a seperate card). That one comes with an ATI Radeon HD2100 graphics card... I slightly prefer the 1st one if I was not going to upgrade the card just because I like nvidia cards but if I had either one, I'd be looking to upgrade the graphics card ASAP.

[fire!!]

thanks for your reply.

But specifically which one is better when it comes to gaming and which one would you buy, because i want something which is less than £300 which is reasonable when it comes to normal everyday activities such as watching videos, surfing the net and one which would be OK in gaming, also try to be specific about what sort of games i can play, examples would be great.

[locutus]

Personally, the cheeper one, then buy a nvidia 9400 graphics card (they cost about £35 and are 10 times better than the ones given with either machine)

[fire!!]

specific games? GTA?

[fire!!]

O yea the cheaper option says that it has Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic and the other one says Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium. whats the differences?

[locutus]

GTA4? Definatly cheep one then get a nvidia 9400 for around £35 (for that you get 1 gig graphics card memory!!!)

 

Earlier GTA games all the above systems will play well.

[fire!!]

will it even start, i mean will it run at least or wont it?

also installing another graphics card... wouldn't it break the pc because i had a previous computer and added ram on top, and it just kept on freezing for no reason.

[locutus]

The main diference you'll notice is Premium has build in DVD player and writer software... Windows Vista: Compare editions

Microsofts comparing site gives a nice list of whats what (although it does make premium look masses better when IMO it's not that much better!)

[locutus]

They will both run it. The graphics may be a little jerky unless you get a better graphics card. As long as you get PCI express graphics card it'll work OK in either system.

[fire!!]

i am not a genius when it comes to computers, so can you explain to me which is the better graphics card from the both of them, which one would run more games than the other.

i can get the cheaper option and change the graphics card to nvdia 9400gt, my only concern is that the is windows vista home basic, does it make a big differnece between the premiuim one? i mean can you notice?

i really need to buy one of them by the end of this week and because it is refurbished, i dont think it will be there for long.

Edited August 11, 2009 by fire!!

[locutus]

Not a great deal in it. I slightly prefer the 1st one if I was not going to upgrade it.

[fire!!]

still not sure about the first on becuase of the value of details given PACKARD BELL X2326 Desktop PC - Save on refurbished PACKARD BELL computers including the PACKARD BELL X2326 at PC World

 

any ideas on how i can gain more infromation besides phoning? they dont even respond to my email i sent.

all i need to know now is, is everything installed, can i just plug it and start using it without any further installations needed.

[sheepdemon]

When it says the computer comes with Vista that means it comes with Vista installed. So yes, plug it in and away you go.

 

Also - using the graphics card supplied will NOT allow you to run any games released in the past 2-3 years, certainly not anything really recent. The difference between vista basic and home premium is 90% cosmetic, and if you buy a computer with Vista now you get a free upgrade to windows 7 when it is released (I am not sure this is still the case with refurbed units, you would have to check).

[fire!!]

it does mention that vista is installed, but it doesn't mention anything about other componets installed such as the soud card, thats the issue im getting at the moment, its the lack of details about the system.

check the link given on pervious post to see what i mean about the lack of details.

 

abou the games you can play, at the moment i have a windows xp, with 768 ram and an ati readon 9550 128 ram graphics card, and i am ablt to play san andres without any kind of lag, i have also play Driver parellel lines at low settings but it still works, are you saying that my current graphics card is better?

 

About vista basic, can you really tell the difference if you are just browsing around the computer, visually can you see the difference staright away?

Edited August 12, 2009 by fire!!

[locutus]

All drivers wil be installed, and will run straight out of the box.

 

You can tell the diference between vista basic and premium just by looking... the premium toolbar has a glass like look to it. When you switch between programs, it has a nice effect on the premium that gives you a 3d look at all open windows like this

 

 

The graphics cards are quite a bit better than what you have now. The extra performance is offset a little as vista uses more resources to run.

[fire!!]

do you think it is worth me buying one of those base units or should i just stick with the one i have? becuase i thought that the graphics card will make a lot of difference comparied to the one i have now but as you said it will only make a bit of a difference. at the moment i am not having any trouble with the one i have now when i am browsing the net, word processing etc but i want it to make a little difference when playing.

so is it worth it.

 

btw what can i play with GeForce 7050 256mb?

Edited August 13, 2009 by fire!!