Thank you for your apology. I'm still writing to the Daily Mail. I thought I would start my letter with

"I'm not a racist but ..."

The new Asus 75w card fits easily, is quiet and overclocks to 1400 MHz processor and 7 Ghz memory without any need to upgrade case or PSU.

The new 75W GTX 950 cards do NOT require additional power.

I've added an Asus gtx 950, one of the new 75W PCI powered cards and it works absolutely fine. I'm fact, when gaming it runs perfectly overclocked to 1400MHz processor and 7GHz memory. Delivers over 60 fps in Mad Max at 1080 for instance. That's powering an additional £75 480 GB SSD, £15 4 GB RAM and charging/powering 2 Xbox controllers, Xbox wireless receiver, Bluetooth and wireless mouse dongles.

It might be cheap but my PC is certainly not slow. Upgrade to Windows 10 was quick and free.

Out of interest, a quick PC parts picker basket comes to £404 for the most basic components to build the same sort of spec PC yourself.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/PjcgXH

Whenever anyone compares their home builds they nearly always do not factor in the operating system cost and the usual response is that you can get it free or for £15 from dubious sources. If you are comparing like for like you have to factor that cost in unless you're going the linux route or have a transferable Windows retail licence. I know there are workarounds with OEM but again, to compare like for like they should show the real costs. PCPartspicker shows this quite nicely and the clear reality is that you could not buy the same components as this Dell for anywhere near the same price, although I am happy to be corrected if someone can.

Yes our trusty desktop the Dell Vostro i5 4460 is back at a decent price again, comes with W7 Pro installed, W8.1Pro on DVD and naturally free upgrade to W10 Pro. Cheap decent performing desktop, bung in a 120GB SSD for £25 and this thing flies.... bung in another 4GB ram from Crucial for around £15.

2% cashback via TCB or Quidco

Lots of discussion on the old deals posted, info on what's inside, how to upgrade to SSD and such like shenanigans... a great performing desktop for those of us that still find desktops a daily necessity!
Previous Deal with lots of info #1
Deal #2

Hot from me. Spanner, you're becoming the new "Dell Deals Dude"! :smile:

Looks good.

there isnt much capacity in the power supply to use the pci slots without upgrading that, so i wouldn't buy if you plan on adding a graphics card. the hard drive doesn't state if its 5400 RPM or 7,200 RPM. if its 5400 its going to be frustratingly slow. i just dont think your going to be keeping this machine long before wanting to upgrade to something better.

got mine last time round added extra ram a 240gb ssd and an icy box multi card reader that plugs into the rear 3.0usb port which then extends it to the front....boots up in less than 10 seconds now and so quiet ...upgraded to win10 pro too ....excellent

can you put a gpu in e.g gtx 950?

I'm looking at doing the same, The processor is very good for this price.
The power supply is only 300Watt and the GTX 950 requires 350Watt (and a 6pin connector from the PSU which i don't know if it has), it may also be a non-standard PSU to fit the mini case.

Worse case scenario, by a new case for £20 and stick a better Power Supply in for £40-60 and you've got a decent rig on a budget. You'd also get a huge speed boost loading time wise if you splashed out for an SSD too.

I've added an Asus gtx 950, one of the new 75W PCI powered cards and it works absolutely fine. I'm fact, when gaming it runs perfectly overclocked to 1400MHz processor and 7GHz memory. Delivers over 60 fps in Mad Max at 1080 for instance. That's powering an additional £75 480 GB SSD, £15 4 GB RAM and charging/powering 2 Xbox controllers, Xbox wireless receiver, Bluetooth and wireless mouse dongles.

It might be cheap but my PC is certainly not slow. Upgrade to Windows 10 was quick and free.

Yes, see below.

See this deal

The new Asus 75w card fits easily, is quiet and overclocks to 1400 MHz processor and 7 Ghz memory without any need to upgrade case or PSU.

The new 75W GTX 950 cards do NOT require additional power.

You'll have no issues even with a more powerful video card.
Recommended power supplies have nothing to do with how much actual power you use.
CPU TDP - 84 watts, 950 TDP 90 watts, therefore that equates to 174 watts, lets add in another 26 watts for other stuff, so that would equate to 200 watts total system memory. So even a 250 watt power supply would be enough. You may need an adapter for the molex on the power suply to teh video card say a molex to 6 pin or molex to 8 pin. Depends on if they have that on their power supply cables... which they should do....

Interesting, i didn't know this was thing!
I've voted hot on your deal too :smiley:

it should be noted that dell's pci express 16 slots may only supply about 25 watts of juice. Normally its about 75 watts.
but I could be talking total nonsense, would have to look at the manual for that. So a quick look at the manual if you're thinking of buying one....

I am running the latest 75w PCI bus powered GTX 950 overclocked to 1400 MHz processor and 7 Ghz RAM with no power or stability problems at all.

Would recommend the 960 over tee 950 as their pritty much the same price

Also, sorry for confusing matters :confused:

Anyone know if you can overclock the cpu's on these vostro's, or is the bios still locked on overclocking settings?

I wouldn't. Lack of PSU capacity, no 6-pin or Molex connectors, 120w power requirement of 960, not tested and 950 GTX overclocked in this PC to give 20% increase in game rate which is 960ish performance.

I'm abroad so can't check but maximum 12v power physically printed on PSU equated to about 212W from what I remember. That gives some headroom for 950 but not 960. I wouldn't put in a 960.

what's the point in buying pc (same apply to laptop deals) to upgrade disk, ram, graphic card, power, o/s and overclock it?? why not get better one instead of need to upgrade??

Silly question But once I get it how do I transfer the OS onto an SSD?

You must re-route the MD5# to the mainframe of the database.

i built my brother a gaming pc last October it came to about £530

MSI Z97-G43
GTX 970 strix
i5 4690K
120gb ssd
Western Digital 1TB HD
Vengeance Pro Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 2400Mhz
Antec GX500 Black Mid Tower Gaming Case
Corsair 650 Watt PSU

if you can change the ram and hard drive your've halfway built your own rig anyway, so why not do it from the start and get more value for money. i think the vast majority of people who buy pre built rigs like this will just leave it as it is.

I think adding a £30 SSD and £15 ram is hardly being halfway to building your own :smile:

I also don't see your Windows OS factored in above.
A simple to carry out update of the above gives a very decent machine, that's probably enough for many people. I certainly don't need any more and I can't be bothered to build my own as I don't game and frankly it's not cost effective. I lost interest in home builds long ago when it became cheaper to buy these Dell's.

Look, I'm not here to tell people what to buy, clearly prebuilds aren't for everyone but if you want a decent, solid and reasonable spec PC for the home or office and want to spend around £300 all in, then this is probably one of the cheapest ways to do it, when you factor in legitimate licenced operating system that costs £120 to buy (I don't think it fair to compare £20 dodgy licence keys from Play Asia/Reddit/Bloke on ebay when comparing computers), an i5 4460 that's about £130, memory and DVD for £30 you've paid the same as this, but you've still got to buy the hard drive, the motherboard, the case, the powersupply etc.

Depends entirely what you want, this forms the basis of an excellent value PC as it is and for very little more money you can add an SSD and maybe a graphics card for casual gaming. For many people that is enough, they don't want to bother building their own.

If you want a flexible powerhouse that can be easily upgraded then no readymade desktop from Dell, HP etc will be worth consideration....clearly you need the right tool for the job.

Personally I've had a couple Dell desktops over the years and found the limited upgradeability to be of no concern. I don't game, I just add memory and hard drives. I've just got rid of an E520 from 2007 that still works well and got £40 on ebay for it.

highly recommend this. i got something similar ans just put in gtx 750ti and rocks games 60fps better thn a ps4. for about 300 quid. awesome. and in 4 years i will probbaly do it again witj whatever is out then

Good machine for the price, hot!

Out of interest, a quick PC parts picker basket comes to £404 for the most basic components to build the same sort of spec PC yourself.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/PjcgXH

Whenever anyone compares their home builds they nearly always do not factor in the operating system cost and the usual response is that you can get it free or for £15 from dubious sources. If you are comparing like for like you have to factor that cost in unless you're going the linux route or have a transferable Windows retail licence. I know there are workarounds with OEM but again, to compare like for like they should show the real costs. PCPartspicker shows this quite nicely and the clear reality is that you could not buy the same components as this Dell for anywhere near the same price, although I am happy to be corrected if someone can.

Worth mentioning that the upcoming 1060 is rumoured to be 75w, and be roughly as powerful as a 970

Thanks. Will be buying one of these. Looking to have a descent desktop and be able to play the growing collection of a Steam games. Mad Max, Sleeping Dogs, Kerbal etc etc. Current desktop is a 2008 or 9 low/mid level Dell so I'm not expecting the earth.

Reading up on this and previous threads (I'm not great with computer tech). I'll be doing the RAM upgrade and maybe a graphics card like the gtx 950. Any better options? Not looking to spend mega money. Had been looking at the Dell outlet Alienware x51 R3 (£522ish - refurb). But I'm now thinking this desktop would be better value.

Any help or suggestions would be welcome.

I used to swear by Dell but over the last few years they have gone down hill massively. The last 5 laptops I bought have all failed for one reason or another. All now working after repair at my cost.

Edit. Dell did pay something towards 2 repairs.

Well as long as you appreciate the powersupply doesn't have any aux power connectors that most of the higher spec graphics cards need. So, either you can use the existing PSU and get a card like those mentioned earlier otherwise new PSU required.

Adding an SSD is the first thing I'd do to any new computer (or any old one) - they're so cheap and offer the best overall performance boost for the price. Use the supplied hard drive as storage.

The thing to note about these Vostro's is that they're aimed at small business so aren't really designed to be gaming rigs but they can support some ugrades as long as you understand the possible limitations.

That's bad luck indeed.... I don't use laptops but desktop wise I've bought dozens over the last 15 years and can't remember any failing, oh other than a 2007 desktop that had a couple of capacitors bulge 7 years later which I replaced.

Dude, why would you need a new power supply? just get an adapter and stick it onto a molex....then into whatever internal device you need it for.....
or am I missing something? :neutral_face:

WOW now £249.99 from Ebuyer!!!
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dell-vostro-3900-even-cheaper-i5-4460-3-2ghz-win7pro-win8-1pro-w10-pro-4gb-500gb-2455242

Possibly- there's 2 spare SATA power connectors only, one might be used for an SSD that leaves 1 left... can you convert SATA power plug to use on a graphics card?

yeah you can... right here
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Serial-Molex-Power-Adaptor-Convertor/dp/B000ZMCYQG
but seriously, no molex's?.....
Dell power supplies are very efficient though at least

Good to know, thanks.
No molex, they've kept the cost right down buy putting in just enough, it is an office PC primarily after all.

Seems a bit pricey? I'm selling my Lenovo M92p almost identical spec (i5-3470) for £150.

Gtx 750 would be the better gtx for this as it's low power requirements.

What you're comparing your second hand PC to this one?! not really like for like in my humble opinion. In fact this is now £249.99 from Ebuyer as posted in other deal.
The Asus GTX950 will work on this as confirmed by 'musical' here

Good price for a PC, the PSU is a bit of a dissapointment, though if you are looking at adding a £100+ GPU you should probably change the generic PSU to a better rated one anyway.

Going to deal - says its a laptop - I know ive had some big things on my laps but this is ridiculous.

Why did you buy 5 laptops if they all kept failing?

You'd think any normal person would have given up after the 2nd or 3rd one. I admire your persistence

Yeah they aren't good at descriptions!
Now go to the even cheaper deal I posted, same item from ebuyer for £249.99
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dell-vostro-3900-even-cheaper-desktop-pc-i5-4460-3-2ghz-win7pro-win8-1pro-w10pro-2455242?page=2#post28097483
I'd hoped I'd made it clear from the edits I did on this deal.

Hmmm... be careful... your partpicker includes an OEM version of the OS... afaik (and these things do change!) these are intended to be installed on machines that are being built for resale. So you are technically breaking the terms of your agreement by buying and using OEM versions on your own pc.
If you are going to violate the agreement then you may as well do it a cheaper way :stuck_out_tongue:

can i ask where you got your 4gb ram for £15?

thanks

Too much use of the phrases "it's back" or "is back"on HUKDs these days. I'm writing to the Daily Mail immediately.

http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/vostro-3900-mini-tower/CT7324509 £15 crucial memory

My sincere apologies, I can only blame my admin team for posting such crude words, the usual writers are on annual leave today so the backup crew do the deal postings for me. I've punched Leonard (head admin) in the arm to teach him a lesson. Technically the deal is back, it went back to a higher price and then came back to a lower price but unregardless.......

Yes, that's a technicality and grey area if I recall.... Windows 8 (but not 8/1) that allows OEM for home builds if I recall but 7 doesn't... I should have list W8 to avoid this terrible faux pas,

But hey, people will grumble regardless so my deal, my rules :smile:

Thank you for your apology. I'm still writing to the Daily Mail. I thought I would start my letter with

"I'm not a racist but ..."

spannerzone. Is this the same memory you gave the link to Crucial one?

click me Its £12.54 on Amazon for Prime. Thanks to you, I am already £249.99 poorer this afternoon :stuck_out_tongue:

Yes looks the same although Crucial have a terrible part numbering system, I've never figured it out other than I suspect that they give ram that's recommended for a particular PC its own unique part number even though the same ram is fine (and used) for many other models. Remember Amazon prime delivery costs may apply.... crucial includes P&P

Sorry you have no self control over your spending :smile:

anyone buying this and wanting to remain using Windows 7 for the time being may want to consider temporarily installing Windows 10 onto another hard drive just so your machine's ID gets validated for the free Windows 10 upgrade offer which expires July 29th this year. After that date Win10 will likely be a chargeable upgrade.

So if you have a spare old hard drive with nothing on it, why not fit it in place of the existing drive (disconnect the drive so you don't install over the Win7). Read this guide (section "Doing a clean installation of Windows 10") - this pretty much covers what needs to be done. This will register your machine's hardware ID (the embedded Windows licence key) with Windows 10 validation server so if you install Win10 in the future, the machine will be recognised and licenced for Win10 Pro in the future if you install it and at no cost to you.

I think the guide you mean is http://www.windowscentral.com/how-do-clean-installation-windows-10

Also, I think MS intends for you to upgrade your current version of windows to W10.
Originally that meant that your previous W7/W8 OEM/Retail key would now be associated with your newly activated W10 installation. So your previous installation would no longer have a valid key associated with it.
Maybe this has changed? I don't keep up-to-date.

But think about it... for a limited time M$ have offered you a free upgrade not a free OS... suddenly having 2 OS's from only 1 key is definitely not what they intended.

Thanks for the correct link, not sure what happened there!
Yes you're right, MS want you to upgrade to 10 and stay there although they do give you 30 days to roll back if you want to do so. It might be a grey area here with regard to licencing, if you flip between 7 and 10 and back but that's down to how strongly you feel about it I guess. Also you can only use 1 operating system at a time so it won't let you install it on numerous PC's, It just seems a sensible step to ensure that if you stay with W7 or W8 for the time being, you do have a free upgrade path to W10 if you want to go that route and no doubt MS will make lives harder for 7 and 8 users, updates will be more troublesome (that's already happened) and other features will stop I suspect.

spannerzone. feels like you are playing musical chairs with your deals. Glad I got it at the other price.

yeah sorry about the 2 deals....but I couldn't ignore the Ebuyer deal that I found today, it was too good to miss!

doesn't really matter as a £25 SSD will sort that out

true. that is a great price. Shame it didn't last long or dead cert for 1000+ heatwave.

Im about to purchase that £12.54 memory. Hopefully be good enough for 2+ years

Would this be any good as on office PC? Can you run two monitors?

Yes, perfect as an office PC and it has an HDMI port and a VGA port so you can run 2 monitors at the same time

Guys, musical chairs again, Buzzard just kindly pm'd me to say Ebuyer is back in stock at £250 now
Other Deal

Is this simply a case of plug and play to run dual monitors? As long as they have hdmi and vga inputs?

I have an i5 4570 and a gtx970 and plays doom in ultra no problems at all very capable cpu's

Yes it should be that simple, I've not tried it myself on mine but a review online says it can be done and others have mentioned it also. Should be a case of plugging in the HDMI lead to monitor 1 and VGA to monitor 2 (or vice versa) Then select whether you want to duplicate the display or extend the display.

looks like the price has jumped back up so will expire.