Opinions on a new machine...

[srod]

Hi,

my brother is thinking of buying the machine detailed here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sempron-2800-64-B ... dZViewItem

and has asked my opinion.

However, I'm a complete duffer when it comes to hardware. Any chance a few more knowledgeable souls might have a look and give an opinion?

Thanks.

[dracflamloc]

What does he want it for? Heavy gaming, video encoding.... office xp?

MSI Geforce FX5200 128MB DDR 400 AGP 8X DVI TVOUT Graphics Card.
That won't provide good gaming on anything but 4-5 year old games.

Video encoding won't be too great since its a Sempron which is like intel's celeron. Low cache sizes. It'd be plenty for 'normal' usage and lightweight games though.

[srod]

Recreational use really; pretty light. Mostly browsing and such like. I guess the price is the attractive thing here.

Thanks for the reply. That's the sort of thing we're after.

[netmaestro]

I think it's a good deal and probably a good choice for his needs as you describe them. You just have to keep in mind that it isn't very upgradeable - when he's ready for something more powerful he'll need to look at just replacing it. The socket 754 will take a bit more powerful chip than the one it's got but not much, no dual core, and without a PCI Express slot the best graphics cards won't go, but the proc and graphics card he's getting are quite decent really. If I were him I'd get it.

[srod]

Thanks; sounds ideal for his requirements.