Thinking of buying a new computer....

[Lyn]

I am thinking of getting a new computer base unit, and while I could build myself one it seems a little daft to do so when ready made ones are just as cheap if not cheaper than building a new base unit.   So what do you think of these specs and what is the support under Linux for the on board graphics?

http://www.ebuyer.com/407540-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7873-1077

Price £220 inc Value Added Tax (VAT) and delivery.

Processor

    AMD A6-3500 2.5Ghz Triple Core APU
    Cache: 1MB

Memory

    8GB DDR3 1333Mhz RAM
    Supports up to 16GB
    2 x DIMM sockets (used)

Hard Drive

    1TB SATA 3.5” HDD

Optical Drive

    DVDRW

Software

    No Operating System

Chipset

    AMD A55

Display

    N/A

Graphics

    AMD Radeon™ HD 6530D Graphics,
     up to 4GB graphics system memory

Audio

    High Definition Audio, 5.1 channel

Input Devices

    No Keyboard or Mouse

Networking

    Realtek 10/100/1000 LAN

Power Supply

    300 watts

Dimensions

    Height: 360mm
    Width: 375mm
    Depth: 180mm

Interfaces

    1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
    1 x D-Sub VGA Port
    1 x DVI-D Port
    6 x USB 2.0 Port
    1 x RJ-45 Port
    3 x Audio Jacks

Expansion

    1 x PCI-e x 16 Slot
    1 x PCI Slot
    1 x PCI-e Slot

Case

    mATX Tower Case

[bigpaws]

The only downside I see is the video. I find in most
situations that the onboard video cards lack power.

If you are not gaming or pushing the system as far as
high end graphics, then you should be fine.

You can add an expansion card.

ATI has done better with their drivers from what I have
read. I have little experience with ATI cards. I stick with
NVIDIA since they have been rock solid for me.

Building you own system I find to be more expensive but I
get higher end parts.

HTH

Bigpaws

[Lyn]

To be honest I was slightly more concerned with the power supply - it seems a little low spec, still there have to be compromises - I don't mind on board video cards, I don't run high end games and I will only be using Linux on it.  I will not be really thrashing the system, I just want a few years worth of future proofing.    It does look a reasonable deal as far as I can see, the negatives is that its relatively noisy.

Currently my main computer is a dual core AMD processor with an on board Nvidia graphics and 1GB ram (250MB shared with the video) and a 150 GB hard drive.   I also have a PIII computer with 20GB hard drive and an on board intel 810i graphics card that shares the 300 or so MB ram.