What do you think of this desktop?

[Samlaptop]

AMD Phenom X6 Six Core AM3 2.8GHz x6,8GB DDR3 RAM,1TB HDD,ATI HD5450 1GB Graphics

There is an eBay listing of a custom built PC for £359 with that spec and it doesn't include Windows. My current desktop has a Intel Core 2 Quad, 5GB of RAM, 6GB oF DDR2 RAM, 1TB Hard Drive and Nvidia Geforce GT220 graphics with 512MB of dedicated memory.

Which OS shall I install on this machine?

I use Camtasia Studio and i play games like Oddworld and the Sims 3. I use Camtasia to record my gaming footage and export the video for YouTube. Would that improve rendering speed?

Also the company said that you can message them for further upgrades.

[picard74]

Windows 7 Enterprise or ultimate x64 of course...

If your mainboard is compatibile try OSx .

If you want upgraded your machine, buy a ASUS NVIDIA ENGTS250 DK 1Gb is a perfect video card for games & other

[Samlaptop]

Windows 7 Enterprise or ultimate x64 of course...

If your mainboard is compatibile try OSx .

If you want upgraded your machine, buy a ASUS NVIDIA ENGTS250 DK 1Gb is a perfect video card for games & other

I wouldn't install OSX because Oddworld is not compatible with OSX and you break Apple's EULA when installing OSX on a PC.

I'm also going to top up the HD to 2TB as well.

[C4Reaper]

Windows 7 64x, or OS X if you're a huge apple fan. I don't like it myself though.
Maybe together (+Ubuntu) if you're a techie?
And no one gives a [CENSORED] [CENSORED] about EULAs. I didn't think anyone reads that [CENSORED] anymore.

[millermk90]

Cool computer. If you are into old OSs like I am, you should try (just as an experiment, obviously not permanently) putting Windows 9x on this machine, just to see how insanely fast it would boot. I don't really know how compatible the hardware would be with those operating systems, but windows 98 with 8 gigs of RAM would be insane!

[rciterb]

I don't really know how compatible the hardware would be with those operating systems, but windows 98 with 8 gigs of RAM would be insane!

Sorry to disappoint you but the maximum amount of RAM that Windows 98 supports is only 1.5 GB
Not only that but they had serious issues when they were used with hard drives greater than 150 GB.

[Samlaptop]

I don't really know how compatible the hardware would be with those operating systems, but windows 98 with 8 gigs of RAM would be insane!

Sorry to disappoint you but the maximum amount of RAM that Windows 98 supports is only 1.5 GB
Not only that but they had serious issues when they were used with hard drives greater than 150 GB.

Windows XP is still supported so I could try Windows XP.

[linuxlove]

Windows XP is still supported so I could try Windows XP.

Windows XP? no no no no no no no no no no no no no!
First off, unless you get the just as old x64 edition, you'll only be able to use 3.5GB RAM.
Second, why use a 10 year old OS as your main one? Eventually, hardly anyone will support Windows XP. Even the malware makers know this, so while you might have a lowered chance of getting any infections, you'll have a greater chance of not being able to run modern programs.

[TheCollector1988]

actually it is possible to get the full 4GB of RAM in Windows XP.

[STeeLhawk]

Eventually, hardly anyone will support Windows XP. Even the malware makers know this, so while you might have a lowered chance of getting any infections

Offtopic Comment

Not entirely true, XP's still a majority or close-to-majority operating system around the world so there's still plenty of viruses out there for it, not to mention it's on extended support so Microsoft won't be as eager to fix it up. It doesn't have enough of a difference from Vista/7 to totally safeguard it from new threats, unlike 9x which is protected simply because it's too different and archaic to write viruses for. The executables themselves just won't run on 9x, it's fun to watch.

Anyway, that's pretty much my desktop, that one has more RAM, less HDD and a 9800GT graphics card. I use Windows 7 Ultimate and Ubuntu 11.04 on it, it runs very well. I'm trying to get OS X running too, having a bit of problem getting the install disc to even boot though. If you wanted to dabble in OS X then an Intel PC is definitely the way to go, AMD's just not supported that well.

[Exothermal]

Its a good pc, though I can't say the price is good (I deal in dollars not euros). Definitely go for windows 7, i thing professional x64 is plenty good, and you can get it for a scant $150 OEM. You can always dual boot win 7 with a tiny linux partition if you need versatility. Also, you can always use wine, virtualbox, or another emulator if you need to use windows programs under a different OS.

[MugenFox]

I would say go for Windows 7 Ultimate or Home Premium (x64 of course). I wouldn't recommend Mac unless you're a HUGE Apple fan because it's a big hassle to set up properly. The video card is great and you will see better performance in anything you do compared to your old PC. All in all, it's a great PC and I don't see anything you'd need to change on it.

[soulman]

I'm using Windows 8 7955 as my main OS so you could try 7959 seeing as it's x64 if you fancy bending the rules. I'd go with Windows 7 x64, Home Premium or Ultimate if you're an average user. I'd highly recommend Ultimate though. I'd also put a Linux distro on but definitely not ubuntu, so many holes in it that Canonical refuse to admit to. There are plenty of fish in the sea so go have a look and see what you can reel in for a distro

My personal favourites are CentOS, Fedora, openSUSE/SUSE, Debian, Puppy, Slackware and Mandriva. Remember to get x86_64 if you do decide to download linux!

[compgeke]

The system is a hell of a computer and regarding the OS Windows 7 64-bit. The version of Windows 7 though depends on your needs. If you want media center but don't want to have support for Windows Virtual PC the Windows 7 Home Premium x64. If you don't want Media Center but want support for Windows Virtual PC then you'll want Windows 7 Professional x64 and if you want both Media Center and Windows Virtual PC support then it's Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

[Darcnes]

Not a bad price for the parts included at a glance.

I would have them upgrade the 5450 to something more current.. x4xx is a pretty budget line for any of the 4xxx 5xxx or 6xxx series. Perhaps a 5770 or 6770? I think the 6770 might actually be cheaper than the 5770.. either would net you far better performance than a 5450.

Definitely some breed of Win7 x64 for your OS. Newegg sells system builder variants for a nice chunk of change under the OEM copies. The only caveat is that MS doesn't have to provide you with tech support. If you're feeling experimental, Ubuntu wouldn't be a bad OS to try either, but make sure it's 64-bit.

1TB HDD is fine if you're not a big collector of media. You could probably even get away with 500GB if you do very little in the way of downloading.

I find Win7 Media Center to be of terribly little use, there are too many tools out there to accomplish much the same functionality without all of the codec restrictions. It's been a few years since I attempted to bend Media Center to my will, and that should tell you how that went So really my only recommendation for Win7 is Professional. If you want to mess around with older OS's, Virtual Machines are the most hassle-free way of going about it anyhow. In a pinch, you can even play older games on these older OS's because the graphical requirements are soooo much lower.

Good luck with new PC!

[laser23]

I agree a 5570 or a 5770 would be better even if you're not a gamer as it will futureproof your system more. Also unless you do heavy video editing I wouldn't recommend above 6GB of ram but its your choice. Go with 1TB as the price difference is minimal $15 AUD.

[Samlaptop]

Those PC's don't come with a memory card reader but they said that they can add one for £7.50.