Need your opinions on this system

I also need to know if this card is nailed to the motherboard. If it is, will it be inferior to a PCI garphics card?

And what does "Up to" 1024Mb mean??? B[]

Bryan...you'll definitely see an improvement...but with any Sys Specs the 'important' info is the brand/model of MoBo.....it affects everything else...so you need to know/post that info...;)

It probably uses "shared" system memory....very likely if it's 32 bit Windows w/4gb

Yes that graphics card is onboard video and Lantec is correct in the fact that it is shared memory.  It will utilize the system ram when its necessary.  Otrher than that it will depend on your purpose for the machine.
You might have an issue with graphic programs such as Photoshop when using its features...  (such as resizing images and smoothness of doing so  and things like that)  Photoshop has it so you can adjust the setting to how graphically intensive you can let it be by utilizing openGL.  I don't have it installed on my system so i can't be to specific about it.
The processor is good processor and it's good to have 4 GB of RAM.  I would personally suggest a graphics card to onboard any day.  I would definitely get a bigger hard drive, just because $/GB is better for the more GB you get.  500GB would be a good size to have though 320 might do you just fine.

Well because the system comes with a 19" monitor already and you have one better, I would also suggest getting a graphics card because then you can utilize both monitors and have a dual monitor system.  if you haven't experienced this yet, you would definitely like it.

Hmmm Interesting.... Thanks guys! I don't know the MoBo model, but the computer is an Aspire X3200, if that's any help?

I must admit, I'm rather confused, because some other guys I spoke to said that although it's a quad core chip, some Dual Core chips are faster because of the "Core Frequency"!    I automatically assumed it would be better than all those.

The point is..... these computers are already built, and you are not allowed to swap and change components. They are in a sale. I don't mind putting a new graphics card in (I've seen some good 1Gb cards for £50-£60 lately) but if the CPU is worse than a dual layer chip I may as well look elsewhere or upgrade my current system with a new MoBo/CPU bundle. I don't really want a dual monitor setup, the plan was to give the new monitor and my old system to my son, so that he can do his 8 hours of "Facebooking" a day on that, and I can get on with my skinning again!

Any further opinions from you guys are most welcome! Thank you!! B[]

Hey BoXXi; by looking at benchmark results at PassMark Software the 9100e looked to be the bottom end quad core by AMD, a few of their triple cores are a little faster, on the Intel side there are about 8 or 9 dual cores that are faster, that said it is about 6 times faster than your current P4.

Thanks Cavan! Interesting stuff....... B[]

In that case, I personally would go for something else... the CPU and GFX card maybe better than your current ones but they're still relatively low end by today's standards, so it'd be a double expense to have to upgrade them later.

Instead of buying a prebuilt, maybe you could look into doing a custom build yourself, or check out your local PC stores if you're not up for it yourself... either way, you could save yourself a bit of cash, and you get none of that pre-installed crapware/bloatware which comes standard with proprietry brands

On the subject of AMD quad cores, they started coming into their own more with the Phenom II series, so if you're going with an AMD , the Phenom II x4 920 or 940 is a decent CPU that'd do the job for you.

As for a GFX card, the Galaxy 9800GT 1gb (Low Powered) is a decent card and quite a bit cheaper than GTX200 series cards. BTW, low powered doesn't mean that it is somehow under performs, but that it draws power from the mobo and does not require a power connection to the PSU... meaning it doesn't tax your power supply and is somewhat shorter than most cards these days, thus fitting into a standard case more easily.

Anyhow, all the best with getting what you want/need.

Most applications/games today don't utilize quad cores fully yet. You'd be better off with a faster dual core than the slower quad core.

Thanks Starkers and Ryan.... appreciate it.

I had a conversation with Yrag yesterday, and he told me exactly what to buy. And as he is "THE MAN", I think I will go with his suggestions. I now realise that the system I was looking at was not as good as I first thought. No wonder it was so cheap!!

B[]

You're most welcome, mate.  Thing is, if yrag has recommended something, he is "THE MAN" and you can't go wrong with his suggestion.

Again, all the best with it

with computers it usually a "you get what you pay for" deal.  not too much to get around that. the trick is to not pay for crap you don't need or will use.  thats why its always best to build your system yourself, you will never get anything you dont want or need and you save money to boot