Quote Compare

[danielson81]

Hi,

 

I've received three quotes for 32 new PCs, the third one looks tempting, but is the first one worth paying extra for? I get the impression it wont make a lot of difference with a SSD drive and 8GB RAM already there.

 

1)

Intel Core i5 4460 Processor

8GB DDR3 1600Mhz Memory

128Gb SSD

DVD-RW

Keyboard & Mouse

Windows 8.1 Pro

5yr On Site Warranty

18.5" VGA LED Monitor

 

- £430+VAT - Supplier builds own PCs.

- x 32 = £13,760

 

2)

Intel Core i5-4440 Quad Core 3.1Ghz 6MB LGA1150 Processor

8GB RAM

DVD-RW

Keyboard & Mouse

120GB SSD

Windows 8.1 Pro 64Bit

5 Year On Site WARRANTY

18.5" VGA LED Monitor

 

- £429+VAT - Supplier resells PCs (HP/Lenovo/Zoostorm/Dell etc)

- x 32 = £13,728

 

3)

Intel Core i5 Processor i5-3340 3.10GHz, Quad Core with 6MB Cache

8GB RAM

DVD-RW

Keyboard & Mouse

120GB SSD

Windows 8.1 Pro 64Bit

5 Year On Site WARRANTY

19.5" VGA LED Monitor

 

- £404+VAT - Supplier builds own PCs.

- x 32 = £12,928

[hawc]

I'd say 3 as it was cheapest, although it has slightly smaller SSD, it also has a bigger screen for the PC.

[localzuk]

The difference in CPU performance is minimal. The 3340 also runs at a lower voltage, so potentially you will also save money in terms of running costs over their lives (its only 7W difference, but when you multiply that out over the number of machines and their lives, and it becomes a few hundred quid saving).

 

The only differences I can tell are:

 

The 3340 doesn't have FMA3 and AVX2 instruction support, which realistically in a school are unlikely to make much difference to the lives of the machines.

The 4470 is about 10% faster

The 3340 is about 8% more power efficient.

 

On the other components - you'll not notice the "8GB" difference on SSD - once you've dealt with the 1000bit to 1024bit conversion that manufacturer's use, and formatted it down, you'll only notice a couple of GB difference.

The monitor is your biggest difference - that exta 1" can be very useful to many users.

 

So, all that said, I'd go for the cheapest one of those 3. Its by far the best deal.

[Boredguy]

Quote 3 is an IvyBridge i5 compared to the other two being for Haswell i5's, however the processing power is comparable so on my best value system, quote 3 would be looking as my preferred option as it gets you a saving of over £700 and a larger monitor.

 

I doubt the older processer would be an issue since the main difference on the Intel website is the graphics chip and I think the 2500 driver would still be perfectly acceptable over the 4600 for our normal workstation use.

[Michael]

I agree, go with quote number 3!

[Arthur]

If the PCs are going to be used by students, I would ditch the DVD writers to avoid damage and save a few quid on each computer.

 

Edit. I would also try to get monitors with a digital connection (DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort). The image be sharper and you won't have to keep pressing the auto-adjust button when the screen goes wonky.

Edited May 28, 2014 by Arthur

[Hefferzzzz]

Whilst the cheapest price is tempting, whats the support like?

 

When its this close I tend to ignore the cost and go with who I think will mess things up the least and put it right quickly when it does go wrong which invariably it will - DOA etc.