ATTO ExpressPCI UL5D

Advantages: Runs quietly and efficiently with few crashes
Disadvantages: Required a replacement hard drive after a while

...The Dell 4700 is a decent PC, and stable enough however I have had to replace the hard drive on all three of the ones I have. Its strong enough to run a lot of games, but for the higher level games you'll probably need to buy a graphics card. It comes with a PCIE slot, which allows you to use Express PCI cards which are a lot faster than standard PCI. It continues to start up fast after having it for a good few years, and with regular cleaning and drive scanning stayed reliable and stable. It rarely crashes, although I have it for most of the day. I bought mine with 512MB RAM but it can be upgraded easily as it comes with two empty memory slots. I haven't had the oppertunity to try out the stock network card, however it copes well with the wireless system in our house. The design of the case is......grey...... but then all Dells are... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Cheap and up to date, Takes new gfx card
Disadvantages: built in graphics are basic

...headers that may prove useful if your case supports extra ports. There is 10/100Mbps LAN rather than Gigabit and the 6-channel audio uses the AC'97 codec and only has three mini jacks for connection. So you are limited for sound but at this price whos complaining. The BIOS supports overclocking and allows you to separate the PCI Express and PCI buses, which is handy if you have a sound card and don't fancy causing audio problems as you increase clock speeds. Switching to the integrated graphics was a bit of a shock as VIA/S3G DeltaChrome supports Shader Model 2 (DirectX 9.0b) and is very slow indeed. I was actually able to see the 'page loading' message for a fraction of a second when i opened the Ebaums world website which simply doesn't happen when you use proper graphics, whether or not they are integrated. FINAL THOUGHTS: Final... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Watch TV on your PC! Record TV programmes with your PC! Record your home made videos onto your PC! So ruddy cheap!
Disadvantages: Needs PC to work, sound is mono, has to be PCI version to be cheap.

...him manage to get a TV Card with his sort of pocket money and get good quality for his money? Simple! He went and bought himself a Hauppauge WinTV Express card. This card is an analogue type card (meaning that it isn't digital) that arrives in a rather large box unbefitting the contents that are contained within. You get merely the TV Card, audio cable to link the card to your sound card, manual and software CD. You can hear it rattling around inside the box as you shake it, the box blatantly wasting precious card with all that space. But although I mourn the trees' wasted timbre (ish), the card itself is a very high quality piece of equipment. Unpacking the card was a cinch seeing as there wasn't much packaged in the first place. Installing it was easy as pie as well, requiring you to dismantle your PC and insert the card into a free PCI... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful