Soleron on 22 May 2009
They shouldn't care what state the disk is in when you return it; if you want to erase it it should be for personal reasons (so they can't see your data etc.). If that's the case then formatting isn't enough - you'll want to use e.g. a Linux LiveCD to overwrite every bit on the disk several times so the data can't be recovered.
Sample LiveCD command: shred -vzn 10 /dev/hda
This will overwrite the whole of /dev/hda with zeros ten times.
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Oh, and if you're getting a better PC I can help you get more value for money if you want. PM me with the specs of your proposed new PC and I'll find something cheaper and/or faster.
