Challenge - "Build" me a computer

[Demagogue]

Hi, I'm looking to buy a system but unfortunately im over 4 years out of date as far as knowledge goes.

What I need is a few possible specifications based on your experience and expertise in the field.

My conditions are:

1.Budget of £550 give or take a few tenners
2.Primarily for gaming. I want it to be able to cope with today's games running at full(ish) spec.
3.Future proof for 2/3 years. I don't mind a drop in performance during this time but I dont want to be faced with applications that I can't run to a reasonable standard due to obsolete hardware etc.
4.I am after a base unit and nothing more. A monitor is added expense for an item I don't need (so most of the major suppliers are out due to package systems)

Buying would be preferable but I can't seem to find a good supplier that guarantees good components and avoids excessive assembly charges. With this in mind I am willing to go down the building road if necessary.

Feel free to tell me I am being a bit too ambitious for my budget. I am willing to compromise on performance but I can't budge on the price.

Hopefully you can come up with something that meets my requirements but doesnt subscribe me to new technology which I might not need or won't know how to get the most of.

Thanks a lot

Dem

 

[Kenny]

Hey Demagogue! Welcome to the forum!

If the computer is to last you 2 to 3 years but still be able to play games, some of it will have to be top of the range now, which is expensive. With advances in computing, its hard to say if what you/we buy now will still be worthwhile after that length of time, but here goes

In general, what I`d recommend is: (will let other ppl argue over prices and which companies/ models to get,my prices are rough, if you know where to look))

NForce4 Ultra/SLI motherboard £80 for SLI
AMD Venice or San Diego CPU £140-190
2x512MB PC3200 memory with 2-2-2-5 timings (£100 max, less for looser timings)
NVidia 7800GT GPU (ATI equivalent due out in a few weeks, there`ll be a price cut on NVidias part then) (£300)
OR 2x6800 GPU, which will work out around the same and be slightly better I think (2x£150)
Tagan 530W PSU (65)
200GB HDD (£70)
A case (£40)
a DVD-ROM and CD-ROM RW all in one (£25)


That comes to £700-ish, which is overbudget SO.... could try having just an
NF4 Ultra... (£70)
6800Ultra (£240)
Tagan 480W PSU (£50)
same disk, same case and processor
which gives: £<600 ish

Theres some rough pricing for you...it can be done for the money you have

Kenny

 

[ChristopherP]

£550 for a high spec gaming machine is pushing it.

If you want a machine that will hack todays games at full spec you want to be spending a grand.

 

[Me__2001]

£550 for a high spec gaming machine is pushing it.

If you want a machine that will hack todays games at full spec you want to be spending a grand.

ditto

 

[ChristopherP]

Take a look at my "New Build Suggestions" thread - the more expensive of the two computers i'm building is £700 for the base unit... and it's a bottom of the range AMD 64 Socket 939 chip, a gig of Value memory and a Radeon X800 GT - the second lowest performer of the X800 series of graphics cards.

Whatever you do, do NOT skimp out on the more important things like PSU, Motherboard etc in favour of a slightly better whatever. Its not worth it.

Also, don't be misled by companies claiming that their systems are the latest gaming machines. More often than not theyre gonna be crap.

 

[Demagogue]

I am willing to compromise on performance but I can't budge on the price.

Ok I might budge slightly on the price (somebody give me a hat!) and probably lower my expectations slightly regarding performance. I'll try and come up with a detailed specification using Kenny's guide and Chris' "upper" system offer and post it up here for scrutiny. Any advice on suppliers?

Thanks again,

Dem

 

[ChristopherP]

http://www.alienware.co.uk/product_...SysCode=PC-EU-AREA51-7500&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT

is a true gamers PC

 

[mudfrog]

Would love to of been able to afford an Alienware machine

There systems are expensive but highly recommended by gamers and the like.

I was looking for similar perfomance that your after but at the end of the day i had to compromise on a few things. I went for a self build myself and I think I saved a bit of money when compared to an out of the box machine. And the satisfaction I got from doing it myself was well worth it.

I chose www.ebuyer.com to get my parts. Cheapest I could find for a lot of the parts. But be warned I had a bit of trouble with the delivery and getting everything at the same time in order to start the build.
Would still defo use them again and have done. But when you need all the parts to get started it get a bit frustrating so I had to get some of the parts from elsewhere.

Good luck with it!

Cheers,

Rich

 

[muckshifter]

http://www.alienware.co.uk/product_...SysCode=PC-EU-AREA51-7500&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT

is a true gamers PC

err, nope!

I'm surprised at you Chris ... I think it may be on your 'whish list' but if you look a little deaper you'll see one big herdle is in it's CPU ... name me one game that knows what to do with x2 CPU ... not forgetting that the x2 is actually a slower CPU than a single core of the same speed.

If I was looking for a 'nice cheap' server for my company I would certainly have a look at x2 CPU ...

Nope, IMHO ... it aint the best gamming machine ... just another company pushing the numbers game. And at a silly price.


Silly looking case too

 

[muckshifter]

Good recommendations there Kenny ...

 

[G~MAN]

here we go ...

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ - £160
Asus A8N - SLI Deluxe - £100
Crucial DDR 1gig - £80
Samsung 160GB SATA2 - £59
Samsung DVD+RW - £30
Tagan TG480 480W - £59
Nvidia 6800GT or 7800GTX (whatever you can afford)

Case - Depends ... check ebuyer ... £3!!! ... and look for the member hu modded it up ... looks SWEET

G~MAN

 

[Edison]

custom pc

How about this, £550.90 inc VAT (now thats damn close to the budget!!). I cheated though and used the config tool here. It doesnt include an Operating System though but its built for you!! the only time I built a PC the Floppy Drive burst into flames! so much for low voltage...

Athlon 64 3500+
1GB DDR400 Crucial memory
120GB 7200rpm hard drive
CDRW / DVD Combo
256MB GeForce 6600 (PCI-Ex)
Standard case -front USB
460W Power Supply
Asus A8N-E S/L 2000MT motherboard
NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra
Frontside Bus2000 MT/s, 1600MT/s
4 x 184-pin DDR400 maximum RAM 4096Mb
1 x PCI Express x16
2 x PCI Express x1,
1 x PCI Express x4,
3 x PCI
6 x USB 2.0 ports (2 on front of case)
2 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33,
4 x SATA with RAID
AudioAC97 8 channel
Network10/100/1000M RJ45 Ethernet

If you want to build it yourself then use their blueprint.. i can vouch for it working since mine is similar although i see a few bits are slightly better now :-(

Actually just tried pricing up and I think it would be more expensive building your own?? cant be right... will keep looking.

 

[muckshifter]

Huh!

your "link" shows me this ...

Your Final Price

£625.59 ex VAT£735.07 inc VAT

 

[ChristopherP]

Mucks - 2x7800GTX cards in SLI, a couple gig of RAM, a couple of SATA II 3Gbps drives in RAID 0...

As soon as games know what to do with the dual core CPU... That is one hell of a gaming machine

shame it's £3,000 though

 

[G~MAN]

and even though an atlon fx55 / 57 is faster that a dual core machine doesnt mean its better...

maybe if you were a mad gamer and wanted a few more fps ...

but its better to go for a dual core cpu now ...

 

[Demagogue]

Thanks for keeping the suggestions coming in. Definately decided to build now so I've started to search the various suppliers for the components suggested. With this in mind, what benefits are gained from getting specifically crucial memory or a samsung hard drive? Are the benefits sufficiently worth the cost if you are working on limited funds?

 

[muckshifter]

Always get the best you can afford ... but pay attention to details, as in Crucial's excellent record.

Every piece of computer equipmet has failed ... the 'chore' is finding who fails least, AND, can give you a replacment with no hastle or bother.

We all have our 'favorites' and I'm sure there'll be plenty of suggestions.

Me;
AMD CPU
MSI MB
Maxtor HD

... RAM ? well I'm quite particular in who makes the chips

 

[G~MAN]

i would go for a samsung hardrive there supposed to be the new daddy

 

[Demagogue]

Thanks.

Also, how does SLI work in practice? Would it be possible for me to buy one graphics card now (average performance) and then double that power when I can afford to buy another one? Is it a plug and play type set-up?

 

[muckshifter]

Thanks.

Also, how does SLI work in practice? Would it be possible for me to buy one graphics card now (average performance) and then double that power when I can afford to buy another one? Is it a plug and play type set-up?

Simplified answer (MB manual will have all the details) ... Yep