Advice on next PC - £700-£800

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15-07-2007, 04:52 PM
Andeh13

Advice on next PC - £700-£800

Hey folks, in South Africa at the moment with the family but in a weeks time im comming back to the uk (:D). I start my second year at university in september and want a new PC to join me(old PC is staying here in SA with the family).

I have a budget of about £700(£800 at a push), this PC will be used for a bit of heavy gaming and a lot of multi tasking (MSN, music/films, downloading & web, at all times, then DVD encoding/gaming etc now and then). Im hoping to go back to a duel screen setup so within that £700 budget id like a decent widescreen monitor(20+), something in black that would fit, style wise, with http://img.product.pchome.net/00/02/...s75d-27242.jpg, so height adjustable & in black.

Would quad core & an 8800GTS fit into that budget? Im hoping to run vista on it, but if thats pushing the budget a bit XP will be run until christmas.

Many thanks guys.

edit: i really like the look of this monitor, but the price would cut into the budget for the rest of the PC, would i have 2 sacrifice much to afford this?
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=113148

editx2: id also like to try and include a case which isnt garish, but is something slightly different. Iv been having a look at this: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=584958 but i havent heard much about it. Has anyone had any experience with it/recommend me a case?
15-07-2007, 05:18 PM
NightshadowUK

Will you be overclocking?

Do you plan on upgrading to DDR3 at some point along the line?

Do you need a mouse / keyboard / speakers?

Do you already have an XP CD or will you be buying a new OS with the hardware?
15-07-2007, 05:34 PM
Andeh13

Sorry, knew i would miss something(s).

I like the idea of o/c so i might have a go at giving it an extra 10-15% in the future, but if its gunna add much to the price then i wouldnt bother.

Dont know a great deal about DDR3, im afraid. Would do some research but im on a very very poor connection out here so any page with excessive pictures is a no go. Hexus' forums alone can take a good few mins to load, if they decide to load that is.

I already have a mouse & keyboard and a hi fi i use sound wise.

Already got a very old XP CD, however if vista premium can fit into that budget without cutting back on to much then i wouldnt mind giving it a go. :)

edit: HDD wise im just gunna go for a WD 250gb i think, already got one full of films & music so id just use a 2nd for OS & as an overflow.
15-07-2007, 05:45 PM
NightshadowUK

Vista'll take about £100 off your budget so it's probably worth leaving.

Quad cores are too expensive at the moment so I'll use a dual core but maybe when price cuts kick in this can change.

Also, getting the rig up to overclocking standard will cost more money so you're probably best going for a powerful stock system.

That Sony display you already have, what size is it? I only ask because 22" widescreen is the sweet spot at the moment.
15-07-2007, 05:57 PM
Andeh13

That Sony is a 17inch, 22'' i think would be pushing the budget out a bit too much(?), however if there is a (trustworthy make) 22'' that fits style wise & into the budget then id be more then happy to go for it. I watch a lot of films at uni so a bigger screen would probably come in handy.

As i said, if i did o/c it id only add 10-15% max, which im guessing wouldnt be worth the extra money?
15-07-2007, 06:08 PM
Andy3536

Quote:

Originally Posted by NightshadowUK

Vista'll take about £100 off your budget so it's probably worth leaving.

Quad cores are too expensive at the moment so I'll use a dual core but maybe when price cuts kick in this can change.

Also, getting the rig up to overclocking standard will cost more money so you're probably best going for a powerful stock system.

That Sony display you already have, what size is it? I only ask because 22" widescreen is the sweet spot at the moment.

Vista £100?
Were are you buying it from?
Get an OEM copy
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=527300
And thats an expencive one, not much more than a copy of XP
You might though have to give quad core a miss if you looking at under £800 with a monitor in that budget.
Get a dual core with a board that'll overclock well and a big cooler.
My specs on left <<<< came to about £740 with a few bits not listed and that was minus a monitor.
15-07-2007, 06:11 PM
NightshadowUK

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andehh

however if vista premium can fit into that budget

:p

---------

Anyway here's the best I can do:

- Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 ~ £86.06

- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro ~ £15.97

- Abit AB9 i965 ~ £68.61

- 2GB (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX PC5400 4-4-4-12 ~ £50.94

- 256MB Power Color RX1950XT ~ £116.24

- 250GB Samsung SP2504C ~ £37.58

- Antec P182 ~ £80.95

- 520W Corsair HX V2 ~ £68.02

- Optiarc (Sony/NEC) AD-7170S-0B ~ £19.85

- Samsung 20" 204BW ~ £154.75

Total ~ £698.97

---------

CPU should overclock to 3.2GHz. :)
16-07-2007, 11:20 AM
Andeh13

Thanks for that, tried to look at the components but the connection here just isnt having any of it. Think im going to have to wait till i get back to the UK before i can look into it in any real detail.

Thanks again though guys. :)
16-07-2007, 11:34 AM
aidanjt

It'll be better to wait till near the end of the month before parting cash anyway due to Intel CPU price cuts, Q6600 is expected to drop to little over $250, which means peanuts for us :D