PC for under £650

[Jimmae]

Hello!

I need to get a new PC (got to use my current box as a server for my MCSE studies), i can only afford 600-650 quid for it sadly. Ideally it should be capable of running games like the new UT well, have a dual or quad core processor, and be nice and quiet will be slapping vista home prem on it (sadly, that needs to be included in the 650 quid, oem will be fine though) the price also includes a case and psu, but ive got a monitor!

I havent really kept up on my hardware knowledge for over a year now, and a friend of mine recommended coming here and asking the experts for help..

sooo.... does anyone have any suggestions what i should get for my money?

[McPhee]

Thats what i'd buy for £650, reasonably powerful and quiet.

The 8800GT is only £20 more than the 3870 and is a good 20% more powerful, you might be able to squeeze that inside you're budget. Word of warning though, it isn't the quietest card ever. Personally i wouldn't touch it without an after market cooler.

[Blitzen]

Not bad.
I think the CPU could be toned down to a 2180 or something similar saving £50.

Also, if you are getting a rig like that then a 32Bit OS is not really the best buy is it? Get the 64Bit version.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Specced from Ebuyer:

Corsair VX450WUK 450W PSU 131052 26 in stock £44.85 £38.17 £44.85 £38.17

Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache - OEM 130454 2664 in stock £59.99 £51.05 £59.99 £51.05

Optiarc AD-7191S 20X DVD±RW/DL/RAM LightScribe Serial ATA Black Bare Drive - OEM 136070 59 in stock £19.73 £16.79 £19.73 £16.79

Antec Solo Quiet Mini Tower Case - Piano Black/Silver - No PSU 112659 15 in stock £50.78 £43.21 £50.78 £43.21

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Energy Efficient 95W edition Socket 775 (2.40GHz) G0 Stepping L2 8MB Cache OEM Processor 131823 991 in stock £151.99 £129.35 £151.99 £129.35

Power Color HD3870 PCS 512MB GDDR4 256bit 800/2400Mhz Dual DVI PCI-E Graphics Card 138550 109 in stock £144.96 £123.37 £144.96 £123.37

Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R Socket 775 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard 131173 176 in stock £73.36 £62.43 £73.36 £62.43

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium x32Bit OEM 1PK DVD 123052 124 in stock £61.41 £52.26 £61.41 £52.26

Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 675MHz/PC2-5400 XMS Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4(4-4-4-12) Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty 098708 478 overdue £27.22 £23.16 £27.22 £23.16

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler 105994 664 in stock £15.14 £12.88 £15.14 £12.88

Cart total inc vat: Cart total ex vat: £649.43

*FREE SHIPPING ON THIS ORDER» Shipping Charge:
Subtotal:
VAT:
Total:

£0.00 £0.00
£552.67
£96.76
£649.43

[staffsMike]

Antec sonata 3 with 500 earthwatts PSU - £70
Intel Q6600 - £150
Abit IP-35 - £65 (scan today only regularly)
4GB of PC5300/PC6400 - £60 (ocuk)
512mb ATi HD3850pro - £120 with a quiet cooler
500GB Western Digital AAKS - £60
DVD Writer - £20
Scythe Ninja - £27 (or thermalright ultima90 + fan - £35ish)

Thats ~£575. Leaves enough for an OEM O/S

Thats a nicely balanced system good for anything you might want to do.

[Jimmae]

how does this look?

(have to type it due to not being able to post a url )

all from scan, item code, description, price inc vat!

ln19715 - Asus Ip35 mobo - 58.74
ln19275 - c2d e6750 - 119.81
ln15216 - 520w corsair modular psu - 60.97
ln14277 - 2gb (2x1024) corsair pc2-6400 cas 4-4-4-12 - 43.45
ln20415 - 250gb samsung spinpoint - 40.88
ln17166 - windows vista home premium 64bit oem - 63.91
ln19338 - coolermaster rc-632s case - 56.39 (today only)
ln20440 - 512mb bfg 8800gt OC - 174.95
ln13080 - arctic cooling freezer 7 pro - 14.68

comes to a total of 649.82 ish

already have optical drives and a good x-fi card i can donate to it.

[smellybumlove]

if you decide on a spec give me a shout, i can get it cheaper over here especially if i get all at once, no charge i live just by the computer district in taipei and i have plenty of free time, plus postage is pretty reasonable to the uk via EMS.

but my 2 cents:

quad core q6600 or a E6750 (i know the E6750 is 100 here)
asus P5k
UMAX ddr2 400 ram 2x2gb (it overclocks like mad and costs nothing)
enermax liberty 500/620w (depends on quad or not)
tuniq tower cooler
western digital 320gb 16mb cache
cooler master case (many to choose from)
8800gt or a hd3870
dvd writers cost like 10-15 depending on wether you want litescribe

[MrP]

Find a Notebook, Desktop, Server, Printer, Software, Service or Monitor at Dell.

#629

Q6600
2gb ram
8000gt
500gb hdd (2x250 in raid 0)
vista home premuim

[Thorsson]

You don't need 64bit Vista with 2Gb RAM. If you're going to upgrade to 4Gb later it's worth getting though.

Antec P182 is a very quiet case. If you want to save money, so is the NZXT Hush, although it's a little on the tight side.

The Arctic Freezer is not very quiet, and in that Coolermaster case would sound quite noisy IMO. You could tone down the fan, but that would be at the cost of a lower OC. If you want quiet you need to get something like staffsMike suggested.

[Krumm]

TBH i'd get a e6550 rather than the e6750, as you can easily overclock up to 3.2ghz with both and apart from the clocks they're identical. (you'd be saving £15 easily)

EDIT~ A 2180 would be fine too

[smellybumlove]

yeah my little sisters pc uses a E2180, i bought the whole pc for 200 with 2gb ram and a basic P5k which i am unsure if you get in the uk.
clocked it to 2.8ghz on air, i didnt go any higher cos well shes 14 and just uses MSN, i did it for a laugh.
all the E21** are very good, i myself has a 2140 and pushed it pretty damn far myself.

[Jimmae]

i went ahead and ordered what i put down before, put changed the case for an antec p182 parts should arrive monday or tuesday, hurrah!

thanks much for all the help and suggestions