Spec me a pc please

[hOtTiGeR]

Hi, I have about £1200 to spend on a pc and it's been a long time since I upgraded (2006). Currently running an AMD Opteron 144 and X1900XT so looking to upgrade everything; cpu, mobo, ram, monitor, kb + mouse etc etc. I play games and do the odd bit of photoshop work and video editing and general web browsing.

Would like a 1TB hard drive but other than that you're free to choose whatever.

Thanks

[Blitzen]

/waits for mike with his 'pre-typed' rig

[staffsMike]

So... Tempting.. Can't.. Resist

lets wait and see what other people suggest .. hopefully they have learned by now

[jeffel]

This is my favourite config

Price inc postage

CASE Antec P182 gunmetal- £83 @ebuyer

MOBO Asus p5k-e wifi- £85

PSU 650+ w psu -£80

HDD 2 x Seagate 500gb sataII 32mb Cache- £100 @scan

CPU Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 oem-£140

RAM 2gb Kingston Hyper X ddr2 1200mhz- £110

GPU 1gb BFG 9800gx2- £350@scan

CPU COOLER Tuniq tower 120-£35 @Komplett

WRITER Samsung AD-7191S-0B 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, x12 DVD-RAM SATA Lightscribe Black -£18 @ebuyer

Monitor 22" ASUS 2ms gaming monitor- £175

You can choose corsair 800mhz 4gb ram for £65 instead and add an OS and a decent gaming wired keyboard and mouse.
Total- £1176

[cigbunt]

what games do you like to play?

if you doing video editing etc more ram would be needed! The more the better!

[staffsMike]

That seems pretty good.

Not a fan of seagate hard drives but each to their own. I prefer western digital, aaks prefereably.

Wouldn't bother with that RAM, any old PC6400 is plenty enough for a Q6600 and I would get 4GB. Look at Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK, in the super savers they have a 4GB PC4600 kit for around £53

CPU cooler isn't my favourite as its a huge old beast but it's good. I'd be looking at thermalright or scythe (ninja is my favourite).

Powersupply wise 600w seems fair for the GX2, I would get the corsair 620W HX but the enermax modu82+ is a great PSU by the looks of things. 500W will be enough though.

Motherboard is pretty good, I'd probably still get an abit board though. An IP-35 in one of its flavours, dark raider or PRO.

[kmac]

If it was my money I'd go for

Abit IP35 Dark raider mobo
Enermax modu82+ 625W or Corsair HX620 PSU
1TB samsung F1
Perhaps a cheaper GPU - 8800GTS
CPU cooler I'd go for Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme or scythe Ninja

[NightshadowUK]

Me reckons something like:

- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR ~ £135.00
- Scythe Miné ~ £23.84
- Abit IP35 Pro ~ £95.63
- 2 x 2GB Corsair TwinX PC2-6400 ~ £57.15
- 512MB BFG Tech 9800 GTX ~ £193.75
- 1TB Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F1 ~ £98.92
- Akasa Eclipse-62 ~ £93.75
- Akasa Side Panel with extra fan ~ £18.62
- 120mm Sharkoon 1000 ~ £6.90 x 3
- 650W Corsair TX ~ £76.32
- Samsung SH-S203D ~ £17.60

- 22" LG L226WTQ ~ £187.87
- Logitech G5 Laser Mouse ~ £33.48
- Sharkoon 1337 "Elite" Mouse Mat ~ £4.34
- Saitek Eclipse II ~ £29.25

Total ~ £1086.22 + free delivery

[ikix]

DEFINATELY get the G5 mouse, have one and they are great, the weights thing is a very nice bonus and the on-the-fly DPI changing is VERY usefull. and erganomically very comfortable.

[MSIC]

Well i'd definitely go the quiet way, and spend mucho moola on the peripherals which will dramatically improve your actual feeling of using the computer and should also de-value much less quickly than the innards of the PC box.

Starting with a 24" monitor seems the most sensible approach, and then we can make sure the rest compliments that.
A Dell 24" for £270 is a bargain, although you may be better suited by the Ultrasharp if you are serious about photo work.
I much prefer corded Keyboards & mice, so these logitech's for £15 and £33 for a G5 are worth it.
On to speakers and Creative's Gigaworks (T20) are well regarded, good value for £50 although you might prefer more speakers around you. Plus some people are annoyed with Creative's software division
Getting a decent webcam may be of use to you, so this Logitech is £41.
Finally, although you havent asked for it, i find that an external hard drive is a very useful device to have. For £47 this stylish USB-powered device is cool.

So that brings us to £470 - odd.

Then the base unit we have just over £700 to spend, which may or may not include software (ie your OS) ??

The Antec Solo's are lovely cases for £58.
A 520W Corsair PSU can't be argued with. Ignore the 1000W fad nonsense.
Using an Abit IP-35 Darkraider motherboard to build on will win friends.
A Core2Quad (naturally) using the latest 45nm tech will stay cool enough.
Especially when cooled with a big Zalman which on a low setting won't be heard.
We can go a bit crazy with memory, as although 2 Gig is probably enough.. what the hell? 4 Gig for £57.
You asked for a 1TB hard drive, and the Samsung F1's are great and quiet. So let's have one.
Finally, a graphics card to drive that 1920 x 1200 goodness.
Nothing will do Crysis yet, but this 8800GT comes with a Zalman cooler for peace for your ears for £141.

Total = £1,173 inc VAT and delivery.

[Blitzen]

Nothing wrong with these parts but if i was spending nearly £1200 i would certainly want an improvement over a ABit Dark Raider and a 520W Corsair.

Decent parts but both nowhere near top nothch for that kind of budget.

[hOtTiGeR]

what games do you like to play?

if you doing video editing etc more ram would be needed! The more the better!

Erm well at the minute mainly css and tf2 which run pretty much okay. Erm will look to play all my old games again, so bioshock, the witcher, stalker, cod4, supreme commander etc.

Some of those specs do look tastey, cheers guys.

Do you think it would be best to go for a 24" monitor or a 20.1" like the NEC glossy one? I'm not really concerned by response time as I'm using a 20ms 17" at the mo so either a) I don't notice ghosting b) or I've gotten used to it!

Also someone was telling me the asus rampage mobo is good for overclocking, something which I might do. Not sure yet as I don't like the idea of fiddling about in the bios.

Cheers.

[MSIC]

Nothing wrong with these parts but if i was spending nearly £1200 i would certainly want an improvement over a ABit Dark Raider and a 520W Corsair.

Decent parts but both nowhere near top nothch for that kind of budget.

Ah, but again, look at my rationale - spend more on peripherals and less on internals.
I'm not saying my way is the only way, just MHO.

[cigbunt]

Also someone was telling me the asus rampage mobo is good for overclocking, something which I might do. Not sure yet as I don't like the idea of fiddling about in the bios.

I kinda agree with MSIC make sure its silent, but i'd skip the external hd and all that lark! you dont seem like the power hungry overclocker type some maybe a more expensive board would be wasted?
get a decent solid setup, with a nice screen!

get a Antec p182

skip the speakers pc speakers!

get you self a proper amp and some bookshelfs or floorspeakers
you can pick up a pioneer, kenwood or technics amps cheap.. check ebay i got an old amp kenwood KA-3080 for £30 does the job well!
for speakers check
EDIT sorry this shop is much cheaper!
http://www.richersounds.com/splashpage.php Thats if you dont already own this!

Do you think it would be best to go for a 24" monitor or a 20.1" like the NEC glossy one? I'm not really concerned by response time as I'm using a 20ms 17" at the mo so either a) I don't notice ghosting b) or I've gotten used to it!

Again if you in to image work etc.. bigger is better!

If you plan this right you could get alot of kit for your £1200 i think one major thing is how much you want to spend of the GPU!?

[ackrite26]

How about this?

Abit IP-35 Pro, iP35 Express - £95
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Retail - £135
Scythe Ninja Plus Rev B - £30
4GB (2x2GB) CorsairXMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 4-4-4-12 - £70
512MB BFG Tech 9800 GTX - £194
1000GB (1Tb) Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F1 - £99
525W Enermax MODU82+ - £76
Samsung SH-S203D/BEBN 20x DVD±R - £17
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse, 2000dpi - £33
Logitech Media Keyboard 600 Wired - £15
Antec Solo Quiet Mini Tower ATX Case - £59
24" Dell E248WFP Silver/Black Widescreen LCD - £270
Total - £1093!

[Thorsson]

Erm well at the minute mainly css and tf2 which run pretty much okay. Erm will look to play all my old games again, so bioshock, the witcher, stalker, cod4, supreme commander etc.

The Witcher eats RAM, so if you want to play the free update out next month, then I would suggest 4Gb & Vista64. Defintely DO NOT get 2Gb RAM & Vista32.