£1600 for upgrade/ new build

[Disturbedguy]

Hello all

A mate of mine has £1600 to spend on a new build PC.

He want's an i7 based build.

He has shown me what he is planning on getting, but am not 100% sure on.

So I was wondering what would people on here get?

Once I have a few I will tell what he has, if its similar.

Cheers

[scaryjim]

With that budget the flexibility is huge. Is he building it for gaming? And does it need to include monitor + peripherals, or just a base unit?

[staffsMike]

Yeah I don't know how to spend £1600 unless there are particularly demanding needs.

I might start with,
Silverstone Fortress
Be Quiet! 650W Dark Power
£240

HD4870(s) or a GTX285.

And then I would get a phenom II because i7 still looks like a waste

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would wait a bit until the HD4890 and GTX275 come out next month(officially). This may help reduce prices and it maybe useful to see how well they actually perform!!

[matty-hodgson]

the PC in 'my system' has cost me about £1600, what about that?
minus the monitor of course.

[Disturbedguy]

OK, I know he is definitely getting: -

2 x 260
Rampage 2 (I said i think its a waste, he doesnt OC)
i7
6gb ram

[Sputnik]

He could always build a really nice AMD machine and give us the money left over if he has money to waste

[Zadock]

the PC in 'my system' has cost me about £1600, what about that?
minus the monitor of course.

Bloody hell Matty that must be a powerhouse?! How long have you had that?

You using the SSDs for gaming?


SSDs look like a good option for some pricey bling, also a blue ray writer?

[Blackmage]

Surely Phenom 2 would be more cost effective here?

I see No overclocking neither :O

[Sputnik]

Surely Phenom 2 would be more cost effective here?

I see No overclocking neither :O

I think so too. Surely the best way to define what he needs is to say what he wants to use it for, Not to say he wants to spend £1600 ?

[scaryjim]

Frankly, for many day to day purposes £400 is more than enough on a new base unit, and as such your mate could happily have 4 new PCs with that money. I'd recommend he doesn't spend that much money!

[Whiternoise]

So, does this include monitor? Because if not then a 30 incher is looking tempting (and calmly knocks off 1k) - you're definitely looking at a 24". Does he want speakers and other stuff too? Get a set of AudioEngine A2's if you can find them in stock.

SSD's are probably worth it. Then a terabyte on top for storage.

I take it you've offered the idea of saving a little cash to buy other things?

Is he much of a computer geek (is he building it himself) or does he want you to build it up for him?

[Disturbedguy]

He has Monitor and HD's along with keyboard and mice.

He will use it for general stuff and gaming

WoW
RTS Games (Empire Total War)

So nothing heavy tbh

[Disturbedguy]

Oh he has some fancy pants 7.1 speakers in his list as wellOh he has some fancy pants 7.1 speakers in his list as well

Building himself
He doesnt want SSD's (noob)

Yeah I told him not to buy the Rampage 2

[colmo]

Does he have a specific need for something so expensive? If it's just the thought of having large numbers in a box, then he's wasting his cash.

With such a huge budget, my first two suggestions are:

1. A top-class monitor.

2. A really, really good chair.

PC components come and go, but those two will be in his possession a long time.

[shaithis]

If all he is going to do is play WoW and RTSes, then £1600 on a base unit is complete and utter madness.