Build a PC for £700-800 - Gaming.

[adam1701]

I want to build a new computer in January. I mainly want it to be for flight simulator x and battlefield.

I would like to spend no more than £800 ideally.

What motherboard and processor should i get?
I would say maybe £200-250 to spend on a graphics card.
I think i would want around 2gb of ram.
I would probably buy a 250gig internal sata hard drive.
I have Monitor, keyboard and mouse.

I would also like to have scope for upgrading over 2007... ram and maybe cpu in a years time.

If anyone has any better reccomendations on what to get please say.

Thanks.

[YorkieBen]

From Scan.co.uk:


LN15047 Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, Socket 775, 1.86 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, Retail £106.89 £125.60

LN16094 512MB Gainward 7950GT Bliss PCI-E (x16) Mem 1400MHz GPU 550MHz 24Pipes Dual DVI/S-Video SLi £176.95 £207.92

LN11461 250 Gb Samsung SP2504C SpinPoint P120, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 9.0 ms, NCQ £42.66 £50.13

LN15713 NEC ND-5170A-0B Black x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD-Writer OEM UK £17.41 £20.46

LN13080 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual Core / Core2Duo Ready £14.49 £17.03

LN15778 ASUS P5B-E iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £83.29 £97.87

LN16159 Antec P150 UK Aluminium ATX Case with energy-efficient 430W PSU £89.99 £105.74

LN12201 2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC5300 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15 £119.53 £140.45


This doesn't include Windows btw.

It would give you plenty of upgrading possibilities (faster cpu, faster RAM), and you could overclokc if you wanted (you might have to use a divider depending on how far the ram overclocked but the mobo and cpu will overclock alot)

Comes to £765 with free Hexus delivery. The antec p150 comes with a pretty decent psu which keeps the overall price down.

[nichomach]

LN15048 Intel Core 2 Duo E6400, Socket 775, 2.13 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, Retail £129.89 £152.62
LN15807 Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H i975X, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £99.25 £116.62
LN12201 2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC5300 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15 £119.53 £140.45
LN12595 300 Gb Maxtor 6V300F0 DiamondMax 10, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 9.0 ms, NCQ £55.79 £65.55
LN8241 SilverStone TJ01B (BLACK) Aluminium Front & SECC Body Tower case (w/o PSU) £46.75 £54.93
LN13698 600W Xclio X12S4P4 Modular SLi U-Quiet 14cm Fan 87%+ Efficiency Quad+12v EPS 4SATA 4 PCI-E £52.95 £62.22
LN7943 AOpen DUW1616LPRO 16x16 DVD±RW/RAM Dual Layer Chameleon (Sil/Blk/Ivory) with DVD Software Retail £18.80 £22.09

Net Total £522.96
Carriage £12.09
V.A.T. £93.63
TOTAL £628.68
Plus
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116149 - Sapphire Radeon X1900XT 256MB, £175 plus shipping (approx).

£810 give or take all in?

[CrazyMonkey]

Yorkie thats not a bad spec but i would consider a difference graphics card, Overall ATI cards perform better over mostly all games except for doom3.
Im a Nvidia Fanboy but at the moment for a good price ATI is the way to go.

[blknoel]

x1950 Pro is currently giving best bang for your money, or 7900GS if you prefer Nvidia

But I personally would hold out a bit more until DX10 cards come out, old cards should experience another price drop.

Oh, and Christmas is coming too =D

[cptwhite_uk]

Here's my pick:

LN16176 256MB Sapphire Radeon X1950Pro, PCI-E(x16), Mem 1400MHz GDDR3, GPU 580MHz, 36Pipes, VIVO £113.39 £133.23

LN13080 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual Core / Core2Duo Ready £14.49 £17.03

LN16063 Gigabyte GA 965G-DS3 iG965, S775, DDR2 533/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX, On Board VGA £87.10 £102.34

LN11461 250 Gb Samsung SP2504C SpinPoint P120, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 9.0 ms, NCQ £42.66 £50.13

LN11501 Gigabyte 3DAurora GZ-FSCA1-AT Black Aluminum Tower Case - Hi End £69.39 £81.53

LN14972 Samsung SH-S182DB/BEBN Black 18x18 ±R x12 RAM Dual Layer DVDRW Writer OEM UK £16.97 £19.94

LN14277 2Gb (2X1Gb) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP £167.64 £196.98

LN15048 Intel Core 2 Duo E6400, Socket 775, 2.13 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, Retail £129.89 £152.62

LN11602 430w Seasonic S12-430 aPFC PSU Silent ATX2.0 *New Version RoHS £40.99 £48.16

Total = £818 approx.

This system would get you upto 2.8-3.0Ghz quite easily, and be nice and energy efficient (core2duo/x1950pro are not power hungry), cool, and would look the dogs bollocks in that case. You could save £40 and go for a cheaper case if you wished...

I'd also point out at 1280x1024 that vid card would do flight sim justice, and pumping up the conroe to 2.7Ghz would give it the processing power the flight sim series desires (albeit in single core mode, since i believe fsx doesn't support dual core).

This system would walk all over Battlefield games at any resolution you're likely to be able to have, unless we're talking a 30" Dell.

[menthel]

Don't forget the cost of a new o/s as well! New system, new OEM windows.

[topgun23]

Vista = free till June

[unrealhippie]

Hmm spec's looking good guys,

Personally:
e6300 with Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Gigabyte DS3
Corsair Value/TwinX depending if the budget can stand it.
Samsung SP2504C (fantastic drive! Quiet!! I had to replace my seagate as i'm a noise freak.)
DVD-RW, I prefer Pioneer or Plextor as they seem to last so much longer and work much more smoothly than others, budget depending this is though!
Powersupply, I would be looking for atleast a quality 480w, preferably a Seasonic S12 500w? or Enermax Liberty!

SilverStone TJ01B or Antec P150 or P180, depending on tastes.

[Ben_]

antec p180 is crap. the feet come off, on mine one of the case fans is so badly wired that the wire clips the fan constantly, its noisy anyway and its huge

[Fabula]

Definitely go for 2gig of ram with those games!

Motherboard: Stretch to gigabyte DS4. Very good value and stable.
HD: 250gig or 320gig seems the sweet point at the moment. Seagate 7200.10 are very good.
GFX: ati 1950pro is very decent. Or you could go for a nvidia 7600gt to last you a bit, and get a DX10 card in a few months.

[cptwhite_uk]

430W is absolutely fine, new tech doesn't mean more power, as i stated both the major power takers are efficient power users, conroes better than a64s and the x1950pro 220w compared to an x1900xt 280w (approx)

[adam1701]

Thanks for help and advice, i think it will be a good idea to wait for the directx10 graphics cards!

I have windows.
are parts, such as ram and cpu, going to be upgradeable over the next year or so?

[mosherben]

for sure if you get an E6300 Conroe You would also be able to upgrade the RAM once 2 gig kits drop down in price, assuming your motherboard supports 4 gigs of RAM (most do but there are exceptions). Don't forget if you want to upgrade the RAM that it should be the same model as your original RAM if you do upgrade to 4 gigs

[BlindMelon7]

For £260 you could get 2 x1950s (pro) and crossfire them .

[adam1701]

For £260 you could get 2 x1950s (pro) and crossfire them .

Would that be better than 1 card of something else for an equivalent price?

is it similar to raiding?