Gaming PC(£700-£1000) Help please!

[Deleted User]

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

Well... you could save a little by going AMD rather than Intel, but you should seriously consider spending up to half your budget on a decent display.

Something like this, for example.

Don't really see the point in that when you can get this which is picking up really good reviews and put the extra towards better hardware.

-TangleFoot-

anewhope wrote: »

you can get this which is picking up really good reviews

It apparently lacks a 1:1 scaling function, which is kinda important when dealing with non-widescreen games. Other than that, it's supposedly an excellent monitor.

[Deleted User]

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

It apparently lacks a 1:1 scaling function, which is kinda important when dealing with non-widescreen games. Other than that, it's supposedly an excellent monitor.

Unless you're planning on playing old games it shouldn't even be a factor taken into consideration, especially on a system intended for high end gaming..

joe_pesci

Thanks again guys. Will be back tomorrow to reply to any posts.

Defo sticking to Intel, Vista 64 bit, a GTX or HD Radeon 4850+, 4GB ddr3(at least) 1000gb.

Rest is open to change. I will pop back tomorrow. Hopefully choose one by then.:beer:

-TangleFoot-

anewhope wrote: »

Unless you're planning on playing old games it shouldn't even be a factor

I made a boo-boo there. 1:1 scaling isn't an issue, but keeping the aspect ratio fixed is. The Dell is somewhat limited in this regard, but hopefully it won't become a serious problem.

Ever seen a 16:9 image stretched to fill a 16:10 display?

el_gringo_3

If you are worried about 4gig of RAM not being enough I reckon you should look at windows 7 as an OS, seems to be far less memory intensive than Vista. Also most games work fine on it, including old games (some of my xp games run better on 7 than Vista) -The main windows 7 forum i've found has a biggg list of peoples experiences with various games and 99% are positive. Plus you don't have to pay for it till after Xmas!

joe_pesci

No, i would rather stick with vista, rather than having the hassle of paying for Windows 7 later on. I like vista to be honest.

I just had a play round on Cybersystems, and came up with this.

• Case: Bosse Galaxy III Mid Tower 420w Black/ Side-panel Window
• Lights & Illumination: 12& quot; COLD CATHODE NEON LIGHT (RED COLOR)
• Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default Case Fan
• Power Supply Upgrade: 600 Watts Power Supplies (CyberPower 600W Power Supply)
• CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8500 CPU @ 3.16GHz 1333FSB 6MB L2 ***Overclockable XXX*** Cache 64-bit
• Overclocking Service: No Overclocking
• Cooling Fan: INTEL LGA775 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3P Intel P45 Express CrossFireX Chipset LGA775 FSB1600 DDR3/1600 Mainboard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, & 7.1Audio
• Memory: 4GB (2x2GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz Dual Channel Memory (G.SKILL NQ Series w/Heat Spreader ***Overclockable XXX***)
• VGA Power Supply: NONE
• Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 4870 PCI-E x16 1GB DDR5 Video Card
• Video Card 2: NONE
• Video Card 3: NONE
• Monitor & LCD: 22& quot; TFT Active Matrix LCD Display (Samsung SM2233BW 22& quot; 5MS Wide LCD Display DVI Monitor)
• 2nd Monitor: NONE
• Hard Drive: Single Hard Drive (1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive)
• Data Hard Drive: NONE
• Hard Drive Cooler: None
• Optical Drive: SONY DUAL FORMAT 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (RED COLOR)
• Optical Drive 2: NONE
• Sound: Creative Labs SB Audigy SE
• Speakers: NONE
• Network: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
• MODEM: NONE
• Keyboard: Logitech Cordless Deluxe 660 Desktop Keyboard & Mouse
• Mouse: NONE
• Extra Thermal Display : NONE (AS SHOWN)
• Wireless 802.11B/G Network Card: NONE
• Wireless 802.11B/G Access Point: NONE
• Flash Media Reader/Writer: None
• Cable Wiring: None
• Cables: None
• Video Camera: NONE
• Power Surge Protection: None
• IEEE Card: NONE
• USB Port: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
• USB Portable Drive: NONE
• Floppy: NONE
• OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition)
• Media Center Remote & TV Tuner: NONE
• RUSH SERVICE: NONE
• WARRANTY SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
• HOME INSTALLATION SERVICE: NONE

Only place i can keep the system under £1000 without downgrading graphics card. What do the experts think of that spec?

Lum

Lose the neon lights to save a few quid, there's a difference between wanting a nice case and wanting a case that looks like a Vauxhall Corsa down Southend on a Saturday night.

Lose the cordless mouse, they're a bad idea for a gaming system as they introduce weight and a small startup delay if you haven't moved the mouse for a while. For a decent gaming mouse without a stupid price tag consider a Logitech MX518. For a keyboard use your old one, unless it's cack.

Definitely lose that Audigy card. Creative Labs haven't made a product worth buying in years. The card itself is well specced, but it is marred by terrible drivers, especially under Vista and a history of dropping support for products rather too quickly.

For most people the onboard sound will be fine. If you are the kind of person who thinks that spending £60 on a 1 metre phono cable that's half an inch thick is a great investment then you should consider an soundcard upgrade, specifically one from the Asus Xonar range which is cheaper and better than the Audigy and has better drivers too.

I'd probably spend a bit more on the PSU. No I wouldn't increase the wattage but I'd go for a brand that I've actually heard of and have a reputation for quality. Corsair for example.

I wouldn't worry about needing 6gb or anything like that even in Vista. The comments about Vista being a massive memory hog are a myth put about by old school techs (of which I am one) who remember when free memory was more important. Vista likes to grab all available memory and use it as disk cache to improve load times but guess what, when a more important app/game wants more memory it immediately throws away that cache and gives your game the memory it asked for.

Yes Vista does use a little more memory but 6gb is massive unnecessary overkill unless you're running something like Photoshop with massive print-quality images or intend on loading up your PC with tons of background apps and spyware.

DatabaseError

Lum got a lot of detail and sensible advice in there....including get a decent PSU...not a winpower with a sticker on it..

Any reason why you're paying extra for a crossfire board, and only specifying 1 GPU?

I've not gone through the figures..but 1k still seems a little high for what you're getting...how much are they charging for assembly?

..and +1 for the MX518 - great mouse available for around £20...I bought one last week and was shocked at how quickly I became comfortable with it

joe_pesci

Thanks Lum.

DBE, as i say i have no clue on motherboards

I got rough idea what i need, but im still clueless about motherboards, does anyone have any useful easy guides explaining what to look for in motherboard. All i see is alot of numbers and words

Im defo getting my PC from cyberpowersystems, they have great deal on at moment for just under £900. But i will hold back a week, see what deals pop up. But they are great value for what they offer.


Edit: Also, if i buy a seperate monitor from a local shop, do i have any worrys about the monitor not working with certain systems. All do all just work with any computer?
By the way i have a tv/monitor that i use as a tv. It is a 20" Samsung sm2032mw.

If this was a decent monitor, i could saave on buying a monitor and getting a higher spec system. Then in few weeks, save up for a top end monitor. Would that Samsung be ok to use?