Help replacing a dead PC please

enor

Ok, I've read through all of the suggestions and have made my mind up on a couple of points. I'll go with an Intel processor as I've no plan to update this PC at all (other than perhaps sticking in some more ram or larger hard drive). It needs to be as good as possible now so I'll compromise on the best possible processor for the money. Also my budget is definately £500 not £400 now but I'm not worried if it doesn't include a DVD drive or needs a new fan, I'm expecting there to be a few things at the end that will not come out of the budget.

The laptop suggestion would be fine in most circumstances, but I already have one. It's fine for general use but not all day long at my desk.

I'm not adversed to a shop bought base unit but it needs to be a good one. I can't find one in my budget that I can be sure of the PSU and other internals. As far as I can see the best bet would be to overclock a lower spec but quality build.

So if I stick to an Intel and my main priority is Photoshop use, am I better off with more spent on the processor than the graphics card? As for gaming it will only be used on a 19 inch monitor once my son has it, if that affects the graphics card choice.

Ta
Richard

P.s. The old computer has now been resurected as a nettop so I can't use any parts from it.

gonzo127

to be honest the above spec should be fine for what you are after all good quality components which will live through a decent overclock

the GT240 will be fine on a 19 inch monitor although the 9800GT i have spotted does have more power

for photoshop and other work related progrmas a better CPU is a much bigger priority than a top GPU - you will also find a GPU upgrade a much easier thing in the futre than a CPU upgrade if you want one

hubert_cumberdale

have a look in the dell outlet i get all my PC towers from here as they dont come with keyboard or anything just the computer. there are some good deals there. some refurbed, some damaged box, some returns, some are marked but they tell you all the details and it still has the years dell warranty with it

coolagarry

Computeractive magazine gave a good write-up to this one

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/hardware/2272447/palicomp-core-i3-blast-review

rodenal

I'd look at something along the lines of the suggestiions above, dont worry about the graphics card for now. If you decide you want to upgrade that at some point you will easily pick up a good card for around £50 second hand, at the moment that'll get you a 4850 with aftermarket cooler or a 4870 (and it will be plenty good enough to play pretty much anything at high or max detail on a 22" monitor), and you'll be able to sell the 240 if that's what you go for as a start.

gonzo127

gonzo127 wrote: »

core i5 750 at £151.49 scan do the core i5 760 for £139.94

Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2 at £52.29 this is £58.22 at scan

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache £40.99 scan do this for £40.88

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 Socket 775, 1156, 1366, AM2, AM3 Heatpipe CPU Cooler £14.53 this is £15.85

Antec 300 Three Hundred Case £49.52 this is £52.85 at scan

Antec TruePower New 650W Modular PSU - 80plus Bronze and SLI Certified 3x SATA £79.99 scan do this for £69.97

Corsair XMS3 - Memory - 4 GB : 2 x 2 GB - DIMM 240-pin - DDR3 - 1333 MHz / PC3-10666 - CL9 - unbuffered - non-ECC £53.86 scan do this for £42.42

Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black £11.99 cheapest DVD drive scan do is £12.27

Inno3D GT 240 512MB GDDR3 DVI VGA HDMI Out PCI-E Graphics Card £48.03 cheapest gt 240 scan do is £56.38

Cart total inc vat: £502.69

sorry really bored anyways just thought i would have a quick look around to see how much you could save if you got your bits from other stores so just decided to pick scan and as you can see picking parts from a few stores (take into account any postage before you do this) can save you a decent chunk of money.

so not taking into account delivery the cost of the system speced would be £469.57

enor

Thanks for all the help so far.

I'm nearly there now. Right back in the first reply was a link to aria which have pre overclocked bundles and I reacon one of these would suit me down to the ground. It's a toss up between the I3 540 and the I5 760. I'm still not sure on graphics cards though. It comes down to this:

An I3 with good graphics card
An I5 with a budget graphics card

Everything else is decided so if I could just have a little more help. Would I be right in assuming that the I3 setup would be best for games and the I5 better for my photoshop work? Does a better graphics card improve the performance of Adobe CS5?

Ta
Richard

enor

By the way thanks to Gonzo127 for all the prices. Thats been really helpfull.

gonzo127

personally for your original stated usage the i5 would be by far the better choice, and a graphics card update is far easier if in future you find out you want more power, and although a graphics card will improve the speed of some of the programs the CPU will be the biggest 'bottleneck' for your work

GeoffX

Intel will launch their new range of 'Sandy Bridge' processors at the beginning of January. They are a replacement for their mid-range, the i3 and i5 processors, so there may be offers on the existing models over the coming weeks. All i3 and some i5 processors include a graphics processor which would suffice unless you are playing non-casual games on it. If you are, then with your budget you should be able to get a much better graphics card than than a GT240. Either an AMD HD5770 or better, or an nVidia GTX 460 or better would be a big step up and would be more than worth an extra £40 or so.