Buying A New Pc - Need Advice, Pretty Please

lydia_dustbin

Hiya

I am buying a PC for my boyfriend as a surprise and I have a budget of £400-£500. He already has a PC and so I am looking to update the processor bit but keep the monitor, mouse and keyboard and speakers. We use AOL broadband at home. Boyfriend wants to be able to play MS Flight Simulator Deluxe edition so the PC would need good graphics I guess. The game details say that Windows Vista is required, 1.0 GHz processor, 15GB hard drive, 56.6 kbps or better. DirectX 9 hardware compatibility and audio card with speakers and DirectX 9.0c compliant video card with 32 mb of ram and support for hardware transformation and lighting. I know it sounds a bit mad to get a PC specifically for playing a game but he loves flight simulator games.

Would really welcome advice from anyone kind enough to tell me what it is I actually need to buy and maybe a website or manufacturer; even better a direct link to the very thing I need!

Sorry for sounding like a thicky but I am rubbish at techy stuff.

Thanks so much in anticipation

Lydia xxx

Phil51

Hi Lydia

Any of these will do. Also, buying from tesco gives you a good returns policy with no problems.

http://direct.tesco.com/compare/?c=200-8523+200-5485+200-2360&f=%2Fq%2FN.1999034%2FNr.99.aspx


You could also use the specs shown to hunt out other manufacturers.

The main diference between the 3 is that the most expensive one has Vista installed.

CHR15

Flight Sim X is a whole different beast to previous versions.

It has been developed be Microsoft from the bottom to utilise DirectX 10.

Unfortunately the graphics capabilities on the Tesco machines will be nowhere near enough to run Flight Sim X.

You will HAVE to buy this in bits for it to meet the demands of Vista and Gaming.

My best advice (I have only scanned over these but they seem adequate) would be to buy the base unit and also buy a Graphics card to put in it so upgrading from the start.

These come in at £489.95 delivered. Of course, a compromise can be made and save a few pounds on the card but this really would be a good system


Maxdata Intel PentiumD Dual Core 3.4Ghz 1024MB DDR2 250GB SATA DVD-RW 16x Dual Layer 7in1 Card reader XP Home 3 Years Warranty


http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=25560858450&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=116034

Intel Pentium D 945 3,40GHz
1024MB DDR2 533 Memory
250GB SATA II Hard Drive 7200RPM
DVD-RW 16x Dual Layer Optical Drive
64MB / 256MB VGA Onboard
7in1 Card Reader
Dimension:192(W) x 427 (H) x 430 (D) mm
Microsoft Windows XP Home
Nero Express 6
Norton Anti-Virus 2006 (90 day trial)
Power DVD 6
On Board 10/100 LAN
Warranty: 3yrs RTB


Ports
1 x PATA Ports
4 x SATA Ports
PCI Slots: 2 x PCI, 1 x PCI-Express
10/100 Onboard LAN
1 x Serial Ports
1 x Parallel Ports
2 x USB2 Ports Front
4 x USB2 Ports Rear
2 x PS2 Ports
USB Keyboard
Microsoft Optical Mouse

And a Graphics Card

MSI 7600GT 256mb DVIx2 TVO PCI-E


http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=106616

The NVIDIA SLI-Ready GeForce 7600 graphics processing units (GPUs) unleash extreme HD gaming and video on the PC. Featuring the award-winning GeForce 7 Series architecture, the GeForce 7600 GPUs deliver smooth, realistic gaming at ultra-high resolutions. Additionally, the GeForce 7600 GPUs bring high-definition, home-theater quality video to the PC through the acclaimed NVIDIA PureVideo technology.

EDIT:
I just noticed it comes with Windows XP Doh!! there are more available with Vista included. AND I had to change the graphics card! I need to go for a pint!
For what its worth though, I ran Flight Sim X on Windows XP SP2 though with no problems (apart from it being a little slow!!)

wakandem

Get a dell. I know i go on about them but they are built with some thought to the design & layout. They go on for ages & you can buy without monitor. Just make sure you get min 1gb of ram & 256mb graphics (seperate) on whatever you get. You will get a mouse and keyboard but they come with it. The only add i would get is a copy of the operating system. happy shopping!

albertross_2

Ask him what he wants (or if he wants one at all), blowing £500 on the wrong one could be a mistake

lydia_dustbin

Thanks for all your help, particularly Chri5 who obviously went to a lot of trouble. You are a true star ****. BF definitely wants a new PC as he is desperate to play his new game which remains in its packaging unplayed. With Chri5's advice I did look at MESH:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTCONFIGPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=174269

and thought about adding the graphics card GeForce 7600.

Will this do the trick?

CHR15

Looks fine but upgrade the following:

Mini-Tower Micro ATX Case +550W PSU - Black/Silver[upg £ 25.00]

As well as the graphics card!!

The 250W psu with the original spec will struggle to cope.

A processor upgrade would be a reasonable upgrade but thats up to you.

I wouldn't upgrade the memory (for £100 eek!), that can be bought cheaper elsewhere.

Otherwise looks good.


The difference in price is mainly due to the AMD processor over an Intel.
I have always used AMD's in the past and not had a problem.
AMD's tend to be cheaper but run hotter
Intels tend to run cooler.

It is logical that the hotter it gets, the shorter it's lifespan but I have messed with PC's for years and not had hardly any problems with either Intel's or AMD's.

Quick word of caution though.
What type of Monitor does BF have??

Have a quick look at the back of the PC, the cable coming from the monitor which plugs into the PC....

Is it blue or white??



Hopefully he has a nice LCD Screen with a DVI input (makes for a much better image)

lydia_dustbin

It's blue!!! IS that good or bad??!!

Thnaks so much for your help. you are a top bloke!:beer:

BillScarab

You could try this instead

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ci.asp?sku=10266

It has the latest core 2 duo processor and lots of memory.

The only problem is the graphics card is not great, however you could upgrade it if you wanted. To save money you could change to a cheaper case and drop the ram to 1 Gb and then put the savings towards a better graphics card.

£400-£500 is quite a tight budget for a decent gaming PC. Good graphics cards are pretty expnsive so they really bump the proce up.

CHR15

@lydia, I am absolutely smashed ha ha!!#]

blue is bad but i will reply to this 2morrow when i am normal!! we will get there, i need to look at teh gfraphics v]card in detail.no good if he cant plug his monito in.
ha ah! hope y6u hadf a good nigfht too!

rygon

ive just upgraded my pc to an AMD 64 dual core 4200+, gigabyte motherboard and 1 gig ram. I also got a 7600gs OC card. for £350 ish. This maybe the way to go if he already has a decent harddrive space, disc drives, case etc. I would definately advice to go for something above a 400W power supply as it will need it.

my setup
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/113844
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/118226/rb/25575743624

and the graphics card which is pictured in chri5 post.

Ive never put a pc together before (but have inserted a pci card) and i found it very easy to install...a few of the components can be a bit fiddly but the motherboard came with easy to use instructions

oh yeh about the monitor plugs..the graphic card has the white plug but also has an adapter for using the blue plug which works fine