Help with buying a "gaming" desktop
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Trevelyan
Posts: 43 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
(stuff that more technically knowledgeable people would know about)
So, this PC is bugging me a lot - AMD Athlon 3700+ and I assembled it in 2005... has 1GB ram and only a total of 200GB storage space. Video card is a raden X1950XT.
The problems start with the fact is uses Vista and the motherboard (Asrock Dual SATA-II 939) isn't compatible, meaning Cool 'n' Quiet doesn't work as it did on XP. Secondly, the case is a bit mashed and theres no real airflow inside.. so it gets pretty hot and it doesn't take long for the graphics card fan to go absolutely nuts these days. Finally, its just too slow for what I need it for.
(end of stuff)
So er, basically i'm looking to spend around £500 (+/- 100 depending on deals or offers) on a new unit altogether.
- Ideally the graphics card would be able to support dual displays and play "modern" games but this isn't a huge must, the main must though is that the card could be upgraded sometime in the future (so like, a budgety card is acceptable so long as I can slap another in later)
- CPU is more of a must, i'm totally out of touch with modern architectures of these new quad dual tri duo core processor things
. Seriously though, I do a lot of stuff like running a bunch of messengers while having 100000000 tabs open on Opera and compiling stuff in Visual Studio.
- Memory, depends; Ive seen a lot of fairly reasonably priced ram these days so I guess 2GB or under would be reasonable, so long as I can put more in!
- Monitor not necessary, but if it comes with one thats not bad, i'd probably pay a bit more for it. 1680 * 1050 or 1080p preferable.
- DO NOT WANT BLU-RAY! Grrrr... seems like an excuse to get more money out of people sometimes, i've found some seemingly ok stuff on PCWorld only to find it had blu-ray in it. I say I don't want it, because it means paying extra for something i'll rarely, if ever, use.
- Size irrelevant. Big is fine. Ugly is fine.
- Hard drive space irrelevant, seems also pretty cheap to get these days.
So basically I want an ugly plain looking GAMINGERS PC for around £500; stuff like refurbs or Dell Outlet stuff is acceptable (so long as its from a fairly reputable place!). Now, Dell seem to have some ok-looking deals that are on till the 27th but i'm totally out of touch with CPUs and stuff. the Inspiron 546 seems ok as it has a 1080p monitor and 6 gigs of RAM. Couldn't find anything on HP, unable to find a way to buy stuff direct from them!
Anyway er, I think that's all! Any suggestions would be helpful, or links to some deals ending soon even better. Thanks!
PS can't post links, new poster!
So, this PC is bugging me a lot - AMD Athlon 3700+ and I assembled it in 2005... has 1GB ram and only a total of 200GB storage space. Video card is a raden X1950XT.
The problems start with the fact is uses Vista and the motherboard (Asrock Dual SATA-II 939) isn't compatible, meaning Cool 'n' Quiet doesn't work as it did on XP. Secondly, the case is a bit mashed and theres no real airflow inside.. so it gets pretty hot and it doesn't take long for the graphics card fan to go absolutely nuts these days. Finally, its just too slow for what I need it for.
(end of stuff)
So er, basically i'm looking to spend around £500 (+/- 100 depending on deals or offers) on a new unit altogether.
- Ideally the graphics card would be able to support dual displays and play "modern" games but this isn't a huge must, the main must though is that the card could be upgraded sometime in the future (so like, a budgety card is acceptable so long as I can slap another in later)
- CPU is more of a must, i'm totally out of touch with modern architectures of these new quad dual tri duo core processor things
. Seriously though, I do a lot of stuff like running a bunch of messengers while having 100000000 tabs open on Opera and compiling stuff in Visual Studio.- Memory, depends; Ive seen a lot of fairly reasonably priced ram these days so I guess 2GB or under would be reasonable, so long as I can put more in!
- Monitor not necessary, but if it comes with one thats not bad, i'd probably pay a bit more for it. 1680 * 1050 or 1080p preferable.
- DO NOT WANT BLU-RAY! Grrrr... seems like an excuse to get more money out of people sometimes, i've found some seemingly ok stuff on PCWorld only to find it had blu-ray in it. I say I don't want it, because it means paying extra for something i'll rarely, if ever, use.
- Size irrelevant. Big is fine. Ugly is fine.
- Hard drive space irrelevant, seems also pretty cheap to get these days.
So basically I want an ugly plain looking GAMINGERS PC for around £500; stuff like refurbs or Dell Outlet stuff is acceptable (so long as its from a fairly reputable place!). Now, Dell seem to have some ok-looking deals that are on till the 27th but i'm totally out of touch with CPUs and stuff. the Inspiron 546 seems ok as it has a 1080p monitor and 6 gigs of RAM. Couldn't find anything on HP, unable to find a way to buy stuff direct from them!
Anyway er, I think that's all! Any suggestions would be helpful, or links to some deals ending soon even better. Thanks!
PS can't post links, new poster!
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Comments
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You thought about building a gaming pc, are you confident enough in doing it0
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Yeah I suggest building your own, you'd save money by just buying all the components and assembling it yourself.
And, just reinstall XP onto your current PC, if Vista isn't compatible with your hardware..
Buy a new PC case as well, and you could probably sell what you have now on ebay for some extra cash0 -
How's this for value?0
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Yeah I suggest building your own, you'd save money by just buying all the components and assembling it yourself.
This isn't necessarily true anymore. There is very little profit in hardware since it's a very competitive market and companies buying in bulk can often outprice a home user building their own system. Not always though. If you're confident building a system then find a system you like pre-built and then get prices for all the component parts and see what the difference is. Remember though that if you're not confident then it might be worth paying a small amount extra for the warranty on a full system as it could end up costing you more in the long run if you have to bring someone else in to help later on. It's a decision that's heavily dependant on how much you actually know about computers. Building the system is fairly easy but if you're not confident that you could fix any problems that arise during the build then what do you to fix it ? Do you have someone that could help or do you spend £30-40 getting a company to help ?0 -
Sadly, I agree with you, psychofly...it can be cheaper to 'buy a box' than build a custom PC nowadays...
..but..a box shifter's idea of a gaming PC and a gamer's idea are somewhat different...also by building your own or going to a 'proper' computer shop you can specify quality components...not just cheap ones.
@the OP..
you say gaming....what games...minesweeper...mass effect....?
ah...and warranty - erm..I disagree there...I build all my own machines..I have a minimum of 12 month warranty on each component.. (some 3 years, 5 or lifetime)....except the CPUs which I've lapped...and maybe the GPUs with the 3rd party coolers..
so paying a shop for a warranty is, imo, a waste of money..plus very few components after 12 months are worth the cost of the warranty itself. Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant.0 -
Wow...with its integrated graphics that really does reach the dizzying heights of mediocrity-TangleFoot- wrote: »How's this for value? Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant.0 -
DatabaseError wrote: »ah...and warranty - erm..I disagree there...I build all my own machines..I have a minimum of 12 month warranty on each component.. (some 3 years, 5 or lifetime)....except the CPUs which I've lapped...and maybe the GPUs with the 3rd party coolers.. so paying a shop for a warranty is, imo, a waste of money..plus very few components after 12 months are worth the cost of the warranty itself.
Totally agree 100% there.. I don't think I put my warranty point across correctly. Don't pay for any extended warranty - total waste of cash. I was meaning that if a part breaks on a pre-built PC you take the PC back and say "Broke ! Fix ! Ugg !". Sorted. If a part breaks on a home built system you have to first of all work out whether the part is actually at fault, is it really a config or driver issue causing the problem, is it a problem with your Windows install messing things up ? If you're pretty sure it's the part you then have to remove the part from the system yourself and return it then install the replacement part again. Not that it's a particularly difficult job if you're fairly confident with PCs but my point is if you're NOT confident then the extra cover of a full system warranty could be worth it.0 -
Games as in like, mass effect, crysis, GTA 4 sort of stuff. To be honest, the card im not too fussy about.. Mesh computers seems to have a bit of a meh track record from looking around though. I used to put stuff together myself, I know how to.. but as has been mentioned im happier to may more for less hassle (both in construction and customer support). Dell haven't been too bad before, so i'm really tempted to fork out £599 for this:
AMD Phenom™ X3 8750
23in S2309W WIDESCREEN UK Black (1920 x 1080)
256MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 3650 graphics card
6144MB Dual Channel DDR2 800MHz [2x2048 + 2x1024] Memory
750GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
The monitor and the memory are the only two things that interest me a lot about this one.. without either, I wouldnt consider it.
For £150 less:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E7400 processor (2.8GHz, 1066MHz, 3MB cache)
18.5in S1909WN Widescreen Black UK/Irish (1366 x 768)
256MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 3450 graphics card
2048MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
500GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Does anyone have any opinions on overclockers.co.uk? Theyve got some nice-looking systems for around 500 but i'm thrown off with Intels numbering systems these days.. a Q6600 is apparently old yet more popular over "higher" numbers like the Q8200.
Anyway, the mesh computers look sort of ok to me but the customer service is the only questionable aspect, to me.0 -
Take a Look at this one. Pretty much covers it and apparently customisable to your needs.
£499
PC Advisor Best Buy July 2009
Choice of Ice-Box SilverOR Ice-Box Black Case
Choice of Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 OR Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 CPU
Asrock G31M-S Motherboard
512MB ATI HD4670 PCI Express Graphics Card
4GB (2 X 2GB) Kingston OR Crucial PC6400 800Mhz DDR2 Ram
250GB 72000pm SATA II Hard Drive
22x Dual Layer DVD +/- Rewriter
Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio
Onboard 10/100 Ethernet - Broadband Ready
2 Front and 4 Back USB Ports
Choice of 19" Edge W193 Widescreen OR 19" I-INC iC194 Standard Aspect TFT
Choice of Windows Vista Home Basic OR Windows XP Home
Standard Multimedia Keyboard & Optical Mouse
Nero Essentials & OpenOffice
Standard 500W PSU
2 Years Return To Base Warranty"Hey, if love is blind, how come lingerie is so popular?" Cochrane. P673 TNG.0 -
Games as in like, mass effect, crysis, GTA 4 sort of stuff....
...
256MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 3650 graphics card
PMSL
...unless the idea was to immediately dump the GPU and replace it with something current....or towards the top of last-gen...
..the 3650 is a £30-£40 card..perfect for the internet...or office apps....NOT a gaming card!
...and your other choice had an even lesser card
..A 'gaming PC' for the games you mentioned should have, perhaps, a 4850 card as minimum...~£100 for the GPU aloneUtinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant.0
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