Hi im new here this is my first post, im kinda looking for some advice on what computer to get.

I used to have a good idea about what to use but i havent built anything in 2 years + so as you can imagine things have changed quite alot since then so i have decided to just go and buy a pre built computer this time.

But i have no idea what components to look at anymore to get the best performance out of the budget i have to spend.

I would be very very grateful for any ideas and help on what i should be looking at in the current market.

Ok down to business, these are my needs,

I want a desktop computer, which i will be using mainly for gaming, but sometimes listening to music and just general internet use.
I need information on the whole lot including case, psu, cpu, ram, gfx, cooling, moonitor, basically everything.

My budget is in the region of £1200, although i could go a little higher if i really needed to.

Im basically looking for the best bang i can get for my buck.

Thank you in advance for anyhelp you can give me.

Blue.

Just to clarify/verify:

"so i have decided to just go and buy a pre built computer this time."

Is this correct? You are looking for a manufactured system? In other words a Dell or HP or some such?

Yes i am going to buy a manufactured machine this time.

yes dell would be fine, i have also been looking at alienware, but you dont seem to get as much for your money with alienware.

Im struggling to decide on what the best mobo, cpu, gfx card is that i should get.

I was looking at I7`s but then i was thinking of getting quad core and using saved cash on better gfx and more memory, i am very undecided tbh, i have not kept up with new tech since i done my last build and that was around the time the 6800 GT was released, so quite some time ago, wish i had kept up with things now.

As I am in the US could you suggest some UK online stores that you favor?

These are the 4 i have been looking at the past few days

Computers & Electronics for Home & Home Office | Dell UK

Alienware: Compare All Desktops!

PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK - Custom PCs, Custom Computers, Custom PC, Custom Built Computers, Gaming PC

Overclockers UK

cool.

I'll go on a shopping spree this afternoon and pick some stuff!

I like that PCSpecialist site. Here is one I put together which includes all but the OS. I left this out as I would either wait until Windows 7 becomes an option or else use another OS until you can buy Windows 7 and install it yourself. As of now it looks like this will be in the fall. If you ask PCSpecialist they may offer you an upgrade option as many manufacturers will begin to do this.

Anyway here is one I put together for good gaming within your budget. Your budget is not really capable of an SLi system so this is for a single high end graphics card. Ask any questions you may have as to my choices and the alternative options you will find on the web site.


PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK - Custom PCs, Custom Computers, Custom PC, Custom Built Computers, Gaming PC


I am looking for a:

Core™ i7 Extreme Computer


and my budget is:

£1500 - £3000




Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Processor i7-920 (4 X 2.66GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
3GB CORSAIR XMS3 1333MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (3x1GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® P6T: DDR3, SATA II, 3 x PCI-e x16, 2 x PCI, 1 x PCI-e x1

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

RAID (HDD 1 & 2)
NONE

1st CD/DVD Drive
22x DUAL LAYER LIGHTSCRIBE DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE

Graphics Card
1024MB GEFORCE 9800GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

2nd Graphics Card
NONE

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT

Floppy Disk Drive
NONE

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Case
Stylish Silver/Black Sigma case + 2 front USB

Power Supply & Case Cooling
700W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£78)

Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER

Firewire & Video Editing
1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD

TV Card
NONE

Monitor
LG W2261V 22" WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D/D-SUB FULL HD 1920x1080 (£169)

2nd Monitor
NONE

DVI Cable
NONE

Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Cordless Keyboard & Rechargeable Mouse(Black) (£32)

Mouse
NONE

Speakers
LOGITECH X-540 5.1 Surround sound effect with full range and deep bass (£69)

Printer
NONE

Surge Protection
NONE

Webcam
NONE

Headsets (VOIP)
NONE

Anti-Virus
NONE

Office Software
NONE

External Hard Drive
NONE

Home Installation
NONE

Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1st Month Free Collect & Return

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Quantity
1



Other Features Included As Standard...

Software
CD/DVD authoring software and Power DVD software is included with all DVD Writers.

Ports
Each computer comes with 1 x PS/2 keyboard port and either 1 x PS/2 mouse port or 2 extra USB ports.

Fans
Where necessary your computer will come with extra case fans fitted.

Memory
Our memory comes with a 100% tested lifetime warranty!

Bezels
All our drives come in either silver, black or beige and are all of a
high quality & matched brand.

Support
We offer lifetime hardware technical support during normal office hours.

Cables & Manuals
A power cable, all drivers, manuals, and a heatsink & fan are included with every order.

Service
Our computers come fully assembled & thoroughly tested. We are so confident in the quality of our computers that we offer a free collection and re-delivery service* should you ever have a problem with your computer.

Installation
If you order an operating system it will come fully installed with the CD and licence key.

Low Total Cost of Ownership
Taking into consideration our low cost telephone support, free collection warranty service* and our strive to use energy efficient components where possible, the total cost of owning a pcspecialist computer is reduced as much as possible.

And Finally
If you are lucky enough to have seen a cheaper quote, click here.



To save a quote, simply enter your details into the boxes below. All quotes are valid for 5 days and we aim to deliver all orders placed within 10 to 12 working days (please see here for the current estimated delivery time). Each order will pass through our strict building and testing procedures.




Quote Value:
£1,181.00

Thank you for your help, that has more or less made my mind up for me now, your selections were pretty much the same as mine with the only differences being, with mine i chose the velociraptor HDD as i never seem to use even 25% of my current 250gig, so i am choosing speed over storage there, and i have gone for 6 gig of ram instead of 3, also i have chosen only the 600w psu(maybe this is a mistake.)

But you were not to know that i did not need a keyboard mouse speakers etc so i am assuming with the extra money left from those you would have maybe added the extra 3 gig of memory.

I am also very interested in what you say about the operating system, i was going to go ahead and get vista, (even if i do hate it) but now i think i will stick with my xp untill this new os that you speak of comes out.

Here was what i came up with.

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Processor i7-920 (4 X 2.66GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
6GB CORSAIR XMS3 1333MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (3x2GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® P6T DELUXE V2: DDR3, SATAII, 2 x PCI-e x16, 2 PCI, 1 x PCI-e x1

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
150GB WD VelociRaptor® SATA 16MB CACHE (10,000rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
NONE

RAID (HDD 1 & 2)
NONE

1st CD/DVD Drive
22x DUAL LAYER LIGHTSCRIBE DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE

Graphics Card
1024MB GEFORCE 9800GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

2nd Graphics Card
NONE

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities
WIRELESS N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£14)

Floppy Disk Drive
NONE

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Case
Stylish Silver/Black Sigma case + 2 front USB

Power Supply & Case Cooling
600W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£68)

Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER

Firewire & Video Editing
1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD

TV Card
NONE

Monitor
LG W2261V 22" WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D/D-SUB FULL HD 1920x1080 (£169)

2nd Monitor
NONE

DVI Cable
NONE

Keyboard & Mouse
NONE

Mouse
NONE

Speakers
NONE

Printer
NONE

Surge Protection
NONE

Webcam
NONE

Headsets (VOIP)
NONE

Anti-Virus
NONE

Office Software
NONE

External Hard Drive
NONE

Home Installation
NONE

Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1st Month Free Collect & Return

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Quantity
1



£1253 inc VAT and Delivery.

cool.

You will need a 64 bit OS to utilize all that RAM. 32 bit by its nature is limited to 4GB.

Windows 7 offers both 32 & 64 (as does Vista).

The site did tell me 600 Watts was fine. I personally like stronger than required PSU's.

As to the hard drive I use 500GB drives myself. Depends on what you do and how you do it.

I use Steam for gaming and have over 200GB of games so size is important to me.

They are also just now bringing out 250GB Solid State drives but they are running @ $1,000 USD (£726.76) a piece.

As to Windows 7 we have a section on it at the top of our forum.

The RC is supposed to be publicly available in April and you could run that until the final hits the market in the fall. The RC as with the Beta is only available in 32 bit.

Ah i see, maybe its best i just get 3gig of ram then i can always add more when i decide on os, i used to use steam alot aswell, but my son has now grown up and basically taken my account and the games off of me lol.
And yes i was looking at the OCZ solid state drives, they look very very good but as you say they are very very pricey at the moment, maybe that will be in my next machine.

The only other thing i would liek to ask is this, what is the performance difference between the intel quad core, I7, and AMD Phenom II processors, is there such a significant difference.

the reason being that the only games i really play now are Runescape and WoW, basically only mmorpg`s, i do play these for a long time but they are all i play, do i really need to go for the i7 or could i maybe choose a lesser processor and use the extra money on better quality things like (sound card, speakers, keyboard, mouse,) things like that.

I am more than happy to get the i7 i just dont want to go getting it if i am only ever going to be using it at 50/60%.

I am happy to go with the 9800 GT, i like the 9 series, and maybe i will go for the dominator ram in which i can get 4 gig which i can then run with XP ( i think ).

My only really question mark now is do i go with the i7 processor or do i choose a lesser option.

What would you do jephree, in my position.