New Rig Wanted - Any Advice?

sam1990

sam1990

sam1990

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Joined
13 Sep 2008
Posts
11
I'll cut this short, basically im wanting a killer system. Want any games I play to be maxed out with ease, as well as every application lighting fast and speedy.

I will be using Windows Vista Ultimate on my machine, I have the disk at home, so no need to have it pre installed. (Save More Money)

Basically I'd love for someone with more knowledge than me, to put together a system which will do all that for me.

I have the knowledge to build the system myself, if that will be the cheapest option.

I have a few things, I definitely want in my system.

- 4GB of ram
- Small/Medium Casing (Stylish too - If cheap!)
- Quadcore processor
- Graphics card ( That can handle everything and more!)

- I currently have a 28'' 1900x1200 screen, so games will be very high res. This may need to be reflected.

Im looking for £500, as the max I want to pay for this system. Might sound a little cheap what I am askign for, but hopefully its possible!

Can anyone help?
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the forums, I've tried to keep the budget as low as possible but with a 28" monitor and requesting quad core you've really pushed it beyond what £500 will achieve I think. If you are willing to use dual core and then upgrade the CPU when you've got more cash then it would be just about possible.

Abit IP43 Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £112.99
(£132.76) £112.99
(£132.76)
Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Antec Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £143.99
(£169.19) £143.99
(£169.19)
Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£18.79) £15.99
(£18.79)
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 800MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX6400D2K2/4G) £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (0A33435) £30.99
(£36.41) £30.99
(£36.41)
Sub Total : £483.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £86.60
Total : £581.47
 
Great thank you for your reply.

Id like quad core, but if dual will still enable me to max out games like crysis and stuff, and do everything well, I dont see why not.

bascially is a dual core processor will not make much difference, then ill go for the cheaper

I was hoping for £500 tops.


Will this system run very quickly, as I really want games to be max'd out, plus with my screen res. My current system is getting sluggish and i want things to run really fast!

Thanks again.
 
It's still over but has been changed for dual core, the motherboard is good for overclocking and I've included an aftermarket CPU cooler overclocking. If you want to try it without the CPU cooler then you can do and see how far it will overclock at a reasonable temperature. If the E2180 comes back into stock then that would reduce the price a little further.

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.20GHz (800FSB) - Retail £47.99
(£56.39) £47.99
(£56.39)
Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Antec Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £143.99
(£169.19) £143.99
(£169.19)
Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£18.79) £15.99
(£18.79)
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 800MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX6400D2K2/4G) £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (0A33435) £30.99
(£36.41) £30.99
(£36.41)
DFI BIP35-T2R "Blood Iron" Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Sub Total : £438.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £79.08
Total : £530.94
 
It's worth knowing that a racey little dual core will overclock a very long way, it'll be neck and neck between itself and a quadcore in an current game. So don't be put of by 'only' two cores.

And yeah, not much of a budget, considering you basically have to get the ATI 4870 to game at your res, and that's £170 gone straight away. Think about that and maybe up the budget to suit? £600 is more reasonable.
 
thepedster said:
It's worth knowing that a racey little dual core will overclock a very long way, it'll be neck and neck between itself and a quadcore in an current game. So don't be put of by 'only' two cores.

And yeah, not much of a budget, considering you basically have to get the ATI 4870 to game at your res, and that's £170 gone straight away. Think about that and maybe up the budget to suit? £600 is more reasonable.
Click to expand...


In regards to this, if its neccessary I will up the budget to 600. The main thing is, I want everything maxed out. and absolute speed.

Problem is, i have very little knowledge of overcloking etc.etc. so it is unlikely I will be overclocking much as, so without a little guide on how to do that for each component I wont be messing around in that area.
 
Hows this, I was messing around on the PC Builder Option;
- Sony Floppy Drive - Black
- Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
- No Second Hard Drive Option (ZERO Cost)
- Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (0A33437)
- Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail
- Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
- Asus Vintage V3-P5945GC Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775)
- Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.40GHz (800FSB) - Retail

Comes out at £480?
 
If you want to run games silky smooth at 1900x1200 with max details, you will probably have to break the £650-700 mark to be totally honest.
 
might just buy a second hand ps3, and hook it to my comp screen, seems like the cheapest option atm. plus blu-ray support in that aswell
 
semi-pro waster said:
It's still over but has been changed for dual core, the motherboard is good for overclocking and I've included an aftermarket CPU cooler overclocking. If you want to try it without the CPU cooler then you can do and see how far it will overclock at a reasonable temperature. If the E2180 comes back into stock then that would reduce the price a little further.

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.20GHz (800FSB) - Retail £47.99
(£56.39) £47.99
(£56.39)
Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Antec Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £143.99
(£169.19) £143.99
(£169.19)
Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£18.79) £15.99
(£18.79)
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 800MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX6400D2K2/4G) £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (0A33435) £30.99
(£36.41) £30.99
(£36.41)
DFI BIP35-T2R "Blood Iron" Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Sub Total : £438.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £79.08
Total : £530.94
Click to expand...

That is a bad choice of cpu when the faster, double the cache, cooler and more power efficient E5200 is only £2 more. The E2180/2200 and E4*** should not be considered any longer as the E5200 is better than all of them.

OP, you are going to have to significantly increase the budget to get a pc to do what you want it to.
 
pastymuncher said:
That is a bad choice of cpu when the faster, double the cache, cooler and more power efficient E5200 is only £2 more. The E2180/2200 and E4*** should not be considered any longer as the E5200 is better than all of them.

OP, you are going to have to significantly increase the budget to get a pc to do what you want it to.
Click to expand...


So this system wont run games perfectly?
 
To be honest if you want to run games 'perfectly' (questionable whether that can be done at all with some games?!) you would have to spend much more than £500. If thats your budget i'd get a PS3 or 360. There aren't really that many PC exclusive titles coming out any time soon that are worth getting so you will still have all the fun on a 360 or PS3 but without worrying about whether games will run.
 
sam1990 said:
So this system wont run games perfectly?
Click to expand...

tbh no system will, always room for more!

But the lowest you should set your GPU sights is on a 4870 which is a great performer and comes at a good price in all honestly, match that with an E7200 for £88 add a £15 cooler and you'll get a lot of extra overclocking out of that, it's not hard and you've found a good forum for help there too ;)

Perhaps you can sve money buy a few second hand components? Or sticking with your current case/optical drives even HDD for now? and upgrade a bit at a time?

Or just enjoy big screen console gaming is your other option!
 
thepedster said:
tbh no system will, always room for more!

But the lowest you should set your GPU sights is on a 4870 which is a great performer and comes at a good price in all honestly, match that with an E7200 for £88 add a £15 cooler and you'll get a lot of extra overclocking out of that, it's not hard and you've found a good forum for help there too ;)

Perhaps you can sve money buy a few second hand components? Or sticking with your current case/optical drives even HDD for now? and upgrade a bit at a time?

Or just enjoy big screen console gaming is your other option!
Click to expand...


Problem is, im using a tiny little shuttle, which can barely fit in my current X800, so updating is kinda restricted.

Also, it only holds 2gb max, which is also a little resticted as 4GB ram is so cheap now.

I figured by time ive fussed around its be easier and more benefical to just get a new system. ive set aside £500, but if u think its worthwhile to wait and get a really good system, then I will.

But, im kinda impatient and want my new rig now! hahaha.
 
sam1990 said:
ive set aside £500, but if u think its worthwhile to wait and get a really good system, then I will.

But, im kinda impatient and want my new rig now! hahaha.
Click to expand...


This is my best £500 spec, it's not that bad IMHO, I forgot to add some Arctic Silver but perhaps the Cooler comes with some decent thermal paste, and you'll get a good clock out of that CPU 3.2ghz at a guess? It's let down by an older motherboard with no crossfire support should you choose that for the future, but then you'd need a bigger PSU to go with it too.

Is save another 100 and go for an E8400 CPU clocked to 4+gig and a P45 based motherboard with newer features and crossfire support.

 
great thanks for your help, seems really good. Could up to £600, if you think its really worth it.

Keeping in mind, im after a really good system to max out games on full settings.
 
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