Do your good turn for the day

[lwhitworth]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, but I've hit a point where I actually need to register to ask for your advice.

My brother is currently using a six year old laptop for all his computing needs. Mostly web browsing but he does spend a large amount of time playing Football Manager 2010 which stutters along on the laptop now, especially in 3d match view. With the advent of Football Manager 2011 he's asked me to spec him up a new one.

Now here's where I hit a problem - without wanting to lay it on thick he was paralysed in an accident some years ago and so money is the main concern here, the cheaper this comes out as the better, but I want to squeeze every single bang for buck out that I can so that the computer lasts at least a few years without an upgrade.

So - some more info. Football Manager 2011 specs are:
OS: Windows XP/Vista/W7
Processor: XP : 1.4GHz or Faster, Vista/W7 : 2.0GHz or Faster
Memory: XP : 512MB RAM, Vista/W7 : 1.0GB RAM
Graphics: 128MB Supported Chipsets - Nvidia FX 5900 Ultra or greater; ATI Radeon 9800 or greater; Intel 82915G/82910GL or greater. Earlier cards may only display 2D Match Viewer Mode and are not supported
DirectX®: Version 9.0c (included)
Hard Drive: 2GB
Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible

What I'd like to give him (preferably):
CPU: Core i3
RAM: 4GB
Optical: Would only need DVD drive
HDD: Wouldn't need more than 500GB
Monitor: 21" or above
OS: Win 7 64bit

And this is what I specced up (still needs a graphics card):

Iiyama ProLite E2208HDD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black Iiyama ProLite E2208HDD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £108.09
Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £95.99
"Primo Ascension" Intel Core i3 H55 DDR3 Ready Barebones (Socket 1156) "Primo Ascension" Intel Core i3 H55 DDR3 Ready Barebones (Socket 1156) £94.99
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £82.24
Akasa AK-CCX-4001HP Nero S Direct Contact Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / LGA775 / LGA1156 / LGA1366 ) Akasa AK-CCX-4001HP Nero S Direct Contact Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / LGA775 / LGA1156 / LGA1366 ) £32.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
Logitech S-150 2.0 USB Speaker System - OEM (980-000029) Logitech S-150 2.0 USB Speaker System - OEM (980-000029) £9.99
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)

He'd need a keyboard as well, and a trackpad due to not being able to move his fingers - knuckles dragged across trackpads work surprisingly well!!

So over to you guys for your expert opinions. If you think I've gone too far over the top please let me know or if you think AMD is the way to go let me know.

Thanks in advance - all advice is genuinely appreciated!!

Luke

 

[Jony27]

drop the barebones for the
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply

as for the i3 get the 530 to save £10
you can drop the cooler for now
and as for the graphics card a gtx460 1gb/768mb

 

[stulid]

heres a complete system, minus the trackball.

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Iiyama ProLite E2208HDD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £108.09
(£91.99) £108.09
(£91.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £82.99
(£70.63) £82.99
(£70.63)
Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS34G1600LLK) £70.49
(£59.99) £70.49
(£59.99)
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 630 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £70.49
(£59.99) £70.49
(£59.99)
Point Of View GeForce 9800 GT Green Edition 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £68.14
(£57.99) £68.14
(£57.99)
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £48.99
(£41.69) £48.99
(£41.69)
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £32.99
(£28.08) £32.99
(£28.08)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99
(£25.52) £29.99
(£25.52)
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £28.99
(£24.67) £28.99
(£24.67)
Samsung SH-S223L/RSMN 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail £12.98
(£11.05) £12.98
(£11.05)
Logitech S-150 2.0 USB Speaker System - OEM (980-000029) £9.99
(£8.50) £19.98
(£17.00)
Blaze K3254B Multimedia Silm Keyboard - Black/Silver £5.98
(£5.09) £5.98
(£5.09)
Sub Total : £493.69
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £28.55
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £91.39
Total : £613.63

I wonder if the motherboards onboard gpu is actually enough, and you don't need a graphics card? so could potentially save £70

 

[mjones1]

With this set up you should be able to unlock 4 cores on the cpu since it's a very early batch.
I'm not sure what gpu you should get,hopefully someone else could input ?

 

[fobose]

MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £126.89
(£107.99) £126.89
(£107.99)
OcUK Cream 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £108.09
(£91.99) £108.09
(£91.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £82.99
(£70.63) £82.99
(£70.63)
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 630 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £70.49
(£59.99) £70.49
(£59.99)
Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS34G1600LLK) £70.49
(£59.99) £70.49
(£59.99)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £59.98
(£51.05) £59.98
(£51.05)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £32.99
(£28.08) £32.99
(£28.08)
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £32.99
(£28.08) £32.99
(£28.08)
Coolermaster Elite 360 Mini Tower Case - Black £27.99
(£23.82) £27.99
(£23.82)
Samsung SH-S223L/RSMN 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail £12.98
(£11.05) £12.98
(£11.05)
Sub Total : £532.67
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £95.40
Total : £640.57

I was aiming for a much cheaper spec, but I got carried away. *edit* I forgot the peripherals too

 

[hybrid572]

It sounds like football manager isn't massively challenging on the GPU, so I'd be tempted to go with a 4870 (£79.99), or the 9800 GT as stulid suggests. Both are solid cards and would do everything you want and more.

You could go with onboard graphics- and almost certainly get away with it- but it sounds like you want to get a PC that will outperform football manager 2011, so I'd probably get yourself a dedicated card.

 

[95thrifles]

I wonder if the motherboards onboard gpu is actually enough, and you don't need a graphics card? so could potentially save £70

Yeah Im pretty sure integrated gfx would be enough, Id go with this core build, add in your choice of monitor etc


Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £86.94 (£73.99)
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C9) £79.99 (£68.08)
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £69.99 (£59.57)
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £32.99 (£28.08)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99 (£25.52)
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £28.99 (£24.67)
Samsung SH-S223L/RSMN 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail £12.98 (£11.05)
Sub Total : £290.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £52.89
Total : £355.10

 

[lwhitworth]

Wow all I can say is thanks guys, you've all been a massive help!

I'm leaning towards the Core i3 systems, cause I've heard nothing but good things about these new processors, plus I'm a bit of a snob and always try to go Intel when possible lol

I'm definitely going to buy it without a GFX card to start with and see how we get on. At the end of the day buying one if he needs it after the fact won't be too painful, it's what birthdays are for after all

If anyone has any experience of any desktop touchpads at all and can recommend one (if it doesn't contravene any forum rules of course) then that'd be great.