Spec me a £500 PC please

lauy · 7 Jul 2009 at 23:20

Hi,

My budget is around £500 quid and I just need the base unit. (no need for monitor, keyboard,mouse, speakers etc) I would be using the PC mainly for gaming and uni work purposes.

My current setup is an AMD x2 4200+ with ATI HD 3850 graphics card.

I've been reading these forums and see that AMD is the way forward but can you please help me out cause this would be my first build!

So I would also like to ask, is building the PC easy because I've never built one before

Cheers.

RJC · 7 Jul 2009 at 23:26

How does this look:

Asus ATI Radeon HD 4870 Glaciator+ 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £110.99
(£96.51) £110.99
(£96.51)

Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £107.99
(£93.90) £107.99
(£93.90)

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)

Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) £71.98
(£62.59) £71.98
(£62.59)

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (OCZ3P13334GK) £46.99
(£40.86) £46.99
(£40.86)

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £44.99
(£39.12) £44.99
(£39.12)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £34.99
(£30.43) £34.99
(£30.43) Sub Total : £432.97 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £66.71 Total : £511.43

lauy · 7 Jul 2009 at 23:32

That looks great mate.

Forgot to say could the spec include a DVD/Blu ray writer aswell please

And with the OEM hard drive, would I get the cables with it aswell, just not the box or manual right?

RJC · 7 Jul 2009 at 23:44

lauy said:
That looks great mate.

Forgot to say could the spec include a DVD/Blu ray writer aswell please

And with the OEM hard drive, would I get the cables with it aswell, just not the box or manual right?

Ah, do you need a Blu-Ray writer or Blu-ray reader and a DVD writer as the cheapest Blu-ray writer is £136.

All the cables come with the motherboard, the HD will only come in a anti-static box or bag.

lauy · 7 Jul 2009 at 23:51

RJC said:
Ah, do you need a Blu-Ray writer or Blu-ray reader and a DVD writer as the cheapest Blu-ray writer is £136.

All the cables come with the motherboard, the HD will only come in a anti-static box or bag.

oh right sorry i wasn't clear, preferably a blu-ray reader i meant but i definately need a DVD writer.

so yeah, another spec with everything you need in the base unit please

and also, i'll probably overclock the system a fair bit too

RJC · 8 Jul 2009 at 00:11

Had to make some changes, cpu is black edition so has an unlocked multiplier to help with overclocking, you might need to see how you go with the stock cooler.

Asus ATI Radeon HD 4870 Glaciator+ 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £110.99
(£96.51) £110.99
(£96.51)

LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM Serial ATA Drive - Retail £83.98
(£73.03) £83.98
(£73.03)

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)

Gigabyte GA-MA780G-UD3H AMD 780G (Socket AM2+/AM3) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)

OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Modular Power Supply £54.99
(£47.82) £54.99
(£47.82)

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (KHX8500D2K2/4G) £37.98
(£33.03) £37.98
(£33.03)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £34.99
(£30.43) £34.99
(£30.43)

Coolermaster Elite 334 Midi Case- Black (No PSU) £30.99
(£26.95) £30.99
(£26.95)

Pioneer DVR-217FBK 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£15.64) £17.99
(£15.64) Sub Total : £462.53 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £71.14 Total : £545.42

will13 · 8 Jul 2009 at 00:18

if i where you i would go with a XFX ati 4890 xt,its about £32 more but its worth it

lauy · 8 Jul 2009 at 00:20

RJC said:
Had to make some changes, cpu is black edition so has an unlocked multiplier to help with overclocking, you might need to see how you go with the stock cooler.

Asus ATI Radeon HD 4870 Glaciator+ 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £110.99
(£96.51) £110.99
(£96.51)

LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM Serial ATA Drive - Retail £83.98
(£73.03) £83.98
(£73.03)

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)

Gigabyte GA-MA780G-UD3H AMD 780G (Socket AM2+/AM3) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)

OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Modular Power Supply £54.99
(£47.82) £54.99
(£47.82)

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (KHX8500D2K2/4G) £37.98
(£33.03) £37.98
(£33.03)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £34.99
(£30.43) £34.99
(£30.43)

Coolermaster Elite 334 Midi Case- Black (No PSU) £30.99
(£26.95) £30.99
(£26.95)

Pioneer DVR-217FBK 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£15.64) £17.99
(£15.64) Sub Total : £462.53 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £71.14 Total : £545.42

do you think it would be a better idea to ditch the blu ray reader and just go for a better cpu cooler?

will13 · 8 Jul 2009 at 00:52

i dont wanna be rude or anything to you both but the blu-ray drive can read and write dvds and cds so why do you need the dvd drive??

BIGBC · 8 Jul 2009 at 01:03

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 XT 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (Includes Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.) £141.99
(£123.47) £141.99
(£123.47)
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.80GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £88.99
(£77.38) £88.99
(£77.38)
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3 Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £67.99
(£59.12) £67.99
(£59.12)
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply £48.99
(£42.60) £48.99
(£42.60)
Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-8500C5C) £37.00
(£32.17) £37.00
(£32.17)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £34.99
(£30.43) £34.99
(£30.43)
Coolermaster Elite 334 Midi Case- Black (No PSU) £30.99
(£26.95) £30.99
(£26.95)
Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.99
(£16.51) £18.99
(£16.51)
Sub Total : £408.63
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £63.06
Total : £483.44

Gives you some room for a cooler.

BIGBC · 8 Jul 2009 at 01:07

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 XT 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (Includes Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.) £141.99
(£123.47) £141.99
(£123.47)
AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)
Gigabyte GA-MA780G-UD3H AMD 780G (Socket AM2+/AM3) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply £48.99
(£42.60) £48.99
(£42.60)
Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-8500C5C) £37.00
(£32.17) £37.00
(£32.17)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £34.99
(£30.43) £34.99
(£30.43)
Coolermaster Elite 334 Midi Case- Black (No PSU) £30.99
(£26.95) £30.99
(£26.95)
Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.99
(£16.51) £18.99
(£16.51)
Sub Total : £411.25
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £63.45
Total : £486.45

Those blueray drives dont really seem worth it to me.

RJC · 8 Jul 2009 at 08:51

will13 said:
i dont wanna be rude or anything to you both but the blu-ray drive can read and write dvds and cds so why do you need the dvd drive??

I did not realise the LG could write dvd's, if thats the case he can scrap the Pioneer dvd drive.

lauy · 8 Jul 2009 at 09:55

They all look brilliant, the specs, guys! Also though, could you recommend a cooler to go with teh AMD system specs guys? I think I prefer to get the AMD as it would be more future proof!

I will probably be purchasing these parts in over 2 weeks time because I'm about to go on holiday.

But once I get back, I will post a final spec check on this topic to see if its all good!

Thanks for the help guys

lauy · 8 Jul 2009 at 10:47

Hi

Just specced up ready to purchase in 2 weeks time and wanted to see what you guys think of the spec I just built up. I've taken into account the hardware you guys suggested!

Could you guys suggest a decent cooler for the CPU and give me feedback on these specs?

Thanks

LittleChimp · 8 Jul 2009 at 14:29

You forgot your blueray drive

I believe http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-008-TI and http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-000-TQ are both good coolers.

mollymoo · 8 Jul 2009 at 14:35

+1 to above

lauy · 8 Jul 2009 at 15:04

Ah great, dont think the blu ray drive is worth it right now, better spent elsewhere!

Do you think its worth going for the DDR3 ram over the DDR2 so its more future proof so to speak?