£1000 gaming rig?

EirePlane

EirePlane

EirePlane

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I am looking to buy a new PC some time next year around Feb once Windows Vista is released. By then I will have around £1000 to build myself my first computer. I have been told that I should probably wait until around May when the DirectX 10 cards are out. Is it worth waiting and is it likely to be enough money to cover everything including the cost of the operating system.
Since this will be my first time building a computer from scratch I guess it would be wise to steer clear of anything such as overclocking and water cooling and just stick with the basics.
It will need to be something that I can use for gaming as well as using programs such as photoshop. I would also like it to be "up-to-date" enough that I dont have to pgrade for a while at least.
 
I don't think anyone can speculate on what you should spend your money on next year. All I will say is that if this is a first computer and you have to buy a case, a monitor and an OS and all of that then you might be hard pushed to afford the new DX10 cards when they first arrive.

But really, wait another six months, then ask. I know it's really frustrating to wait around when you want to have that hardware now, but six months is a very long time.
 
EirePlane said:
I am looking to buy a new PC some time next year around Feb once Windows Vista is released. By then I will have around £1000 to build myself my first computer. I have been told that I should probably wait until around May when the DirectX 10 cards are out. Is it worth waiting and is it likely to be enough money to cover everything including the cost of the operating system.
Since this will be my first time building a computer from scratch I guess it would be wise to steer clear of anything such as overclocking and water cooling and just stick with the basics.
It will need to be something that I can use for gaming as well as using programs such as photoshop. I would also like it to be "up-to-date" enough that I dont have to pgrade for a while at least.
Click to expand...
Try something like this.....:

P-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)
£114.95 £114.95
HS-005-SY Scythe Miné Quiet Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 754, 939, 940, LGA755) (HS-005-SY)
£22.95 £22.95
MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£87.95 £87.95
MY-092-CS Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (MY-092-CS)
£124.95 £124.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£126.95 £126.95
HD-024-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA)
£34.95 £34.95
CD-033-NE NEC ND4571 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-033-NE)
£22.95 £22.95
CA-048-AN Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
£54.95 £54.95
MO-016-BQ BenQ FP91G+ 19" LCD Monitor (MO-016-BQ)
£134.95 £134.95
KB-058-LG Logitech Cordless Optical Desktop Rechargeable Black/Silver - OEM (KB-058-LG)
£29.95 £29.95
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS)
£51.95 £51.95
Subtotal £807.45
VAT £141.31
Total £948.76
 
Welcome to the forums, Monstermunch's specification looks quite good although I would change the case for the Antec Sonata II as it comes with a 450w PSU and I'd probably also change the Conroe to the 6400. If there is any room left in the budget you could consider getting a Seagate 7200.10 drive but the Samsung will be fine otherwise.
 
semi-pro waster said:
I'd probably also change the Conroe to the 6400. .
Click to expand...


why?


The 6400 offers one thing a 8x multi.

Thats it.

considering the DS3 allows High FSB with 2mb conroe's it doesn't matter



other than that i see no problem
 
easyrider said:
why?


The 6400 offers one thing a 8x multi.

Thats it.

considering the DS3 allows High FSB with 2mb conroe's it doesn't matter



other than that i see no problem
Click to expand...

If you aren't going to be overclocking then it makes sense to go for the fastest chip you can reasonably afford.
 
Perhaps it's just me but it seems like one should be able to get a lot more machine for a grand. Maybe it's just the cost of the monitor distorting my judgment. :confused:
 
semi-pro waster said:
If you aren't going to be overclocking then it makes sense to go for the fastest chip you can reasonably afford.
Click to expand...

Agreed,

but he only has to change a value in the bios to make it run faster than a 6400 with no voltgae increase.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
Perhaps it's just me but it seems like one should be able to get a lot more machine for a grand. Maybe it's just the cost of the monitor distorting my judgment. :confused:
Click to expand...

And the OS and the keyboard/mouse. It doesn't look like a huge amount for the money but considering what is needed to make the PC run the actual budget is really somewhere under £800.

I did have a quick check through and you can save a bit here and there but not making a huge difference other than maybe the Ram(change for GSkill at ~£120 inc VAT) and motherboard(Intel 965 at ~£90inc VAT)... Ah stuff it, here is how I'd spend the grand rather than just changing one piece at a time.

CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
£214.95 £214.95
MY-014-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR) (MY-014-GS)
£106.95 £106.95
MO-019-OK OcUK Value Hanns-G HC194D 19" LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-019-OK)
£109.95 £109.95
KB-058-LG Logitech Cordless Optical Desktop Rechargeable Black/Silver - OEM (KB-058-LG)
£29.95 £29.95
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS)
£51.95 £51.95
MB-011-IN Intel DP965LT 965 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-011-IN)
£74.95 £74.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£126.95 £126.95
CD-035-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE)
£19.95 £19.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£65.95 £65.95
HD-085-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 200GB ST3200820AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-085-SE)
£47.95 £47.95
Subtotal £849.50
VAT £148.67
Total £998.17
 
Hate to point this out, but this person is "looking to buy a new PC some time next year around Feb", so giving him specs now seems a bit pointless as prices will have dropped and new hardware will be out.
 
Thanks for the help guys. quickfix you are right that these parts will have dropped in price by february or even may if I wait for DX10 but at least now I have an idea of how much I should spend on each part.

It's not my first PC but the first I will be building myself so I will have the monitor and other peripherals from this PC, it's just the case I need and everything in it although after seeing what you guys would spend the grand on I am tempted to buy a monitor too since most graphics cards now seem to only support DVI

Also, how much can the case affect the performance of a PC (besides the size and form factor)? I have had my eye on a particular case for a while although now i'm not so sure.

Cheers
Mitchel
 
Graphics cards still come with DVI-analogue adapters but I suppose it depends what monitor you already have if it is worth keeping. Even at the moment if you don't need the software or the keyboard/mouse you should be able to fit an X1900XT into the budget.

A case of itself won't affect the performance directly much however if you get a microATX one you limit the motherboard options and therefore the overclocking as well as the number of PCI/PCI-E slots. Some cases also offer better cooling as well so that will also affect overclocking abilities. What is the case? Chances are someone here or in the Case Central sub-forum knows something about it.
 
the case is an iCute Jet Turbine ATX PC case. it had plenty of fans including one in the side so cooling shouldnt be a problem, it also has front connectors and a good few drive bays. the only problem I can see so far with it is that it doenst have a PSU included
 
Looks kind of ugly and cheap but then that is just personal opinion so don't let me put you off on that basis :) It should be fine and it is probably a good thing it doesn't come with a PSU because you can then pick a high quality one, Tagan and Enermax make good modular PSUs since I notice that case has a window.

I'd probably suggest the Lian-Li PC7 for around the same sort of price without PSU and it is a very well built case but the looks are quite different plus it doesn't come with a window as standard.
 
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