£650 + Monitor - Spec required

Sinclair · 4 May 2010 at 17:10

My friend is asking me to put together a new build for him and has set a budget of £650, all in.

He will need a case, a monitor (preferably a 22", perhaps the BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" @ £145) + Win 7 64 bit, but doesn't require a keyboard or mouse.

He will use it for general web browsing and gaming. Bascially, he would like the best gaming system within this budget.

I know it's a big ask, but what's possible?

Thanks.

eddyc · 4 May 2010 at 17:29

Is this £650 including the monitor or £650 + monitor?

Will he be overclocking?

How about this:

Sinclair · 4 May 2010 at 17:36

Thanks a lot eddyc,

£650 including monitor.

BTW - you've included the upgrade version of Win 7.

No, he definately won't be overclocking.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 4 May 2010 at 18:39

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 4 May 2010 at 18:55

Sinclair · 4 May 2010 at 19:52

Thanks CAT-THE-FIFTH. Very good.

I didn't think to mention that he will most likely want to add a couple of 1TB HDD's in the future and also would need a system that can smoothly play x264/1080p encoded video. For this reason the BenQ 21.5" may be better as it's higher res than the viewsonic.

I also might suggest a set up that's £50-£70 more and let him decide if he thinks it's worth the difference.

How about this, based on the above suggestions?

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 4 May 2010 at 20:05

The build looks fine for the budget you have stated.

There is also the 1GB version of the HD4870 1GB for around £100 too:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-046-GI

The 1GB version should do better if you want to have AA in games at 1920X1080.

However an HD4870 512MB should do a very good job still and is an excellent card for £89.

Sinclair · 4 May 2010 at 20:12

Thanks, I have the HD4870 1GB myself. How does it compare to the HD 5770?

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 4 May 2010 at 20:17

In some cases the HD5770 1GB will be slower than a HD4870 512MB but in other cases it will be faster:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_5770_PCS_Plus/6.html

I suppose when DX11 features become more widespread in games an HD5770 1GB may start to pull ahead of an HD4870 512MB or HD4870 1GB.

Sinclair · 4 May 2010 at 21:01

He's agreed to go with the build in post #6, but with the HD4870 1GB.

Thanks again.

Sycho · 4 May 2010 at 21:57

If you can't be bothered to build yourself, the Titan Nero is quite a good system, have it downstairs and it has ran games 1920x1080 maxed except Crysis/Metro 2033 of course but it's a pretty damn good pc for the price.(you could even call them to put a 5770 instead in it if you wish though the 5750 with it is pretty fast.)

Also that BenQ 22 Inch is really good.