Advice needed on new computer

ajspurs

ajspurs

ajspurs

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19 Oct 2009
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28
Hi there, I've always wanted to buy a desktop computer and have planned to but have never gotten round to it and I'm looking again now.

The reason why I'm looking again is because I'm currently in my second year of a game development course and will be using programs such as Maya, Unreal Editor, 3ds Max and Photoshop, which don't quite cut it on my current laptop. I'll also want to use the desktop for gaming, pretty much because I may as well, I love playing games and they're a lot cheaper on the PC.

My budget is £600, maybe a little bit over and I already have a monitor (Dell e248wfp) which obviously helps on the cost.


Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz

4GB Corsair Memory DDR3 1333

500GB SATA Hard Drive

(1156) ASROCK P55M Pro X-fire DDR3 2133 x4 P55 chipset

ATI 4870 1024MB PCI Express DDR DVI

HAF 922 Black ATX Case RC-922M-KKN1-GP

CiT 500W Black Edition PSU

Which comes to £630

How does this look? And will it cope with the demands of the programs listed and also the latest games?

Cheers
 
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Wel....is the CPU OEM or Retail because if its OEM you'll need to get a cpu cooler aswell.Also swap the HD4870 with a 4890 if you can afford it.
 
I have no idea but it comes with cooling also actually. I may be able to push to a 4890, so with that am I good to go?

Also does the price seem good for what I'm paying for or can I get that all for cheaper somewhere else?
 
I'd say that you're good to go.You'll get almost the same price in other places...well maybe 10-5 pounds more or less.But I would say to go for it.
 
Ah ok brilliant, cheers.

Just one more question, should I go for the i5 processor or the AM3 Phenom X4 940 3.0 GHz 8 MB Cache? Seeing as I can get a a system with either for around the same price.
 
I'd say to go for the i5.The AMD has L2 2MB Cache and L3 Cache 6MB while the i5 has L3 Cache 8 MB also with a decent cooler you could get 3.0Ghz and up from the i5 easily.
 
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Firstly read the rules of the forum, NO POSTING OF COMPETITORS
Secondly its actually using pretty poor components (eg PSU, case and I suspect HDD as its not named the brand)
We can spec you up a build FROM OCUK if you like?
Edit: Does that include windows?
 
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I would get a better PSU as I assume that the 500 Watt won't have enough amps to cope with graphic cards such as those including the CPU and other parts. I have a AGP Geforce Gainward 7800+ GS 512MB graphics card on an Athlon 3500 2.2 Ghz single core system I added 3 years ago. In there is a 550 Watt PSU and the addition of fan's have an impact such as powering them down when additional power is required.
 
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Ast3r said:
I'd say to go for the i5.The AMD has L2 2MB Cache and L3 Cache 6MB while the i5 has L3 Cache 8 MB also with a decent cooler you could get 3.0Ghz and up from the i5 easily.
Click to expand...

Ah awesome, yea i wa hoping someone would tell me something extra that isn't on the tin, cheers.

95thrifles said:
Firstly read the rules of the forum, NO POSTING OF COMPETITORS
Secondly its actually using pretty poor components (eg PSU, case and I suspect HDD as its not named the brand)
We can spec you up a build FROM OCUK if you like?
Edit: Does that include windows?
Click to expand...

Ah ok sorry, I really didn't have the brands in mind I just wanna make sure I make the right choice when putting a lot of money into it.

Yea a build from OCUK would be great, and no it won't include windows.

And thanks scottmc, I wasn't actualy completely sure as to what I PSU I should get, I was kind of just selecting one to average out the total price.
 
Haha :D Yea im not strict towards buying from one place but that site just seemed well priced and they built the computer, which I can't do :(

Budget, I will just go and say £650.
 
Here mate I'd say its worth the 18 pounds extra and a PC is not that hard to put together,just do what the manuals say.;)
pc6.png
 
You're allowed to mention brands of components, just not other websites where you can buy from, which you did in first post, you need to edit it and delete that bit
 
Ok I thought I would just revive this thread rather than start a new one. Basically, I'm in the same situation, but, with a lot less money :( I have £500 and could maybe stretch to £550

I saw this that looked good: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-180-OK&groupid=43&catid=1445&subcat=

But it would be good to have a quad core processor and a motherboard to allow me to add another 5770 later for upgrading.

Would someone be able to build be something like that with a reasonable quad core processor and decent motherboard for around that price?

I would definitely like Windows 7 which obviously unfortunately adds about £60, I have Vista already, I would upgrade to 7 in the future if i didnt get it, is it definitly worth it?

Cheers.
 
You're a student working on game development. This probably means windows is free, check with your IT department. I'm reading mechanical engineering which apparently isn't close enough to computing to qualify, but can still get 7 for £35 as I'm a student.

Really should get rid of the link to the "competitor", though anyone selling a CiT psu isn't a very serious competitor.

I think your best option is to spend as little of the budget as possible on the gpu and get one later. Maya is going to hurt any reasonably priced laptop, and I suspect 3ds max is pretty intensive too. When the next deadline is suddenly looming you'll be glad you spent the money on the cpu and not the graphics card. As such I think you want one with onboard graphics, then add a discrete graphics card later. This probably makes you an ideal candidate for the new i3 range, a hyperthreaded dual core will do well enough, especially if overclocked a little bit. I can't spec you a system I'm afraid as I've been largely ignoring hardware since I put my last one together, I believe amd have some excellent offerings around the £500 budget.
 
Oh yea I completely forgot about getting windows for free, cheers for the reminder, I would have gone and wasted £60 otherwise
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I get what you're saying in geting a real cheap graphics card now and focussing on the CPU, I agree but I've actually found something for about £550 which is:

Phenom X3 720 CPU

4GB DDR3 Memory

500GB HD

ATI HD 5770 1024MB

Cooler Master Dominator 690 Case

AM3 MSI 770-C45 - DDR3 1600x4 770-C45 chipset

500W PSU

How does that look?

I heard that case doesn't fit some of the new biggers graphics cards, is that true? Should I still go for it?

I was thinking in the future I could get a crossfire motherboard and another 5770 card though.
 
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