Am new-HELP!Computer questions~500 new build

zenjie · 16 Aug 2008 at 14:38

Ok basically I have 2 years before I go to uni. My parents want to buy me a laptop which I am concerned will be outofdate by then and would prefer a desktop for currently playing games [css]

1. If I did buy a desktop, would it be fairly easy to sell after the 2 years are up? - ebay/privately

2. In terms of desktop Im looking for around a 500 pound desktop build. I am new to building from scratch so I am uncertain whether to customise a build or entirely from scratch. How much more would I be looking at for getting a custom build [I would rather pay a bit more for being entirely sure about the pc]

3. If someone could put together a spec for me for around ~500. I am using this for GAMING, priority, hence I want good processor,ram,gcard. I have seen the Q6660 quad and it seems relatively reasonable yet many people say get a good coreduo. I probably wont 'overclock it myself' so what would be better? surely quad

4. Also I don't want a massive case, would prefer something nice and compact but I know that bigger is better for airflow however Im sure a compact case could be found

Very grateful for your help. Thanks

melat0nin · 16 Aug 2008 at 14:46

Try this as a starting point; I have the same budget and have tweaked it a little:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11840938&postcount=3

jak731 · 16 Aug 2008 at 14:51

does this mean you need everything including the monitor, keyboard,mouse etc

zenjie · 16 Aug 2008 at 15:00

No sorry should have been more specific. ~500 for the tower only. Would be nicer to aim slightly lower if possible. Also would be great if some of my questions could be answered

zenjie · 16 Aug 2008 at 15:07

Also wondering if this is any good

http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/viewCart.asp

melat0nin · 16 Aug 2008 at 15:11

Here is a spec I'll be buying this week, for £442:

Your cart link above is empty; you'll have to take a screenshot or get a session ID or something in the URL for us to see it.

zenjie · 16 Aug 2008 at 15:25

What are you intending to use that pc for? e.g if gaming, good fps?

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3946/dinopczo0.jpg

melat0nin · 16 Aug 2008 at 15:39

zenjie said:
What are you intending to use that pc for? e.g if gaming, good fps?

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3946/dinopczo0.jpg

Mostly general use but certainly a fair bit of gaming. I've been out of the PC gaming loop for a while and want a machine that can handle current gen games well and new games for a year or two.

You can see the discussion behind it over here:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17908536

From what I can tell, getting a Quad is unnecessary unless you plan to do really heavy stuff like video encoding. Better to save on that and get a better gfx card instead.