Bargain pre-built?

Mercian · 18 Mar 2009 at 23:02

Hi All,

I've toyed with the idea of building my own and been scared off by the experiences of others posted here. Plus I like the safeguard of a warranty

I've been impatiently waiting for a sub £750 pre-built on here which will provide me at least 3-4 years of trouble free gaming for my investment but as yet to haven't seen a stand out system that does it with Vista 64 included, but now I come across this bad boy and very much appreciate your opinions - would you see this as the best sub £750 pre-built with os available right now???
AMD Phenom™ II X4 940 Black Edition Quad Core Processor AM2+
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 64-bit - English
Tower ATX Chassis + 550W PSU
ASUS M3A78 AMD Socket AM2+ Phenom ATX Mainboard
8192MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM - (4 x 2GB)
1TB (1x 1000GB) Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer
Samsung 22x Dual Layer DVD Writer Super Format +R/-R/RW/RAM
1GB ATi HD4850 Graphics accelerator - DVI, DirectX 10.1 PCI Express 2

Man I ready to hit the buy button!

mattyy · 18 Mar 2009 at 23:14

Not bad I guess.

AMD Phenom™ II X4 940 Black Edition Quad Core Processor AM2+ £195
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 64-bit - English £80
Tower ATX Chassis + 550W PSU
ASUS M3A78 AMD Socket AM2+ Phenom ATX Mainboard £55
8192MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM - (4 x 2GB) £60
1TB (1x 1000GB) Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer £75
Samsung 22x Dual Layer DVD Writer Super Format +R/-R/RW/RAM £20
1GB ATi HD4850 Graphics accelerator - DVI, DirectX 10.1 PCI Express 2 £140

Those are rough estimates of the cost of those components. (assuming they are good brands)
The total is £625
Ive left out the cost of the case and PSU, ill leave that up too you to decide on what thats worth.

So assuming those are decent brands ( memory, HDD, case and PSU) Its not a bad deal.
I wouldnt bet on it being a top performer in 3 years time tho. The mainboard isnt great and you could get a 1gb 4870 for around the same as that 4850

Mercian · 18 Mar 2009 at 23:24

The case, delivery and labour push that just over £700 but I guess my concern is if there are any possible lemon components that would prevent overclocking when needed. I'm going to check the case has capacity for additional fans, but is the mobo flexible for taking upgraded graphics cards down the line, and is the 4850 suitable for overclocking if needed?

As I'm sure you guess I'm a willing amateur at best

r0zvad · 19 Mar 2009 at 04:56

The 1GB 4870s can be picked up for not much more these days. But I suppose it will depend on what resolution you are looking at.

hp7909 · 19 Mar 2009 at 06:38

Which Asus M3A78 is that?

Crucial to know the specs (or make) of the PSU.

Also, you'll find most here will advise that 8GB ATM is over the top for a gaming rig. 4GB should do & money saved can go towards a 4870

mattyy · 19 Mar 2009 at 18:12

This is a pre built tho so he cant really change the components.

As said above its about what the makes of components are, to know how much they can be pushed.

TBH if your planning on overclocking then you are probally better of buying it all seperate.
You have to learn sometime.

Plus I like the safeguard of a warranty

You will get warranty with each component which is somewhat better than just the tower+contents as one.
You will also void your warranty if it is found out to of been overclocked...
Going down that road aswell will mean you will probally have to uprate the coolers therefore you will have to get your hands in the case anyway, which will also usually void the manufactures/builders warranty if you open the case!