Hello again guys, I had to cancel a previous build due to unforeseen circumstances, and would like to thank anyone who offered advice. I still need a new computer though, as the current one is on its last legs; but I'm going to have to cut costs by at least £400, as the previous one was edging towards £900.
I'm a little confused as to which route I should take. One the one hand I'm thinking of just building a bog standard pc that will be capable of running Microsoft office, and enable me to surf and watch a few films on my 24" monitor. If I needed to game I would just buy a cheap second hand console to plug into my monitor.
The other part of me wants to build a cheap computer, up to a max of £500, that I can use for all of the above. I would aim to play a few games on it i.e. Fallout 3, Dawn of War 2, medieval Total War 2 and GTA IV (as that will do me just fine). I don't mind reducing the resolution etc. on those games, although if it is possible to play them on 1920x1200, then that would be great.
So, all this rambling means I need help in speccing a 'cheap gaming computer' (max £500, but the cheaper, the better), so that I can see how viable the cheap computer would be to play the above games. I already have the case, peripherals etc., if that's any help. If for the price, the components can be reasonably quiet, then that would be a great extra. Many thanks for any advice.
I'm a little confused as to which route I should take. One the one hand I'm thinking of just building a bog standard pc that will be capable of running Microsoft office, and enable me to surf and watch a few films on my 24" monitor. If I needed to game I would just buy a cheap second hand console to plug into my monitor.
The other part of me wants to build a cheap computer, up to a max of £500, that I can use for all of the above. I would aim to play a few games on it i.e. Fallout 3, Dawn of War 2, medieval Total War 2 and GTA IV (as that will do me just fine). I don't mind reducing the resolution etc. on those games, although if it is possible to play them on 1920x1200, then that would be great.
So, all this rambling means I need help in speccing a 'cheap gaming computer' (max £500, but the cheaper, the better), so that I can see how viable the cheap computer would be to play the above games. I already have the case, peripherals etc., if that's any help. If for the price, the components can be reasonably quiet, then that would be a great extra. Many thanks for any advice.