I have a budget of £400 now, however each month with each additional paycheck this increases by roughly the same amount. I would like a computer as soon as possible to play some awesome games on, however I understand I might need to wait a while before sufficient funds are availible.
I am wondering if I can slowly upgrade my current computer until eventually I have a totally new Tower of awesomeness. I know, however that most of it will probably be incompatible with current hardware so this might just not work. Here is my current system i'll have for salvage for temporary use whilst building new one:
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT (although i swear i bought a 6800... nvm)
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+
Some big but reliable 14' monitor
120GB HDD
ASUS A8N-E 939 Mobo
Headset (w/ mic)
Antec Sonata case
Big metal heatsink
Not sure about PSU but i'm assuming it needs upgrading, sorry I can't be more specific on certain things. If it doesn't make sense to upgrade slowly and use parts of this machine then i'll just use it as a server or give it to a friend. (I'm not sure what a server is...)
Questions:
1) I want windows 7. Which windows 7 should I buy *assuming 64 bit*. I have read up on them and all I can find are box charts with ticks. I do not really understand what they are actually offering (the ultimate and home versions). Is the home premium good enough or do the others genuinely offer something worthwhile?
2) Future proofing... is there any point getting a £1000 computer now which'll be future proof for 3-4 years when a £500 now and a £500 in 30 months will probably never fail on me? Are my assumptions about this correct? I want to run games coming out right now on full with no slow down.
3) How much initially will I need if I delay buying a new sexy monitor, new sound system (I have no speakers since Headset works), nice webcam.
4) What's watercooling, how reliable and difficult to setup is it and is there any noticable difference between it and a regular heatsink if i'm not planning on overclocking or anything like that?
5) I don't need huge amounts of space. Keep my old 120GB as master and have a Solid State for games?
Here is what i'm looking for. Let me know if i'm looking for the ridiculous:
i7 Processor
a Beastly GFX card (or two)
4-8 GB of top notch RAM
a new mobo?
windows 7
Great Case
Great PSU
Awesome Heatsink/Watercooling
Speakers (sound card?)
anything stupidly obvious i've forgotten
New awesome flatscreen monitor
New HDD (Solid state? Don't need hoards of space )
I am wondering if I can slowly upgrade my current computer until eventually I have a totally new Tower of awesomeness. I know, however that most of it will probably be incompatible with current hardware so this might just not work. Here is my current system i'll have for salvage for temporary use whilst building new one:
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT (although i swear i bought a 6800... nvm)
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+
Some big but reliable 14' monitor
120GB HDD
ASUS A8N-E 939 Mobo
Headset (w/ mic)
Antec Sonata case
Big metal heatsink
Not sure about PSU but i'm assuming it needs upgrading, sorry I can't be more specific on certain things. If it doesn't make sense to upgrade slowly and use parts of this machine then i'll just use it as a server or give it to a friend. (I'm not sure what a server is...)
Questions:
1) I want windows 7. Which windows 7 should I buy *assuming 64 bit*. I have read up on them and all I can find are box charts with ticks. I do not really understand what they are actually offering (the ultimate and home versions). Is the home premium good enough or do the others genuinely offer something worthwhile?
2) Future proofing... is there any point getting a £1000 computer now which'll be future proof for 3-4 years when a £500 now and a £500 in 30 months will probably never fail on me? Are my assumptions about this correct? I want to run games coming out right now on full with no slow down.
3) How much initially will I need if I delay buying a new sexy monitor, new sound system (I have no speakers since Headset works), nice webcam.
4) What's watercooling, how reliable and difficult to setup is it and is there any noticable difference between it and a regular heatsink if i'm not planning on overclocking or anything like that?
5) I don't need huge amounts of space. Keep my old 120GB as master and have a Solid State for games?
Here is what i'm looking for. Let me know if i'm looking for the ridiculous:
i7 Processor
a Beastly GFX card (or two)
4-8 GB of top notch RAM
a new mobo?
windows 7
Great Case
Great PSU
Awesome Heatsink/Watercooling
Speakers (sound card?)
anything stupidly obvious i've forgotten
New awesome flatscreen monitor
New HDD (Solid state? Don't need hoards of space )