Could someone spec me a PC please? - £550

IwantanewPC · 18 Mar 2006 at 00:47

Hey guys,

Could someone spec me a PC for £550. All I need is the base unit.

Want it for gaming mainly so it should be able to handle all games out now and games for the future with no problem.

Could it also be as future proof as possible please so I can upgrade when necessary?

Thanks in advance.

StarShock · 18 Mar 2006 at 06:28

a little difficult to get a future proof gaming rig on that budget....

this it as as well as I could do, it'll need to be overclocked which is why I've put the AC freezer in there, but it will run every thing out at the moment
(if you can stretch tha buget I'd go for 2gig of Ram instead of the 1gig I've spec'd)

CP-141-AM AMD Opteron UP 144 San Diego 1.8GHz 1MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-141-AM)
£104.95 £104.95
MB-088-AS Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£59.95 £59.95
GX-027-GW Gainward BLISS GeForce 6800 GS "Goes Like Hell" 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-027-GW)
£139.95 £139.95
MY-005-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
£46.95 £46.95
HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£30.95 £30.95
CD-020-SO Sony DDU-1615 DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM (CD-020-SO)
£10.95 £10.95
CA-048-AN Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
£51.95 £51.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£12.95 £12.95
Subtotal £458.60
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £9.95
VAT £82.00
Total £550.55

IwantanewPC · 18 Mar 2006 at 11:24

StarShock said:
a little difficult to get a future proof gaming rig on that budget....

this it as as well as I could do, it'll need to be overclocked which is why I've put the AC freezer in there, but it will run every thing out at the moment
(if you can stretch tha buget I'd go for 2gig of Ram instead of the 1gig I've spec'd)

Ah I see, I thought that with me not needing anything but the base unit I'd have enough.

I think rather than buy now I'll save a bit.. how much do you think I'll be needing?

semi-pro waster · 18 Mar 2006 at 11:30

IwantanewPC said:
I think rather than buy now I'll save a bit.. how much do you think I'll be needing?

It is a pretty decent specification above but how much you need to save does depend partly on how long you want to keep it for, £700-800 though ought to be enough as a rough figure to allow a reasonable PC that will last for a couple of years with pretty minor alterations if any

IwantanewPC · 18 Mar 2006 at 11:45

2-3 years sounds good yeah.

£700-£800 would only get me a reasonable PC though?

I want a beast! lol. So what kind of money will I be looking to spend for my system to be referred as a beast? 1k?

semi-pro waster · 18 Mar 2006 at 11:55

Anywhere from £1k upwards, by the time you get to maybe £1,500 you start to hit the law of diminishing returns rapidly. For just a base unit though £1k will get a very good PC, this is one I recommended in another thread and it will play any new game you care to throw at it at high resolutions.

CP-151-AM AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-151-AM)
£221.95 £221.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£79.95 £79.95
MY-000-MK Mushkin 2GB DDR XP4000 Extreme Performance Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) CAS3 (991483) (MY-000-MK)
£139.95 £139.95
GX-046-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3055) (GX-046-CO)
£264.95 £264.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£59.95 £59.95
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£25.95 £25.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£57.95 £57.95
Subtotal £850.65
VAT £148.87
Total £999.52

ACESHIGH · 18 Mar 2006 at 11:59

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£206.74
Gigabyte K8NMF-9 nForce4 Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-041-GI)
£49.29
OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-004-OK)
£46.94
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 80GB 6V080E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-095-MD)
£36.37
Philips SPD2400GM 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Beige) - OEM (CD-007-PH)
£25.79
PowerColor ATI Radeon X850 XT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-037-PC)
£135.07 **This Week Only**
Arctic Cooling T2 Silentium Silent Midi Tower Case - 450W Seasonic Silent PSU (CA-001-AR)
£58.69

Total £558.89 = including VAT

Dual core CPU with retail cooler. Good graphics, faster than the 6800GS.
1 gig ram. Good case & PSU. Quiet DVD burner.

OR

AMD Opteron UP 146 San Diego 2.0GHz 1MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-142-AM)
£152.69
Gigabyte K8NMF-9 nForce4 Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-041-GI)
£49.29
OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-004-OK)
£46.94
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 80GB 6V080E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-095-MD)
£36.37
Philips SPD2400GM 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Beige) - OEM (CD-007-PH)
£25.79
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£199.69 **This Week Only**
Arctic Cooling T2 Silentium Silent Midi Tower Case - 450W Seasonic Silent PSU (CA-001-AR)
£58.69

Total £569.46 = including VAT

Quicker single core CPU. Awesome graphics card!!
1 gig ram. Good case & PSU. Quiet DVD burner.

Bennah · 18 Mar 2006 at 11:59

Good rig suggested there, semi pro waster. You are getting a lot for your money with that setup for sure.

For more money could get you a faster cpu, like a Opty 170 / 175 and a SLI or CF mobo for future upgrade plans.

That setup there though is good enough to keep for a few years anyways.