Desktop Build for ~ £800

[BriggysMum]

Hi there,

I have been recommended to this forum by a friend as I am looking to purchase a desktop for the first time in many years and when it comes to computing I am far from a whizz so was seeking advice. Any help would be greatly appreciated to ensure I am getting a decent deal instead of just going by my gut and ending up with a barge.

I last had a desktop around 8 years ago, have been on laptops since that one died on me though have recently been getting more and more into gaming, which is where the laptop shows its limitations. Tried playing Civ V recently and the laptop screamed at me all the way.

With this in mind, I am looking for a desktop on which I can get my game on, so looking at being able to dominate current games and maybe next gen games for the next year or so, and for working from home on occasion. Office is not a necessity as I can get this from other sources if required but ideally I would want something I can plug in, turn on and away I go.

Looking to spend up to a maximum of £800, though if a great deal was to be had for slightly more than that then I would be willing.

As I said before, any help would be greatly appreciated as I dip my toe into the water!

 

[BriggysMum]

Are you wanting to buy a pre-built machine, or are you willing to get your hands slightly dirty and build it yourself? It's a little trickier, but it gives you the opportunity to hand-pick the exact parts you want and usually saves you around 20% of the price.

Do you have any keyboard/monitor/mouse/speakers etc that you'll be using, and do you need them included in the price? I'm going to assume that you need the operating system included.

What games do you want to play, other than Civ V? What other uses will the PC have? This will help us tailor the build more toward what you want.

Thank you for your prompt response.

To elaborate further on my initial post, which really does not give a great deal of detail as to what I require having read it back, I would respond as follows:

It is probably best to have it pre-built, I'm not saying I couldn't do it, but having not done it before I am always loathed taking the gamble. I tried to format a hard drive the other week and it ended up going horribly wrong so I am now adopting a safety first approach.

How difficult is it to build it yourself?

I have speakers but no longer have monitor/keyboard/mouse so they would be required, whether this is with the unit or I guess I could always get them separately though this would eat into the budget. I'll need the operating system, Windows 7 would be fine, I have Windows 8 on the laptop and would gladly sacrifice it for Windows 7 if there was a cost saving.

I'd be looking at playing any form of game on it, so to include such things as Call of Duty etc, so it'll need to be able to perform well if required with those sorts of games ideally.

 

[BriggysMum]

Thank you once more.

I will likely proceed with your recommendation, though I may seek to shave off some of the memory in terms of the Seagate 1TB drive as I have external hard drives totaling around 4TB so the computer itself could be kept fairly clean other than the games and game files. Would this hamper the game performance if I cut it to say 500gb? It won't make much of a cost difference in fairness so I could quite happily keep it as 1TB.

What does Windows 8 pro give you over the normal Windows 8?

 

[BriggysMum]

Thanks again, very useful information!

One final query, concerning the processor, I have heard a lot of talk about Intel i5 and i7 being the way forward, I presume the Titan you linked is i3? Does this make any difference or would I be paying a small fortune if I went i5 or i7?

 

[BriggysMum]

Thank you yet again.

I am tempted to purchase all the parts and try and build it myself, but I worry that I'll **** it up and be throwing a lot of money down the drain.

I think I will need to consider it and then see what to do though I can guarantee that I will be going for one or the other, either the pre-built at extra cost or the parts to build it.

Thank you for all your assistance, you have been fantastic.