Help Speccing a Machine

[themistry]

Hi everyone,

this is a standard thread asking for help from someone who's been out of touch for a while! So, thanks to all for your advice.

I'm building a new machine that I will use specifically for software development. I do a lot of virtualisation, so need 8 to 16gb of memory, and plenty of cores if possible. Gaming is also on the agenda, but I do not need the best gfx card in the world - DX11 is important though.

I'm looking to get one of the Lian Li PC-V351 cases, so need everything to fit in there.

I don't need a monitor (but recommendations for a 24" would be nice), keyboard, mouse or speakers.

To spend, lets say 500-1000 quid. I'm more interested in a decent spec and recommendations for what I should get, budget could change.

I need to buy something in the next 2 to 3 weeks.

Thanks for all your help,
TM

 

[themistry]

Guys,

thanks so much for the replies.

Are AMD back in the game (performance/reliability)? The last time I bought a machine, Core 2 Duo was the king, and AMD were no where to be seen. Is this still the case?

Cheers
TM

 

[themistry]

fantastic!

Thanks for your input guys, i7 it is.

Any specific motherboards/memory I should be looking at?

TM

 

[themistry]

thanks Freddie, appreciate your help.

I'm not too worried about the fastest ram, so long as it's reliable - as i don't think the expense would be something I would notice from a performance perspective, and I won't be overclocking.

Cheers
TM