Mid Range Gaming & General Use PC Spec Please

[GodMac]

Looking to build a mid range spec PC for my mate. He mainly uses the system for office work but wants to be able to play some up to date games (UT3/Orange Box/Assassins Creed etc) so I'm looking at a dual core system, good airflow on the case, reliable PSU, DVD+/-Rw, Vista Home Premium Retail (don't spec as will get Student version), SATAII RAID for data integrity, Nvidia Chipset Gfx card, 2ms-5ms 19" monitor and keyboard/mouse. OC capability upto 3.0Ghz - Not looking to push beyond.

Looking to spend between £400 - £600 all together.

Thanks In Advance.

 

[steve258]

Doesn't ask a lot then

Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Case - EarthWatts 500W PSU
£66.99 (£78.71)

OcUK GeForce 9600 GT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
£87.99 (£103.39)

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
£20.99 (£24.66)

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£64.99 (£76.36)

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail
£36.99 (£43.46)

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD2500AAKS)
£75.98 (£89.28)

LiteON DH-20A1S-18C 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
£14.99 (£17.61)

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
£14.99 (£17.61)

OcUK Value L-2041W 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black
£99.99 (£117.49)

Logitech Cordless Desktop EX 110 - Retail
£16.99 (£19.96)

Sub Total : £500.89
Shipping : £14.95
VAT : £90.27
Total : £606.11

Is Raid absolutely necessary for him? Because a Raid capable mobo and an extra HDD adds a bit to the cost unless you're willing to consider B-grade mobo in sales section.

You can go for a 19" but the OCUK 20" is only £5 more.

 

[GodMac]

Happy to go with the 20" thanks. Maybe rather than the RAID mobo I can go for dual SATAII and use Acronis to create a regular backup schedule.

I think he'd be happy with the rest though. Much appreciated Steve258.

 

[steve258]

That case then you can get a P31-DS3L instead and up the GFX to a 8800GT.

Instead of WD2500AAKS you can also get the cheapest Maxtor 250Gb and save a further £12.