My machine died, time to upgrade

fallbayuk

fallbayuk

fallbayuk

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My lightning quick 8 year old Pentium 4 rig (P4 2.8, Radeon 9800 Pro + 1GB Ram) just died. Not sure if its the motherboard or processor and don't have spare components to swap out and test with to narrow it down.

So I need a new system. Budget of £1k or less and I only need the base unit. I haven't gamed for a few years due to the crapness of the machine that just died, but if I'm spending a grand I'd like to be able to play games on my 24" monitor (don't mind lowering the resolution if needs be). I tend to have a lot of things on the go at once when I'm on the computer but most of the time I'll be just using it to browse the web and support other machines remotely. I preferably don't want to build from scratch either so I'm leaning towards one of the pre-built systems.

I want to go with an Intel processor but don't know the differences between i3, i5 or i7. Same with the graphics card - I haven't got a clue. Hopefully someone can shed some light on what I should go for...all advice is welcome! TIA :)
 
if you built one yourself, u could get something like

Code: 
Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card		£224.99
(£191.48) 	£224.99
(£191.48)
	Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66GHz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM		£167.99
(£142.97) 	£167.99
(£142.97)
	Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard		£156.98
(£133.60) 	£156.98
(£133.60)
	Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (CMX6GX3M3A1600C9)		£133.99
(£114.03) 	£133.99
(£114.03)
	Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650HXUK)		£103.99
(£88.50) 	£103.99
(£88.50)
	Antec 900 Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black		£73.99
(£62.97) 	£73.99
(£62.97)
	Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ)		£57.99
(£49.35) 	£57.99
(£49.35)
	Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM		£14.99
(£12.76) 	£14.99
(£12.76)
 	 	Sub Total : 	£795.66
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout)	Shipping : 	£12.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50%	VAT : 	£141.43
 	Total : 	£949.59

will give u abit spare to get a cpu cooler of your choise

if you really dont want to build it yourself, u could ring up OCUK give them the specs and get them to build it, althou it'll likly cost you abit more.

if you want to go intel, then the i7 920 is about the best choise atm.

for abit cheaper, u could go for this pre build system
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-025-OP&groupid=43&catid=1444&subcat=

gpu isn't as good, but it'll be ok, althou for a 24" running at native res, the 5850 would be the better choise
 
Thanks for the replies. Just trying to convince the missus about the size of the budget.

Could someone give me a quick run-down of how ATI and Nvidia graphics cards stack up against each other? For example, what's ATI's equivalent card to the Nvidia gtx 470?
 
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Any thoughts? Not being a hardcore gamer would I really see the benefit of a 5870 or could I go for something cheaper? Also could someone advise me on the cooler - does the OEM cpu come with a stock cooler and if not what should I go for? Would I also need to get thermal paste and other cables?
 
You wont need any extra cables and the OEM CPU doesnt come with a cooler or flashy packaging.

Do you really need an i7? Could save a bit going i5 and see no difference I expect.

The 5870 is a noticeable step up from the 5850 and will give you more headroom for future releases.
 
BIGBC said:
You wont need any extra cables and the OEM CPU doesnt come with a cooler or flashy packaging.

Do you really need an i7? Could save a bit going i5 and see no difference I expect.

The 5870 is a noticeable step up from the 5850 and will give you more headroom for future releases.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I need an i7, what can it do that an i5 can't?
 
If you are not overclocking the Core i5 750 would be a better choice than a Core i7 920 as the former has more agressive Turbo Boost.

Also do you intend to go with a dual card setup eventually?? You could save a lot by going for a P55 motherboards which does not do Crossfire or SLI.
 
the gtx 480 is the most powerful card, but its only 5-15% faster than the 5870, but it costs £100 more, and consumes waaay more power and produces waaaay more heat (along with noise, but some tend to argue against that, so ... meh).

the gtx470 is somewhere between the 5850 and 5870 in terms of performance, but costs about the same as a 5870.

imo, unless you want absolute top of the range performance whatever the cost, stick with the ATI 5k series
 
A 5770 is all you need to play most games at 1080p. Get a good p55 mobo, Dual channel ram, i5 750, 500W PSU and you'll save a boat load.
 
CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
If you are not overclocking the Core i5 750 would be a better choice than a Core i7 920 as the former has more agressive Turbo Boost.

Also do you intend to go with a dual card setup eventually?? You could save a lot by going for a P55 motherboards which does not do Crossfire or SLI.
Click to expand...

I wont be going for dual cards.
 
Here is a cheaper Core i5 750 based build:

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz ~ £155

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-299-IN

Asus P7P55D-E LX ~ £117

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-394-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1693

Has SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0 but no SLI or symmetrical Crossfire capability.

OCZ Obsidian 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 Dual Channel ~ £94

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-181-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 DirectCU 1024MB GDDR5 ~ £249

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-225-AS

Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case ~ £90

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-196-CM

Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply ~ £86

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-117-AN

Pioneer DVR-S18L 22x DVD±RW SATA Labelflash ReWriter ~ £19

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-069-PO&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=951

Samsung F3 1TB ~ £58

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA

The total comes to around £868 excluding delivery.

If you want to overclock the processors I would get the following cooler:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-009-TI

If you need to get a copy of Windows I would get the retail copy of Windows 7 Home Premium:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-124-MS
 
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