New Machine Spec please

d00m · 11 Dec 2008 at 08:28

Unfortunately the motherboard has expired on my 3 year old gaming pc. I've always built AMD machines in the past but it seems clear that, at the moment anyway, Intel is the way to go.

I have a budget of around £700 to replace the hardware and then have some additional cash to buy a new OS. (I'll use my copy of xp on my old machine again when I get round to repairing it).

I already have keyboard, mouse, etc and am currently running an acer x222w 22" widescreen monitor. (native res is 1680 x 1050). Don't need a huge amount of disk space as I have 2 external hard drives. I'd prefer to spend the money elsewhere. Any advice is appreciated as its now 3 years since my last build and I'm somewhat out of the loop.

Thanks.

ro55o · 11 Dec 2008 at 09:43

You can save a bit of money by swapping the 4870 for a 4850. At 1680*1050 resolution, the 4850 will be enough, but you might aswell get a more powerful GPU and leave some headroom in there, afterall it's still in budget.

I've put in some 8500 ram, this is really only for higher overclocks on the E8400, 3.6ghz and over. So unless you plan on a big overclock, you can swap the ram out for a cheaper 6400 kit. Definitely go with 4gb though.

For the OS, I'd go with 64bit vista.

d00m · 11 Dec 2008 at 12:19

Thanks for the response ro55o. If I don't plan on doing any overclocking (never have before tbh so wouldn't really know where to start) would this change the recommended spec much?

saintdefender · 11 Dec 2008 at 13:32

May i suggest that you consider overclocking? I know you properly think its a lot to take in but it really isn't, i read up on it and after a day i was flying away.. it really isn't that hard to do and its much cheaper then buying a new processor and ram.

Honestly, if you just read some guides on it you will see that it really isn't that hard, and its not dangerous if you just watch your temps, and don't go above 1.5V using Air Cooling.

just try it mate, i was like you but then i learned and now im addicted to it.

d00m · 11 Dec 2008 at 19:09

Just had a couple of questions about that spec.

If i were to downgrade the 4870 to a 4850, which one would you recommend?

I've seen a lot of builds that recommend the arctic cooler. Is that just personal preference or do I need to go with the tuniq tower to cool this spec?

I've also read some comments re fitting all of the components into the antec 300 case. Is this likely to be an issue or simply a case of it being a snug fit?

Thanks again for any responses.

djcrowle · 11 Dec 2008 at 19:58

if your worried about the space which the components take up, you can always opt for a bigger case! at the end of the day it comes down to your budget. If you want to stick with antec id recommend the 900 or 1200.

personally i have a arctic cooler heatsink, which i have to say is brilliant! not much to look at granted, but its dead slient, easy to install and overall worth every penny. As far as heatsinks are concerned in my book, they are there to cool your cpu! not to look pretty - altho it is a nice perk

just my penny's worth