newbie info required please :-)

fto dude · 16 Mar 2011 at 19:26

hey folks.. my friend suggested i sign up here for some info and light on a system. i wasnt considdering a new tower until i saw this on hotukdeals...

Intel Core i3 540 Processor
8GB Premium Branded DDR3 Memory
Premium Branded 1000GB SATAII Ultra Fast Hard Disk
Intel Performance HD SMA Graphics
Ultra Fast Samsung DVDRW
Biostar H55-HD Motherboard
Deluxe Midi Tower Case
Quality True Power PSU
Multi Format Memory Card Reader
5.1 High Definition Surround Sound
10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN
15x USB2 Ports
3 Year Classic Bronze Warranty
Microsoft Office 60 Day Trial
Microsoft Windows Live Essentials

to which i thought was really pretty good and had some great reviews about value for money..
now im not the most extreme gamer by any means so for what it was for i thought would suffice.. but my friend said the onboard graphics was soooo limited that id regret it... i was going to order the tv card and wireless networking options with the package to come in at 350 delivered..

i guess my question to you folk is are there any better deals out there then and is there anything comparible that does have a stand alone grfx card?

help much appreciated.. budget is tight so not looking to spend anymore than 350 im afraid :-(

thanx

dave

RJC · 16 Mar 2011 at 19:28

Hello and welcome to the forums

I would remove the link before a don sees as these would be classed as a competitor

hybrid572 · 16 Mar 2011 at 19:40

As RJC said, competitor links are a definite no-no.

As for your PC, it certainly is hard to put together a decent gaming PC for £350. Do you have anything to utilise (existing copy of Windows, old desktop PC with a case / DVD drive / HDD) that might bring the price down a bit? Are you willing to build it yourself?

fto dude · 16 Mar 2011 at 19:49

oh sorry i didnt realise competitor links werent allowed.. my fault for not reading the rules and regs obv.. but if they dont know what im comparing it to.. how can they beat it?

i know.. hold on a sec...

ok thats better..

its not really for gaming.. i dont even play games on pc to be honest.. was just after something with plenty of storage.. fast and can play pretty much most games if i wanted to... i am a halo fan (yeah i welcome the abuse) so nothing will tempt me away from the sexbox lol

just after a comparison spec wise if possible...?

i think my laptop is going to blow up soon.. and it struggles with youtube and flash media...
i dont really have anything to utilise in thinking about it.. i have keyboard and mouse and speakers.. thats about it.. but otherwise would need a fully integrated tower unit...

what do you guys think about the above unit.. is that a good one for the price? or is that grfx card business a dead end for me?

thanx

dave

hybrid572 · 16 Mar 2011 at 20:00

So, to clarify, you're looking for a desktop tower, with a good amount of storage, that is capable of playing games, but you don't need it to be super fast or play any xbox games, as you already have that covered. In addition, you won't spend more than £350.

Sadly, mass-market retailers have this end of the market to themselves, as they buy low-end parts in high numbers and can sell them on rather cheaply. The value "Primo" range on OCUK can be found here, and there's some decent looking similar systems in there that are worth a look.

fto dude · 16 Mar 2011 at 20:11

thankyou very much for the above info.. i shall have a gander now..

sorry its such a stringent request.. times are hard.. wish i had the budget and need for ahigh end bespoke pc

dave

hybrid572 · 16 Mar 2011 at 20:19

Don't worry, I'm desperate for an upgrade but don't nearly have the money at the moment

If you believe you may have more money coming in the near future, it may be worth buying a system with onboard video for now, which basically couldn't be used for gaming but could do everything else, and then spending decent money on upgrading to a proper dedicated card when you have £100 or so to drop on it.

hybrid572 · 16 Mar 2011 at 20:22

It's also worth mentioning that second-hand parts can often be a cheap way to upgrade, if you're willing to try. You may well be able to get a Q6600 / s775 mobo / 4GB RAM / 4850 system, with adequate power supply and so on, within your budget. This level system is only just starting to struggle with the latest games, so lots of people are selling theirs on, even though they can easily do medium-high settings still.

Hagar · 16 Mar 2011 at 21:21

With 4Gb but you should not need 8Gb, no software, no monitor keyboard, mouse or speakers. Just base unit in tower. Savings could be made with tricore processor rather than quad. Onboard graphics, Radeon 3000 instead of PCIe card added at £66. Wireless cards are cheap at £10-15.

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £77.99
(£64.99) £77.99
(£64.99)
HIS ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 ICEQ PCI-Express Graphics Card (H567Q512) HIS ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 ICEQ PCI-Express Graphics Card (H567Q512) £65.99
(£54.99) £65.99
(£54.99)
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000528AS) Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000528AS) £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £38.80
(£32.33) £38.80
(£32.33)
OCZ Intel Extreme XMP 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C7 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit (OCZ3X1333LV4GK) OCZ Intel Extreme XMP 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C7 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit (OCZ3X1333LV4GK) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
Sub Total : £291.43
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £60.39
Total : £362.32

Reaper 392 · 17 Mar 2011 at 00:56

if your not going to be doing any gaming any time soon, then i would get a motherboard with slightly better onboard graphics, and use that until you have the funds for a better graphics card.

something like this:
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 840 "95W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £77.99
(£64.99) £77.99
(£64.99)
Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000528AS) £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £38.80
(£32.33) £38.80
(£32.33)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £34.99
(£29.16) £34.99
(£29.16)
TP-Link 54Mbps Wireless-G PCI Card (TL-WN350G) £8.89
(£7.41) £8.89
(£7.41)
Sub Total : £252.19
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £52.44
Total : £314.63

and, when you want to do some PC gaming, pick up a good budget graphics card like this one: (£125)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-068-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830

if you want to start gaming on the £350 budget though, i'd go for nkata's build

TerryH · 17 Mar 2011 at 01:14

Nowadays a budget card can hardly good enough play cod4, a true budget card is an ATI 5770, but in UK they are all way overpriced.

Needless to say OCuk have done the cheapest I've seen.

fto dude · 17 Mar 2011 at 07:37

Reaper 392 said:
if your not going to be doing any gaming any time soon, then i would get a motherboard with slightly better onboard graphics, and use that until you have the funds for a better graphics card.

something like this:
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 840 "95W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £77.99
(£64.99) £77.99
(£64.99)
Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000528AS) £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £38.80
(£32.33) £38.80
(£32.33)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £34.99
(£29.16) £34.99
(£29.16)
TP-Link 54Mbps Wireless-G PCI Card (TL-WN350G) £8.89
(£7.41) £8.89
(£7.41)
Sub Total : £252.19
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £52.44
Total : £314.63

and, when you want to do some PC gaming, pick up a good budget graphics card like this one: (£125)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-068-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830

if you want to start gaming on the £350 budget though, i'd go for nkata's build

thanx for that, is this using an onboard graphics card of the mobo?

yes im uk mainland.. in the midlands infact so if pick up was an option i could save a couple of quid off delivery there...

dave

edit sorry take no notice of this ive just re-read the first line of your post again and saw that its the mobo onboard grfx card.

thankyou.

hybrid572 · 17 Mar 2011 at 08:20

It's probably worth mentioning that providing you're not going to be running anything more challenging than a 5770, you can get the Coolermaster 430 inc 500W PSU for £65, knocking ~£20 off the price. The 500W Elite Power isn't a powerhouse, but I doubt it's any worse than a standard £40 PSU, and should be able to run a 5770 (and certainly a 5670) just fine. It's out of stock at the moment, but hopefully it'll be back soon.

I'd go with the following:

HIS ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 ICEQ PCI-Express Graphics Card (H567Q512) £65.99
(£54.99) £65.99
(£54.99)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 445 3.10GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £56.99
(£47.49) £56.99
(£47.49)
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
TP-Link 54Mbps Wireless-G PCI Card (TL-WN350G) £8.89
(£7.41) £8.89
(£7.41)
Sub Total : £282.34
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £58.57
Total : £351.41

Dropping the 5670 in favour of saving up is obviously an option, although if you're not bothered about maxing settings, the 5670 is plenty. The X3 445 can be replaced with the X4 840 for ~£22 if you can spare it, but the triple core should be fine for non-xbox ports, as most non-xbox games are single/dual core still.

fto dude · 18 Mar 2011 at 06:49

ok so being a complete newbie to the site and the way threads are constructed..
how do i purchase that ^^ and i take it, its a build your own pc spec.. this wont come assembled?

most of it is numbers and jargon to me.. im not a complete n00b by any means and understand most of the things.. just the model numbers of graphics cards and psu power etc is a bit confusing.
would that be a better system than the original one quoted in my OP?
its 4gb ram less ofcourse, and does it have plenty of usb slots and expansion slots etc? and is the processor more powerful than the i3 from the OP?

thanx

dave :-)

Hagar · 18 Mar 2011 at 08:48

fto dude said:
ok so being a complete newbie to the site and the way threads are constructed..
how do i purchase that ^^ and i take it, its a build your own pc spec.. this wont come assembled?

most of it is numbers and jargon to me.. im not a complete n00b by any means and understand most of the things.. just the model numbers of graphics cards and psu power etc is a bit confusing.
would that be a better system than the original one quoted in my OP?
its 4gb ram less ofcourse, and does it have plenty of usb slots and expansion slots etc? and is the processor more powerful than the i3 from the OP?

thanx

dave

It is a build it yourself system, it is in my opinion, a better overall spec than the one you started with. Regarding the amount of expansion, you should research the motherboard by googling or going to the manufacturers site. For your needs basic computing and light gaming with a fast processor on a budget it is ideal. 4Gb of ram should be plenty for most things. Unless you have a 64bit operating system you cannot use more.

Motherboard link for specs.
http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=bZpT4egUiqtojuHR&templete=2

You can try using the onboard graphics before purchasing a graphics card.

Note the listing does not have an operating system or any software with it.

Just go to the main site and put items into the basket by pressing the buy button, print out the list first and you should recognise the items in each listing from the price and description. Check your basket when finished, then when complete to your satisfaction and only then, go to checkout.

fto dude · 18 Mar 2011 at 14:46

ive been trying to get in touch with tunez from the 2nd hand section as he has a build i wanted to ask about...

is there anyway of communicating with members on here?

thanx

dave