PC spec for the GF please :)

FARGO · 13 Oct 2011 at 20:10

Hello all!

I have a specification request on behalf of my better half – which feels wrong as I’ve been lurking around the forum with the intention of getting a spec for myself at some point.

She’s after a complete system and “accessories” (mouse, keyboard, speakers, OS, monitor etc).

She’s even less tech-savvy than I am, which is saying something and has NO affiliation to the likes of AMD vs Intel or AMD vs Nvidia etc – so nearly anything goes in suggested specifications.

What she would like to be considered are the following:

She primarily plays TF2but will be looking in to more titles in the future
She would like to be able to undertake Photoshop / Web work
“Nice big screen” (Between 24 and 27 inches)
Needs space for music / photos / lipstick etc
Needs EVERYTHING included
MAXIMUM budget - £1000 for everything

A little caveat from me – It would be nice if the system was built around a socket which isn’t already dead or on its way out. This will be her first desktop and it would be nice if there was some longevity to it / the ability to add more oomph in the future, should it be needed.

She is open to either self build or a pre built system with accompanying bits and bobs from OCUK.

PS – I should have free shipping now

Anymore information needed, just ask!

Many thanks from the both of us :cool:

Sycho · 13 Oct 2011 at 20:29

Here's my go...though i personally would go for a 24 inch with a 6950 2gb using the difference anyway just incase she decides to play BF3 or some demanding games(also makes it very future proof):

Product Name Qty Price Line Total

Asus VE276Q 27" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black Asus VE276Q 27" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black £215.99
(£179.99) £215.99
(£179.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
(£139.99) £167.99
(£139.99)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6870 Vapour-X 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex PC Games Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6870 Vapour-X 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex PC Games £143.99
(£119.99) £143.99
(£119.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.98
(£66.65) £79.98
(£66.65)
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £19.99
(£16.66) £19.99
(£16.66)
LG GH24NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM LG GH24NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Logitech K300 Compact Keyboard (920-001488) Logitech K300 Compact Keyboard (920-001488) £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
Ozone Ground Level Small Gaming Surface Ozone Ground Level Small Gaming Surface £7.14
(£5.95) £7.14
(£5.95)
Sub Total : £810.81
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £22.20
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £166.60
Total : £999.61

FARGO · 13 Oct 2011 at 21:00

Many thanks for the reply Sycho - I'll talk her through what you've suggested.

Feel free to make additions/amendments as you see fit

Sycho · 13 Oct 2011 at 21:09

If she wanted 24 inch monitor then could switch it and gfx card for this:

Product Name Qty Price Line Total

HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Dirt3 & Deus Ex PC Games HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Dirt3 & Deus Ex PC Games £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
IIyama Prolite E2473HDS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black IIyama Prolite E2473HDS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £143.99
(£119.99) £143.99
(£119.99)

It's around same price total for smaller screen but same resolution though the performance would be better for games and the 6950 would last a good while.

If she wanted to try 3D out and have 120hz monitor then this is another option:

Asus VG236HE 23" TRUE 120Hz 3D Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black Asus VG236HE 23" TRUE 120Hz 3D Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £249.98
(£208.32) £249.98
(£208.32)
Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £157.99
(£131.66) £157.99
(£131.66)

It be slightly more expensive however and would need 3D vision setup for it to work which is about £100 or something that could be bought in the future.

That said out of the 3 i would go for the 24 inch with the 2gb 6950, that card has a great cooler too and 24 inch is big enough for gaming really.

Reaper 392 · 13 Oct 2011 at 21:25

best i could do with the 27 inch monitor (i have very little idea about whats good/bad monitor wise so went with the same one sycho went for)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus VE276Q 27" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black £215.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £157.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £39.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT51264BA160A) £37.99
1 x Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) £30.98
1 x Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Logitech K120 Keyboard (920-002524) £9.98
1 x Gigabyte 'Ghost' Mouse Pad £4.98
Total : £1,001.22 (includes shipping: FREE).

PSU and motherboard will allow an SLI upgrade
graphics card is significantly better than the 6870

i would have gone for the PSU with the free copy of modern warfare 3, but thats £10 more for some reason :confused:

if you have more money to put towards this i would recommend the 8GB corsair XMS3 or kingston HyperX grey 1600Mhz RAM over what i have chosen, because C10 timings arent great (but were the only way to get this in budget)

FARGO · 14 Oct 2011 at 09:14

Cheers for the suggestions folks

olivier renault · 14 Oct 2011 at 09:37

I would get a 24''. Saves a bit of money for other things. But something like Reaper's.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £157.99
IIyama Prolite E2473HDS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £143.99
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
Options applied to the above product:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
Antec TruePower New Modular 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £47.99
Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £34.98
Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) £30.98
Zalman CNPS10X-Quiet CPU Cooler (754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £29.99
LG GH24NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Logitech S-220 2.1 Speaker System - OEM (980-000022) £16.99
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £27.55
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £167.55
Total : £1,005.30

Can save on the CPU cooler till later, and put money towards upgrades, like a SLI-ready PSU (I would recommend 750W, 650W at a push), maybe case upgrade, or a 2GB graphics card.

That OCZ PSU BTW is only has 46A on 12V. IMO not enough for SLI.

Buchanan0204 · 14 Oct 2011 at 09:41

£65 decent PSU with a free £40 game... Makes me go, "hmmmm."

Can't be bad can it. Shame it's not technically free as they bunged another tenner ontop and claimed the other to be on this week only. Still... a great deal!

-------------------------------

*** FREE COD:MW3 with the first 50 orders placed ***

How are we supposed to know if there's been 50 orders before us or not? Is it a gamble or what?

mp260767 · 14 Oct 2011 at 09:48

i'd go with reapers thread, save with the speakers, unless she particularly wants 2.1, have a look at the Logitech X-140's, ive got a set and there very nice little speakers for the price.

FARGO · 14 Oct 2011 at 10:19

Thanks guys - her main concern is that it "works" - mine is that it's not going to be problematic to add to / upgrade in the future. I personally think a 27inch screen will be a bit much for her so I agree with the saving there.

I don't think it's likely that she'll want/need to go crossfire/sli in the future but I will check it out with her

olivier renault · 14 Oct 2011 at 10:23

You can also consider a MSI Twin Frozr II 2GB. Used to be £200 but gone up. Nice card (I have the 1GB version). 2GB for future proofing massive games, skyrim, ect...

mp260767 · 14 Oct 2011 at 10:30

FARGO said:
I personally think a 27inch screen will be a bit much for her so I agree with the saving there.

if it needs to be done as a saving fair enough.

otherwise visit any local store so you can check out a 24" and 27" in the flesh,
safer bet than seeing one later on and wishing you'd gone for the 27".

FARGO · 14 Oct 2011 at 11:13

mp260767 said:
if it needs to be done as a saving fair enough.

otherwise visit any local store so you can check out a 24" and 27" in the flesh,
safer bet than seeing one later on and wishing you'd gone for the 27".

Great suggestion - I'll drag her to the Purple Shirt cave.

atmax1 · 14 Oct 2011 at 11:32

24" is big enouth for her needs unless she wants a 27", Just make sure its a good monitor.. a better chooice would be a resolution of 1920x1200 but I work at 1920x1080 and find it to be fine.

But as other people have priced up, sandybridge i5 a motherboard that will work with ivy bridge with 4 - 8gb ram as for graphics cards it dont matter with photoshop but a 560ti should be good for games and adobe work or a AMD 6950