Spec Recommendations - £700 +/-

[chivs688]

Hi all,

I'm looking to get rid of my old laptop and my PS3 which I want to replace with a PC.
It will be used for gaming as it will be replacing my PS3, and also for other minor tasks like internet browsing, Word docs e.t.c.

As it's replacing my PS3 I'm hoping that I can get at least equal (if not better) quality of performance and/or graphics from games, so I guess the focus is on the graphics card and CPU, but obviously not after max graphics in games just being released as I'm guessing the my budget is a bit low for that.

The budget is around £700, however if there is something that will give me a notable boost in performance that going over it would be worthwhile then I would be willing to do so.

I will be pretty much starting from scratch (bar a monitor, keyboard and mouse) so need everything that I would need to get it running.

(Also I'm a student, so would I be right in saying that I can get a discount on Windows 7?)

Much appreciated.

 

[danewesley]

this will max most games out, bar metro 2033 max settings.

leaves £200 for os and id get an ssd the crucial c300 too for os.

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £197.99
(£164.99) £197.99
(£164.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £101.99
(£84.99) £101.99
(£84.99)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD105SI) Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD105SI) £38.98
(£32.48) £38.98
(£32.48)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
(£9.99) £11.99
(£9.99)
Sub Total : £421.04
Shipping cost based on delivery to Home, PR8 1JZ with:
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £84.21
Total : £505.25

 

[chivs688]

this will max most games out, bar metro 2033 max settings.

leaves £200 for os and id get an ssd the crucial c300 too for os.

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £197.99
(£164.99) £197.99
(£164.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £101.99
(£84.99) £101.99
(£84.99)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD105SI) Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD105SI) £38.98
(£32.48) £38.98
(£32.48)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
(£9.99) £11.99
(£9.99)
Sub Total : £421.04
Shipping cost based on delivery to Home, PR8 1JZ with:
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £84.21
Total : £505.25

Thanks that sounds like a great system.

Although, I have been looking at the i5 2500k.
The SSD for the OS would not be essential for the gaming would it?

So, say I switched the AMD for the i5, what motherboard would you recommend?

And also, I have been torn between a few graphics cards. The one I seemed to end up on was the GTX 480. Now that you've mentioned the HD 6950 I'm stuck again hah.
Any thoughts on which one is the better performer?

Other than that I think your suggestions seem pretty much perfect for me I think