What should I lose?

Lovemonk · 14 Apr 2009 at 16:27

Hey all. Have based the below build on one suggested by another forum member. (Thanks Neon). Was getting close to buying and then spied the Dell 22" that's in the build below. It seems to me to be a worthwhile investment as I'm going to be spending an awful lot of time looking at it. However, including this monitor adds a fair bit to the cost. Sadly, this is not matched by an increase in my budget. So, I have to lose/downgrade the rest of the build. I know that if I can make it to 100 posts then delivery would be free so I think that's a given. I'll get there.

This leaves me looking at getting the total cost of components down to £680 incl VAT. Will be getting OS separately. Any suggestions and advice on how best to get the figure down would be much appreciated. I know the obvious ones are the graphics card, CPU and mobo. What would you suggest in their place? Anything else that could be done? I'd like to keep it as future upgradeable as possible.

Lovemonk · 14 Apr 2009 at 16:28

Arg. Sorry, this is in the wrong forum. Please move to General Hardware.

Ben M · 14 Apr 2009 at 16:38

The only thing that leaps out as being dis-proportionate is the screen to be perfectly honest. Everything else is pretty smack on the bang- for buck.

You could save £22 by getting this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-125-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938 instead of the 4850. But performance WILL take a hit.

Lovemonk · 14 Apr 2009 at 16:50

Yeah, figured I could afford to take a graphics performance hit as the monitor is 1680x1050 rather than 1920x1080. The monitor is potentially important to me as I do a fair bit of development work involving Fireworks, Illustrator and Photoshop. Plus, I've read it looks pretty when compared to the monitors with TN panels.

Pilky01 · 14 Apr 2009 at 16:56

Cheaper kb+ mouse maybe?

strumpusplunket · 14 Apr 2009 at 17:05

How long would it take you to save up the £70 or so?

Might be best to look at a case of making do for a month or so and then getting what you want.

I'm thinking that since the mobo you've picked has onboard graphics decent enough for everyday use (don't think Fireworks or Photoshop would require more than the onboard HD 3200 - or whatever it is), could you drop the graphics card entirely for now and then get it or another one when you've saved up a bit more?

Depends entirely on what you need to do with the PC, how soon you need it, and how quickly you can save, of course.... just trying to think of other ways around this.

Lovemonk · 14 Apr 2009 at 17:36

I don't think I could lose a graphics card altogether as I'd like to be able to game a little bit here and there. I can certainly hold off a couple of weeks as I'm waiting on a payment coming in and some prices may have changed in a favourable direction, of course. But, do you ever get that feeling of just wanting something NOW?

siumatfung · 14 Apr 2009 at 17:41

i would go for this instead

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-101-SA&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

you save a few quid and you get a larger work space

i have one and photoshop is just so much better with all those pixels

or

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-014-AS&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

same res £50 cheaper saw it in a thread he said it was good

D D Danneh · 14 Apr 2009 at 17:46

Lovemonk said:
But, do you ever get that feeling of just wanting something NOW?

Hah, hell yeah. I put a cheque into my bank last week and it should clear today, so I'll be ordering a nice shiny i7 setup soon, probably tomorrow or thursday. Can't WAIT! And I've been already been waiting a long time

Lovemonk · 14 Apr 2009 at 17:54

The monitor is the big fly in the ointment as it's something I don't want to compromise on due to the high quality of the panel. Also, if i was to game at those higher monitor resolutions then I think I'd need a better and more expensive graphics card. If I changed monitors I could bring the budget into line with a mouse click or two. I'm keen to avoid this tho.

Ben M · 14 Apr 2009 at 17:57

hey, if you can get more money soon, but you want your system now, why not buy everything there except for the graphics card? you can use onboard graphics until payday, then get the graphics card

maybe by then you could squeeze to a 4870

Biffa · 14 Apr 2009 at 18:20

I can get it down to £706 incl which is about as low as I would go. Thats switching to a Intel Quad system, but with a different case, psu, keyboard etc.

Lovemonk · 14 Apr 2009 at 19:51

Maybe I need to make like a statue and be a little more patient. Sigh.

Anyways, was doing a little more spec checking and wanted to run something by you guys.

On the XFX website http://www.xfxforce.com/en-us/products/graphiccards/hd%204000series/4850.aspx#4 it states that "two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended" but on checking the details of the PS on the Corsair site, it mentions only 1. http://www.corsair.com/products/vx/default.aspx

Do i have to think about a different PSU or am I missing something?

Grimley · 14 Apr 2009 at 19:59

I've checked & AFAIK that graphics card only needs one 6-pin PCI Express power connector (my gigabyte HD4850 only needs one). Send the shop a webnote to make sure.

Biffa · 14 Apr 2009 at 20:15

My 4850 only needs one, but its a sapphire. You should be fine with that PSU