What sort of spec for £500-550

[>:|sh4d0w|:<]

Hi guys, what can i expect for this sort of price range? Monitor and os not needed, am im looking for a solid all round pc.

Thanks

 

[BillytheImpaler]

Will you be overclocking?

 

[>:|sh4d0w|:<]

No

 

[EvilGrin]

Upgrading my other half's computer at the mo with the same budget and i've pretty much now settled on the following:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £55.99
(£65.79)

Asus P5KC Combo Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24)

Asus GeForce EN8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £139.99
(£164.49)

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £129.99
(£152.74)

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £29.99
(£35.24)

Sub Total : £425.95
VAT: £74.54
Total : £500.49

This is just raw components though as we already have a Case/PSU/Fans etc. to work with, so obviously if you need those and stick within budget you'll have to trim the fat a little - mebbe go for a cheaper CPU, get an aftermarket like the AC Freezer 7 Pro and overclock the stuffing out of it...

Edit: Just seen that if you're not overclocking, perhaps it'd be best to go for an E6750, @ stock that's probably the best bang for buck cpu out there, which'll knock ~£40 off the total on this too which'll enable you to buy something along the lines of an Antec Sonata 3 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-073-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160

That case comes with a rebadged Seasonic 500w powersupply which is sound.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

I've gone £10 overbudget to get the 512 MiB version of the graphics card. If gaming isn't as high a priority as staying on budget you can drop it down to a cheaper 256 MiB model.

 

[yantorsen]

Hi guys, what can i expect for this sort of price range? Monitor and os not needed, am im looking for a solid all round pc.

Thanks

for gaming or just general usage?

 

[BillytheImpaler]

for gaming or just general usage?

I interpreted it to meaqn both. If gaming performance isn't needed you can get more RAM or a nicer case to go with my spec.

 

[EvilGrin]

I've gone £10 overbudget to get the 512 MiB version of the graphics card. If gaming isn't as high a priority as staying on budget you can drop it down to a cheaper 256 MiB model.

Following on from an earlier thread, there are issues with the 7200.11 firmware just now, plus the performance isn't consistent so I'd go with the Western Digital i've specced up to be safe.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

Following on from an earlier thread, there are issues with the 7200.11 firmware just now, plus the performance isn't consistent so I'd go with the Western Digital i've specced up to be safe.

Good call. The AAKS Western Digital is a fine drive.

 

[EvilGrin]

As another alternative spec, try this one with slightly better motherboard, graphics card and ram -also with an E6750 instead of the Q6600 due to the fact that it's going to be left at stock speeds and to allow a little balancing out of quality of mobo/gfx/ram:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £55.99
(£65.79)

Asus P5KC Combo Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24)

Asus GeForce EN8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £139.99
(£164.49)

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £29.99
(£35.24)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £101.99
(£119.84)

Samsung SH-S202NBEBN 20x DVD±RW IDE Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£18.79)

Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Case - EarthWatts 500W PSU £61.99
(£72.84)

Sub-Total: £475.93
VAT: £83.29
Total : £559.22

 

[BillytheImpaler]

This is the result of a little tweaking:

This mobo and RAM should do just as good a job, but they cost less. That frees up room for the 8800 GT while still keeping the quad core processor.