With £500, what could I get

squerble · 21 Sep 2009 at 17:17

Not a massive gamer or anything (got an Xbox for that) but would like to play occasional games such as Flight Sim (2004), Rail Simulator and possibly go old school with CS:S etc, so a mega bang isn't needed but decent performance appreciated.

Can I get a good system for this, bearing in mind I'll need everything (OS, keyboard, mouse, case etc) except speakers and a monitor (for now anyway)? Although I'll need HDMI output as it only has VGA otherwise (a crappy 19" Asda TV/DVD combo).

Coming from the world of Mac after realising I can get more power back for my money and needs.

squerble · 21 Sep 2009 at 17:40

Thanks for the spec, looks top notch! How would Windows 7 fair with the older games? Will they run straight up or will there be any compatibility issues? I've been out of the loop for a few years now so I really need to get back into everything.

Would an extra £50 on top secure me a good mouse and keyboard?

Quick edit: Won't I be waiting over a month for the OS to arrive?

squerble · 21 Sep 2009 at 19:17

How does this look? I realise I've gone up to £550 but that would be my absolute tops.

squerble · 21 Sep 2009 at 21:57

danyulland said:
I no you say its not massively for games but i assure you as soon as you get going you will want to play the latest releases(Empire Total War etc). Which require decent GFX hardware. I think the ATI 4870 would be a good choice at a good price if you can skimp on something else and stretch to it.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=KB-006-OK&groupid=702&catid=23&subcat=2

Theres another 5er towards the GFX card . I personally own this keyboard and id say its sufficient.

I promise I'll not get going

I've got my Xbox for games, and as I mentioned I'll only be using older games to play with. There's scope in the future for upgrading, but first up would be a monitor as this 19" LCD from Asda will NOT cut it haha (the plug and play can't even recognise it as a widescreen monitor, only 4:3). Then a Blu-Ray player, then a soundcard......wow, I've not even bought my first Windows machine and I'm already planning upgrades above the current spec! :eek:

squerble · 21 Sep 2009 at 22:42

fross said:
I would agree with going for a 48x0 - especially as soon the 5800s will be in and there will be a glut in second hand, hopefully. The difference especially in modern games will be pronounced.

Do you have a recommended model? Seems the 4850 model wouldn't push the budget too much, is there much difference between Asus/Sapphire/PowerColor etc?

squerble · 23 Sep 2009 at 14:00

Would I need a quad core or could I drop to perhaps a 3.0Ghz Dual Core Athlon II X2? I'm only playing light-ish games, but would it help in the 'longevity' of the system.