Questions with buying new PC.

[Shane]

What is your max budget?

Do you intend to do any gaming?

Do you need an OS?

 

[TheEnglishClutch]

What is your max budget?

£500 / $800

Do you intend to do any gaming?

I plan on recording HD footage from playstation (1280x720 @ 13.5MB/s) editing that footage and then rendering the footage in Sony Vegas 9. I will only use the computer for this, bar internet use and iTunes, word processing etc.

Over the summer I may consider buying CoD4 or maybe a game for the PC if it could handle it, but if the PC wouldn't be able to run it very smoothly then it doesn't matter.

Do you need an OS?

I have Windows XP Home Edition (32-bit) which works fine, but I would consider upgrading to Windows 7.

Thanks,
-Mark.

 

[tlarkin]

This guy is from the UK (neva) and would know where to get the best deals on hardware over there.

 

[TheEnglishClutch]

This guy is from the UK (neva) and would know where to get the best deals on hardware over there.

Basically my main two questions:
Should I build it myself (does it require much knowledge to build it yourself and how much would I save if I build it myself)
If I don't build myself do you guys know where I could get it fairly cheap pre-built. eBay is pretty cheap, just wondering if you guys knew any other places in the UK.

Thanks.

 

[tlarkin]

If you build it yourself you can build it to spec with in your budget usually, however you can buy prebuilt around the same price. It really has to do with your personal preferences, and warranty support. Prebuilt = 1 company for all warranty stuff, custom build = tons of different companies for warranty.

I would say build it, since computer knowledge is good knowledge to have.

 

[TheEnglishClutch]

If you build it yourself you can build it to spec with in your budget usually, however you can buy prebuilt around the same price. It really has to do with your personal preferences, and warranty support. Prebuilt = 1 company for all warranty stuff, custom build = tons of different companies for warranty.

I would say build it, since computer knowledge is good knowledge to have.

Yeah, it would definitely be a good thing to do. I'm 15 but I know a fair bit about computers and this would really help extend my knowledge.

Assuming I will buy all of these specs, how much would I save custom building with the same specs?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390145937270&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

And also is this a good motherboard to have? I know little about them.

Thanks again for the continued support,
-Mark.

 

[Shane]

Hmm cant realy match that site to be honest,they must be using a realy cheap power supply and case in that system...because ive just built a list on ebuyer using quality parts and it comes to £602.51

How this

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Socket LGA1156 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755

Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174499

G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw Memory Kit CL7(7-8-7-24) 1.65V
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/180490

PowerColor HD 4670 PCS Edition 1GB DDR3 Dual DVI AGP Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/185912

Seagate ST3500320NS 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130828

OCZ Stealth XStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm Fan
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

Antec 300 Three Hundred Case
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854

LG GH22LS50 22x DVD±RW SATA DL & RAM + LightScribe Black - Retail Box With Software
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190671

That build would probably be better,i think the 4670 is better than a 9500Gt...teh hard drive i chosen has 32mb of cache,the one on that site doesnt mention what cache the hard drive has so it could be small...it doesnt mention what hard drive either!

I actualy think you could get a better AMD Phenom 2 system with that budget,i cant realy see why you would want an I5 system....Intel do tend to be more expensive.

 

[TheEnglishClutch]

Hmm cant realy match that site to be honest,they must be using a realy cheap power supply and case in that system...because ive just built a list on ebuyer using quality parts and it comes to £602.51

How this

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Socket LGA1156 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755

Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174499

G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw Memory Kit CL7(7-8-7-24) 1.65V
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/180490

PowerColor HD 4670 PCS Edition 1GB DDR3 Dual DVI AGP Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/185912

Seagate ST3500320NS 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130828

OCZ Stealth XStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm Fan
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

Antec 300 Three Hundred Case
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854

LG GH22LS50 22x DVD±RW SATA DL & RAM + LightScribe Black - Retail Box With Software
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190671

That build would probably be better,i think the 4670 is better than a 9500Gt...teh hard drive i chosen has 32mb of cache,the one on that site doesnt mention what cache the hard drive has so it could be small...it doesnt mention what hard drive either!

I actualy think you could get a better AMD Phenom 2 system with that budget,i cant realy see why you would want an I5 system....Intel do tend to be more expensive.

Well I thought that the i5 was one of the best processors at the moment. If I could cut down on the price and keep roughly the same performance I would like to do that, so would you recommend the AMD Phenom 2 system as an option then?

I've just had a look on eBay and it seems as if I could save a fair bit using the AMD Processor. I don't care what brand as long as it's reliable, fairly good value for money and is quick.

Thanks for your time, I will have a more depth in look on eBay tomorrow, but I think AMD processor would definatly be a good thing to consider.

I will also make sure I look out for all the other things you mentioned such as Hard Drive Cache.

Thanks,
-Mark

 

[Shane]

Okay il do an AMD build list for you to look over,Btw i just noticed i linked an AGP version of the graphics card i posted...fail on my part sorry....should have been PCI-E

Edit:

Hows this...Again you could go cheaper by lowering the processor as thats a high end Phenom 2...black edition aswell.
Also i choose a Pci-e version of the 4670 this time lol....that should be able to play MW2 no problems.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 8MB L3 Cache 125W Retail Box Processor

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/186428

Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3 AMD 770 Socket AM3 Gigabit LAN 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191059

G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw Memory Kit CL7(7-8-7-24) 1.65V
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/180490

XFX HD 4670 1GB DDR2 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190752

Seagate ST3500320NS 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130828

LG GH22LS50 22x DVD±RW SATA DL & RAM + LightScribe Black - Retail Box With Software
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190671

OCZ Stealth XStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm Fan
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - No PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151368



I realy think this would do what you want good ..i changed the case also,just to lower the cost for you..also this build does not have an os,it would put up the price again so id get windows 7 when you have the extra cash...but for now Xp is still good to go.
Total =556.05 with free delivery option.

As for your monitor question....id get something like this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165288

 

[Gabe63]

Unless XP 32B is diferent that W7 32B you can't use more than 2G RAM from what I have read on this site. If that is wrong I would be interested to hear (and learn more). This will save you money or change your mind on the OP system.

Price out what I built below, most parts are the least expensive for the performace except for the GPU, RAM, and PSU.

 

[Drenlin]

^ It's something like 3.2 gigs, actually.

 

[Shane]

Price out what I built below, most parts are the least expensive for the performace except for the GPU, RAM, and PSU.

There is no way whatsoever he would get your rig...for £500

i5-750
Cooler Master 590
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R
OCZ 700W
DDR3-1333 4 GIG Kingston CL7
VisionTek ATI 5870
W7 64B
WD Black 500GB X 2
WinTV-HVR-1250
HP-2509m

The 5870 alone costs £325 and thats the cheapest version from Sapphire.

 

[TheEnglishClutch]

Thanks for linking me to all of that, especially trying to find the cheapest case and reducing the price a bit, however. it's still over my budget. I guess that's what I'm just going to have to pay for a rig like that, and in my opinion the only real place I could save here is getting a worse processor, but just to reduce the speed of the processor for £50 would be stupid.

What does this do exactly? Is it just a cooling rig?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

And thanks for the link to the monitor, that looks very nice as well.

 

[DaveSi677]

thats a power supply... its basically what gives power to you hole PC.

 

[TheEnglishClutch]

thats a power supply... its basically what gives power to you hole PC.

Oh, thanks for the reply.

So yeah I currently have £400, and need about £550, so I'm gonna have to do a lot of saving, unless I cut-down a few specs, but I really don't want to do that. Would any of you guys recommend trying to get a second hand rig like this or just waiting a few months to save up for it?

 

[Drenlin]

Better to save up for most of it. New stuff comes with a warranty, which is absolutely worth the extra price when it comes to computer gear.

The case, dvd burner, fans, wireless adapter, and other relatively inexpensive things are perfectly ok to buy used, though. (Ok, cases aren't inexpensive, but they also don't break on their own)