New (gaming) computer suggestions

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Dmk7001

New Member
So we need a new computer.
I posted before about prebuilt or selfbuilt and while I'm still undecided my parents have suddenly decided we need it really soon and the default option is prebuilt. They are browsing around but neither they nor I really know whats good or not so I thought I'd ask for help here and hopefully have some good suggestions before they get fed up of waiting and just buy.

Max budget is £800 (not $) and they say Minimum to include: Base Unit only, i5 core or equivalent, 4Gb memory, 1TB hard disc, DVD RW, 3yr on site warranty. So basically we're looking for the best possible gaming pc for that price. Not completely ruled out selfbuilt but with having to upgrade all the warranties and buy windows (£150!) it doesn't seem like it will be worth it with our budget? We do already have a NVidia GTX 260 PCI Express E1 896 mb graphics card that they want to re-use but looking around that doesn't seem great? Would really appreciate suggestions advice et.
 
It comes down to this, let us show you the best components for a 800 quid pc and you build it yourself, or waste 150 quid for a slower computer and a warranty.

But i would start here. Go for a 2500K based P67 computer with 4-8GB or ram.
 
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Windows OEM version is £75. OEM version mean you only allow to use it within the machine you build
And most component would have at least 2-3 years warranty.
 
Wow ok had no idea about OEM version, thought what with windows costing 20% of our budget wouldn't really save money selfbuilt but now....

The warranty is really important though, while if I was confident and said selfbuilt was the way to go I could 90% chance convince them, without a 3yr (or maybe 2) warranty I probably couldn't, I was under the impression parts would just come with 1yr with no upgrade really.

I'll have a look at the suggestions so far and post anything my parents find incase it's complete crap and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestions so far really appreciate it.
 
It depends on what parts you talking

RAM - lifetime
Mobo - Gigabyte/ Asus/ MSI is 3
Video card - 2 to 3
PSU - Depends on brand, but you can find 5 years on some good brand.
HDD - 3 to 5
 
Windows is not £150

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-124-MS&groupid=33&catid=1555&subcat=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-127-MS&groupid=33&catid=1555&subcat=

bigfellla said:
It comes down to this, let us show you the best components for a 800 quid pc and you build it yourself, or waste 150 quid for a slower computer and a warranty.

But i would start here. Go for a 2500K based P67 computer with 4-8GB or ram.
Click to expand...

do NOT use Scan, they are con artists. If they are taking your money, expect them to be extremely helpful for you. You then need them to honour a warranty, expect to have to jump through hoops, have rude, arrogant staff and a very, very lengthy process, which will probably not have what you would expect (a replacement...) at the end.

I would instead, if you are building it for yourself, get:

CPU: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1275

Mobo: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-052-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

Memory: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Video Card: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-036-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

PSU: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-148-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

Case: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-212-CM&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=

DVD Drive: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-060-SO&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=951

Windows: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-124-MS&groupid=33&catid=1555&subcat=

Total: £788

You throw shipping in there, and it brings it to pretty much bob on £800
 
bigfellla said:
I used Scan for years, they were fine to me.
Click to expand...

I too used Scan for years. Got my fingers burnt one too many times. I would stay away from em like the plague, and this is coming from someone that up until the beginning of this year would have them as pretty much my sole provider for parts. Only if OcUK had a part for cheaper/similarly priced would I go with them (free shipping so works out cheaper)
 
Well its true i haven't used them for a few years (now in Oz), but when i lived in London, they seemed good.
 
Ok, my parents have been looking around and finding comparable pcs to the one Aastii suggested (post 9) so these appear to be the final 4 possibilities:
The one Aastii suggested with this random cheap hard drive added (he forgot to add one)http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA
or
http://www.palicomp.co.uk/pc-systems/phoenix-sandybridge/phoenix-i5-destiny/prod_324.html
with the one year carefree warranty, the Ati radeon HD6950 card, the speakers keyboard and mouse removed and the pack of 2 extra cooling fans(?)
or
http://www.palicomp.co.uk/pc-systems/phoenix-sandybridge/phoenix-i5-legend/prod_325.html
with the 3 year carefree warranty, the speakers keyboard and mouse removed and the pack of 2 extra cooling fans (why the fans?!)
or finally
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/syscon_int.php?prodid=FS-284-OK
with the 965 processor, the kingston 4gb ram, the ati radeon hd6950, the western digital 1tb hard drive and windows 7 home

The 'with.....' parts are all the things changed from default.

Very sorry about the awkwardness of having to open up all the links and change the settings, we do have it all in a nice easy to read spreadsheet but try as I might I can't seem to get it under the max file upload size in one of the appropriate formats :(

Notes: They have the last pc listed as 865 in the spreadsheet (forty pound more) but they haven't listed where they spent it also the hd from that pc is out of stock so we will probably pick the hd below.
They have selected the not for overclocked cooling system for the by default overclocked last in the list pc, this is bad I assume.
The destiny only has 550 power, is this enough?

Basically is there something we missed? Some incompatibility? Some crap parts for gaming? Insufficient power, memory or whatever? The self built one doesn't seem to get us much more for our money so maybe we missed something? Any and all feedback welcome and again sorry for the awkwardness here I really did try hard to get the spreadsheet attached in some readable format :(
 
I would take my system with the hard drive you posted (sorry for missing it out, but you picked the exact drive I'd have given you anyway :))

but, given recent prices, swap the video card for

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-271-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

and

PSU for: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-147-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

will save you a few quid :)

The self built one, you are getting higher quality than with the prebuilt ones. Though they are the same price, the extra money is being moved from labour cost into quality. Performance wise, you will have similar, but warranty, stability and overall quality, the custom one will give you the best

=EDIT=

Intel 2500k - blows every other CPU there out of the water performance wise. It walks all over all Phenom II processors

Samsung F3 - Same capacity but better performance

So you are gaining performance on top of the aforementioned quality
 
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