Raining_again Posted April 14, 2014 Posted April 14, 2014 I'm looking to buy a computer tower, mid range gaming type. Just the tower, no peripherals needed. About £600 budget. Got rusty in my computer buying skills! Realised I have no idea where to go on the internets, and need some suggestions. I am capable of building a system but prefer a prebuilt. Thanks muchly =)
Sheikah Posted April 14, 2014 Posted April 14, 2014 I can have a go at this later, one thing I'll ask though - why prebuilt? You will get a much better value / performance rig if you build it yourself.
Raining_again Posted April 14, 2014 Author Posted April 14, 2014 because i look at the build it yourself options and my budget suddenly gets forgotten about.. i get attracted to the nice shiny computer things Every single time I aim to spend about 500/600 on the tower, it ends up more like 1k.
Sheikah Posted April 14, 2014 Posted April 14, 2014 Ok, later on I'll make sure it's no more than 600. You need the OS?
MoogleViper Posted April 14, 2014 Posted April 14, 2014 Not price checked any of this, just thought I'd get a quick benchmark up. CPU: AMD FX-8350 - £135 RAM: Kingston 8GB 1600MHz - £55 GPU: Radeon HD 7850 - £110 PSU: CoolerMaster V550S - £70 SSD: Kingston V300 240GB - £85 DVD±RW: Samsung 24x - £11 ~£466 That'll leave you with ~£134 for a case/mobo (didn't suggest a case as they're pretty personal, didn't suggest a mobo as it depends what CPU you go for/mobos are boring). Anything you can reuse from an old PC? PSU, RAM, Case, DVD drive?
Raining_again Posted April 15, 2014 Author Posted April 15, 2014 Ok, later on I'll make sure it's no more than 600. You need the OS? Yes I do indeed. Not price checked any of this, just thought I'd get a quick benchmark up. CPU: AMD FX-8350 - £135 RAM: Kingston 8GB 1600MHz - £55 GPU: Radeon HD 7850 - £110 PSU: CoolerMaster V550S - £70 SSD: Kingston V300 240GB - £85 DVD±RW: Samsung 24x - £11 ~£466 That'll leave you with ~£134 for a case/mobo (didn't suggest a case as they're pretty personal, didn't suggest a mobo as it depends what CPU you go for/mobos are boring). Anything you can reuse from an old PC? PSU, RAM, Case, DVD drive? Nothing, I sold all my old PC's as whole units a long time ago. I do have laptop hdd as an option, but they are a fair age, so maybe need replacement
MoogleViper Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 Nothing, I sold all my old PC's as whole units a long time ago. I do have laptop hdd as an option, but they are a fair age, so maybe need replacement For the HDD I was thinking more as a secondary hard drive. You could get a 120GB/240GB SSD which will store your OS and most of your main programs, but you'll need a second HDD for files and maybe games.
Sheikah Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 @Raining_again here's a spec with more parts and some price checking done (good old HotUKDeals). It's £24.17 over budget but that's because Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium costs a whopping £70. You could skimp on the case to make it under 600 if you like, although the case I put looks pretty cool and makes it easier to install stuff. I chose the i5-3750K processor which will provide a big boost since it's easy to overclock (it's the one I have). This is a pretty damn good machine, all things said. As for an additional HDD, I haven't put one, but a medium size can be got for pretty cheap and upgraded later on as necessary. The SSD will hold your OS and some other necessary apps and some games. Total: 624.17 Links to products: Part Motherboard RAM RAM GPU Power Supply DVD RW SSD Processor Case PSU cooler Windows 7 OS
MoogleViper Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 I'd go with the FX-8350 over the i5-3570k. It's quite a bit faster as standard, and quite a bit cheaper.
Sheikah Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 (edited) I'd go with the FX-8350 over the i5-3570k. It's quite a bit faster as standard, and quite a bit cheaper. You're right. Initially I looked at a comparison website which said the i5 was better, but on closer look it seems the differences aren't huge. I updated it. It's even closer to 600 now. Total cost: £611.34 Links to products: Part Motherboard RAM RAM GPU Power Supply DVD RW SSD Processor Case PSU cooler Windows 7 OS Edited April 16, 2014 by Sheikah
MoogleViper Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 (edited) Another point: I have the R3 Fractal Pearl case. It's very purdy, but also very big and heavy. And that door is awkward if you want to keep the computer in a tight space. Edited April 16, 2014 by MoogleViper
Sheikah Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 I can also recommend the case I have, the Antec 300 2. Great in terms of air circulation and the front plates are easily removable to clean. Tool-less installation, lightweight and looks pretty nice. Although not as nice as the other one in the table probably. Slightly cheaper at £58.49 too.
angelo Posted April 25, 2014 Posted April 25, 2014 What size screen do you want? How much memory do you want/need? What games will you be playing? I suggest you Lenovo Y510P, it looks pretty good, one of my friends has one so i can tell you that by experience
Sheikah Posted April 25, 2014 Posted April 25, 2014 What size screen do you want?How much memory do you want/need? What games will you be playing? I suggest you Lenovo Y510P, it looks pretty good, one of my friends has one so i can tell you that by experience lol, who writes these bots? Fucking useless.
MoogleViper Posted April 26, 2014 Posted April 26, 2014 lol, who writes these bots? Fucking useless. I don't think that is a bot. Think it's one of those low paid workers from a poor country paid to spam message boards.
Raining_again Posted April 27, 2014 Author Posted April 27, 2014 Managed to acquire a (tested) Hiper 580W PSU, and an NVIDIA fanless 7950GT gfx card. For free! Yays! Would that + http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-231-OK&groupid=43&catid=2512&subcat=2693 be a reasonable enough setup? w/ssd of course.
MoogleViper Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 I have a Hiper 580W PSU. It's lasted me many many years. Your setup will be good with that bundle. However if you can afford an extra ~£40, I'd go with this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-233-OK&groupid=43&catid=2512&subcat=2693 The FX-8320 is ~20-25% faster than the FX-6300. Worth £40 in my books, but understandable if you'd rather save the money. I'd also make sure you have a very good cooling system, especially with a fanless GPU.
Raining_again Posted May 3, 2014 Author Posted May 3, 2014 I know! Its like.... god must be 6 years old + and it still works (got it electrically tested by my dads mate). And its purdy! I have the blue one! I went for the cheaper option in the end. I'm not really an uber hardcore extreme gfx kind of game player so I think it'll do the job just fine I got the bits last night - the cpu comes with a standard heatsink, but with the overclocked bundles you get a big beastie of a heatsink... with an a3 page of instructions...which were totally wrong and i ended up installing the thing myself..... It JUST fits in the case and no more.....
MoogleViper Posted May 4, 2014 Posted May 4, 2014 That radiator is bigger than some of the ones in my house.
The Bard Posted May 5, 2014 Posted May 5, 2014 (edited) Not to hijack the thread, but I've been thinking about building a PC for my girlfriend, looking mainly at getting the 8350. I've got an 2500k in my main PC which is a lot better for current gen gaming, but I've seen some benchmarks for less single core intensive and more multithreading heavy games and the AMD cpus perform a little better (Crysis 3 specifically, which is was baffled by). Would it be a decent long term bet to go for an 8350 or just wait it out until the Haswell-Es are out and swap out my 2500k into another case? @Raining_again, if your GPU doesn't have a fan it might be a good idea to spend a tenner on a PCI slot fan. Either one just below the card to push air onto it, or one above it that can serve as an exhaust (which I've seen going for a fiver on amazon and have a 50+ CFM rating, which is pretty damn good for the price. Edited May 5, 2014 by The Bard
MoogleViper Posted May 5, 2014 Posted May 5, 2014 The 8350 will give you gains, but not enough to warrant forking out for a new CPU. The 2500k will be good for another few years. By the time the 2500k will be on it's way out the 8350 won't be anything special. Save your money and wait for a proper upgrade.
The Bard Posted May 5, 2014 Posted May 5, 2014 Yeah but until then my second PC has a Q8200 with a HD5770. Can't even call that mid range these days.
MoogleViper Posted May 5, 2014 Posted May 5, 2014 Why do you need a second PC (that needs to have good specs)?
The Bard Posted May 5, 2014 Posted May 5, 2014 Because I'm a nerd and I like tinkering with computers in the same way a 70s greaser (or Goafer) would with his car. I'm kidding, it's pretty much for my girlfriend when we're playing co-op, I don't want either me or her to get the shitty end of the stick with a mid tier CPU from 2007. Also when friends come around to play CoH, out of a misplaced sense of etiquette I usually get saddled with the shitty computer.
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