I've running an old Dell Vostro 200 for the home machine and fancy getting an upgrade to something that can play the latest games (currently only use the home PC for browsing the web).

Is intel the way to go these days or is AMD worth a look? Graphic card choice? Will it be possible to get a decent enough machine for £600 (don't need a monitor as I'm happy keeping the current 19" monitor running resolution of 1440x900).

More than happy building my own machine (used to always do that years ago) but I'm a bit lost as to what components are best. However, might be better buying a prebuild system from Scan or Overclockers?

Many thanks for any advice - been a long time since I've looked into what decent graphic or cpu's are.

Cheers
Richard.

 

Depends on what games and graphics quality you are after. For instance here is a good indication of BF3 graphics requirements and the complete table;

BF3 Requirements

Graphics Card Hierarchy

As for processors, Intel are very good these days but the new AMD Bulldozer series is supposed to be very good too.

At that budget I'd probably aim for an Intel i5-2400

Glad you are building it yourself

 

Many thanks :-)

 

i would be putting a 60 or 100GB SSD as the main OS drive.

 

You're biggest problem at the minute will be getting a hard drive for a decent price. The recent floods in Thailand has seen some hard drive prices triple.

 

Exactly 1tb is £90!

 

What parts have you currently got that you could recycle?

 

Nothing really (apart from the monitor) as I'm going to pass the old system onto my father- as it's certainly better than the old machine that he's using.

 

Well if you want you can list a build and we can replace some components with better/cheaper components. Or do you want us to suggest builds?

 

I'll pull together a build and post it once I've done some more research

 

 

As a point of reference - is the following system decent enough?

http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Shadow.html

and this list is on Scan for £395 - but excludes a video card.

1TB Seagate ST31000524AS Barracuda 7200.12, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.5ms, NCQ
600W PSU, Corsair Builder Series CMPSU-600CXv2UK, 80% Eff', 80 PLUS, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX v2.3
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Jet Black, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.50V
Asus P8H61-M LE/USB3 REV 3.0, Intel H61, S 1155, DDR3, SATA II - 3Gb/s, PCIe 2.0 (x16), Micro ATX
Colors IT ACT KB-8108 Multimedia Office Pro Keyboard, Silver/Black with MIC/Speakers SKYPE Ready
Intel Core i5 2400, S1155, Sdy Bridge, Quad, 3.1GHz, HD2000 IGP 850Mhz, 6MB Cache, 95W, Retail
Samsung WriteMaster SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM
Thermaltake Dokker Black Mid Tower Case with built in HDD Hotswap Docking for 3.5/2.5" SATA w/o PSU

tia
Richard.

 

That sounds really good. You'd have to get a graphics card though.

Just a note, that CPU is locked so you can't over clock it but I don't think you want to anyway.

I'd suggest a 550 Ti for about £100 on top of that and that will get you a very decent computer. If you want to fork out another £100 you could either go for the 560 Ti or get a 64Gb SSD

 

Chillblast try them i got son one been bullet proof they also over lock them all so you get a faster rig some nice ones for 600

Chillblast.co.uk.

 

Also don't forget to budget in Windows.

 

Thanks guys :-)

 

Meant to ask - are all graphic card interfaces the same these days? Last time I bought one it was when it was either pci or AGP - lol.

 

Yes pic express

http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast...hallenger.html

I'd get that includes windows maybe up the mem to 8

 

Thanks

 

I was in the same boat as you mate, almost went for the Chillblast pre-built option but ended up spending more and building my exact requirements from components from Scan.
Only heard good things about Chillblast though

 

lol - I've been back and forward over the past few days on whether to build or buy :-)

This looks like the sort of spec I want:

http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast...Gaming-PC.html

Guess I could get it for around £120 less from Scan if building my own.

Cheers
Richard.

 

Hokay - how about this?

1TB Seagate ST31000524AS Barracuda 7200.12, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.5ms, NCQ
650W PSU, Coolermaster GX RS650-ACAAE3-UK, 85% Eff', 80 PLUS Bronze, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX v2.31
Asus P8Z68-V LX, Intel Z68, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 2.0 (x16), D-Sub/ DVI-D/ HDMI, ATX
BitFenix Survivor CORE, Black, Mid Tower Gaming Case with Handle w/o PSU Lan Party Favourite!
Colors IT ACT KB-8108 Multimedia Office Pro Keyboard, Silver/Black with MIC/Speakers SKYPE Ready
Intel Core i7 2600K Unlocked S1155, Sandy Bridge, Quad, 3.4GHz, HD3000 IGP 850Mhz, 8MB Cache 95W Retail
Samsung WriteMaster SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM

The above is on Scan at £500.

I can then add:

Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Two Module Kit - £35 from Amazon.

Asus 1GB GeForce GTX 560TI DirectCUII PCI-E Graphics Card - £165 from Amazon.

Total price = £700.

Decent rig? Would I need anything else? Take it the CPU comes with a fan? Need other cooling?

 

I'd still go Chillblast I've built so many in my years I just can't be arsed anymore,

When the chill comes you inbox and turn on , the most annoying part about building your own is if something is shafted like duff board memory where it hangs the pc they can become a real ball ache, the chills come tested and loved and they over clock em safely

 

Yes, that brings back memories of a self build years ago that took me ages to track down the offending component - nightmare.

Plus with kids and work, then I just don't have the time these days.

Now need to find a pre-build system that isn't overkill - as I'm not really that fussed with running things at the highest rez possible - just want a smooth experience playing the latest games.

Cheers
Richard.

 

Richard, bang for buck you probably won't get better than that Chillblast Fusion Vector you linked to mate.
You'll need to add the £80-£90 for Windows 7 on top of that price. The only other thing you might want to consider is a SSD. I went for a 128Gb one on top of a 1Tb 6Gb/sec HD drive. Yes Windows and programs load faster than a fast thing, but perhaps with hindsight not really necessary.
Oh and I bought a 560Ti graphics card as per the Chillblast (albeit I got a 2Gb one) and it plays Battlefield 3 in 'ultra' detail on most settings. Brilliant card

edit, just noticed on the site that Chillblast are stating 15-20 days delivery due to increased demand, so if you want it before Xmas, order soon!

Matt

 

Eh?

Of course you can overclock a multiplier locked CPU, you raise the clock speed not the multiplier.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=2040&subcat=

That has the same CPU at 4.4ghz

 

Thanks Matt.

Just noticed this ione for £729.

http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast...Hurricane.html

Same set-up but is clocked to 4.5 plus has Windows pre-installed - all for £20 more :-) I'm going to order today.

Yes, was considering a SSD (as it makes my Macbook Air fly) but given what I will use the home PC for, then I think I'll pass on one.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice

Cheers
Richard.

 

Yeah ssd was my best buy started with a gskill ripjaw now on a corsair force 3 and it's like lightning to boot and especially when u login no waiting for crap to start 10 secs and I'm ready to rock

 

Looks good

 

It's always a pleasure helping someone spend their hard earned cash
It'll be a cracking PC mate