Before buying PC please ask our advice first!

Original post by Tathrim

what's the problem with Gelid? I've been using bit-tech and other reviews, and the cooler looks fantastic for the job. You also forget that the lower end socket doesn't dissipate as much heat as the higher end sockets, so the cooler is perfect for the job.

It's great yeah, don't worry.
I've had 5.2Ghz for benching on air with something fairly similar.

For the amount of money you're spending though, might be worth considering something like this:
http://i56.tinypic.com/2rdxkqa.png

Reply 4783

Tathrim

Original post by TShadow383

It's great yeah, don't worry.
I've had 5.2Ghz for benching on air with something fairly similar.

For the amount of money you're spending though, might be worth considering something like this:
http://i56.tinypic.com/2rdxkqa.png

Nice build, prefer the ASUS board, one reason why I chose the Gelid. The system doesn't need the Fenrir for cooling, and the Gelid does the job just as well.

However, If I actually chose an OEM part rather than a retail part for the processor, I'd have room for the SSD *facepalm*.

I changed to the 560 rather than the 570 due to the resolution I am playing at for now doesn't NEED the 570. I'm a student, so being frugal sometimes has it's advantages. :biggrin:

if needs arise, I'll switch, but it's not likely.

Thanks for the advice, now time to price search around different vendors.

Reply 4784

TShadow383

Original post by *k.a.t.e*

Well to me they look pretty similar considering the hard drive and graphics are identical?! I'm looking to pay £700-800 including the monitor. I don't want anything I have to faf with, I want something that comes ready to use - preferably something I can walk into a shop and buy or order easily online without having to piece together 4635635356543563 different components!

Most PC shops will build a PC for you for relatively little cash (think £30-50) if you buy the parts, just call them. Hell, at the place I used to work at we sometimes did it for free.
Failing that, PCs are basically lego these days. There's what? at most ten things you have to plug in? (Motherboard, hard drives, disk drives, graphics card, memory, processor, cpu cooler, psu)
Takes me about 20 minutes these days.

http://i51.tinypic.com/2rnewp3.png
^This is LIGHT YEARS ahead of the dell specifications you posted - you really cannot comprehend what the difference is like :tongue:

If you really must buy it from an online place as a pre-build, try somewhere like scan.co.uk, overclockers.co.uk, pcspecialist or cyberpower systems.

Reply 4785

Ramdatta

Original post by TShadow383

http://i51.tinypic.com/2rnewp3.png
^This is LIGHT YEARS ahead of the dell specifications you posted - you really cannot comprehend what the difference is like :tongue:

If you really must buy it from an online place as a pre-build, try somewhere like scan.co.uk, overclockers.co.uk, pcspecialist or cyberpower systems.

As you would expect as your spec is far more expensive than the dell systems she linked to.

Why the need for a custom heatsink? I'm sure she does not plan on overclocking so the stock heatsink would be perfectly suitable. Buy a retail version of the CPU you chose for £160 from scan or your spec which would cost £200. Completely unnecessary. Same with the motherboard, could easily save +£30.

The Dell Inspiron 580 would be perfectly suitable for your needs *k.a.t.e*

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 4786

Original post by Ramdatta

As you would expect as your spec is far more expensive than the dell systems she linked to.

Fair point, but cut out the screen and cut back on the GPU, case and PSU (there's no need for such an overpowered PSU if she only requires at best an integrated GPU. I'm not condoning buying cheap PSUs) and there is an immediate £200+ saving. That brings it closer to £700 and is like for like with the Dell. However the Dell is guaranteed to have a proprietary case so you can't fit your own motherboard, a locked down motherboard so you can't tweak it should you ever feel like doing it/getting someone else to and not to mention a PSU that barely manages to power the system so forget adding that GPU/HDD/quieter CPU cooler.
Shadow seems to have pulled this spec off of Tathrim...or a tweaked version of it. I think he meant it as a comparison to the drivel that Dell is selling nowadays, albeit a poor choice.

She'd be better off with a H67 board and a locked CPU. I'm pretty sure the integrated solution works well and should be fine for most all applications/games. 4GB RAM is plenty. You'll have the option to upgrade to more later on, with RAM prices at an all time low it is tempting but you'd be better put to save that money for an SSD. A decent 500W or ever a 400W PSU should do (I'd recommend 500W, should she decide to add more peripherals/components later). All this shouldn't come to much more the £500/£600 and will obliterate the Dell offerings (maybe not in games, but as she only wants to play Sims...)

Why the need for a custom heatsink? I'm sure she does not plan on overclocking so the stock heatsink would be perfectly suitable. Buy a retail version of the CPU you chose for £160 from scan or your spec which would cost £200. Completely unnecessary. Same with the motherboard, could easily save +£30.

The CPU mentioned, i5 2500K, is £168 OEM and £181 retail at time of writing. The i5 2500 is £160 retail. (Scan prices)

Reply 4787

Ramdatta

Indeed savings could be made and the price brought down to nearer the dell options. But in the end it would still require being built, OS installed etc. I think she is just looking at a pre built system that can handle the things she wants to do on it and the dell system is fine in that regard.

Original post by Zorg

The CPU mentioned, i5 2500K, is £168 OEM and £181 retail at time of writing. The i5 2500 is £160 retail. (Scan prices)

There is still a saving over his choice though, yes? Anyway again no need for the K version as i highly doubt any overclocking would be performed.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 4788

Original post by Ramdatta

Indeed savings could be made and the price brought down to nearer the dell options. But in the end it would still require being built, OS installed etc. I think she is just looking at a pre built system that can handle the things she wants to do on it and the dell system is fine in that regard.

The Dell system however is very limiting. If you're ok knowing you got less for your money then the Dell system may be fine. But remember that in 5 years time when the PC becomes knackered, you'll have to buy a completely new PC. However with a self built or even a pre-build from OCUK/Scan etc will allow you to take your case, PSU, HDD, DVD and people will buy your old RAM, CPU, mobo and GPU. Needless to say, a self/Scan/OCUK build is capable of upgrades, the Dell almost definitely won't be.

There is still a saving over his choice though, yes? Anyway again no need for the K version as i highly doubt any overclocking would be performed.

I was merely pointing out the prices, your last post was slightly misleading in that the two CPUs mentioned were priced differently not to mention had different benefits.

You're being needlessly defensive. In my earlier post I suggested that she'd be best off with a locked down CPU which concurs with your proposal.

Original post by TShadow383

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Original post by Tathrim

...

Not sure if you know guys, so I thought I'd mention it here. The Intel 6 series boards have a fault. That's both the P67 and the H67 boards. I believe it's to do with too high a voltage passing through a poorly constructed transistor. It leads to the failing of SATA 3Gbps ports. It only seems to be affecting about 5% of the production line.

There is a replacement schedule in place for Gigabyte and now for ASUS and MSI. They are aiming to get the new boards (B3 stepping) out in April. That means a fair wait, also expect April/May for your distributors as it's likely this date is targeted for OEMs.

Source 1

Source 2

Original post by *k.a.t.e*

Spoiler

Hey, I realise you've said your budget is £700/£800 with a monitor but what else do you need? Do you have speakers for example? Or mouse and keyboard?
Also what are your intended uses? Apart from Sims, any video/photo editing? Any 3D work? Any other games, bar flash based internet games?

I would highly suggest you walk in to your local independent computer store and ask them if they'd be kind enough to build your computer for you and how much they'd charge. The highest fee I've heard is £50 and the lowest is free. You have no obligation to go to them again so you can't lose. Worst comes to worst they say no and you buy a prebuilt system. But for the love of all that is rosy, don't buy from Dell.

This system is about £100 dearer than the Dell, but will be far better. However there are still some customizations that could be made to make it better/cheaper for you if you chose the components yourself. Such as the removal of a sound card, cut back on the case etc. My point is consider a tailor made computer as it will be all of the things you need and none of the things you don't.

Sorry for the epically long post but it's been a while :p:

Reply 4789

Coda

Original post by sr4470

£250 still gets you a pretty powerful system (64bit sempron, 512mb ram etc)

I lolled, powerful system!

Reply 4790

Coda

Original post by Tathrim

1) Titan Fenrir is not compatible with the ASUS mobo. bit-tech.net (whcih I also frequent) have mentioned it themselves. I have had suggestions on the GB mobo, where there is a possiblity that it's compatible, but I'm hesitant re: the BIOS/EFI hybrid that GB have.

2) the PSU isn't the problem here, it's a good PSU and good enough for what i plan to do with it, so I'm sticking with it.

3) Point taken on the SSD. But I'm keeping the 8GB or RAM.

Also, change the 570 to a 560 Ti, it'll allow me to keep the RAM and in budget, esp. as I'm gaming at 1920*1080 (simultaneous thread going on over at bit-tech - hehe).

What are you going to be using the computer for? If it's just gaming (i.e. no extreme video editing) then 4GB of RAM is more than enough.

www.tinyurl.com/falconguide for a good guide, although the prices are in US. It's broken down by price tiers.

Reply 4791

Coda

Original post by ChTBC

I am gonna build my first pc, I want it to be able to play most games. Theses are the specs that I have chosen so far. Does it all look okay?

I was wondering whether it was worth going for Corsair TX CMPSU-650TXUK 650W Power Supply (PSU) - £63.79 instead.

Thanks,

Get the Samsung SpinPoint F3. "Green" drives are only going to be slower and your SSD is quite small so you won't be able to fit everything that you want on it.

Reply 4792

Tathrim

Original post by Coda

What are you going to be using the computer for? If it's just gaming (i.e. no extreme video editing) then 4GB of RAM is more than enough.

www.tinyurl.com/falconguide for a good guide, although the prices are in US. It's broken down by price tiers.

Gaming and lots of heavy testing of programs written by myself on a 64-bit architecture. It's a useful thing to have the extra RAM headroom. :biggrin:

BTW, I've been going on the reccommendations of the bit-tech forums. I MAY end up getting 4GB now and throwing in an SSD instead :smile:

Original post by Zorg

Not sure if you know guys, so I thought I'd mention it here. The Intel 6 series boards have a fault. That's both the P67 and the H67 boards. I believe it's to do with too high a voltage passing through a poorly constructed transistor. It leads to the failing of SATA 3Gbps ports. It only seems to be affecting about 5% of the production line.

There is a replacement schedule in place for Gigabyte and now for ASUS and MSI. They are aiming to get the new boards (B3 stepping) out in April. That means a fair wait, also expect April/May for your distributors as it's likely this date is targeted for OEMs.

Source 1

Source 2

I am fully aware of the situation. I was planning on buying from Scan on their guarantee (which applies to current purchases at the moment). It doesn't matter if I RMA the board, I'll have access to a laptop which is capable of doing most of what I need, and the RMA happens in April, when I'm at home and have a 1st gen i7 at my disposal when my dad's not using it. I'm not going to be disrupted that badly. :smile:

Reply 4793

LouboutinLove

Original post by Zorg

Hey, I realise you've said your budget is £700/£800 with a monitor but what else do you need? Do you have speakers for example? Or mouse and keyboard?
Also what are your intended uses? Apart from Sims, any video/photo editing? Any 3D work? Any other games, bar flash based internet games?

I would highly suggest you walk in to your local independent computer store and ask them if they'd be kind enough to build your computer for you and how much they'd charge. The highest fee I've heard is £50 and the lowest is free. You have no obligation to go to them again so you can't lose. Worst comes to worst they say no and you buy a prebuilt system. But for the love of all that is rosy, don't buy from Dell.

This system is about £100 dearer than the Dell, but will be far better. However there are still some customizations that could be made to make it better/cheaper for you if you chose the components yourself. Such as the removal of a sound card, cut back on the case etc. My point is consider a tailor made computer as it will be all of the things you need and none of the things you don't.

Sorry for the epically long post but it's been a while :p:

Thanks for that, i'll definitely consider the one you posted. I already have a mouse/keyboard/speakers since I already have a desktop computer, although it is rather old (It's a Tiny, and I think they stopped making computers ages ago!) so new ones are desirable but not essential since I could buy newer ones at a later date. As for my intended uses.....light games as I said, but apart from that not much else. I don't do video editing at all and any photo editing I do on my macbook, the only other things I'd use it for are word processing and watching films because of the big screen. This is just going to be an extra to the macbook really so most daily internet browsing etc I'll do on that. I'm going for a desktop mainly for the screen, better power at lower cost and because there's so many more games available for windows!

Reply 4794

JChoudhry

14

http://i52.tinypic.com/2dorus.jpg

Hey guys, any tips on this one?/Anything I forgot to add?

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 4795

Original post by *k.a.t.e*

Thanks for that, i'll definitely consider the one you posted. I already have a mouse/keyboard/speakers since I already have a desktop computer, although it is rather old (It's a Tiny, and I think they stopped making computers ages ago!) so new ones are desirable but not essential since I could buy newer ones at a later date. As for my intended uses.....light games as I said, but apart from that not much else. I don't do video editing at all and any photo editing I do on my macbook, the only other things I'd use it for are word processing and watching films because of the big screen. This is just going to be an extra to the macbook really so most daily internet browsing etc I'll do on that. I'm going for a desktop mainly for the screen, better power at lower cost and because there's so many more games available for windows!

Which Macbook do you have? As far as I'm aware it should play Sims 3 pretty well at 1280x800. In which case I'd just think about getting a screen and an adapter for the Macbook. The Apple Cinema Displays are gorgeous and definitely worth the money if you have a Macbook, but remember you can only use them with MiniDisplay port devices.
If you're not inclined to spend that much on a monitor consider this monitor and this adapter. Much cheaper than a new computer.
When you say photo-editing, is this quite casual/low profile stuff? Or are you really in to your photography? In which case we may be able to justify a new computer...

Original post by JChoudhry

http://i52.tinypic.com/2dorus.jpg

Hey guys, any tips on this one?/Anything I forgot to add?

HTPC? Budget? Gaming?

I'd love to build in the SG05 personally :p:

Also get a better PSU.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 4796

JChoudhry

14

Original post by Zorg

Which Macbook do you have? As far as I'm aware it should play Sims 3 pretty well at 1280x800. In which case I'd just think about getting a screen and an adapter for the Macbook. The Apple Cinema Displays are gorgeous and definitely worth the money if you have a Macbook, but remember you can only use them with MiniDisplay port devices.
If you're not inclined to spend that much on a monitor consider this monitor and this adapter. Much cheaper than a new computer.
When you say photo-editing, is this quite casual/low profile stuff? Or are you really in to your photography? In which case we may be able to justify a new computer...

HTPC? Budget? Gaming?

I'd love to build in the SG05 personally :p:

Also get a better PSU.

It's a budget, but basically want it to last at least a few years, although it's for simple computer work, ie word processing, etc...
HTPC? What's that :colondollar:

SG05=expesnive :p:

Could you suggest a really cheap PSU? :p:

Reply 4797