Okay right, so from what I'm getting is that if I just take the plunge and build a PC, it'll be far more worth it in terms of speed and power. If my parents highly disapprove (and since they're my primary source of funding) then I'm guessing that the Mass Effect i5 @ 4.3Ghz or Veloce i7 3770 from Dino PC will be the best bet, since they both have i5/i7 processors and better graphics cards (NVIDIA 560 and NVIDIA 670 respectively).
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Hopefully I'll be able to build my PC and I'd probably just formulate most of it around the Veloce i7 3770 spec, do some research and see what parts offer a higher performance for a cheaper price and replace them.
No difference in terms of gaming performance between the i5 and i7 unless your doing some major video editing and hyper threading.
And yes your better off building a pc yourself, because you'll get more for your money.........the pc i built is far better then anything i could buy for the price.
Guys I need help. I'm a computer noob; seriously know nothing when it comes to buying a PC. I was wandering if anyone had any suggestions. I need a fairly fast, reliable desktop PC which I mostly be using for educational purposes, browsing the net & watching videos etc. I'm not a PC gamer. I also want to use multiple applications at once without the CPU and fan going ape-**** on me. I know there's masses of pages with relevant, useful information on this thread, but I don't have home internet access at the moment, so time is really of the essence.
Budget is £650 max Thanks!
From what your seeing you'll need a i5, 4gb+ of ram, decent amount of storage, just use built in graphics, a good case with plenty of airflow with a quiet power supply. If you are looking to build one then you'll need to get a separate cpu cooler cos stock ones are quite loud.
Are you looking to build one yourself or just get a pre-built one?
Fitting the motherboard was easy for me. No problems. Cable management is the hard part.
Oh and trying to fit a big heatsink/fan/cooler in a case that doesn't have a motherboard cutout behind the CPU.
You can't be serious, cable management is much easier, then screwing in all those little screws then the mobo on top and the i/o shield it took me a good hour
You can't be serious, cable management is much easier, then screwing in all those little screws then the mobo on top and the i/o shield it took me a good hour
Well, I used an Antec 300, so it made cable management fairly easy - there is no cable management.
Are you talking about the mobo standoffs and then screw the mobo onto the stand-offs? It was a few months ago now, but I don't remember that taking much time at all.
Well, I used an Antec 300, so it made cable management fairly easy - there is no cable management.
Are you talking about the mobo standoffs and then screw the mobo onto the stand-offs? It was a few months ago now, but I don't remember that taking much time at all.
Same with me, except i had a 690 II, which was quite easy.
Yep, for me it took a while especially as the mobo didn't seem to aline with the standoffs, took a while :/
wanting to build a desktop over the summer, budget will be around £1000. Main uses for the pc will be high graphical gaming and general browsing, however need a little help with choosing the components
From what your seeing you'll need a i5, 4gb+ of ram, decent amount of storage, just use built in graphics, a good case with plenty of airflow with a quiet power supply. If you are looking to build one then you'll need to get a separate cpu cooler cos stock ones are quite loud.
Are you looking to build one yourself or just get a pre-built one?
Yeah I was imagining similar sort of specs initially. Though I like D.I.Y and fixing up computers in general, I don't really want the hassle, so a pre-built one would be ideal. Thanks.
Yeah I was imagining similar sort of specs initially. Though I like D.I.Y and fixing up computers in general, I don't really want the hassle, so a pre-built one would be ideal. Thanks.
Can make some small changes like upgrade to 3550 for £15 and Corsair Vengeance for £13. You can save £60 by removing windows if you already own it or can get it in some other way.
Then I'd take it upon yourself to buy an SSD as they overcharge by £30-40 (unless you're feeling a bit frivolous then just ask them to do it).
Evening everyone. Looking for some advice on a potential upgrade soon!My current desktop is mostly 2006 vintage and I'm looking to squeeze more performance out of it. However, my biggest aim will be to make it as quiet as possible! Might help to explain what I have at the momentesktopFairly new laptop (6 month old Vaio i5, but it's an old-ish model)HP Proliant microserver (plan is for this mainly to be a media server, and also hold most of my data. Also hoping to get it working as an automatic backup device but not figured out how to do that. It's connected to the desktop by a gigabit connection).iPad Most of my use is normal desktop use, but I also run CAD programs and Flight Simulator X which can be reasonably demanding.Parts I'm planning to reuse: I've got a pretty quiet 430W PSU (iGreen by somebody or other), optical drive, Radeon 4650, and I'm waiting for 8GB of DDR3 CL9 memory. That will probably go into the Proliant, as it's only got 2 memory slots, but I think the 6GB in my desktop is only CL4 (not that I really know how much difference that makes!).Parts I'm going to buy: SSD, CPU, motherboard and case. Also looking to get decent coolers for videocard (maybe - might just unplug the fan as the heatsink doesn't really get warm!) and CPU.So, questions! - My current HD is looking pretty poorly and I like the sound of the performance of an SSD. I'll probably go for a 120gb drive unless the 240 drives drop in price in the next few days, but as I'm planning to keep most of my data on the server will 120gb total storage be sufficient locally? I have got a 250gb drive I could put in, but I'm trying to keep noise down- What should I be looking for in terms of CPU and motherboard? I haven't really kept up much with CPUs but they seem a bit pricy these days, I think I paid £30 or so for my current CPU (Athlon X2 3800+) a few years ago but now an i5 seems to be £100+. I paid £500 for an i5 Vaio laptop with a full HD screen and BluRay so that seems a lot for just the CPU! However I do want it to last a few years.- I want to get a nice quiet case. I don't really need a huge case and I'm wondering about mini ATX. However, is that likely to end up noisy with the limited airflow within a more closely packed case? Are mATX motherboards more expensive/limited in spec?For some reason the forum software is removing line breaks
Yeah I was imagining similar sort of specs initially. Though I like D.I.Y and fixing up computers in general, I don't really want the hassle, so a pre-built one would be ideal. Thanks.
What about getting a barebone bundle, so like processor, case, powersupply, ram and mobo all together, prefitted.
Then you can add on the hard drive and graphics card?
And if your looking to get a cool system with little noise, then what hassi94 suggested, if would be wise to get an upgrade in the ram, processor and getting another cpu cooler and a better case with them and buy a few extra silent fans.
I'm Planning to buy a laptop for uni, studying computer science. what the best processors and graphics chips, and how do they compare, I'm a bit clueless with these....
wanting to build a desktop over the summer, budget will be around £1000. Main uses for the pc will be high graphical gaming and general browsing, however need a little help with choosing the components
That comes to about £984.93 but that's kind of the high end stuff, obviously it's upto you. Like the high end 680 gtx which you wouldn't really be pushing unless you got a very high resolution screen pushing it at 1080p. As well as the case, you could a less high end one for around £60.
edit:forget to add a optical drive and hdd with ssd......which can easily be done by getting a gtx 670 instead and cheaper case.
I'm Planning to buy a laptop for uni, studying computer science. what the best processors and graphics chips, and how do they compare, I'm a bit clueless with these....
Computer science doesn't really require much in all honesty, you would start off with basic programming then start moving into object orientated programming.
It's up to you? What else do you do on the side, any gaming or video editing or intense program usage?
That comes to about £984.93 but that's kind of the high end stuff, obviously it's upto you. Like the high end 680 gtx which you wouldn't really be pushing unless you got a very high resolution screen pushing it at 1080p. As well as the case, you could a less high end one for around £60.
You can get the i5 for a little cheaper elsewhere.
Also, you seem to have forgotten harddrives altogether?!
I suggest downgrading the graphics card to a 7850 and adding a 2TB hardrive and an SSD, perhaps a 256gb Crucial M4.
You can get the i5 for a little cheaper elsewhere.
Also, you seem to have forgotten harddrives altogether?!
I suggest downgrading the graphics card to a 7850 and adding a 2TB hardrive and an SSD, perhaps a 256gb Crucial M4.
lool your right, exams getting to me loool. Yeah forget the 680 gtx then if you include the hard drive, otherwise downgrade a bit to the 670 gtx and down grade the case.
wanting to build a desktop over the summer, budget will be around £1000. Main uses for the pc will be high graphical gaming and general browsing, however need a little help with choosing the components