[NuclearFusion]

(Original post by mangoh)
No... I bought it from a computer shop (friend buys parts from suppliers to buy custom built PC and then sells it on)

He told me ASUS were a good motherboard company.

Is this not the case?

Asus is a good company, but let's just say that there is a massive difference between their cheapest H61 board, and their top of the line 1155 board, the Maximus IV Extreme. So it depends on what particular board, not just the company. It also depends on the other components, such as whether it is using a good quality power supply from a respected company, or whether it is just a no-name OEM version. I'm assuming that you intend to add a graphics card?

[Killerstorm2]

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-2130 Dual Core (3.40GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics

Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-M LE/USB3 (NEW REV 3.0): M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)

Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6570 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)

USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Quantity
1

Price: £504.00 including VAT and delivery.


Good PC for the money? I will be mainly using it for watching movies etc.
It would be nice if it is capable of playing games like battlefield 2 , 3 etc.

Thanks

[MrHunter]

(Original post by Killerstorm2)
Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-2130 Dual Core (3.40GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics

Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-M LE/USB3 (NEW REV 3.0): M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)

Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6570 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)

USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Quantity
1

Price: £504.00 including VAT and delivery.


Good PC for the money? I will be mainly using it for watching movies etc.
It would be nice if it is capable of playing games like battlefield 2 , 3 etc.

Thanks

It will be fine for watching movies etc, but not gaming. The graphics card will struggle, if you want a gaming machine it would be a completely different build.... I would go for an AMD rig (to save money on the processor) and get a bigger better GPU battlefield is a hardcore game, struggles to run on my baby which was not cheap

Are you able to build your own PC works out a lot cheaper and you don't get bad PC part's, often when you buy PC's from a store .. or branded for that matter it will have cheap and low quality parts like PSU

I think for the same price you could grab a decent AMD Quad Core build, and a nice GPU but how much are you spending?

----- Also as a student you should be able to get Windows 7 for free

AMD FX - Quad Core £80
Asus M5A97 - £90
Case with PSU - £100?
500GB HDD - £50
8GB Ram - £40
CD / DVD - £10
Wireless card - £10

GPU --- ATI 6870 --- (Should run Battlefield 3 nicely)

----> Cost is around £500 and with double to more the performance.. And cool looking case.

A custom build also allows you to upgrade later on with ease, you can put in another 6870 and destroy most games... I would also recommend a smaller HDD for your main OS drive (as the bigger the drive the slower)

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Killerstorm2)
Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-2130 Dual Core (3.40GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics

Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-M LE/USB3 (NEW REV 3.0): M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)

Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6570 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)

USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Quantity
1

Price: £504.00 including VAT and delivery.


Good PC for the money? I will be mainly using it for watching movies etc.
It would be nice if it is capable of playing games like battlefield 2 , 3 etc.

Thanks

Where you buying this from?

The motherboards is minimal, the processors ok and the graphics are not amazing it's more for entertainment like videos, etc.

I'm guessing you configured it from PCSPECIALIST???

[Minardi]

Quickie - Aunt's asked for a new PC. Spotted this nettop. Wants something small and quiet that can check emails, chat on Skype and use Picasa. Man enough for it?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...omputers&psc=1

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Minardi)
Quickie - Aunt's asked for a new PC. Spotted this nettop. Wants something small and quiet that can check emails, chat on Skype and use Picasa. Man enough for it?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...omputers&psc=1

Definitely should be able to do those things.........thought the processor may cause some issues if there's a lot of demanding things open in browser tab.

[DarkTitan]

Has anyone tried comparing the Radeon 7850 OCed to over 1200 core to a Stock Gtx 580s? I've been told they're neck and neck...soo GTX 580 preformance for £196 sounds pretty good to me

[ELs123]

You sure you are not trying to compare a 7870 to a 480 rather than a 580?

[Keckers]

(Original post by DarkTitan)
Has anyone tried comparing the Radeon 7850 OCed to over 1200 core to a Stock Gtx 580s? I've been told they're neck and neck...soo GTX 580 preformance for £196 sounds pretty good to me

It depends whether you get a board which will allow you to perform the overclock.

From what I've heard it is far from the majority of 7850 cards which can tolerate such a high overclock.

[mishmash67]

ive got two old laptops on is a hp 530 and the other is a packard bell easynote argo c2 i think. The packards screen is smashed and the hp only 512mb ram and is too slow to use.
would it be possible to take the ram from the packard and put into the hp

[jackus93]

Hi. I'm about to start uni and I'm looking to buy a laptop for under £400. I'll mainly be using it for web browsing, skype, video streaming and essays so nothing elaborate. I've been looking around and think the HP Pavilion G6-1334sa for £370 is my best bet. It's got 8gb ram, 750gb hard drive and an AMD Radeon HD 6380g discrete class graphics card. Are these the main specs for me to look at?
Basically shall I buy it!?!
Cheers.

[thefunktopus69]

Anyone have any thoughts/see any problems with this set up



For semi serious gaming (ie the new simcity/minecraft/the odd other strategy game/maybe a pc fps)
I don't need a monitor yet (got an old 1280x1024, not great but fine atm) and would like to stay as far below £400 as possible.

I was wondering whether a 6850 would be justifiable given the extra £20 cost?

[ELs123]

(Original post by thefunktopus69)
Anyone have any thoughts/see any problems with this set up

For semi serious gaming (ie the new simcity/minecraft/the odd other strategy game/maybe a pc fps)
I don't need a monitor yet (got an old 1280x1024, not great but fine atm) and would like to stay as far below £400 as possible.

I was wondering whether a 6850 would be justifiable given the extra £20 cost?

Build looks fine. I would recommend swapping the CPU and mobo for intel versions though. Try and go for an i3 2100 as its better performance and upgrade path.
This will bump up the costs a bit (i3 2100 is around 90 quid I think and a 1155 mobo's start at around £60.) But I think this will be a better choice.

You got a disc drive to install windows? I almost forgot mine when I ordered my PC

As you want the rig primarily for gaming I would go for the 6850. This may make your budget tighter but a 700W PSU for a 6850 is overkill. Can maybe drop it to 500W or 550W to save a bit of cash.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by mishmash67)
ive got two old laptops on is a hp 530 and the other is a packard bell easynote argo c2 i think. The packards screen is smashed and the hp only 512mb ram and is too slow to use.
would it be possible to take the ram from the packard and put into the hp

Depends on the motherboard, can't seem to find anything on the packard bell..........the hp takes SODIMM so as long as the ram is in that format it will take it.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by jackus93)
Hi. I'm about to start uni and I'm looking to buy a laptop for under £400. I'll mainly be using it for web browsing, skype, video streaming and essays so nothing elaborate. I've been looking around and think the HP Pavilion G6-1334sa for £370 is my best bet. It's got 8gb ram, 750gb hard drive and an AMD Radeon HD 6380g discrete class graphics card. Are these the main specs for me to look at?
Basically shall I buy it!?!
Cheers.

HP have build issues, other than that the ram and hard drive are more than enough..........the graphics will meet your entertainment needs, but nothing like any gaming unless on low settings and even then it'll struggle. The processor may be an issue, it's quite old and wouldn't stand against an i3.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by thefunktopus69)
Anyone have any thoughts/see any problems with this set up



For semi serious gaming (ie the new simcity/minecraft/the odd other strategy game/maybe a pc fps)
I don't need a monitor yet (got an old 1280x1024, not great but fine atm) and would like to stay as far below £400 as possible.

I was wondering whether a 6850 would be justifiable given the extra £20 cost?

Processors fine, just a bit old.

The xfx 6770 hd needs :
External Power - 6-Pins:1
Minimum Power Supply Requirement:500 Watt

So the 700Watt power supply is quite a lot unless your looking to expand in the future.
So you can get a 6850hd which requires the same amount of power.

So http://www.ebuyer.com/284386-his-hd-...card-h685fn1gd
HIS HD 6850 1GB would be good...........

but also take a look at http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-ge...NH9.html?src=2

Asus GeForce GTX 550 Ti which needs 400 watt plus.

Seeing as your ebuying from ebuyer did you look at this combo http://www.ebuyer.com/220863-coolerm...rc-330-kkpl-gp
I bought the one with 690 II case with 650 supply recently and turned out pretty good.

[NuclearFusion]

(Original post by DarkTitan)
Has anyone tried comparing the Radeon 7850 OCed to over 1200 core to a Stock Gtx 580s? I've been told they're neck and neck...soo GTX 580 preformance for £196 sounds pretty good to me

That is a pretty hardcore overclock, that would only be perhaps possible with water cooling, so once you factor in the water blocks, pump etc. it won't be cheaper than a 580.

[NuclearFusion]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
Seeing as your ebuying from ebuyer did you look at this combo http://www.ebuyer.com/220863-coolerm...rc-330-kkpl-gp
I bought the one with 690 II case with 650 supply recently and turned out pretty good.

I'm a little sceptical about how good that PSU would be, I highly doubt it will be an efficient, high quality PSU given that it is only £50 for both case and PSU.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by NuclearFusion)
I'm a little sceptical about how good that PSU would be, I highly doubt it will be an efficient, high quality PSU given that it is only £50 for both case and PSU.

Yeah it's about 70+% efficient.......well he should get a 80plus bronze certified one at 500watt and get the 6850 or 550ti

[thefunktopus69]

(Original post by ELs123)
Build looks fine. I would recommend swapping the CPU and mobo for intel versions though. Try and go for an i3 2100 as its better performance and upgrade path.
This will bump up the costs a bit (i3 2100 is around 90 quid I think and a 1155 mobo's start at around £60.) But I think this will be a better choice.

You got a disc drive to install windows? I almost forgot mine when I ordered my PC

As you want the rig primarily for gaming I would go for the 6850. This may make your budget tighter but a 700W PSU for a 6850 is overkill. Can maybe drop it to 500W or 550W to save a bit of cash.

Yeah I've got lots of old drives lying around (completely the wrong colours -that old yellowy plastic -but i'd take them out/cover them once windows is installed).

The i3 2100 is a bit too expensive for me unfortunately and I like the sound of the athlon i selected -I'm not sure the double (+mobo costs) cost would result in double the performance.

(Original post by Iqbal007)
Processors fine, just a bit old.

The xfx 6770 hd needs :
External Power - 6-Pins:1
Minimum Power Supply Requirement:500 Watt

So the 700Watt power supply is quite a lot unless your looking to expand in the future.
So you can get a 6850hd which requires the same amount of power.

So http://www.ebuyer.com/284386-his-hd-...card-h685fn1gd
HIS HD 6850 1GB would be good...........

but also take a look at http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-ge...NH9.html?src=2

Asus GeForce GTX 550 Ti which needs 400 watt plus.

Seeing as your ebuying from ebuyer did you look at this combo http://www.ebuyer.com/220863-coolerm...rc-330-kkpl-gp
I bought the one with 690 II case with 650 supply recently and turned out pretty good.

Yeah I might go for a 6850 if I could make the savings -I just thought it would be an overkill on my current monitor (1280x1024 2003 dell thing). I've not heard good about the 550ti and it doesn't appear that much better than the 6770 in cpu benchmark scores. Also if I were to pay an extra £10 to get the ti i'd rather throw in another tenner to get a 6850.

I did look at that combined case/psu but I was worried at the 500w psu -would be awful to get it and find it struggles powering the pc. Do you think it would be adequate? If so I could certainly then afford a 6850 and I could put away some to save up for a decent monitor.

Thanks for both your help, +rep added!