Help on buying a new pc please

G

gazza9000

Member
Hey im looking at buying a new pc - Budget up to 700 but would prob like to spend less. i looked at a competitor and saw a pc but was told it was not good and recommended this site :D Im not sure what to get.. i would like a decent pc where i can play top games and also play games like wow on max settings and games like C&C

this is the spec i found:

A guaranteed 4.20GHz performance for the price of 2.93GHz
- Choose from a selection of graphics cards to meet your performance needs
- Precision built and cabled by expert technicians

System Specification
- Case: Antec 300 Case with ATI red case fans.
- Power Supply: Corsair Extreme 600W
- CPU: Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz Clarkdale overclocked to 4.20GHz
- Motherboard: Gigabyte H55M-UDH2 Intel H55 (Socket 1156) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
- Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalem CPU Cooler w/ Xigmatek Crystal LED 120MM
- RAM: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
- Graphics Card: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5830 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- Sound: Realtek 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)
- Optical Drive: LG DVD+/-RW SATA Drive
Windows 7 Home
£704.00

with monitor 22inch + delivery
£840.00
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tom DWC

Tom DWC

Moderator
Moderator
If the PC is primarily for gaming then consider this PCS offering. It is a more balanced system overall and the price is competitive:

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE (£42)
Overclocked CPU
OVERCLOCKED AMD ATHLON II X4 630 (2.80GHz @ MAX 3.50GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® M4A89TD PRO/USB3 : DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5770 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
640GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD6402AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
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 & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 650W PSU (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£76)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EXTREME DIRECT TOUCH COPPER CPU COOLER (£39)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
6 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
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £782.00 including VAT and delivery.

I would like a decent PC where so can play top games and also play games like WoW on max settings and games like C&C.
Click to expand...

This PC will play most current games and upcoming games next year without any problems, on decent settings at resolutions such as 1680x1050 and below.
 
Last edited:
Sleinous

Sleinous

Author Level
OK, first things first.

Your motherboard:

2.jpg


Firstly, i've speced up a near identical rig from what you've shown us here with PCS.

One thing to take into consideration:

YES it is more expensive than the competitor one, BUT only because I could NOT spec some parts, as the minimum parts that PCS stock are still better than what the competitor were offering.

So... first part that is superior, the CPU is an i3 550
Secondly... the motherboard supports USB 3.0 which your Gigabyte does not. It also has a multitude of other features available that would be worth checking out.
Thirdly... PCS use Kingston 1600Mhz RAM now, nearly identical stuff though.
Fourthly... I speced a 640GB Sata 3gbs 16mb cached drive, as thats the closest drive.
Finally.... A Corsair TX650W not 600W

Oh and... a different case and cpu cooler

Please note this spec is not my final suggestion, you can still do much better with your money imo, this is just to show you price comparison.

The quote also included the monitor:

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE (£42)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-550 Dual Core (3.20GHz, 4MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P7H55D-M EVO: MICRO ATX, USB 3.0 & SATA 3.0GB/s
Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON HYPER-X BLU DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5830 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
640GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
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 & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 650W PSU (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£76)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
6 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
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
22" Wide TFT Silver/Black 1920 x1080 2MS D-Sub, DVI, 21.6" Panel (£119)
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 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £873.00 including VAT and delivery.

but....now onto my suggestion...

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE (£42)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz) 1333MHz FSB/6MB L2 Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P5G41T-M LX2 S: MICRO ATX VALUE BOARD & DDR3, SATA-II, 2 x PCI
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX460 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB 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 & Case Cooling
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA775 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
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
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £693.00 including VAT and delivery.

Note: Didnt add monitor to this, but, 22" is £119 at PCS.

You can also do a slightly cheaper build with a dual core AMD Phenom or even Athlon :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Phoenix

Phoenix

Prolific Poster
You really don't need to overclock a CPU to play games so you could save quite a lot of money through using 1333mhz RAM and the stock cooler, with the saved money you get a better CPU such as a phenom II (4 core).
 
G

gazza9000

Member
Sleinous said:
OK, first things first.

Your motherboard:

2.jpg


Firstly, i've speced up a near identical rig from what you've shown us here with PCS.

One thing to take into consideration:

YES it is more expensive than the competitor one, BUT only because I could NOT spec some parts, as the minimum parts that PCS stock are still better than what the competitor were offering.

So... first part that is superior, the CPU is an i3 550
Secondly... the motherboard supports USB 3.0 which your Gigabyte does not. It also has a multitude of other features available that would be worth checking out.
Thirdly... PCS use Kingston 1600Mhz RAM now, nearly identical stuff though.
Fourthly... I speced a 640GB Sata 3gbs 16mb cached drive, as thats the closest drive.
Finally.... A Corsair TX650W not 600W

Oh and... a different case and cpu cooler

Please note this spec is not my final suggestion, you can still do much better with your money imo, this is just to show you price comparison.

The quote also included the monitor:

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE (£42)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-550 Dual Core (3.20GHz, 4MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P7H55D-M EVO: MICRO ATX, USB 3.0 & SATA 3.0GB/s
Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON HYPER-X BLU DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5830 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
640GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
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 & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 650W PSU (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£76)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
6 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
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
22" Wide TFT Silver/Black 1920 x1080 2MS D-Sub, DVI, 21.6" Panel (£119)
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 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £873.00 including VAT and delivery.

but....now onto my suggestion...

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE (£42)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz) 1333MHz FSB/6MB L2 Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P5G41T-M LX2 S: MICRO ATX VALUE BOARD & DDR3, SATA-II, 2 x PCI
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX460 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB 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 & Case Cooling
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA775 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
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
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £693.00 including VAT and delivery.

Note: Didnt add monitor to this, but, 22" is £119 at PCS.

You can also do a slightly cheaper build with a dual core AMD Phenom or even Athlon :)
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the quick response.. I like ur 2nd suggestion and will be one I will look into :d what could u recommend regarding an amd build?? Around same price which will play games on max / high settings :)) and how well wud ur suggestion (intel) compared to overclocks play games??
 
Last edited:
Sleinous

Sleinous

Author Level
Something like this: For AMD Dual core, if you want quad, you just chose the X4

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE (£42)
Processor (CPU)
AMD PHENOM II X2 555 (3.20GHz/6MB CACHE/AM3) - BLACK EDITION
Motherboard
ASUS® M4A87TD/USB3: DUAL DDR3,SATA 6.0GB/s, USB 3.0
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX460 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB 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 & Case Cooling
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
6 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
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £670.00 including VAT and delivery.

for AMD Phenom X4 955, £708.00

You can also get an AMD Athlon X4 630 for £670, quad core instead of dual core, but its an Athlon, has 2mb cache instead of 8mb
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Prolific Poster
You could always use a micro-atx motherboard and/or the standard CPU cooler to fit a 955 under £700.00.
 
G

gazza9000

Member
hey..

i was about to by the pc you recommended and it looks like the case has gone up in price :( is there no way i can get it for the quoted price?
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Prolific Poster
gazza9000 said:
hey..

i was about to by the pc you recommended and it looks like the case has gone up in price :( is there no way i can get it for the quoted price?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately PCSpecialist have to change their prices when the cost to buy the hardware changes, it’s not something that they can control.
 
Last edited:
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