Looking for a new Desktop PC

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Ok, as the title suggests, I'm looking to change my current machine for something new, sleek and shiny.* To my disappointment, it is now falling short of the minimum requirements of newer games (such as Dawn of War 2), which is a large part of the reason for this change.

*Note: I don't actually need the new computer to be either sleek or shiny. But it's a nice thought.

I'm asking here mainly because my knowledge of the details is...sketchy. In other words, I don't know all that much in the way of technical details as to what I should really be looking for. For example, the names of certain graphics cards sound familiar, but I've no real idea as to how they compare to one another. This is where I'm hoping the tech-savvy members of BoM will come in.

My parents have agreed to but some money towards the cost of the computer, but, being a student, I'm still very much interested in the cost:benefit ratio. I do know that my current PC is running 512 MB RAM, has a 120 GB hard drive and uses Windows XP. The primary intended use would be for gaming- it would be nice to be able to not turn the graphics right down so that the game runs at an acceptable rate. Other than gaming, it would probably just be used for some Uni work and internet surfing- neither of which I can imagine being especially taxing.

So with the above in mind, what sort of PC should I be trying to get a hold of? Is now a good time to be getting one, or is there something big due to be released in the not too distant future? All suggestions and advice would be welcome.

 

A few questions:

• Do you have a price range?
• Are you going to build it yourself, or do you want a pre-built system?
• If you want a pre-built system, do you have any preferred brands?
• If you are going to build it yourself, do you have any preferred brands?

 

All those shiny sleek computers at the stores with brand names like Dell, HP loose a lot of their looks if you look closer at them. Some models are great, but many are boxes whit the cheapest parts around.

We can help you to get the best bang for your bucks and help you to put the thing together. Feed us questions. Run/download a program like cpu-z to see what you have . That data will tell us if we can salvage parts. Tell us the specifications of the case and the tag on the powersupply unit, namely the 12 volt power. it might say 500, but the small print may ruin it.

 

Without knowing your financial arrangement here are some suggestions.

Best Motherboard and CPU are currenlty Intel x58 chipset and any of the i-7 CPUs; however, buying these two alone will cost you $450-1,000+ not including other system components.

An alternative to the i-7 motherboard and CPU are Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and a 775 motherboard (an outdated chipset without any future upgrades) or AMD AM2+ or AM3 motherboard and CPU.

Intel Core 2 CPU Quad Core or E8400 Dual Core will cost $150-200+ for the CPU and with a 775 P43 it will cost another $100+.

AMD AM3 CPU will cost $120-225 and a AM2+ will cost $60-190. AM3 and AM2+ motherboards will cost you from $90-180.

I recommend the following as it will provide you with a good CPU, the ability to upgrade in the future.

AMD AM3GX Motherboard or AMD AM2+ GX Motherboard
AMD AM3 810 CPU
4GB (2x2) of DDR3 RAM at 1333 speed or 4GB of DDR2 1066 RAM
Video Card Nvidia 260 - 216 Core or ATi 4870
Hard Drive - 500MB or more with 32 or 64MB of cache
Power Supply Unit - 550W-650 with over 40Amps on the one 12V Rails or 20Amps on each 12V rails that the PSU has.

The above system can be had for less than $1,000 and will play all the latest games on max setting with the exception of crysis, crysis warhead and a few other titles that punish even the most powerful GPUs.

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Here is another idea; he can purchase a fairly cheap new system that has at least 3GB or more of RAM and has the store verify that the system has a PCI-E2.0 bus and spend a good amount on a higher end graphic card and power supply.

 

Amd will give him the most change to upgrade later. He might get lucky whit a am2+ setup. A socket am3 processor fits in the am2+ boards. if that is possible whit the six or eight cores is unlikely. He can get a 3 core phenom 1 now and upgrade to the phenom 2 later.

 

For around $750 he can get the following...

AM2+ Mobo 780G or 790GX
AMD 7750 Kuma 2.8Ghz BE
4GB of DDR2 1066 RAM
500GB 32MB Hard Drive
Computer Case
600W PSU
Keyboard and Mouse
22" LCD Monitor
Nvidia 260 (216 Core) or ATi 4870
2.1 Computer Speakers
OEM Windows Vista 64bit Home Edition Premium

For another $50-100 he could get Vista Home Edition Premium Retail. That is if he builds it himself.

My recommendation is find a PC that that is already built and comes with Vista 64 bit and 4-8GB of RAM. From there upgrade the PSU and Video card for around $300-350. This system would be comparible to the one above or better depending on the processor and the total ram with the system selected.

 

Thanks for the replies thus far. I don't fully understand exactly what Merlanni and Munchkin Blender were discussing but it is interesting nonetheless. Generally, it's probably best to assume that I know next to nothing- it isn't as if I'm going to be insulted.

Estimated parental contribution is probably about £400-500 and I think I'd be willing to spend up to a couple of hundred more. So, unless there is something absolutely vital just outwith that budget, I'd suggest a tentative upper limit of £700. Note to everyone: I'm in the UK, so I'm working in pounds sterling here. That should hopefully save any confusion.

I wouldn't be all that confident in my ability to build it myself- I'm not sure that I wouldn't mess something up. So I'm definitely leaning towards a pre-built system, unless it is easier than I'm imagining and hard to mess up.

I don't have any preferred brands, although being readily available in the UK would have to be a feature.

Forgive me if I'm seeming a bit slow, but is the above something like what I should be going for?

Or would this just be much easier?

Ok, I've now got cpu-z. I'm not sure exactly what information from it is relevant, so here's a selection:

Spoiler

Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2600+
L1 D-Cache: 64 KB
L1 I-Cache: 64 KB
L2 Cache: 256 KB
Motherboard Chipset: nForce2 Ultra 400
Memory: Dual channel, DDR, 512 MB
SPD: 256 MB DDR in slots 1 & 2, nothing in 3

 

No, nothing can be re-used. The case might be usefull but I doubt that the power supply is modern enough. It was a long shot anyway.

A little sidestep for windows. He can use the win 7 rc until the final version is in. (speculation about a pre thanksgiving release) That way he can save the pounds for vista.

 

If I was in your shoes and knew nothing about PC I would go visit a local PC shop or even one of the local electronic retailers that sell computers. I would compare prices of various systems.



When looking at the computer the most important piece is the CPU and you want to make sure the it states that it is a Dual or Quad Core with any of the following labels: Intel i-7, Intel Core Duo, AM2+ and AM3. You also may want to get the CPU with 2.5 GHz or higher frequency.

The next most critical piece is how much memory the system has or RAM. You want at least 3GB or more.

The third critical piece is the hard drive. You want a 500GB SATAII harddrive. Anything bigger is a bonus.

The forth piece that is critical is the power supply. If the power supply that came with the PC has a PCI-e connector (6 pins) you should be fine to upgrade to a decent/good graphic card.

The final piece is the graphic card. I'm going to recommend the 4770. This way you have a good card that can play most of the newer games on medium to high setting but this is also one of the cheaper cards out there going for around 70-80 euros, maybe even less. It also uses the least amount of energy when compared to other graphic cards that require the PCI-e connector from the powers supply.

 

Ati 4770 is one of the best performance/price ratio cards. Slower than the 4850 by a nose. All the graphic power you need for two years with a normal screen 20/22 inch.

Perhaps taking an am3 board whit the heka 720. Let him make the step to am3 because later he can put one of the 6 or 8 cores on it. AM2+ is cheaper by far but the next upgrade will cost a new board. (and windows oem.) The am3 CPU fits on am2+, the am2+ cpu not on an am3.

If his case is still ok, he gets 500 watt PSU, keeps the mouse and keyboard, he can offset the cost for the ddr3 memory and am3 setup a bit.

How about this example:

Idealcomputing UK

AMD PHENOM II X3 710 7.5MB SKT-AM3 127
ASUS SKT-AM3 M4A78T-E 131
ASUS 512MB RADEON 4770 PCI-E 2.0 90
GEIL 4GB DDR3 1333 65
SAMSUNG HARD DISK SERIAL 1TB UDMA 300 7200RPM 32MB OEM 80
ANTEC TRUEPOWER NEW 550W A PFC RETAIL 88

581 Pounds

Add a case for 50 if needed, a dvd drive for 20, windows for 100.

This will keep going for a while, at least two years, likely 3 without upgrading anything. I did not have the time to look deep into the parts if it all fits together nicely.

 

@Merlanni - The kid obviously doesn't know enough to build a computer himself, so stop pushing him down a road that's going to cost him more money, have less support, and x10 more frustration.


@Decados - According to Google, UK£ 700 ≈ $1,071 U.S. dollars. With that in mind, I went to Dell and HP's websites and customized a few of their home systems, that are around your price range:

Dell Inspiron 537 ≈$900 USD

• Intel Core 2 Quad processor Q9400
• 4GB DDR2 RAM
• ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB
• 640GB Hard Drive
• 20" Dell S2009W HD Widescreen Monitor
• 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
• 1Yr Warranty

For a little more, you can get a Core i7 based system from Dell or HP. The core i7 blows any AMD CPU away by far...AMD fanboys may say differently, but the Core i7 is the CPU you want.

Dell Stuido XPS 435

• Intel Core i7-920
• 3GB DDR3 Tri-Channel SDRAM at 1066MHz - 3 DIMMs
• ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
• 500GB Hard Drive
• 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
• No Monitor
• 1Yr Warranty

HP Pavilion d5200t Series

• Intel Core i7 920 processor
• 3GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM [3x1GB] (HP is currently offering a free upgrade to 4GB of RAM (2x2GB), but the Core i7 works best with 3 sticks of RAM...so you'd have to get 3x1GB or 3x2GB sticks of RAM for the best performance)
• 500GB hard drive
• 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT
• LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW
• No monitor

For some reason HP's systems are a little more expensive right now...which is odd, because Dell is usually more expensive.

The problem is, I don't know if those models are sold in GB... But I recomend you spend some time on both manufaturer's websites and play around with the systems. Start with a system that's about $200 less then your absolute maximum budget, and customize it to your liking...if it goes over, try customizing the next model down.

Unfortunatly, both manufacturers have their tech support based in India...so if something breaks, be prepaired for a thick accent reading from a script on their screen.

Again, that being said, I think HP and Dell systems are best for the non-tech savvy crowd that just want a machine that works with minimal effort.

 

Good point Kitrax. However, I recommend a local computer shop; if you have any troubles you can bring it to a local dealer to get fixed. If you do purchase the PC locally try to get a 1-3 years of free PC service as part of the purchase price.

 

Not pushing just a example in price. Any shop will build it for a fee. Some even for free.

It is clear he does not want to build it, and it is the right choice for him.

Local pc store is the best. One that builds it him/herself.

 

This store will allow you to buy online and will build it for you. Best of both worlds I've never tried them myself but know a couple of people who have and were happy with their PCs.

 

Well, i was not far of their model under 600. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index.php?page=spec&&spec=gaming600

Looks fine to me. Thoughts people?

You might want to add the surge protection and the virussoftware.

 

@Merlanni

Swap a 4770 for that 9800GT and its a decent PC.

 

The 4770 actually beats out a 9800GT; in fact to beat out the 4770 you would have to go with a Nvidia 250/9800 GTX+, which cost $20-50 more and has a slight performance increase over the 4770, maybe 5%.

Keep in mind we are talking about retail prices in the stores and not online prices found at Newegg, etc...

 

You guys must be lucky...all the local shops around here are all crooks, idiots, or a combination of the two. I can't recommend any of the local shops to any of my friends because I know that recommendation will come back to bite me in a butt a few days later.

 

Yeah looks good. They don't seem to have the HD 4770 though (at least not yet) so you might as well stick to the 9800GT. Getting an HD 4830 will knock off 20 pounds off the price for almost exactly the same performance. You do lose out on that 1 Gb of VRAM, but frankly I don't think it makes any difference on a 9800 GT.

 

LOL...There are no shops in my area. Where I use to live, 45 minutes drive from where I live now, there were like 5 shops. All of them were very reasonable and helpful. This was when mobo used jumpers.

With how easy it is today to build a PC it is worth saving the extra $75-150+ in build cost and do it yourself. There are so many online manuals out there to help too. I think the hardest part about building a PC are receiving the wrong part, detecting faulty parts, cost of shipping the part back to the retailer or manufacturer and the time associated with the delay of building the PC.

My last three builds I have had one faulty part and it was the motherboard. I ended up calling the retailer and paid $10 more for a higher end part. I also paid another $25 for expedited shipping of the new part and shipping the old part back to the retailer.

So, it cost me $35 dollars and 2 days delay in me having my dream PC a few years ago. That is within a 10 year time frame of 3 PC being built. Not too bad if you ask me.