Recommend me a system/custom-built system (from parts). [+REP & MAYBE DONATOR]

[jackass]

Yeah, i'm in need of a new computer, and don't have much money right now, so i'm looking for quite a cheap yet good system (preferably custom built, so I can get parts specifically to my liking). I want to do all general stuff on the computer, including watching HD videos, editing them, gaming etc. but nothing extreme I guess.

Budget: £300, could maybe stretch to £350 if I HAVE to.

I'll offer +Rep to ANY helpful posts, and perhaps donator to extremely helpful posts (but I mean extremely).

Thanks!

EDIT; I already have a monitor, mouse, speakers & keyboard. :)

[Jordy]

You're definitely gonna have to stretch to £350 (And preferably more) if you want to do HD video editing or gaming and you're going to have to choose between one of the two. Would you rather it be good for HD Video editing (Focus on the CPU) or good for gaming (Focus on the Graphics Card).

[jackass]

You're definitely gonna have to stretch to £350 (And preferably more) if you want to do HD video editing or gaming and you're going to have to choose between one of the two. Would you rather it be good for HD Video editing (Focus on the CPU) or good for gaming (Focus on the Graphics Card).

By HD video editing I mean, on my camcorder, it's 720p, and simple edits, not sure what they are, but I didn't mean hardcore full HD editing.

And focus on Gaming, yeah, that's the thing I do most on here. :)

If I stretch to like, say, £400, that will have to be in a few months, and prices should be slightly lower then anyway.

[Markeh]

CPU - AMD Phenom X2 550 3.1Ghz - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166518
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/196403
RAM - Corsair DDR3 4Gb - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166463
GPU - Sapphire HD 4670 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173708
HDD - SpinPoint F3 500Gb - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146252
ODD - LiteOn iHAS124-19 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176026
Case - Antec 300 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854
£388 without an OS, use your old one if it's a retail one, if not, add a bit for Windows. Sorry I went over budget, but this will be alright for you.

[jackass]

CPU - AMD Phenom X2 550 3.1Ghz - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166518
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/196403
RAM - Corsair DDR3 4Gb - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166463
GPU - Sapphire HD 4670 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173708
HDD - SpinPoint F3 500Gb - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146252
ODD - LiteOn iHAS124-19 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176026
Case - Antec 300 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854
£388 without an OS, use your old one if it's a retail one, if not, add a bit for Windows. Sorry I went over budget, but this will be alright for you.

Thanks for this, i'll go over them as soon as I can in more detail, and compare them with others. If I buy these, i'll buy you donator. :)

Could still do with more choices though guys, +Rep to everyone! (h)

[N!ck]

CPU - AMD Phenom X2 550 3.1Ghz - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166518
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/196403
RAM - Corsair DDR3 4Gb - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166463
GPU - Sapphire HD 4670 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173708
HDD - SpinPoint F3 500Gb - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146252
ODD - LiteOn iHAS124-19 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176026
Case - Antec 300 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854
£388 without an OS, use your old one if it's a retail one, if not, add a bit for Windows. Sorry I went over budget, but this will be alright for you.

This system is ok. Won't be much cop on newish games with hat graphics card, but older ones will be great.

It is missing a PSU. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150985

[jackass]

Yeah, can't have that anyway, because with PSU as well, among other things, it's way over budget. :(

[AgnesIO]

Without being harsh, for £350/£400 you won't really get anything exactly 'good' for gaming.

What sort of games do you have in mind?

[jackass]

Sorry for late reply, i've been away.

Would quad core not be needed then, because AMD Athlon X4 is roughly the same price as the Phenom X2, which is obviously better, but less cores. Just sayin'!


Without being harsh, for £350/£400 you won't really get anything exactly 'good' for gaming.

What sort of games do you have in mind?

Yeah I know, as i've already said, nothing intense. I would be playing games like HL2, HL2:Ep1, HL2:Ep2, Portal, CSS, Trackmania etc. and (when released) games like Portal 2, HL2:Ep3 etc.

It would be nice to be able to run these on good to max settings.

[Feep]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280517458030&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Problem solved :)

[jackass]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280517458030&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Problem solved :)

Not really... I wanted a desktop, not a laptop? :P

[jackass]

Update: I may increase budget to £400, but if that's the case, I can't pay for another couple of months at least.

Also, I might not need a PSU, i've already gone one and it's pretty good, not sure though yet. :)

[jackass]

Sorry for double (triple) post, can't edit, and i've got updates! :)

Would quad core not be needed then, because AMD Athlon X4 is roughly the same price as the Phenom X2, which is obviously better, but less cores?

Also, the hard drive that someone posted was 500GB for £37, but i've seen some 1TB HDD for roughly the same price (I know, again, the 500GB would be higher quality here, but would it make all that much difference?)

[Muct]

The more Hard Drive you have, the slower it is, unless it's an SSD, and they're dear...
HDD's (Normal ones, like that one) have to load/boot up, so the computer actually turning on is slowed down, SSDs are just thjere thopugh, but they're dear and I'm only getting a 60GB SSD for my gaming computer, trust me, they are dear!

Go for the 500GB, faster booting up, and you won't go over it, I haven't gone over 360 GB yet and this computer 've got right now is loaded with stuff!

[Stephen!]

The more Hard Drive you have, the slower it is

Incorrect. It's number of platters and platter density that decides the bandwidth of the drive, not the amount of space it can hold.

[Recursion]

Incorrect. It's number of platters and platter density that decides the bandwidth of the drive, not the amount of space it can hold.

Also, surely in a conventional consumer drive today, actually more space would speed it up, the heads wouldn't have to travel as far to access the data?

[N!ck]

Also, surely in a conventional consumer drive today, actually more space would speed it up, the heads wouldn't have to travel as far to access the data?

In general, higher capacity drives have higher platter densities, so yes.

[jackass]

So 500GB or 1TB?! (Both similar prices)

[AgnesIO]

So 500GB or 1TB?! (Both similar prices)

What are their specs?

[Stephen!]

1TB. Chances are you won't notice the difference in performance.

[jackass]

@Android, pretty much identical.


1TB. Chances are you won't notice the difference in performance.

Okay, thanks. :)