New PC

[smartypants 4,596]

I'm looking to buy a desktop pc for under 400 if possible. Not for gaming more basic browsing, maybe running a couple of programs simultaneously.

What kind of spec should I be looking at? Ram etc?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Iakona 2,326]

£400 with or without a monitor?

[smartypants 4,596]

£400 with or without a monitor?

Without mate.

[Iakona 2,326]

Atleast an i3 processor, preferably an i5 though.

6gb + of ram.. It's a nice sweet spot. If you can get more then that's great!

Don't worry too much about HDD size.. prioritizing a good quality CPU is way more important. If you need more memory down the line you can always add another HDD, replacing a CPU on the otherhand is considerably more expensive and on top of that you might need to buy a new mobo. So yeah, it's worth sacrificing a bit of HDD space if it means you can get a better CPU in your budget.

Other than that things to look out for..

- USB3.0 ports. Not a requirement as USB2.0 will suffice, but it's nice to have!

- 1600Mhz RAM, in this budget your most likely going to get 1333mhz, but it's by no means impossible. Again no essential but a bonus!

- HDD size depends on what you'll be doing.. if your just a casual users you could easily get away with a 500gb HDD.

If you are able to source your own operating system you can save a fair whack too.

I'll have a look in abit!

Places to look at..

ebuyer.com

dabs.co.uk

overclockers.co.uk

scan.co.uk

novatech.co.uk

aria.co.uk

[smartypants 4,596]

Atleast an i3 processor, preferably an i5 though.

6gb + of ram.. It's a nice sweet spot. If you can get more then that's great!

Don't worry too much about HDD size.. prioritizing a good quality CPU is way more important. If you need more memory down the line you can always add another HDD, replacing a CPU on the otherhand is considerably more expensive and on top of that you might need to buy a new mobo. So yeah, it's worth sacrificing a bit of HDD space if it means you can get a better CPU in your budget.

Other than that things to look out for..

- USB3.0 ports. Not a requirement as USB2.0 will suffice, but it's nice to have!

- 1600Mhz RAM, in this budget your most likely going to get 1333mhz, but it's by no means impossible. Again no essential but a bonus!

If you are able to source your own operating system you can save a fair whack too.

Thanks for all that mate, best to have a rough idea before going into a shop.

I take it you mean getting a custom built one rather than a Dell or something like that?

[Iakona 2,326]

Thanks for all that mate, best to have a rough idea before going into a shop.

I take it you mean getting a custom built one rather than a Dell or something like that?

Aye pre-builds, same as what you find in PCworld but without the ridiculous price tag. I edited my previous posts with some online retailers.. out of the ones there I recommend ebuyer and novatech the most. I find Overclockers and Scan better for high end stuff!

Generally speaking in this price range i'd avoid custom builds.. the saving would be pennies, then you'd have the hassle of getting it built or paying someone to do it.

[smartypants 4,596]

Aye pre-builds, same as what you find in PCworld but without the ridiculous price tag. I edited my previous posts with some online retailers.. out of the ones there I recommend ebuyer and novatech the most. I find Overclockers and Scan better for high end stuff!

Generally speaking in this price range i'd avoid custom builds.. the saving would be pennies, then you'd have the hassle of getting it built or paying someone to do it.

Cheers again, just browsing through them.

Is there any brand names to look out for or avoid? Zoostorm, HP etc?

[Iakona 2,326]

If you can source your own operating system and you're confident enough fitting a HDD and DVD drive(extremely easy 2 minute job, plenty of vids on youtube) then this barebones system would be a beast. You'd be looking at around £350 all in all...

You'd actually be a graphics card away from having a respectable enough gaming PC.

http://www.novatech..../bb-63008a.html

To be honest most brands are okay as they all use off the shelf parts.. So as long as they detail the components your safe. It's when they start skipping on details you need to be wary! HP and Acer tend to fill your system with bloatware though. Zoostorm I haven't had any dealings with personally.. but from what i'm reading they seem respectable enough!

[Iakona 2,326]

If you'd rather buy a pre-build that includes an operating system

http://www.ebuyer.co...op-dt-sp5ek-018

http://www.ebuyer.co...pc-m11bb-eu001s

The barebones one in the previous post would be considerably more powerful though..

[smartypants 4,596]

If you can source your own operating system and you're confident enough fitting a HDD and DVD drive(extremely easy 2 minute job, plenty of vids on youtube) then this barebones system would be a beast. You'd be looking at around £350 all in all...

You'd actually be a graphics card away from having a respectable enough gaming PC.

http://www.novatech..../bb-63008a.html

To be honest most brands are okay as they all use off the shelf parts.. So as long as they detail the components your safe. It's when they start skipping on details you need to be wary! HP and Acer tend to fill your system with bloatware though. Zoostorm I haven't had any dealings with personally.. but from what i'm reading they seem respectable enough!

Building it myself might be a step too far though I'll have a think about it. I had spotted that one mate but I've no experience in sourcing an OS etc, so will probably opt for a pre built.

How does this look?

http://www.dabs.com/products/zoostorm-intel-core-i5-3330-4gb-500gb-dvdrw-win-7-pro-3yr-onsite-wrty-8X5V.html?src=3

[smartypants 4,596]

If you'd rather buy a pre-build that includes an operating system

http://www.ebuyer.co...op-dt-sp5ek-018

http://www.ebuyer.co...pc-m11bb-eu001s

The barebones one in the previous post would be considerably more powerful though..

[Iakona 2,326]

Building it myself might be a step too far though I'll have a think about it. I had spotted that one mate but I've no experience in sourcing an OS etc, so will probably opt for a pre built.

How does this look?

http://www.dabs.com/...8X5V.html?src=3

Really is a case of slotting the drive into the bay and plugging a cable in to it. The CPU, Mobo, RAM and PSU are already pre-installed. It's daunting, but it's the kind of thing that once you do it, you want to slap yourself for worrying about it lol. If you can't source an OS, to buy a legit copy would be another £70.. so you'd be over budget by around £20-30.

The 2 pre-builds are that i linked are solid enough.. ideally i'd like to see an i5 or an A10 in there but it's proving tricky.

They have an ex display model that's got an i5, 8gb of ram and 1tb HDD for £379

http://www.ebuyer.co...r1-dt-sp5ek-017

[smartypants 4,596]

Really is a case of slotting the drive into the bay and plugging a cable in to it. The CPU, Mobo, RAM and PSU are already pre-installed. It's daunting, but it's the kind of thing that once you do it, you want to slap yourself for worrying about it lol. If you can't source an OS, to buy a legit copy would be another £70.. so you'd be over budget by around £20-30.

The 2 pre-builds are that i linked are solid enough.. ideally i'd like to see an i5 or an A10 in there but it's proving tricky.

They have an ex display model that's got an i5, 8gb of ram and 1tb HDD for £379

http://www.ebuyer.co...r1-dt-sp5ek-017

Thanks for all the help, I'll most likely choose from the ones you've linked. Easy life and all that

I don't think I really need a powerful gaming pc, just one for moderate browsing, media and downloading. The ex-display one looks good.

[TheBluenose1972 1,405]

If you can source your own operating system and you're confident enough fitting a HDD and DVD drive(extremely easy 2 minute job, plenty of vids on youtube) then this barebones system would be a beast. You'd be looking at around £350 all in all...

You'd actually be a graphics card away from having a respectable enough gaming PC.

http://www.novatech..../bb-63008a.html

To be honest most brands are okay as they all use off the shelf parts.. So as long as they detail the components your safe. It's when they start skipping on details you need to be wary! HP and Acer tend to fill your system with bloatware though. Zoostorm I haven't had any dealings with personally.. but from what i'm reading they seem respectable enough!

That seems really good, Been away from PC gaming for years but thinking about buying a gaming one purely for Race Sims...Adding a Radeon r9 280X to that PC would give me a more than capable machine for a couple of years? How much extra you talking for the next up AMD processors? 8000 series is it? Also worthwhile?

Sorry to hijack the thread a bit OP

[Iakona 2,326]

That seems really good, Been away from PC gaming for years but thinking about buying a gaming one purely for Race Sims...Adding a Radeon r9 280X to that PC would give me a more than capable machine for a couple of years? How much extra you talking for the next up AMD processors? 8000 series is it? Also worthwhile?

Sorry to hijack the thread a bit OP

In terms of price vs performance the 6300 is definitely one of the best CPU's under £100.. Whilst it's a better all around CPU than intels i3's, the i3's will be marginally better in a gaming environment. I must stress the marginal part though.. The beauty of the 6300 is overclocking it.. extremely easy to do and with sufficient cooling you could probably push 4.5ghz. People out there have got it to 5ghz, but i don't think it's worth the risk.. voltages become far too high at that point!

The 8000 series is a step up in the sense that it has more cores.. but the problem is you won't find many games that will use the 6 cores letalone 8. So the 8320 for instance, despite being £40 more than the 6300 would actually give you next to no performance increase for gaming. The 8300 would actually be marginally worse because of its lower clockspeed.

From the 6300 you'd be looking at an 8350.. but to be honest if your going to pay £150 for a CPU, you'd be better paying a little more and getting an i5 3750k for a proper boost in performance.

[Iakona 2,326]

Thanks for all the help, I'll most likely choose from the ones you've linked. Easy life and all that

I don't think I really need a powerful gaming pc, just one for moderate browsing, media and downloading. The ex-display one looks good.

Out of the first 2 that I linked..

http://www.ebuyer.co...pc-m11bb-eu001s

http://www.ebuyer.co...op-dt-sp5ek-018

I'd personally go with the Asus.

It's cheaper, it has more RAM, and it has a better integrated graphics chip(it will take some pressure of your RAM and CPU). Which CPU is truly better is up for debate as they excel in different areas different areas, but to be honest it's not something you're going to really notice.

[TheBluenose1972 1,405]

In terms of price vs performance the 6300 is definitely one of the best CPU's under £100.. Whilst it's a better all around CPU than intels i3's, the i3's will be marginally better in a gaming environment. I must stress the marginal part though.. The beauty of the 6300 is overclocking it.. extremely easy to do and with sufficient cooling you could probably push 4.5ghz. People out there have got it to 5ghz, but i don't think it's worth the risk.. voltages become far too high at that point!

The 8000 series is a step up in the sense that it has more cores.. but the problem is you won't find many games that will use the 6 cores letalone 8. So the 8320 for instance, despite being £40 more than the 6300 would actually give you next to no performance increase for gaming. The 8300 would actually be marginally worse because of its lower clockspeed.

From the 6300 you'd be looking at an 8350.. but to be honest if your going to pay £150 for a CPU, you'd be better paying a little more and getting an i5 3750k for a proper boost in performance.

Cheers mate, Going to be January if im buying one so will give you a shout around then.

[Iakona 2,326]

Probably best to hang off at the moment anyway... With the next gen consoles using 8 cores it could become a different ball game.

Not to mention AMD look to be changing their gameplan altogether.. it's rumored that the fx9390 is the last performance CPU's that they will release. They just can't keep up with Intel anymore so they are going to be focusing on APU's - similar to the ones found in the next gen consoles.

[j1mgg 3,766]

What type of programs are you looking to run?

[ScottBF2 3,540]

How much am I setting myself back for a decent gaming PC lads?

[TheBluenose1972 1,405]

How much am I setting myself back for a decent gaming PC lads?

If you go with that PC Iakona posted

http://www.novatech..../bb-63008a.html

And add

http://www.novatech....928xoc-3gd.html

£550

Edit: Just noticed no harddrive with that barebones comp...so you'd need to add one also and source Windows.

[Iakona 2,326]

Also add at least another £100 if you don't have a decent monitor.

[TheBluenose1972 1,405]

Also add at least another £100 if you don't have a decent monitor.

Or HDMI right into TV

[ScottBF2 3,540]

Also add at least another £100 if you don't have a decent monitor.

Even if I buy the stuff and build it myself?

[Iakona 2,326]

Even if I buy the stuff and build it myself?

Aye.

CPU: £100-150

GPU: £200-250 (could possibly go lower if you're not fussed about maxing games)

Mobo: £60

HDD: £50

RAM: £50

PSU: £50

DVD drive: £10

Case: £30-£60

Optional:

SSD drive: £80

Legit copy of Windows 7: £70

1080p monitor £90

A quality brand name Power Supply Unit is paramount.. you can pick up a cheap one but you run the risk of frying your computer...

A case you can be flexible with.. but the more you can invest the better case you will get. Aside from build quality the size is important.. some GPU's are massive and won't fit in small-medium cases. You also need to think about airflow in the case.. you don't want everything squished together like a tin of sardines. That would mean air can't circulate which will result in your components overheating.

From scratch you'll be looking around £700. This set up will allow you to max most games at 60fps/1080p..