Which of these PCs should I choose?

[Dunn-y]

Looking at buying a decent PC that's capable of doing most things with relative ease including playing the latest games with relatively high settings.

Play.com seem to do the cheapest PCs which look to have decent spec, but they don't include an OS. My budget is £400 max, including the price of Windows 7. Below are some of the PCs

Choice 1 (http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/3230/2497/-/30030583/Galaxy-3-AMD-Bulldozer-FX-4100-3-6Ghz-Desktop-Gaming-PC-1tb-8gb-DDR3-GT-520-1gb/Product.html?searchfilters=ae233%7B140-349.99%7D%2b)

Choice 2 (http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/3230/2497/-/30030626/Galaxy-3-AMD-FX-Quad-Core-3-6Ghz-Desktop-Gaming-PC-500gb-8gb-DDR3-ATI-6570-1gb/Product.html?searchfilters=ae233%7B140-349.99%7D%2b)

Choice 3 (http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/3230/2497/-/30029697/Galaxy-3-Intel-Quad-Core-I5-500gb-4gb-DDR3-ATI-Radeon-5450-1gb-Desktop-Gaming-PC/Product.html?searchfilters=ae233%7B140-349.99%7D+)

Now I know the Graphics Cards on these aren't great, that's something I can easily upgrade in the future. What I'm more interested in is how good the CPU and Motherboard is as in how future proof would you say it is and which out of those is the better one to go for.

The Intel CPU PC is more expensive, has a lower CPU frequency and half the RAM so I'm more inclined to go with one of the AMDs. Although I'm not to sure what the difference is between the two AMD CPUs.

Thanks

Found another for just under £300, looks to be the same except for the Graphics Card, which I will be upgrading when I have the money.

Choice 4 (http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/3230/2497/-/30030552/Galaxy-3-AMD-FX-Quad-Core-3-6Ghz-Desktop-Gaming-PC-1tb-8gb-DDR3-ATI-6450-1gb/Product.html?searchfilters=ae233%7B140-349.99%7D%2b)

Looking to buy before the end of the week so just a quick reply as to which is best out of those would be great. Thanks again.

[Tom_the_great]

just buy an ipad :)

on a serious note i think i may go for choice 3, however i may be wrong kind of out the loop these days.

[L3nny]

I'd go for option 3.

Actually what I would do is get a PS3 to play games and a cheap laptop for comptering stuff.

[SoulKiss]

None of those are great - the Intel wins in that group, but its a last generation Sandybridge i5 and not the fastest one. The AMD Bulldozer chips were supposed to set the world alight - turns out that in some appplications they performed no better than the chips they were replacing.

10 Years ago I would have bought AMD, but they have lost the plot by a long way when it comes to CPU's. If you are going to upgrade to an Nvidia (my preference) gfx card in the future I would go Intel, AMD (Who make the Radeon cards, having bought ATI) are rumoured to not optimise their kit to work with non Radeon gfx - or at least to optimise for Radeon.

All will do what you want tho.

Could I put together better for cheaper - nope and it will do you just fine based on what yiou sayTBH.

[markc123]

A friend of mine bought from these guys: http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/-b-NEW-b-Fabro-i5-3450-93p1364.htm

Thats a quad core intel i5, with a reasonable spec and windows for £425. Dropping th ebudget graphics gets you down to your budget, and means no wastage when you can afford to upgrade. Add a decent card and a SSD over the next year and you will end up with a very fast PC.

Can play around with different specs as well.

[Dunn-y]

I have a PS3 that I use for gaming and a Laptop which I use for computer stuff. However my Laptop is, well old, and I thought instead of buying another laptop, why not just get a PC that is decent and relatively future proof or at least the main components. CPU, Motherboard.

My Laptop is a Sony Vaio with an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.66GHz and 1Gb DDR2 RAM, 80Gb HDD and an Intel intergrated GPU which is running Vista.

I would like to be able to use my PC for Video Editing, nothing professional. Gaming, Internet Browsing, Graphic Design, Web Design hopefully and other general computer stuff.

So Choice 3 is what you would go for even with half the RAM and slower CPU? Can that be upgraded to 8Gb RAM like the rest and is a 3.1GHz i5 better than the 3.6GHz AMD?

Thanks.

Sorry for all the qestions but I want to make sure I buy the best I can within my budget and it's been years since I last looked at PC components so I'm a bit behind in what's better etc.

[Dunn-y]

Thanks Markc123. I may tempt myself to go over my budget slightly with what you recommended. Looks good and already has Windows installed which is a bonus. Is the extra £13 for 1600MHz Corsair RAM worth the money? If not I may just buy it as it is. Thankyou for the recommendation.

[L3nny]

According to CPU Benchmark the Intel is faster

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=AMD+FX-4100+Quad-Core

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-2380P+%40+3.10GHz

The motherboard supports up to 16gb of RAM
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3774#sp

[DJ123]

I currently work in IT sales, so am aware of how cheap things really are. Personally speaking you're better off building a PC. You can get components so cheap it's unreal. The only 2 expensive things will be your OS and Processor. PM me if you want info on anything

[Spank86]

So does that mean you're a good source of discount parts?

[DJ123]

unfortunately not, contractually i'm not allowed to sell parts on privately :( if i was i could be minted :lol:

[Dunn-y]

I wouldn't know where to start with building a PC from scratch. I wouldn't know what works best and what is more future proof. Something along the lines of the PC recommended by Markc123 seems decent but if I can get something better for the same price then that would be ideal but again I wouldn't know where to start.

[DJ123]

TBH anything technological will be outdate by the time it's installed, the market moves that quickly. What you want is a system that will suffice your need for the next year+, but is also compatible to upgrades. Basically you want your pc to be 'plug and play' in all aspects, processor, ram, HDD etc. Buy the parts which are the latest version e.g RAM that is DDR3.

[Dunn-y]

I don't think I know enough about all the new components to build one from scratch so I'm probably better off going with something like the PC from DinoPC. I think I might try get some extra money together and get the slightly faster Intel i5 and Corsair RAM for that PC. I don't need a monster of a PC just something that is capable with the option to upgrade in the future when needed and this seems to fit the bill. Just a quick question, is the optional extra Cooling fan for that PC worth it or would you consider the standard cooling efficient enough?

[DJ123]

i would say that standard cooling is enough as you're not running a power hungry monster. Keep the case, clean, cool and well ventilated. Hoover it out once a month to keep it running as cool as possible. If i get some time tonight/tomorrow i'll put together a list of components for a pc.
Is it simply a pc for web surfing and general bits, or game play included??

[Dunn-y]

General Computer Stuff. Web Surfing, Video Editing/Rendering (nothing professional), Graphic Design, Gaming (could well become my main gaming machine, so would have to be capable). I'm not expecting a monster for that money, but something decent.

[metalangel]

PC Gamer used to do a great PC (all components listed) you could build yourself for about £500.

They've since gone more hardcore and now it's nearly a grand. A shame.

Someone more clued up: aren't they coming out with new processors right now? Will they fit into the sockets on older or cheaper motherboards?

[Geodude]

Sorry for theadjacking dunny but question for daddyjob as im guessing you're a pc blokey. I was told not to hoover my pc as the air movement causes static and can damage pc. Is that a load of *insert rude word here*

[SoulKiss]

PC Gamer used to do a great PC (all components listed) you could build yourself for about £500.

They've since gone more hardcore and now it's nearly a grand. A shame.

Someone more clued up: aren't they coming out with new processors right now? Will they fit into the sockets on older or cheaper motherboards?

The Ivybridge chips are out, and fit in the same sockets as the previous Sandybridge chips

[DJ123]

Ivybridge aren't all that though, not much greater than a good PCU (depending on what price you pay;) )
Geodude, i couldn't say, i'm not in the tech side of it. Even if you don't hoover it, dust it or use compressed air to clean the dust out.
Most intels are an 1155 Socket, so all up coming new ones should fit. it's all to do with compatability of pcu, motherboard and ram

[markc123]

That one I suggested is ivybridge anyway. The 1600mhz ram may be faster in certain circumstances - gaming and memory intensive tasks like video etc. Standard cooling is fine, upgrades either give you headroom for over clocking (mine run at 4.2GHz) or can be quieter.

If I priced up all the parts, I doubt it would be much cheaper to build a machine, I do it simply because I enjoy it and overclocking things amuses me.

The biggest performance boost over the base spec I suggested is the SSD - 60gb is enough to put windows and your favourite apps on.

[Dunn-y]

Looking through the specs I think I will go for the slightly faster Intel i5 at 3.3GHz as it's only an extra £15. The motherboard specs say it supports 1333MHz RAM so the 1600MHz Corsair won't be supported or have I read that wrong?

Anyway, thanks for the recommendation, that PC is better than I thought I would be able to get at this price.

If the motherboard does support the Corsair RAM then I will also include that as it will be used for gaming as well as everything else.

£450 is a bit over budget but I'm sure I can save some extra money by not spending it on other things.

[markc123]

Looking at the motherboard that they spec, it supports a maximum of 2 sticks of 1333 -so 8gb of 1333 is the best that you can fit. Will be plenty fast enough.

[wyrdness]

The Ivybridge chips are out, and fit in the same sockets as the previous Sandybridge chips

The main advantage of Ivy Bridge over Sandy Bridge is the improved integrated graphics. If you're using a separate graphics card, then there's no point in paying more for Ivy Bridge.

[metalangel]

The Ivybridge chips are out, and fit in the same sockets as the previous Sandybridge chips

Thanks. I haven't had a desktop PC in over a decade so I don't know this stuff any more.

[Dunn-y]

I'm going to be buying the PC tonight. These are the specs I have chosen, not much different from standard.

H61 Chipset Motherboard
Intel i5 3550 @ 3.30GHz
8Gb DDR3
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
500Gb S-ATAIII @ 3.0Gb/s
NVIDIA GeForce GT610 1Gb
Xigmatek Asgard

Total £456

Will be upgrading the Graphics Card in the future to possibly a GTX550 Ti 1Gb or Radeon HD7770

Does this seem decent for the price?

The Motherboard supports up to 16Gb DDR3, not sure if Windows 7 Home Premium will support that though.

[markc123]

16Gb needs 2x8 which are fairly new and only just starting to be cost effective. 64bit windows will support 16GB on the home premium product. Though to be fair, Mine never uses the 12Gb it has to play with anyway.

Looks good, enjoy a nice fast PC with a clean build of Windows on it. Don't forget to do a system image backup wehn you get it so that you can put it back to fresh later with no effort.

I suggest you use Microsoft Security Essentials as a good, free anti-virus package.

[Dunn-y]

Really quick question. I saw a gaming PC advertised on the side of the DinoPC website. However after customising it, I seem to have a better PC or pretty much the same money. Below are the specs.

ASUS P8Z77-V LX (Z77 Chipset)
Intel i5 3550 @ 3.30GHz
8GB DDR3
500GB S-ATAIII
NVIDIA GeForce GT610 1GB
Xigmatek 500W PSU
Xigmatek Asgard Case
Also comes with a 3 year Platinum warranty.

Now for £3 more I can have the Z77 chipset motherboard which according to their buyers guide is a better, more customisable motherboard and a 3 year Platinum warranty instead of the Bronze warranty.

Before I purchase, which or these should I go for? Just doesn't seem right having a better motherboard for the same money.

Link - http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/-b-NEW-b-Nicosaurus-H77-93p1307.htm

I went and built the PC with the same specs as I listed above and it comes to £500 so this must be a special offer.

Thanks

[markc123]

Sounds good that, the mobo that is in that package is full size, so more expansion possibilities including 2 spare ram slots.

These magic configurator type sites always have hidden deals and loopholes :-)

[Dunn-y]

Well I bought it last night. Postage was an extra £25 so my original budget was £400. That was soon broken but I was expecting to end up paying more as I can't help myself. :)

[Dunn-y]

PC arrived yesterday. Packaging was very good and PC arrived intact. Opened it up to have a look inside to make sure nothing had come loose and all I can say is that is the tidiest looking PC I have seen. All the cables were neatly tie wrapped and out the way with everything securely bolted/plugged in.

PC started straight up out the box and even had my name on the start menu. It is very quick compared my laptop. I had a quick go of Left 4 Dead 2 last night and even with a £40 Graphics Card in there it ran it at 1080p with all setting on high (no AA) averaging 40 - 50 fps which, when all you've played is console games, is very fast.

Looking forward to using this PC for other things. Well worth the money and I would recommend DinoPC if you don't mind the delivery times.