[mctw]

That build will also run most games pretty well! It not as powerful as the other build, but as you say, you get what you pay for. An idea might be upgrading to the 4870 instead of the 4850, as for an extra 34 quid (ish) it'd say its worth it.

As for monitors, LG and Samsung are some of the best. This looks pretty good, but with that budget you could go bigger.

This thread has quite a few recommendations, the prices might be a little high for you budget though. Still worth a look i'd say.

[Jakkoff]

Thanks mctw, sorry to be a pain but would you recommend this build as well? A friend built this himself for me and sent me the specs. Is this worth the money and will work effectively?

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz) 1333MHz FSB/6MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM)
2GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY!
Motherboard
ASUS® P5QL: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 3 PCI, 2 x PCI-e x1
Operating System
Genuine Windows XP™ Professional + SP3, CD & Licence (£109)
USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
22x DUAL LAYER LIGHTSCRIBE DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
512MB ATI RADEON™ HD 4850 PCI EXPRESS
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK FUSION CASE inc. 2 FRONT USB
Power Supply & Case Cooling
450W Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£24)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£15)
Firewire & Video Editing
NONE
TV Card
NONE
Monitor
LG W2252TQ 22" WIDESCREEN, HDCP/DVI/2MS/1680 x1050 (£169)
2nd Monitor
NONE
GeForce 3D Vision
NONE
DVI Cable
NONE
Keyboard & Mouse
NONE
Mouse
NONE
Speakers
NONE
Webcam
NONE
Headsets (VOIP)
NONE
Surge Protection
NONE
Printer
NONE
Anti-Virus
NONE
Office Software
NONE
External Hard Drive
NONE
Home Installation
NONE
Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1st Month Free Collect & Return
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price (excluding VAT)
£615.65
Price
£708.00
Order Quantity
1
Bulk discount
£0.00
Total order price (Ex VAT)
£615.65
Total order Price

£708.00

[mctw]

- Only 2gb of RAM? you might as well go for 4gb instead, its not expensive. 4gb will be enough for anything, 2gb might be pushing it, epically on vista (though you've chosen XP)

- Lack of makes on the Hard Drive and the PSU are worrying, epically the PSU!

Apart from those, not bad, the price is a little steep though, but thats including the screen as well, so it might not be all that bad after all. Ill see if i can spec up a similar machine without a screen, just out of interest.

EDIT; forgot to mention, using a AMD like in the first build would be cheaper than this i believe.

[mctw]

working on that your screen costs a round 200quid, i'd say that your paying a good 50 for build alone, but thats just a rough estimate.

[Jakkoff]

Ok, thanks, a friend made that for me and said it would be good for me, but like you said i looked through it and thought for that price i can get double the RAM and hard drive space for the same price with an AMD. On this topic, would you be able to spec up a good computer within my budget of £700-800 with the screen and operating system included preferably. Thanks.

Also mctw, do you think purchasing this pre-built: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...-170-OK&tool=5
and then purchasing a screen on top would be better than purchasing that custom build i posted before?

[mctw]

When you say spec up a good computer, do you mean as parts, or as a prebuilt? I'd 100% recommend in parts, you get far more for your money. Building a PC isn't hard at all, honestly, and if you do get stuck, one of us will be able to help you.

Also, in regards to a screen, what sort of size do you want? Thats the key decider for price..

[Jakkoff]

I would like to get a 22" screen so it will probably amount to about £200. So buying that pre-built i posted in my last post and the screen would come to around £700 also. Is that better for performance than the build from parts i posted earlier on? I noticed that the CPU in the pre-built is Intel E5200 and the one in my custom build is E8400..is this a big difference? and is the E8400 far better for gaming.

[mctw]

the E5200 is far inferior to the E8400, however, its a hell of a lot cheaper! It also overclocks very well, meaning you can raise the speed of the E5200 to match the speed of a E8400. This gives equal performance, for far less cost!

And im sorry, with the amount of builds that have been posted, ive lost track, which ones are you comparing?

[Jakkoff]

Ok, finally i have respecced the custom build i posted earlier, and i think this is what im going to go with. Can you double check for me that it is a good PC? And as for the PSU and hard drive they are solid brands as i spoke to the company and they assured me.

This is what i am going to order.

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz) 1333MHz FSB/6MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM)
4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® P5QL: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 3 PCI, 2 x PCI-e x1
Operating System
Genuine Windows XP™ Professional + SP3, CD & Licence (£109)
USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
3rd Hard Disk
NONE
4th Hard Disk
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
22x DUAL LAYER LIGHTSCRIBE DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 4870 PCI EXPRESS
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK FUSION CASE inc. 2 FRONT USB
Power Supply & Case Cooling
700W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£58)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£15)
Firewire & Video Editing
NONE
TV Card
NONE
Monitor
LG W2252TQ 22" WIDESCREEN, HDCP/DVI/2MS/1680 x1050 (£169)
2nd Monitor
NONE
3rd Monitor
NONE
4th Monitor
NONE
GeForce 3D Vision
NONE
DVI Cable
NONE
Keyboard & Mouse
NONE
Mouse
NONE
Speakers
NONE
Webcam
NONE
Headsets (VOIP)
NONE
Surge Protection
NONE
Printer
NONE
Anti-Virus
NONE
Office Software
NONE
External Hard Drive
NONE
Home Installation
NONE
Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1st Month Free Collect & Return
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price (excluding VAT)
£740.87
Price
£852.00
Order Quantity
1
Bulk discount
£0.00
Total order price (Ex VAT)
£740.86
Total order Price

£852.00

[mctw]

thats quite a bit over your budget, but still.

Looks good apart from the PSU, quad rail = BAD!