Want to build a new Home PC

[north-ict]

My lovely home pentium 4 machine thats i have had for 4-5 years now is outdated and i think its time to build a new machine.
Probably over the weekend i am gonna sit down and work out components etc to build a new tower. Ideally i want to use it for latest gaming and to use Adobe creative suite CS5 on it.

i reckon looking to spend around 500 quid.

I just thought if you guys had any suggestions on setups or parts etc would be greatly appreciated. What better place to ask .

Edit: Im thinking id probably run some virtualisations on it too

[creese]

Here is the list that I built mine from recently. Prices may have changed.

I5 QUAD core Processor - £ 163.47– link: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache.. | Ebuyer.com

Motherboard Socket 1155 - £ 104.67 - link:
Gigabyte GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 H67 Socket 1155 GB LAN 8.. | Ebuyer.com

PSU 500watt - £ 42.41 - link: EXDISPLAY OCZ StealthXstream II 500W Power Supply | Ebuyer.com

Black tower case - £105.00 - link: NZXT Phantom Black Full Tower Case | Ebuyer.com

OR

White tower case - £ 105.00 – link: NZXT Phantom White Full Tower Case | Ebuyer.com

Buy two of theses - Combo DVD drive/burner - £ 24.76
link: Plextor PX-L890 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA.. | Ebuyer.com

Memory 4gb - £38.00 - link: Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit.. | Ebuyer.com

[north-ict]

Here is the list that I built mine from recently. Prices may have changed.

I5 QUAD core Processor - £ 163.47– link: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache.. | Ebuyer.com

Motherboard Socket 1155 - £ 104.67 - link:
Gigabyte GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 H67 Socket 1155 GB LAN 8.. | Ebuyer.com

PSU 500watt - £ 42.41 - link: EXDISPLAY OCZ StealthXstream II 500W Power Supply | Ebuyer.com

Black tower case - £105.00 - link: NZXT Phantom Black Full Tower Case | Ebuyer.com

OR

White tower case - £ 105.00 – link: NZXT Phantom White Full Tower Case | Ebuyer.com

Buy two of theses - Combo DVD drive/burner - £ 24.76
link: Plextor PX-L890 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA.. | Ebuyer.com

Memory 4gb - £38.00 - link: Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit.. | Ebuyer.com

Thanks creese much appreciated for the details Ill have a proper gander at this later.

[sonofsanta]

For £500 you'd want something along these lines... TR's Summer 2011 system guide - The Tech Report - Page 2

I fear that at that budget, you're going to have to sacrifice performance in one of virtualization or games - the former likes a beefy CPU and doesn't care about your GPU, the latter will never have enough GPU and is largely indifferent to your CPU. What's your priority?

[north-ict]

For £500 you'd want something along these lines... TR's Summer 2011 system guide - The Tech Report - Page 2

I fear that at that budget, you're going to have to sacrifice performance in one of virtualization or games - the former likes a beefy CPU and doesn't care about your GPU, the latter will never have enough GPU and is largely indifferent to your CPU. What's your priority?

I mean 500 is a ballpark figure to start off on and work from there so if its a bit more so be it. Ideally would be nice to have both only reason i said 500 is a starting point. Obviously dont wanna go crazy high

[sonofsanta]

How fussed are you about overclocking?

[north-ict]

How fussed are you about overclocking?

Im open to suggestions either way.

[creese]

Got waylaid....

I don't use mine for games and already had a HDD. But it works well for Photoshop etc. and has USB3 sockets and also, my favourite, an onboard HDMI output. In total cost me about £500.

[SmellyLlama]

I'd recommend Antec Psu's, they get a 3 year warranty. We use/sell them in the shop exclusively unless people want a real budget replacement. The same goes for mobo's Intels own ones get a great warranty and rarely go wrong. That Corsair ram is mad cheap at the moment it's great!!

You can throw a cheap passive GT210 or something similar in for about £40 and even play most games.

[sonofsanta]

If you're not going to be encoding much video, your best build for the money would probably be
* Intel Core i5 2500k in a P67 board
* At least 4GB of RAM, if not 8 for virtualization - easy upgrade later on, mind
* An AMD 6950 would be your best choice, but if you can't stretch your budget then the 6870 will do you fine for all current games
* A 500W PSU should suffice for that lot, case of your choice.
* Pick a 1TB drive. The Samsung Spinpoints are very highly regarded, the Western Digital caviar Black has a 5 year warranty.

You'll not got far wrong if you follow those TechReport builds though - they're fairly recent (the Utility Player build is pretty similar to what's above) and well balanced.

EDIT: And as SmellyLlama hints at above, don't cheap out on your PSU (or case) - you'll regret it. If the PSU goes wrong your whole computer goes down, and you'll probably live with the case for a number of years, so it's worth getting a reasonable one. PSU's, you'll want to stick with Antec or Corsair, more or less, and cases from Antec or Coolermaster will generally serve you well at the budget end of the market.

[3s-gtech]

Personally - I'd wait for AMD's Bulldozer chips on AM3+ to be released before seriously pricing up (should be soon!) Even if they're not the greatest performance wise (and they look okay) it should help to drive down prices on decent level CPUs.

For gaming, your chosen resolution is key. The top internally CrossfireX'd and SLI'd cards are no use on a 1680x1050 monitor, and they're overkill at full HD, it's only at 2560x1600 that they start to shine. Depending on what res you use, choose the card to match.

[LiamH]

PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmark Charts

Best friend when trying to compare the many "NvidiATI 123 variant a/b sub class 63" Vs "ATIVIDIA 87423" annoying naming schemes you get with video cards.

They also benchmark CPU's which is handy.

[north-ict]

For some reason i didn't get any notifications that the thread has more replies just saw it now thank you guys for inputting this and recommending. For some reason i don't see the 'Thank you' button on any of the replies to thank :S


Any more helpful suggestions greatly appreciated

[sonofsanta]

For some reason i didn't get any notifications that the thread has more replies just saw it now thank you guys for inputting this and recommending. For some reason i don't see the 'Thank you' button on any of the replies to thank :S


Any more helpful suggestions greatly appreciated

There's no thanks button because it's the Fun Stuff forum, and you only get notified the first time there's a reply since the last time you looked. If you don't refresh any EduGeek pages you don't get further updates.

Good luck, and enjoy

[north-ict]

There's no thanks button because it's the Fun Stuff forum, and you only get notified the first time there's a reply since the last time you looked. If you don't refresh any EduGeek pages you don't get further updates.

Good luck, and enjoy

LOL ahhhh can you tell i am a forum noob? LOL cheers