How much are decent PC's these days?

[Scutch]

I've been using a laptop for ages now, but would like to get back into looking at PC's. I have my consoles for gaming, but would certainly be interested in finding out how much it would cost to have a gaming spec rig, ideally for editing in games such as FIFA, GTA IV, BF etc. My mate has modded FIFA 11 with an ATI Radeon HD 5800 1024 MB graphics card, and maxed out the pictures he's getting are superb.

What sort of price would be I be looking at for a decent spec PC (processor, memory and graphics card being the priorities). I don't need it for anything else, so running 300 programs at the same time isn't really an issue. It's just quite off putting seeing how much folk have spent on their systems when I'm looking around at rigs costing £500 or so. Is it practially impossible to have a good setup for that price, nowadays?

I used to be up to speed with all the jargon and DDR nonsense, but now I genuinely don't have a clue about the differences in the numbers of processors and the like.

Cheers.

 

[funksteruk2]

spent around £1000 on mine

 

[Scutch]

spent around £1000 on mine

Haha, that's a fair comment but with no context. Is your system awesome, or pretty sh*t? LOL.

Can you max out your settings with good results on BF, COD, Oblivion etc or does it struggle at the high end?

 

[Wilkeh]

You can get a decent machine for under £500 tbh.

 

[Scutch]

You can get a decent machine for under £500 tbh.

Novatech are pretty handy when it comes to gaming rigs. Just had a look on there and there's a few for circa £500. But I don't know what I'm looking at anymore with all the numbers and letters in the peripheral and components.

Bah.

 

[LIL B]

If you want a good home computer also, can get a mac?

As mac running windows through bootcamp should be bang on same speed as a pc of same spec.

But again, would cost you alot more than £500, cheap wimpy eating cnut.

 

[Wilkeh]

Ignore the above comment. A mac is no way to game. (Why would you spend more money for a Mac and then run windows on it for the same level of performance???) Have a look on Overclockers mate, some good deals on there. For some reason Cliosport doesn't let me list things at work, it puts it into one paragraph - You want at least a Dual Core 3.0ghz+, 4GB RAM, ATI HD5750 or better card and at least a 500GB hard drive. That would cost about £300.

 

[Wilkeh]

Here we go - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-210-OK&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat= Stick a Graphics card on that and it's a winner winner chicken dinner. AMD Phenom II Quad core 3.2Ghz, 8GB RAM and 1TB Hard drive. Stick the ATI HD 6770 card on that for an extra £75. Awesome machine then for under £500. That's a bargain of a machine mate. Would run any game out there and the majority of them at the highest spec.

 

[EngineerD]

Ignore the above comment. A mac is no way to game. (Why would you spend more money for a Mac and then run windows on it for the same level of performance???) Have a look on Overclockers mate, some good deals on there. For some reason Cliosport doesn't let me list things at work, it puts it into one paragraph - You want at least a Dual Core 3.0ghz+, 4GB RAM, ATI HD5750 or better card and at least a 500GB hard drive. That would cost about £300.

+1 for Overclockers, can't go wrong with them.

 

[Scutch]

Here we go - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-210-OK&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat= Stick a Graphics card on that and it's a winner winner chicken dinner. AMD Phenom II Quad core 32Ghz, 8GB RAM and 1TB Hard drive. Stick the ATI HD 6770 card on that for an extra £75. Awesome machine then for under £500. That's a bargain of a machine mate. Would run any game out there and the majority of them at the highest spec.

Thanks Wilky. Always a good lad

 

[Wilkeh]

Use that machine as a guideline mate whilst you look around. That really is quite a bit of serious kit for it's money. Bear in mind you'll need windows as well. What would be your ideal budget?

 

[Christopher]

My mate built a machine that'll run most things maxed out for around £600.

If that wasn't already vague enough for you, I have no idea what spec it is either.

 

[Scutch]

F*ck me that machine on the link you posted seems fantastic, Wilky. The reviews for it are incredible.

 

[.Adam.]

+1 on the comp that Wilky posted.

 

[sbridgey]

Dont buy an AMD system Intel are miles ahead in terms of performance

Buy these bits and put them together yourself: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2011/09/01/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-september-2011/2

 

[Wilkeh]

Dont buy an AMD system Intel are miles ahead in terms of performanceBuy these bits and put them together yourself: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2011/09/01/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-september-2011/2

AMD are fantastic! I've never been a fan of intel. It's similar to the PC vs MAC wars

 

[Wilkeh]

F*ck me that machine on the link you posted seems fantastic, Wilky. The reviews for it are incredible.

Lol mate, I've just been looking at it myself and thinking about another purchase! Haha. That really is a decent machine for it's money, serious gaming quality with that, absolute bargain! A decent graphics card and a copy of windows 7 will see that system run for years and years. Wouldn't even need updating for a very long time.

 

[sbridgey]

AMD are fantastic! I've never been a fan of intel. It's similar to the PC vs MAC wars

Performance charts speak for themselves http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/07/13/amd-phenom-ii-x4-980-black-edition/6

 

[SamP]

Sandybridge s***s on the competition. AMD are now utterly w**k and thats a fact. Back in the day I ran a Winchester core AMD64 and it was epic, now its not... etc etc.

 

[Wilkeh]

Performance charts speak for themselves http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/07/13/amd-phenom-ii-x4-980-black-edition/6

I never said Intel were bad Don't forget about the budget as well. Intel chips are ALOT more expensive.

 

[wozzaa]

Wouldn't bother with an ATI 6770 at all not a great card for gaming to be honest.

Personally would look at the current today only deals on scan. Deal number 1 at the moment http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.aspx?_s_icmp=AkaIX3H4 just add an Nvidia GTX 560 and you will have a pretty decent machine. Around £600 ish total.

 

[sbridgey]

I never said Intel were bad Don't forget about the budget as well. Intel chips are ALOT more expensive.

i hope you looked at my link http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2011/09/01/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-september-2011/2 for a extra £100 you get a better cpu and a proper gaming graphics card :approve:

 

[Wilkeh]

Wouldn't bother with an ATI 6770 at all not a great card for gaming to be honest.Personally would look at the current today only deals on scan. Deal number 1 at the moment http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.aspx?_s_icmp=AkaIX3H4 just add an Nvidia GTX 560 and you will have a pretty decent machine. Around £600 ish total.

Good point. It's just one of the options for that computer, however, overclockers being the fantastic company they are, states "If you would like to make a small change to the specification call our sales team on 0871 200 5052 and they will be happy to help." Just ask for a better card, this - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-187-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866 is a cracker for the price

 

[.Adam.]

Scutch, you are a c**t.

I now want a new desktop.

 

[wozzaa]

Good point. It's just one of the options for that computer, however, overclockers being the fantastic company they are, states "If you would like to make a small change to the specification call our sales team on 0871 200 5052 and they will be happy to help." Just ask for a better card, this - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-187-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866 is a cracker for the price

Personally I just wouldn't give overclockers any of my money now. Had bad experiences in the past and their customer support was pretty much non existent. Where as Scan I have only good things to say about them.

 

[Wilkeh]

I've always used overclockers, always been fantastic. I live near Stoke-on-Trent so I usually pop up to them and get stuff direct. The guys know there stuff in the office!

 

[olliewebbuk]

www.bit-tech.net

Job done.

 

[olliewebbuk]

Here's were you want to be: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2011/09/01/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-september-2011/1

 

[jimmyuk86]

I spent £2000 on mine for just the tower alone. More than my car! Built it from scratch using parts mostly off overclockers and runs like....off a shovel:

Core i7 Processor
Noctua heat sink
Asus P6T motherboard
6GB XMS 3 ram (very low timings)
2x WD Velociraptor hard drives (on RAID 0)
Antec 900 Case
Corsair 1000w PSU
Xfi Fatal1ty sound card
GTX 895 graphics card with modified GTX 280 cooler

 

[jimmyuk86]

* GTX 285

 

[Silent_Scone]

2 grand for that... scary lol

 

[olliewebbuk]

I used to be a PC gamer, until I released what a money pit it is.

 

[sbridgey]

Here's were you want to be: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2011/09/01/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-september-2011/1

i already gave that link out, not that anyone read it!!

 

[Darren S]

I spent £2000 on mine for just the tower alone. More than my car! Built it from scratch using parts mostly off overclockers and runs like....off a shovel:

Core i7 Processor
Noctua heat sink
Asus P6T motherboard
6GB XMS 3 ram (very low timings)
2x WD Velociraptor hard drives (on RAID 0)
Antec 900 Case
Corsair 1000w PSU
Xfi Fatal1ty sound card
GTX 895 graphics card with modified GTX 280 cooler

Nothing better when cooling on air, imo.

D.

 

[iain187]

Personally I just wouldn't give overclockers any of my money now. Had bad experiences in the past and their customer support was pretty much non existent. Where as Scan I have only good things to say about them.

+1

got a mobo off them which wouldnt boot off a sata drive only an ide, which started alarm bells ringing straight away...

found an ide drive, got the pc built, found a bios update which seemed to resolve the problem, so re-did windows on a sata drive, kept getting BSOD... systematically swap tested everything and narrowed it down to the processor/mobo as i didnt have spare for that processor socket.

got an RMA off them and needed to go to stoke for work so i arranged to hand deliver it to them... they then sent it back with the pins on the processor all bent and accused me of doing it. told them to f**k off and took them to small claims to get my money back the dirty scum bag c**ts


when i googled i found i wasnt the only person who has such a strong negative opinion of their customer service skills if something isnt working. Apparently they just ban you from their forums if you have a problem like this (even if you try to deal with it in a more civil way than the language i just used!!)

 

[Munson]

AMD are ok on a budget, but since they're the only other choice other than Intel, that's not exactly heaping praise on their chips. They're cheaper because Intel rinse them at everything. Simple economics really. My Sandbridge processor takes the piss. Just does whatever it wants all the time and runs extremely cool even at 100% load at 4.4Ghz. In fact it was running at 4.4Ghz at first power up. Pretty sure it'll easily run 5Ghz. Intel PWN.

 

[Wilkeh]

Always have used AMD, always been pleased with them. To be honest though, thinking about it, I've never owned an Intel PC so I have no comparrison at all Looks like I've been living in the slow(er) world

 

[conneh]

Recently built a i5 2500k system (4.7ghz) and it's the titties. It runs everything flat out without breaking a sweat. All i needed was cpu/mobo/ram/gfx/case/heatsink and it came to around £600 all in.

 

[Scutch]

Found this thread which I feel is excellent. Answers so many questions, as that's what it's purpose is :

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3371605

 

[Malachi]

Spent about £1200 on mine in December 2008, and it still handles everything on max. Main specs are i7 920 OC'd to 3.4ghz, 6GB ram @ 1600 and a GTX285.

I used to be an AMD fanboy, but then they started falling behind, and I couldn't resist the "new" (in 2008) Intel core i processors.