New Computer Suggestions

[Rixxe]

Greetings All,

I've decided that i want to buy a new computer, my current machine is over 5 years old. I bought it new from MaxData for £400, it's a 3.4GHz dual core which is a monster back in the day. Alas, it's now time to move on.

From my research, I could only get an i5 processor and decent graphics card with the dosh i have to spend. My budget is *only* £700~ which doesn't seem like alot these days considering the processors alone cost upwards of 300 for a GOOD one. I would prefer it to be an English store to avoid shipping costs, as lets be honest thats the last thing i want to pay for.

I've built computer's in the past, but that's not really something i'd want to do again if i can help it. I'd like a purpose built gaming machine (Obviously) but then that's not exactly cheap.

Apart from looking at the obvious stores (Ebuyer, dabs, All the high street stores, BestBuy) are there any other reliable companies?

Cheers

Rixxe.

[iSythe]

If you have built them before, i don't see why you wouldn't want to save yourself a little cash and do it yourself. Not to mention, building them is just becoming easier and easier.
700 is fine for something that will do everything you want.
i5 2500K - 230
P67 MoBo - 150
5770 GPU - 130
Case - 80
550-650W PSU - 80
4GB(2x2GB 1333MHz) RAM - 40
500 GB 7200 rpm HDD - 40

This a little over your 700 pound/euro(w/e it is) budget. It is what you want to be getting, if possible you would want to get a better GPU, but this could be left as your first upgrade down the track when you have the free cash to be able to do it. 1TB HDD and 8GB RAM are also upgrades that can be made for a small amount, but again is going over the budget.

[Rixxe]

Cheers for the reply, Heres one that i had seen, which seems similar to your suggestions..
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/236585

However the graphics card seems....crap to put it bluntly, any idea's on a better card that i *might* be able to replace it with (prefer Radon ATI cards over Nvida).

Also with regards to building it myself, the issues with doing this, as i found out last time... If all the compatability issues are sorted, you still have no warrenty over the machine as a whole.

Had a lightning storm a few years back which took out the Power supply and the motherboard with it, but this was paid for buy the company. No such luck when building it buy yourself!

[Nellah]

You're right about the video card in the computer you listed... it's crap. (Actually, it's not COMPLETELY awful, but it's pretty low end.) It can be replaced, but for that cost you can do better.

The i5-655k is also a dual core processor with HT. I'm unfamiliar with UK pricing, but it seems for that cost you should be able to get either a decent quad core or a Sandy Bridge based dual core.

[iSythe]

You're right about the video card in the computer you listed... it's crap. (Actually, it's not COMPLETELY awful, but it's pretty low end.) It can be replaced, but for that cost you can do better.

The i5-655k is also a dual core processor with HT. I'm unfamiliar with UK pricing, but it seems for that cost you should be able to get either a decent quad core or a Sandy Bridge based dual core.

I know it is quite crap, it is the lowest GPU you would want to buy into. The GPU is also one of the easiest parts of the computer to upgrade. So instead of buying an average CPU now and want to upgrade that later, it would be easier to buy an average GPU now and get a better one later. Either way, it would be hard to get the best of both worlds on a lowish budget while trying to get the best system, that will be the most cost effective choice in the long run(which you get from the sandy bridge CPU).

[Rixxe]

Thanks for the advice, perhaps waiting a getting a better Rig overall might be a good choice.
I actively program (i.e. games and the like) so getting a decent graphics card is very necessary, Shame that it seems these days it's impossible to buy a decent computer (all in one) for less than £1000 /$1300.