What's the best PC I could build for £300
- Thread starter UnrealCanine
- Start date
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Well, I don't want to include Monitors or OS, as I can get them seperate
Th Best I've found so far is
Arbico Performance Athlon 64 Custom Built Computer
SKU: performance1B
Standard Configuration:
* Windows Vista Ready
* 64 Bit AMD AM2 Athlon 64 Dual Core 5000 x 2 CPU
* Gigabyte GA MA69VM-S2 Motherboard
* Choice of 512MB ATI Radeon 3650 OR 1GB nVidia Geforce 8600GT Graphics Card
* 2GB Kingston 667Mhz PC5300 DDR2 Ram
* 360GB SATA Hard Drive
* 22x Dual Layer DVD +/- Rewriter
* 2 Years Return To Base Warranty
£255.31 £299.99 Inc VAT
Th Best I've found so far is
Arbico Performance Athlon 64 Custom Built Computer
SKU: performance1B
Standard Configuration:
* Windows Vista Ready
* 64 Bit AMD AM2 Athlon 64 Dual Core 5000 x 2 CPU
* Gigabyte GA MA69VM-S2 Motherboard
* Choice of 512MB ATI Radeon 3650 OR 1GB nVidia Geforce 8600GT Graphics Card
* 2GB Kingston 667Mhz PC5300 DDR2 Ram
* 360GB SATA Hard Drive
* 22x Dual Layer DVD +/- Rewriter
* 2 Years Return To Base Warranty
£255.31 £299.99 Inc VAT
Have you considered self building?
You're less likely to get lumped with Vista then.
What's your total budget (inc. OS and monitor etc).
You're less likely to get lumped with Vista then.
What's your total budget (inc. OS and monitor etc).
I haven't a total budget, as I was told I could get a cheap CRT screen for £20PlasticFork post=9.69751.670283 said:
The site still offers standard XP, though I hven't dismissed Linux as a possibility
You should REALLY consider custom building, as that will cost much less and you will end up with a far better rig. The 8600 is a waste of money, as it doesn't have enough juice to make use of 512mb of vram, let alone a gig.
For around 550$ US (which is roughly 300 pounds) you can do FAR better than that if you build it yourself. I wouldn't pay 350$ US for that thing. It needs DDR2 800 and a much better video card. The ones you selected are garbage that can barely run UE3 games, much less things like Crysis and SupCom.
First I must ask you, what are you wanting this computer for? What specific apps are you going to be running?
First I must ask you, what are you wanting this computer for? What specific apps are you going to be running?
Self Building is like lego's. Only you get one shot. And if you fuck up, you lose a HUGE chunk of money
In that case, I would recommend one of these three cards for that budget: 9600GT, 8800GT 512mb, Radeon 4850. The 4850 is easily the strongest of the three and in my opinion worth the approx. 40$US price premium over the other two, but the others will serve you well. Just pick one that fits your budget.UnrealCanine post=9.69751.670373 said:
The Athlon 64s, because of their small L2 caches, depend heavily on the speed of their RAM and integrated memory controller to keep themselves fed with data. Make damn sure you get DDR2-800 with an Athlon.
I would highly suggest that you buy parts and build it yourself. We (and I think I speak for everyone here) would be more than willing to help you pick parts and put them together.
*edit*
I just checked out that motherboard and it has integrated graphics. If you aren't willing to build your own, just buy that system sans the video card and with the cheapest memory option they have. Then you can buy a better card for a better price than the one they are offering and get yourself 2-4GB of DDR2-800.
Here you go, just to give you an idea.
GPU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500019
CPU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103289
Ram : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161183
Mobo : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131280
HD : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140
GPU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500019
CPU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103289
Ram : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161183
Mobo : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131280
HD : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140
Two things:
I would go with an Nvidia card. Some developers optimize their games for specific cards and if they do, it's Nvidia. I don't like it, but that's how it is.
A lot of people ***** and moan endlessly about Vista. I've had it for about three months now. It was a total horror at first, but there are some simple tricks to get it running more smoothly, especially on new systems that are obviously more compatible. I can't remember the actual date, but not terribly long from now, MS will stop selling XP retail. After that, it won't be long before they start focusing on their new favorite instead. So do yourself a favor: If you're going to buy MS, but Vista or you'll be shelling out the same amount of money again a year or two later. At least if you want to play any new games on your system.
Click me and be outraged
I would go with an Nvidia card. Some developers optimize their games for specific cards and if they do, it's Nvidia. I don't like it, but that's how it is.
A lot of people ***** and moan endlessly about Vista. I've had it for about three months now. It was a total horror at first, but there are some simple tricks to get it running more smoothly, especially on new systems that are obviously more compatible. I can't remember the actual date, but not terribly long from now, MS will stop selling XP retail. After that, it won't be long before they start focusing on their new favorite instead. So do yourself a favor: If you're going to buy MS, but Vista or you'll be shelling out the same amount of money again a year or two later. At least if you want to play any new games on your system.
Click me and be outraged