New to Building a PC - Please Help!

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The PSU is definitely not the component that you would want to skimp on.

Corsair 450W VX Series PSU - ATX12V v2.2 - Ebuyer
Corsair is really reliable with PSUs. A bit more expensive but you get the quality you pay for.

kmote is right. You don't need a quad core to play Sims 3. A reasonably fast dual core would do. That is, unless you plan on doing some heavy multi-tasking, editing, etc.
 
That would probably be the best option, quality but modest. I don't think this person is going to be upgrading to a gtx 260 anytime soon. She seems content with sims 3.
 
That would probably be the best option, quality but modest. I don't think this person is going to be upgrading to a gtx 260 anytime soon. She seems content with sims 3.

You're right! I have no idea what a gtx 260 is anyway! This will be my 3rd pc in 4 years so I want to make sure it's a good build that will last me for a while. I know you might think the processor is too powerful but i can get one for roughly £120 which is fine. Apart from playing the Sims 3 when it comes out, I'll probably be recording/mixing music, editing movies and songs, aswell as the simple things like browsing the web, listening to music and msn so the quad core and 4gb of memory should be alright for doing all of that! And just incase I do upgrade to anything, I'll have it there :]

What graphics card should I get? Is the one that's been suggested good enough for the Sims 3 (that's probably the highest spec game I will be playing!), music software and video editing programmes, playing dvd's and running Windows Vista Ultimate? Or would it be better to get something else? If so, what card should I get? I'd like to get an ATI one but I was just looking on their website and they have so many they all confuse me! I'll probably end up getting soemthing way more powerful than I actually need so if anyone could tell me an ideal card that's perfect for what I'll be doing, that would be great :]

Card that has been suggested: XFX HD 4350 512MB DDR2 VGA DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

As for the PSU, how about this? Compucase Green Earth 350W 80plus Certified PSU - 20+4pin 2x SATA 1x PCI-E - Ebuyer I do like to do my bit to help save money and the environment!

Thanks for all your help so far everyone, really appreciated :]
 
^ I have never really heard of that brand before. If you can afford the Corsair 400w, then go for that one.

The 4350 would be nice and is considerably better than a 7100gs.
 
In my humble opinion your better off with the 400W you originally had chosen
instead of that 350W.
If your building a low end system for web surfing and playing the occasional
game with low requirements such as the Sims then really pretty much any ATI or Nvidia 512 card is going to be fine in the range your looking at.
 
Ok thanks. What's the difference between them?

Also, for Vista, should I get the 32bit version or 64bit?
 
For reference, that card I picked actually plays games that come out nowadays at some half decent settings. So you won't be entirely limited if you ever pick up a game or two. And I guarantee it will handle sims 4 when it comes out :) (if it's not already out, I have no idea about the Sims).

You should stay on the forum and be our resident sims 3 expert.

EDIT: Most people will tell you to go with 64 bit vista since you use 4 gigs of ram. But I'm of the mindset that it shouldn't really matter with four gigs. If you use 32 bit, apps will use a little bit less memory, and not all 4 gigs of your memory will be recognized ... but in 64 apps will use more, and all 4 will be utilized. I think it would about even out. Personally, I would still recommend 32 bit just software support reasons.
 
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