Buying a New gaming PC, budget = 400 pounds (745 USD)

[BlazerWill]

Hi all,

I really need advice on a new pc to purchase, i want the pc mainly for gaming and work. the games i will run will be things like World of warcraft, guild wars and a few others.

I have never owned an AMD based PC, do people think i should get one or just stick with Intel?

I would like a decent graphics card and a medium sized hard disk.

I need this pc fairly snappy and have a measly budget of only 400 pounds (750 USD)

Thanks all,

Will

 

[WorldIndustries]

AMD are supposedly better for gaming, so maybe you could give them a try. Up to you if you want a single core, or a dual core which'll cost a little more.

Then again, the Duo 2 Core is soon out, and you could get a retarded good processor for around 150 USD.

For graphics card, go for around an Nvidia 7600 or 7700. I'm not the smartest with video cards, but they seem to be around your budget.

You'd need a minimum of 1GB of RAM, especially these days, maybe 2 if you can fit it in your budget.

Medium sized hard disk? Around 120 or 160GB? Just as long as it's SATA I guess.

Any type of crappy case, if you don't mind the noise, 30 or 40 bucks USD. If it matters, you might end up spending up to or over 100 on the case. But with this budget, I wouldn't.

PSU, make sure you stick with reliable brands (Fortron, Antec, Enermax), probably get a minimum of 450 watts.

 

[BlazerWill]

Ok, seems like you know what your talking about, i've heard the AMD proccessors are better for gaming and that they will be soon to drop in price.

do you really think it would be better to get a dual proccessor, im not too bothered about going over 20-40 quid and if it will make that big difference ill do it.

What about graphics card, a specific one? mainly for world of warcraft?

Also does it really matter what sort of motherboard i get, could you reccomend, bearing in mind i have a max of say 400-450 pounds, 470+ is really pushing my girlfriends credit card bill

And, finally, where should i purchase my system from? Can you reccomend a few sites? I don't know too much



Thanks

Will

 

[WorldIndustries]

Dual-core seems to be the way to go now. Either way, you should wait 'til the prices of AMD processors drop.

I can't really reccommend a motherboard for you unless you tell me whether you're going to overclock or not... Just be sure it's either socket 939 or AM2, and have PCI-E instead of AGP.

As for the videocard, you could probably get a decent GeForce 7600GS for around 130 bucks US.

Since I live in Canada, I wouldn't really be able to tell you of any online Computer retailers in the UK, maybe someone else will post help about this.

 

[BlazerWill]

Thanks for your advice.

Overclocking, tell me more about this? I may sound a bit of a newb but hey..

I don't know what motherboard to get what do you reccomend and how long do you think it will be until the AMD's go down in price.

Thanks Will

 

[Willeh]

Hey, I built a pc recently with a budget of just about 250 pounds for games just like WoW, Guild wars etc [well exactly those games but a few others aswell]. Since your budget is higher, you can probably do much better. [The 250 pounds budget build is doing me good at tho mo]

Firstly, I reccomend you using cclonline.com, ordered various items from there at different times all arrived the next day [take note their next day delivery is their normal delivery service which is v. good]
I also reccomend trying out novatech.com, their delivery is just as good. If you can't find the specific item on ccl, then you should give novatech a go. [But notice that prices on novatech are like a pound or two higher than CCL]
If finally you can't find a specific item you need, you always have trusty ebay. I bought most of my PC components off there, all new, saving myself a nice amount.

Both are UK online stores, trustable.

I can give you some additional info if needed about these stores / ebay help. Just drop me a PM, can also help you a bit with any of the components which you feel you need some help on. Just give me a PM
[And sry long post]

 

[BlazerWill]

Cheers mate, i appreciate your advice.

One problem, i can't build my own PC

Is there anywhere that can build it for me?

 

[Willeh]

Yes, CCL has an option where you pay I think 20 pounds [more if you want them to also install an operating system and such]
and they build the pc for you + then do all hardware testings. The catch is that you must give them a list [from there own site] of components that are compatible with each other for them to build [including case].
I reccomend building one yourself, it was my very first time too when I built my budget PC about a week ago. First I thought it was hard but I used a guide which I found [can give you link], was very easy.

 

[BlazerWill]

I've had a bad experience with building my own pc..

Do you know any sites where you can select what you want and they build it for you?

thanks

 

[Willeh]

Yes, As I've said, cclonline.com does [as said in my 2nd last post, the company is very trustable and sticks to their word], you pay like 20 pounds for them to just build everything for you, pay a bit more to install all drivers and stuff. Can't clearly remember, want to PM me with your bad experience with building a PC? I'm interested