Finally forced to build

[Smack]

So my laptop is getting to the point where it's overheating too much to play anything. Even with a laptop stand with 3 fans on it, it's over heating and turning off. Therefore, I need to replace it with a desktop, though I'll probably keep the laptop just for Skype / IRC at the same time.

I have around £500 to spend. I don't need a mouse / keyboard. I have this LG TV, next to my desk, so I can easily move it about to use, assuming it can be used by a computer? I will need a new operating system, Windows 7 preferred. If it helps, I can purchase Windows XP, and upgrade to Windows 7 through Software4Students. Windows 7 is a £65 upgrade from Vista or XP. Windows 7 on eBuyer is £170. (Probably don't need Ultimate.)

Two things to keep in mind for you guys who are going to give me some builds:
1) I live in Manchester, so can go to Aria to pick stuff up, ignoring their delivery costs.
2) There is a large computer market at Bowlers in Trafford, every week, so I will be going there to compare prices as well.

I won't be looking for top of the range graphics, and I doubt I'd be able to afford it in my limited budget. I play EVE Online, and that's my biggest concern. Preferably able to run 2 instances at once to dual account. I can do that on my current laptop, with a bit of lag, though obviously the overheating problem comes up. (Shall give my current system specs at the end so you have something to benchmark off.) Being able to play Arma 2 and Battlefield 3 would be a big plus, as my EVE alliance plays a lot of them, but if it's not possible to fit it in within budget, then that's not a big deal.

Current Laptop:
Core2Duo T6600
ATI HD 4570
4 GB Ram

Oh, and just as an afterforth, this'll probably make a bit more work for you guys, so it's understandable if you don't do this, but if you could provide a list of similar items, CPU / Motherboards / Graphics, that will work and are in a similar price range to what you'd recommend off the internet, it'll give me some more leeway when I go to bowlers to cutting costs. (Shall buy nothing without first posting here to make sure it's value for money and that it'll all work together.)

Sorry for the large post, but I wanted to give as much detail as possible. Thanks in advance.

 

[kmote]

You should be able to use that TV as both a monitor and speakers if you want. £500 should get you something fairly capable and at the very least a lot better than your laptop.

 

[Smack]

You should be able to use that TV as both a monitor and speakers if you want. £500 should get you something fairly capable and at the very least a lot better than your laptop.

I assumed I would, but better to make sure.

 

[Smack]

Double post, apologies.

Is a bundle like this worth it? It leaves £130 for a power supply, case, and a graphics card. Is that enough for those 3 items?

Ignore the Operating System. I've got that covered and isn't needed within the £500 budget now.

 

[kmote]

Double post, apologies.

Is a bundle like this worth it? It leaves £130 for a power supply, case, and a graphics card. Is that enough for those 3 items?

Ignore the Operating System. I've got that covered and isn't needed within the £500 budget now.

It's fine to double post if the edit window (24 hours) has expired.

My rule of thumb is that a PSU should cost at least £40 and so should the case, you'll regret compromising on either of these items. So the question becomes whether £50 is enough for a GPU and sadly this is not an area that I have kept up to date with.

 

[Smack]

It's fine to double post if the edit window (24 hours) has expired.

My rule of thumb is that a PSU should cost at least £40 and so should the case, you'll regret compromising on either of these items. So the question becomes whether £50 is enough for a GPU and sadly this is not an area that I have kept up to date with.

I've not followed computer technology for over a year or two, and I just heard about Ivy Bridge today as I was checking eBuyer / Aria. Is this i5-3570k worth the extra £15 over this i5-2500k.

I know that the 3.4Ghz over 3.3Ghz isn't the be all and end all of what makes a good CPU, but that's the limit of my knowledge.

In regards to GPU, (For someone other than Kmote if he's not too sure), is a 570 worth the money @ £202? Alternatively a 560 TI is £170.

Assuming the i5-2500k (£152), the GTX 570 (£202), this PSU (£70), this RAM (£40), this case (£50), this HDD (£77), this CD/DVD drive (£14), I then need a motherboard since I have no idea what to look for in a Motherboard. Though.... This comes to £605 before a motherboard, which is more than I wanted to spend. :/

 

[kmote]

Reducing performance of the GPU is usually a good way to bring down the overall cost of the build because it usually means a lower power draw which in turn means you can use a cheaper PSU (not too cheap of course).

Given that you're already £105 over and you don't have a motherboard, I think that you're going to have to consider some cost-cutting very seriously. Try having a budget for each of your components, something like this:
CPU - £100
GPU - £115
PSU - £45
RAM - £40
case - £45
HDD - £50
DVD - £15
mobo - £90
total - £500

 

[Smack]

Reducing performance of the GPU is usually a good way to bring down the overall cost of the build because it usually means a lower power draw which in turn means you can use a cheaper PSU (not too cheap of course).

Given that you're already £105 over and you don't have a motherboard, I think that you're going to have to consider some cost-cutting very seriously. Try having a budget for each of your components, something like this:
CPU - £100
GPU - £115
PSU - £45
RAM - £40
case - £45
HDD - £50
DVD - £15
mobo - £90
total - £500

Eugh. I'll just have to wait for someone to make a suggested build from eBuyer for under £500 then, since I don't know enough to cut costs down to something reasonable.

I can up my budget, but is it worth the increase in money, unless £500 can't cover what I want?

 

[Smack]

Thanks to Kmote for the help, but I found this computer for £575, and I'll be picking it up this weekend. It's 6 months old, and barely used.

XFX HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Dual DP Out PCI-E Graphics Card
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1
OCZ 30GB Vertex SSD 2.5" SATA-II Read = 210MB/s, Write = 135MB/s
OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - SATA-III
Coolermaster CM690 II Lite
Coolermaster GX 650W PSU
Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 unbuffered
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 Socket 775, 1156, 1155, 1366, AM2, AM3 Heatpipe CPU Cooler
Biostar TP67B+ B3 Revision P67 Socket 1155 5.1 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
Logitech MK250 wireless keyboard, 2.4 GHz
Logitech M310 wireless mouse, 2.4GHz
Logitech's X-140 stereo speakers

I'll sell the 120GB SSD, and purchase myself a 500GB to 1TB HDD in it's place.