in need of some suggestions :)

[Milk_The_Elephnt]

you know the question, need a new computer and dont really know what im looking for ;P

Im looking for a medium gaming PC, as in can run things like Portal 2, Minecraft possible COD reasonably well. looking to spend about £600 ish though thats not set in stone, or even water.
i'd like an AMD (looking around they seem to be cheaper, is that because their not as good as intel or...), probably quad core, and 6GB RAM (unless i NEED more?) beings im planning on upgrading when i need to instead of buying the best now.
hopefully a small SSD plus a 500GB HDD (if 500GB's big enough?)
i really dont know what sort of brands or hardware i should be looking at because ive had no experiance with high-ish end computer harware brands, no idea what brands are better than t'other ones!
thanks!

P.S i live in england so prices in GBP would be helpfull

 

[Yami]

A few questions:
1) Are you happy building it yourself or do you want a pre-built?
2) How "set in stone" is that £600 budget?
3) Do you have any parts already that you can re-use? For example keyboard+mouse, monitor, DVD drive?

Im looking for a medium gaming PC, as in can run things like Portal 2, Minecraft possible COD reasonably well. looking to spend about £600 ish though thats not set in stone, or even water.

That's a reasonably good budget for Source engine games (like Portal 2) and Minecraft. Never played CoD on PC but it should be fine for that too.

i'd like an AMD (looking around they seem to be cheaper, is that because their not as good as intel or...)

That's pretty much the reason, yes.

and 6GB RAM (unless i NEED more?) beings im planning on upgrading when i need to instead of buying the best now.

4GB should be fine for a while, and like you said you just upgrade if you need to.

hopefully a small SSD plus a 500GB HDD (if 500GB's big enough?)

It's not very likely you'll fit an SSD into that budget (unless it's a 60GB like mine, which is fine but you have to use your capacity carefully). It's something that you can easily upgrade to anyway. Whether 500GB is enough is entirely dependent on your usage - it's more than enough for games, but if you're going to store lots of video you'd want as much as possible.

 

[Lionux]

In reply to Yami the AMD chips are not necessarily worse than the Intel it depends on the chipset, however they do get hotter so it would be a good idea for you to get a fan for it if you choose to go with AMD. As for everything else Yami said I agree.

Also what type of games are you looking to play? When it comes to graphics cards it's good to know what you are getting yourself into before making the final purchase.

I would also recommend at least a 2.7GHz processor and the 6GB of RAM is plenty you should even be good with 4GB of RAM. I myself have used quite a few gaming rigs and 4GB did it justice.

Good luck on finding your new battle station!

 

[Milk_The_Elephnt]

in answer to Yami:
1) im happy to build myself BUT im not sure i really want to if im spending that kind of money, but on the other hand i dont want to be paying more and getting a already built PC with componants that i didnt really want to pay for.
2) not very, im willing to go up to £700 if i have to, but i want to keep a loose budget so i dont over spend and so i know im buying each component because i need it and not just because i have the money.
3) i'll need a new mouse, but i know what im buying on that front anyway, but apart from that ive only got old parts which wouldent do.

I also heard that AMD chips can bottleneck, but i s'pose thats due to the heat right?
what would you suggest, cheaper but hotter AMD or more expensive intel? im open to anything

yeah, 4GB's what i was really thinking, but ive seen alot of people on this forum saying 8GB is a given...i'll go with 4GB, decision made.

It's not very likely you'll fit an SSD into that budget (unless it's a 60GB like mine, which is fine but you have to use your capacity carefully). It's something that you can easily upgrade to anyway. Whether 500GB is enough is entirely dependent on your usage - it's more than enough for games, but if you're going to store lots of video you'd want as much as possible.

60 GB was what i was thinking, just something to put windows on really...
and 500GB will be plenty, i dont store video much and i can always upgrade

in answer to Lionux:

Also what type of games are you looking to play? When it comes to graphics cards it's good to know what you are getting yourself into before making the final purchase.

im not a big gamer, though that due to my lack of a decent computer but that also means i have no idea what sortof games are out there. Minecraft,Portal,COD, DeusX and possibly the DayZ Mod for Arma2. not over £90 on a gfx card i think.

Good luck on finding your new battle station!

ima gonna take that as a starwars quote, therefore your getting a rep ;D

thanks guys!!

 

[Milk_The_Elephnt]

Some Updates:
i found a site that does pre-builts for a decent prices with really good choices and spec options, so i decided to go with pre-built. (http://www.computerplanet.co.uk/index.html)

i think i've got most of what i want narrowed down:
case-coolermaster Elite 430
processor-AMD FX 41000 ( yep, gonna risk AMD!) also got the option of the FX 61000 for £15 more...which is a maybe.
Memory- Corsair 4GB XMS3 PC3-10666 1333MHz (1x4GB)
PSU-700W ( unbranded on this site though, and a cooler master 700W is an extra £40 >.< )
GFX-not sure here, at the moment im going with the 'NVIDIA GeForce GT 630 - 2 GB' if this isnt good, i can show you what i've got avalible to buy
Motherboard- Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 (AMD 760G) - VGA
HDD-500GB seagate
CD/DVD-Samsung DVD writer
OS-Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium x64

take a look and drop some suggestions please? thanks!

 

[Geoman37]

What i would do is use that website to see what you want and then build it yourself (its waaaaaaaaay cheaper). im probably not the best to talk to (i have no idea what i want!) But thats how im going to do it. +1 for being british(you too yami=))

 

[Milk_The_Elephnt]

What i would do is use that website to see what you want and then build it yourself (its waaaaaaaaay cheaper).

yeah i know its cheaper, i was going to do something like that, but i don't really want to risk spending that much money on a new PC and maybe not fitting a component and breaking it. its not that i seriously think i would break stuff, i just have the money to be able to afford the security of having it built for me. it is just me that makes sense to? ;P

+1 for being british(you too yami=))

oh i don't know... sometimes living in England is pretty bad tbf...

 

[Lionux]

As for the processor you chose great choice! It wont overheat as long as you have a decent fan and it's one of the best processors for the cash!

The coolermaster Elite is a great case as well! There is plenty of room for upgrades in the future.

The graphics card however is a poor choice and for $5 more you can get:
[h=3]ATI Radeon HD 5850[/h]Which is of much better quality.

 

[Milk_The_Elephnt]

As for the processor you chose great choice! It wont overheat as long as you have a decent fan and it's one of the best processors for the cash!

The coolermaster Elite is a great case as well! There is plenty of room for upgrades in the future.

The graphics card however is a poor choice and for $5 more you can get:
ATI Radeon HD 5850

Which is of much better quality.

Glad i made some good choices!

ok, as for a graphics card, because im buying prebuilt i have limited options:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti - 1 GB - (Gainward). ( only available if i go for a coolermaster 500w PSU, but not if i get an unbranded 700W. the coolermaster is more expensive)
ATI Radeon HD 7770 - 1 GB - (XFX) - (PCI-E).
i do have more options, but i limited them to the ones i could 1:afford and 2: acctually looked like they might do a good job

 

[Lionux]

Well then considering that ATI Radeon HD 7770 - 1 GB - (XFX) - (PCI-E). is your best option.

What parts come with this graphics card?