Budget pc for around £800 ($1200)

M

maz1989

New member
I am building a systemn to play on my new 24" Screen.

Im particularly interested at building a system to keep me going through 2009 and playing games at 1900x1200 with very high settings.

In particular Mafia 2, Empire Total War and Left 4 Dead.

After some research I came up with this:

Cooler Master 690

Gigabyte UD3P

Q9550

4GB G.skill RAM

PC P&C 750 red

WD 640

DVD burner

Sapphire 4870 1GB

Xigmatek + bracket

Vista 64 OEM

What do you think? :S

thx maz (happy new year btw)
 
Sounds great mate

the only thing id say is the GFX card, i'm an nVidia man myself :P

Get the Xigmatek Red scorpion it's the same as the S1283 but it lights up! lol

My personal prefrence would call for corsair XMS2 RAM instead as it's one of the best all round (read reviews)

Also what PSU you adding on to it?
 
Happy New Year

Overall your build looks fine. Just a couple of comments you may find helpful.

If you are considering going crossfire in the future you may be better off with a X48 board. I have read that the PCI-E x16 (x8 electrical) that P45s have in crossfire does limit performance at 1900x1200.

With Phenom II due out next week it may pay to have a look at the reviews before you commit to a Q9550. Initial reports are that Phenoms are slightly behind Yorkfields on performance but if AMD price them right they may still be a good choice.
 
With the GFX card, what is the monitor size you're going to be using? I have a 17" for my use on comp, and the 512mb is just fine. I was going to wait like a week to see about the 1GB version, but was told that it would only be any better on larger screens.

But it's up to you.:wavey:
 
all looks good don't know if id have gone with the 4870 me personally id go with the new gtx260 for 220 quid I think it will be a better choice http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-008-ZT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=927&name=Zotac%20GeForce%20GTX%20260%20"Maxcore"%20896MB%20GDDR3%20TV-Out/Dual%20DVI%20(PCI-Express)%20-%20Retail

I also think you would be wise to wait and see what this new phenom II gives looks like it may be a contender and you may be able to save a little from that and put it into graphics.
 
Here ill go one better...

For an extra £10 or so you can get the XFX nVidia 260 Black edition with Far Cry 2 for free!! :D

I got it last week, its amazing!

(I would post a link but I need 15 posts first :( )
 
thanks for the advice all,

yea maybe ill wait a bit too see whether the phenom II is any good.

plus empire total war and mafia 2 arent even out yet :P
 
I have to be honest, budget being £800 u gotta think of future proofing this build as much as possible.

£500 or so, sure I'd look 775, £800 to me is enough to build a top pc.

If u can w8, I'd check into AMD's release b4 seriously considering it and i7.

U can definitely blow £800 on top gear immediately, there may however be a couple of years advantage in a new socket, how much of a real world advantage is debatable. It's a tough decision to be fair.

Still there are some constants u could buy straight away like psu (making sure it'll have the newer mobo power connections) / dvd / drives / graphics / possibly memory / vista 64.
 
You lose a lot of money buying pre-built systems (usually). The whole fun is putting it together, getting the items for cheaper etc..
 
I would stick with the original choice of a Radeon 4870, particularly as you are planning to use a 24" screen. The 4870 and the 260 Reloaded are very simliar in performance. If the 4870 lacks the processing muscle to give the expected performance at 1900x1200 the option to add a second 4870 still exists, with a P45 (or X48) board you do not have that option with a 260.

Rastalovich's point about the 775 being a dead end is a good one however at current prices trying to put together a Core i7 system would be quite a challenge.
 
Ram's already plummeting down so will not really be affected by PII's release. I don't think i7 and its motherboard are doing to see serious decreases because the Phenom II does not seem to be a real contender to the i7 series. The Core2Quad series however, are seriously threatened by PII and might be dropping in prices.
 
monkey7 is quite right about Phenom II having no effect on Core i7 prices. He is also right about DDR2 memory being as cheap as it will ever be. The is a possibility with Core i7 being released and the AM3 socket due out in a month or so that memory makers will switch production facilities to DDR3 and the price of that memory will continue to drop.
 
Best to stick to Core2Duo. The i7's are far too expensive if you are looking for a build at £800.

Also get DDR2 instead of DDR3 as you could probably get a cheaper mobo that way.
 
nice pc. Keep to the 4870 imo, nice little card, im running xfire 3870x2 and they run like a dream, great for keeping the fps up...Change the motherboard choice though, ask around as plenty of people have some damn good boards going cheap.

Got my DFI x38 with all waterblocks for about £110 posted....

Thats not a budget pc, thats a damn good pc, better than mine, all you need now is watercooling, a build log and shed load of pics!! Keep us updated!!!
 
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