Pre-built computer advice.

[SheffUK]

I know nothing about computers, all I do know is mine is crap and won't play FFXIV.

This means I have to buy a pre-built rig and I am looking for help so I don't get my fingers burnt. My budget is around 750-900 (Can be slightly less or slightly more) and I will need a new monitor of approx 24 inches (ideally included in that price.. but if not, oh well).

Please could any UK/England based people help me with a few links to good deals? I know it's asking a lot but I genuinely have no idea. I've had my current Dell for a number of years and have been more than satisfied with it so I'd be inclined to go with them again.

It will be a primarily gaming PC (For FF!4 and SC2) and my kids use things such as MSN/Facebook and some old games (Command and Conquer, etc)

Please help an out of touch oldie. Thanks

[Kylewhataru]

Studio XPS1800 with a 5770 Graphics card and everything else stock is £869.00

You'll need a seperate budget for the monitor,

[SheffUK]

Did you mean 1800 or 8100?

[½pint]

I built my new PC on Monday, having never built a PC before. Believe me when I say - you can not get this stuff wrong. I guess PCs have moved on a lot in recent years, but I struggle to think how you could possibly get it wrong. Follow the instructions and you'll be fine. I spent a grand total of £875, equivalent spec PC on Dell and a couple of other silly pre-built sites range from £1200-1450 (excluding a monitor). Furthermore, I overclocked the CPU and graphics card as well (having never overclocked a PC), and that too was a piece of piss.

I can give you more info via PM if I've managed to sway you.

I benchmarked this score: http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/7...vbenchmark.png and have since benchmarked >4900
The specs that matter are:

i7 930 overclocked from 2.8ghz to 3.85ghz
6gb ram
GeForce GTX 470 overclocked from 607mhz core clock to 897mhz (a 48% increase) (was at 850mhz when that benchmark screenshot was taken)
64gb Solid-State drive

And I got quality components for all the rest (case, power supply, cooling, blu-ray drive)

I am very pleased.

[SheffUK]

My problem is I literally have no clue as to what I'm doing. Like you say you got a "i7 930 overclocked from 2.8ghz to 3.85ghz" - I have no idea what these numbers are/what they relate to/what is a high or low number etc, I just don't understand it.

Pre-built is my only option I'm afraid.. though building my own would be fantastic but I would have no warranty etc and too much stuff could go wrong.

[½pint]

OK, my knowledge on the subject is limited but I think I'm informed enough to give a decent opinion on the matter.

The two things that you should be concerning yourself about when looking for your computer are the Processor (also known as CPU) and the Graphics Card. The processer is what does most of the calculations in the computer, and the graphics card is a supplementary bit of hardware that deals with, as the name suggests, graphics. If you get a good processor but a bad graphics card, you will get bad performance from the game. Likewise the other way round.

Whenever you look at the stats for a PC, there will probably be lots of numbers mentioned for each component. Generally however, there is only one important statistic for each type of component.

There are other computer components that you need to concern yourself with but for now just think about these two.

For processors, you would be looking at getting a processor made by Intel or AMD. I think I'm right in saying that you should get an Intel processor as they are better. Intel's latest range of Processors are called i3, i5 and i7 (these are just names). The i3 range of CPUs is the budget range, the i5 range is the middle and the i7 are the 'performance' CPUs, for gaming machines. For your budget, you are probably looking at getting an i5 or i7. The main unit of measurement when it comes to actual CPUs is the speed of the CPU - how many calculations it can do per second. Obviously the more calculations per second, the better. 2.8ghz means 2.8 billion calculations per second (1 hertz = 1 calculation); so in my post, I tweaked my CPU to go from 2.8ghz to 3.85ghz (3.85 billion calculations per second). The bigger this number is, the better. Also pay attention to the number of 'cores'. If the processor has 2 cores and is 2.66ghz, then it has two individual processing units each of which can do 2.66 billion calculations per second. If the processor has 4 cores and is 2.66ghz, then it has four individual processing units each of which can do 2.66ghz. For technical reasons, having more cores is not as good as it sounds - most games haven't been programmed to take advantage of multiple cores, so the difference between a 2-core processor and a 4-core processor is not simply double, it's usually quite marginal.
Good choices for your budget would be anything out of the i5 or i7 range. (There are no real 'bad' choices, the more you pay the better you get).


For graphics cards, you have a choice between ATI Radeon or NVidia GeForce. Here there is no brand which is markedly better than the other. Each brand also has a range of cards from budget to performance. The top GeForce cards are the GTX 480, then GTX 470, then GTX 465, then GTX 460. The top Radeon cards are the 5870, then 5850, then 5830, then 5770, then 5750. When you see a graphics card listed on a website, often it will say something along the lines of "Sapphire Technology ATI Radeon 5770" - the extra manufacturer name is just a technicality. The best way to compare graphics cards is to look up reviews. Most reviews for a graphics card will compare its performance to other graphics cards in a variety of games, so you can decide what graphics card you want. For your budget, I would recommend a GTX 460 or a 5830.

Some gaming computers have two graphics cards. Avoid these, as twice the number of cards does not give twice the performance, and for your budget a single card will do nicely.

I'll briefly run over the rest of the components. They don't really matter too much, I'll describe further:

RAM / "Main Memory" - Measured in gb. The more the merrier, get at least 4gb. Having more won't make any difference to running the game well.

Hard Drive / "Storage" - Also measured in gb. Storage for files and such. Doesn't (really) affect performance.

Case & Power Supply - If you're buying a pre-built PC, then you don't really need to worry about these.


As always, you could always try googling the component names and checking out reviews.

I've checked out a few PC manufacturers and here are a few PCs that I think would be reasonable. Remember you need to select an operating system which might increase the price (Windows 7 home edition is fine). Buy your monitor separately if you need one (ebay / amazon / etc.) (Go for a 22" or 24", range from £90 - 200). Pretty much any monitor will do, google the name and check reviews and so long as it's relatively well reviewed then it'll be fine.

Anyway, some PCs:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p.../irushpro.html
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p.../iconquer.html
Novatech are a pretty reputable PC manufacturer, I've had a PC from there before

Dell are ok but generally use slightly cheaper components and you pay slightly more.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Gaming...roductId=40875

[SheffUK]

Brilliant mate cheers. i'll have a good read of this after dinner tonight and see if anything sinks in.