New computer time!!!!!

[BCA]

Righty, need a computer for my course (and I guess also GTR ) so I have come up with a basic list of requirements;

Desktop
fast as poss
1gig ram (is that possible?)
60gig hard drive+
No need for monitors and such as I have one already, but a flat screen may be nice??

Anyone know of anything else I may need to run GTR?/Alias (these are what we were told we would need by our tutors...)

Does anyone know of any good deals out there at the moment? As a student (and tight bastard) im obviously looking to spend as little as possible... is the above possible for under £500???

Thanks in advance,
Ben CA

[Muncher]

1GB of RAM is a minimum I'd go for, 2GB is not out of the question and still relatively cheap.

[Rob P]

Last months Computer shopper had a review of £799 systems. I seem to remember a Mesh model came joint top and was particulary good for games. Without monitor, keyboard etc etc it should come in closer to your budget I guess.
See www.computershopper.co.uk/ > Labs > £799 supersystems.

[BCA]

Baring in mind im an absolute idiot when it comes to these things and as a result wouldnt be able to put one together myself... really looking for an off the shelf item + see my budget, I can go over it sure, but I dont want to

[BCA]

£500... not £799!!!!!!! Even leaving the monitor/ speakers surely that wouldnt go down even £200?

[medusa]

Check out Novatech, bought a computer from them about 5 months ago very pleased with it.

[Mr E]

For gaming, decent graphics card.

[BCA]

Mr E said:

For gaming, decent graphics card.

Can you tell me what sort of graphics card I should look out for?? Im really that clueless (and drunk, just got in lol)??

[bjwoods]

Try a dell, cliche I know...

But generally good, pretty competitive (if you don't want to build yourself)
AND the after care is actually pretty good. online AND call centre, and they follow up, to see all ok.

BUY online vs calling up though.(more special offerson the website

B



>> Edited by bjwoods on Tuesday 8th November 08:23

[Rob P]

BCA said:

£500... not £799!!!!!!! Even leaving the monitor/ speakers surely that wouldnt go down even £200?

I emailed them with a similar budget. They knocked it down about £180 without the monitor etc. Further reduced by a smaller hard drive and a reduced warranty from on-site to off site. £534 was the total I think, inc.vat. It still has the performance of the award winning system without the cost

[Munter]

I'm thinking this is how i'll be getting my next PC....

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/HP-Marketpla

[BCA]

bjwoods said:

Try a dell, cliche I know... But generally good, pretty competitive (if you don't want to build yourself) AND the after care is actually pretty good. online AND call centre, and they follow up, to see all ok. BUY online vs calling up though.(more special offerson the website B

My personal experience of Dell is that they have a nasty habit of going wrong as soon as they are out of warrantee (loads of people here have them, most are broken - no joke!)

Will have a look at the ebay/HP thing...

Rob, can you send me a copy of that email/ who would that be buying from - and how compromised is the spec?

Thanks all, keep the suggestions coming...

[robbieduncan]

BCA said:

Mr E said: For gaming, decent graphics card. Can you tell me what sort of graphics card I should look out for?? Im really that clueless (and drunk, just got in lol)??

NVidia GeForce card, either a 6xxx or 78xx if funds streach.

[TimW]

As said before, novatech are good if you know what your looking for, you could/can/will get a good enough pc for 500 does this incl monitor? or just the basic tower.? 1gig ram easy to get, i am running 1512DDR2 ram, Try get DDR2 ram its the latest and runs at 533mhz instead of 333/400mhz of standard DDR. Also, as for gfxs card, they latest X800GT is a very good mid range gfxs card for the price, circa £110.


PS>> DONT NOT GET GEFORCE OR NVIDIA, COMPLETE CACK FOR THE MONEY U R LOOKING AT.!!!!be warned..

>> Edited by TimW on Tuesday 8th November 14:48

[Plotloss]

Ben, what you want is just possible I would suggest.

I reckon high £400's would get a machine that will be able to play the latest games and remain fairly current for a good 18 months or so.

Which isnt bad really.

[BCA]

Any idea of any off the shelf items running the specs im looking at??

No need for a monitor etc... will use this one till funds allow an upgrade

[whittaker52]

It may also be worth trying Evesham Technology computers - www.evesham.com - ive always heard good reports of their systems.