Buying a desktop (£650 budget)

[HCFC_CLARK]

Hi everyone,

I need some help buying a new PC.

I have a budget of around £650, and im looking for a good all round PC that is also capable of a bit of gaming (Football Manager, The Sims, The New Sim City & maybe a few others).

I've been looking around, and im no whizz, but the Dell XPS 8500.

Link: [edit by Rakk: no competitor links please]

Processor

3rd gen Intel® Core™ i7-3770 Processor (3.40GHz, 8MB)

Operating System

Windows 8 64bit, English

Monitor

Display Not Included

Memory2

8GB3 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz

Hard Drive

1TB Serial ATA (7,200 rpm)

Video Card

AMD Radeon™ HD 7570 1GB DDR5 Graphics Card

Optical Drive

16x DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)

Keyboard

Dell KB213 USB Multimedia Keyboard - UK/Irish

Wireless

Dell Wireless 1703 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0+LE

Security Software

Microsoft Windows® Defender Included

Services and Support

1 yr Next Day In-Home Hardware & Premium Software Phone Support

Advertised System Weight

12.86 kg.

Price = £650

If anyone could say weather this is good for the price, and if not, something that would suit my needs for a similar price please.

Thanks guys, can't wait to hear what you have to say!!

 

[vanthus]

Case
InWIN MANA-136 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-4170 Quad Core CPU (4.20GHz/4MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A97 R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s, Windows 8 Ready!)
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (1 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 3 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe AMD CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2010 Professional Edition
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® K200 USB MEDIA KEYBOARD (£10)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £681.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[HCFC_CLARK]

Thanks for the quick reply mate. What sort of game would this be capable of playing? Also, is the XPS 8500 way over priced?

 

[Rakk]

The PCS machine Vanthus has specced up will play games much better, the GPU in the Dell one is pretty old now (in fact its worse than my GPU by quite a way I think and my GPU is two and a half year old already), the 7850 one that vanthus suggested is far superior, and since most current games depend heavily on the graphics card, that's where you'll see the difference.

The PCS machine has a lesser CPU, but to be honest unless you're playing games that use the CPU a lot, the i7-3770 just isn't really needed, the CPU vanthus suggested will be perfectly fine. Also you'll probably be getting a slightly nicer hard drive which will make it a little faster - and for your budget the AMD processor fits in nicely.

 

[mikef]

The Dell will be OK if you don't want to upgrade key components during its life. If it's like the 8100, it will have proprietary Dell motherboard and an (odd sized) power supply which is just sufficient for the components it ships with. The PCS build (personally I would look for an Intel-based alternative) will have plenty of scope for future upgrades.

Also - you won't get original Windows media with the Dell, the warranty will be much more expensive and the "support" will be offshore and geared toward selling you further services.

 

[HCFC_CLARK]

Can anyone reccomend an improvement on the build vanthus provided? Whats the difference between Intel and AMD processors?

Decided to go against the Dell, you guys seem to know what your talking about so thanks for the help.

 

[vanthus]

The AMD processor will be fine running the games you mentioned and also for the vast majority of games out at the moment.I myself have an AMD processor and can recommend it,best bang for buck by far.Also as mentioned by Rakk the 7850 is by far a better GPU than the 7570.

 

[HCFC_CLARK]

Perfect. Could you send me the link please mate? Probably going to order this in morning!

 

[vanthus]

Sorry,meant to include the link.
Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/EYFXDF5YdV/

 

[HCFC_CLARK]

2nd opinion on this desktop

Just wanted people to give a 2nd opinion on this build before I order (credit to vanthus for reccomending this to me).

It is intended for all round use and a bit of gaming too, the likes of Football Manager, The Sims and a few others (BF3 etc. would be nice if possible.)

Anyway, here is what he reccomended, a 2nd opinion would be nice.

Case
InWIN MANA-136 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-4170 Quad Core CPU (4.20GHz/4MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A97 R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s, Windows 8 Ready!)
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (1 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 3 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe AMD CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2010 Professional Edition
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® K200 USB MEDIA KEYBOARD (£10)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £681.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[vanthus]

Keeping in mind you did say a budget of £650 or thereabouts.

 

[Rakk]

The spec looks pretty good to me


And yes, I merged your two threads, its easier if you keep it all in one thread, means its easier to see the different responses and also means people are not answering the same thing twice

 

[Fear]

For your budget the spec vanthus has posted is about the best you can get.

 

[HCFC_CLARK]

Just wanted to say i've ordered this! Removed the keyboard so it was £671 in total, thanks very much to vanthus for helping me out!

 

[Grimezy]

Just a quick amendment you might want to make, I would up the ram to 8gb if you can squeeze that in the budget. It shouldn't cost too much more. 4gb is fine for most things but I have noticed that on some recent games the recommended ram is either 4gb or 6gb. Not sure on the specifics and whether a recommended 4gb game actually means you only need 4gb total or 4gb free at all times purely for the game but I would go for 8 to be safe if possible. This will also allow for better multitasking if you like browsing in the background while you have games running, etc. Entirely your choice though 4gb would probably be fine, it's just not too expensive of an improvement if you do choose to do it.

Edit: Just looked back at your spec and you could potentially knock the hard drive size down to 500gb to upgrade the ram if you fancied it. It depends how much you plan to install though. I got the 1tb caviar black and have used 150gb in 2 weeks purely on games but I also have a 2tb external hard drive plugged in for all my other files. Depends if you plan to cram it full or whether you could make do with 500gb for games and buy an external hard drive later on for other things!

 

[HCFC_CLARK]

Just a quick amendment you might want to make, I would up the ram to 8gb if you can squeeze that in the budget. It shouldn't cost too much more. 4gb is fine for most things but I have noticed that on some recent games the recommended ram is either 4gb or 6gb. Not sure on the specifics and whether a recommended 4gb game actually means you only need 4gb total or 4gb free at all times purely for the game but I would go for 8 to be safe if possible. This will also allow for better multitasking if you like browsing in the background while you have games running, etc. Entirely your choice though 4gb would probably be fine, it's just not too expensive of an improvement if you do choose to do it.

Edit: Just looked back at your spec and you could potentially knock the hard drive size down to 500gb to upgrade the ram if you fancied it. It depends how much you plan to install though. I got the 1tb caviar black and have used 150gb in 2 weeks purely on games but I also have a 2tb external hard drive plugged in for all my other files. Depends if you plan to cram it full or whether you could make do with 500gb for games and buy an external hard drive later on for other things!

Thanks for the advice mate, for £19 extra to double the RAM I may as well. Cheers!

 

[Grimezy]

Thanks for the advice mate, for £19 extra to double the RAM I may as well. Cheers!

Haha and so the amendment phase begins! You'll start finding lots of little additions now to put on thinking "ah twenty quid, why not!" just because it's easier to digest than having them when you originally place the order!

On a serious note though, that ram should be well worth £19 Good luck with waiting for your rig!

 

[HCFC_CLARK]

Nope, that is it haha! I cannot afford anymore, so the only changes now will have to be a result of a downgrade in another area.

Thanks for the help off you both tho, helped me a lot so I gave you both rep!

 

[HCFC_CLARK]

So I've been looking at ordering 2 monitors and I read that you need to check that your graphics card can accommodate this. Can anyone tell me if mine will be okay?

Also, what sort of components will I need to run 2 monitors? I'm guessing 2 HDMI cables but will I need anything else?

 

[vanthus]

The 7850 is perfectly capable of running two monitors,you only need the cables,what cables you need will depend on the ports your monitors and GPU has.