Hi all 
I haven't been here for a very long time, since my last PC build just a little under 2 years ago, so I am really out of the loop with hardware and stuff, so once more I have returned to ask for the help and support of those more technology-knowledgeable than I.
Basically I start university on the 16th of September and will be moving away from home for the first time. After much consideration, and due to my limited budget I have decided to try and build a new desktop PC, rather than buying a cheap laptop.
My budget is around £500 for the system and monitor, and due to limited desk space I will definitely need an LCD screen (19" maybe?):
Primary Uses:
- Listening to music, I am planning to purchase a set of 2.1 speakers and to use my PC as my main audio device instead of taking a hifi system down to university.
- The usual sort of office stuff, word, excel, running together with IRC, MSN maybe and also the music playing together with any other background things (Makes me wonder if I need a dual core?).
Secondary Uses:
- I will likely watch movies regularly, in order to make use of the unlimited download bandwidth in campus in the first year.
- I will probably play on a few games, but I'm not a big gamer and if I do play games they tend to be strategy games and the like, rather than first person shooters and stuff, so frame rate isn't a huge problem for me, but a nice looking screen would be good.
As I will go very soon, this leaves me just a few days to decide upon what parts I want for my PC so that I can order them and get the system put together before I head off to university.
Therefore I would really, really appreciate any support and advice any of you can offer on this subject... as to be honest I just don't know what combination, within my price range will give me the best performance for the above stuff?
Thanks in advance to anybody who is willing to give me a helping hand!
Kindest Regards
John
I haven't been here for a very long time, since my last PC build just a little under 2 years ago, so I am really out of the loop with hardware and stuff, so once more I have returned to ask for the help and support of those more technology-knowledgeable than I.
Basically I start university on the 16th of September and will be moving away from home for the first time. After much consideration, and due to my limited budget I have decided to try and build a new desktop PC, rather than buying a cheap laptop.
My budget is around £500 for the system and monitor, and due to limited desk space I will definitely need an LCD screen (19" maybe?):
Primary Uses:
- Listening to music, I am planning to purchase a set of 2.1 speakers and to use my PC as my main audio device instead of taking a hifi system down to university.
- The usual sort of office stuff, word, excel, running together with IRC, MSN maybe and also the music playing together with any other background things (Makes me wonder if I need a dual core?).
Secondary Uses:
- I will likely watch movies regularly, in order to make use of the unlimited download bandwidth in campus in the first year.
- I will probably play on a few games, but I'm not a big gamer and if I do play games they tend to be strategy games and the like, rather than first person shooters and stuff, so frame rate isn't a huge problem for me, but a nice looking screen would be good.
As I will go very soon, this leaves me just a few days to decide upon what parts I want for my PC so that I can order them and get the system put together before I head off to university.
Therefore I would really, really appreciate any support and advice any of you can offer on this subject... as to be honest I just don't know what combination, within my price range will give me the best performance for the above stuff?
Thanks in advance to anybody who is willing to give me a helping hand!
Kindest Regards
John
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