A First time Build

[twarlow]

Hi, I'm very very new to this and I really would like a new computer, I was wondering whether any of you guys would be willing to choose some components for my build. The only requirements are that it plays Crysis at high graphics at 1024 x 768 resolution, and its is the cheapest cost you can find.

Many Thanks,

Tom

 

[g-paw]

What is your budget? Suggest you start reading reviews of current and immediately upcoming CPUs, video cards, and mobo. This is a good site along with extremetech.com and anandtech.com. The a lot of the fun part of building is choosing the parts. That doesn't mean people aren't willing to make suggestions but having someone just list parts means you're building someone else's computer

 

[StevieD]

Budget. Expected life of the computer. Willingness to upgrade. Parts on hand from prior computers. Monitor. OS. etc etc.

 

[twarlow]

Budget. Expected life of the computer. Willingness to upgrade. Parts on hand from prior computers. Monitor. OS. etc etc.

My buget is a maximum of £600 :S

Life: As long as possible. Can 4 years be realistic?

I will upgrade, if i have to. I'm not excatly a millionaire, lets just say that.

I have a monitor and a keyboard and a mouse and that sought of stuff, i don't have a PSU or any RAM, etc.

I'm thinking Windows Vista Home Premium, because i already have it.

The problem is, I don't fully understand how to get the most out of the components I put in my PC. So I just need you guys to point me in the right direction in terms of how components work together, and some good, cheap, combinations.

thanks,

Tom

 

[g-paw]

Here are test and recommended builds for Crysis. These are definitely high end systems and not sure what these would cost you because of the exchange rate as well as the cost of components. Looks like $2000 would convert to about 968 pounds so the $2000 machine is definitely over your budget unless parts are 1/3/ cheaper over there, which is doubtful. It is a starting point from which you can scale back and plan for future updates. Suggest you price the parts from the second article and then start scaling back accordingly.

http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2007/11/16/crysis_demo_vs_full/
http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2007/11/02/crysispc_part2/

 

[hughyhunter]

Since you are on a budget I suggest that you either build an AMD/ATI system or go with older tech all together. Intel and Nvidia is a bit more expensive... since you are playing crysis at a very low resolution I suggest you start looking at a HD 3870 for GPU and maybe get a newer 790FX mobo from MSI with a 5000+ black edition cpu. That should be well under your budget and then it's up to you to pick a nice case and read plenty reviews on the one that you want.
I think you can skip on things like soundcard, RAID arrays and extra periphials just because you are on a budget and then in the future upgrade to some of those things.
Start with maybe two gigs of Corsair dominator memory (DDR2 1066) and then when games get more difficult to play upgrade to an additional two gigs.
You put together a system then ask us what we think about it. Go with stuff that looks good to you then we'll tell you what we think. Like said before we cant build it for you because that would take away the uniquness of building a PC. If you want someone to build a PC for you go to cyberpowerpc.com or dell.com