Low price budget PC that can run on HDMI tv

[Guest]

Hi all,

Looking at new gaming PC - best spec I can manage on about GBP £500-600 (about $7-800 USD I think). I'll need a new case, PSU and internals except optical drive and real basics I have lying around. A new one is badly needed and the release of Empire at War has pushed me over the edge!

Been a while since I was up to date on parts, but after comparing prices i'm currently looking at;

Intel E8400
Sapphire Radeon 4870 512mb
4gb memory

I really need advice on particularly a decent motherboard. I'm not looking to overclock as its only my second own-built PC.

Also I've got a 17" inch screen I'll be using for now - the pc will be next to my 42" LCD tv. If I'm running some decent games is there anything in particular I need to know for the mobo if hooking it up through that as the 4870 comes with HDMI port?

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

 

[xthekidx]

For a mobo, look at The Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L or GA-EP45-UD3R (few more features, slightly better overclocking) for a single GPU setup. If you think you would add another GPU later, then Asus P5Q Pro or P5Q-E, or Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P

I think all 4870's come with an HDMI through an adapter, you might be able to find one built-in too but that really limits your options.

 

[MykC]

You should get a quad core CPU, if you like strategy games and RTS games, they get a big advantage over dual core cpu's.

Where are you ordering from?

I would recommend the following:
Phenom II 940BE
Gigabyte 780g mATX boards (hdmi)
2x2GB of DDR2 800
WD 640GB drive
Antec 300 case
500-600W PSU
4870

Alternatively, CPU/Mobo combo $287 - $15MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.165080
The only real difference to you maybe that this board is a full size ATX board and is crossfire capable.

 

[Guest]

I thought that most games didn't use quad core, it was video editing/CAD at the moment (which I do none of outside work) that used quad-core?

 

[MykC]

And a buddy of mine have pretty much similar systems with the exception to CPU.
9800GT, 4GB RAM DDR2 800. CPUs are Phenom 9500 and the E8400. In games like Dawn of War 2 and Supreme Commander I'll get slight better performance than he will especially when there are a lot of units on the map.

I would say most games don't take advantage of the quad cores right now like FPS, although LF4 and Fear 2 both do a decent job.

 

[batuchka]

P2X3 720BE
Asus M3N78-EM HDMI mATX
GTX 260
2 X 2 Gskill 1066
Antec 300
Corsair 550VX
WD 640 black
any SATA DVDRW
When used with Vista use Hybrid Power to revert to IGP (powerdown discrete) to save power and $$ when not in gaming mode ^^