First Time Buyer, Mid Range PC

[cato205]

Hi all, first time posting. This will be my first time building a PC so I don't really have any knowledge with individual parts/ brands etc.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Anytime between now and end of December.

BUDGET RANGE: £800 Max

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: University Work (3D Modeling [3ds Max 2010], Photoshop, Office software [Word, Powerpoint ...], General Things (Browsing the Internet, listening to music, watching movies) Im not a PC gamer, the only PC game I play is Football Manager.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: OS, Keyboard, Mouse

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: None

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England, UK

PARTS PREFERENCES: None

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Not really a PC gamer so No but maybe in the future

MONITOR: Between 17" and 20" would be ideal

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Any information would be very helpful. As I said, im not really a PC gamer so I wont need a high-end GPU, I was looking at the Intel i5 CPU and the ASUS P7P55D LE Motherboard but im not too sure so any help would be great. I would also like a Blu-Ray Drive as well and 500GB - 1TB HDD

 

[bliq]

With your relatively modest needs, if you're not set on building yourself, I'd look into one of Dell or HP's "commodity" computers. I don't know how much they cost in the UK but here in the states, it's not impossible to get a decent one for $399 including a 20 in flatscreen. That's tough to beat considering you get a warranty and legal windows license.

 

[build]

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Retail Boxed - £148
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755

XFX HD 4670 1GB - £49.74
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175344

Antec 300 Three Hundred Black Case - £39.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854

OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W PSU - £48.07
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159

LG CH08LS10 Super Multi Blu-Ray Reader & DVD±RW with LightScribe SATA - £77.25
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177383

Hanns-G HI221DP 22" TFT Monitor DVI-D/VGA W/Speakers Black - £110.50
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173911

Gigabyte P55-US3L - £87.34
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Intel+Socket+1156/Gigabyte+P55-US3L+Motherboard+LGA+1156+Socket+GA-P55-US3L+?productId=37774

1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 - £55.95
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/1TB+Samsung+Spinpoint+F3+SATA2+7200RPM+32MB+cache+?productId=37726

G.SKILL DDR3 1333 4GB CL8 - £64.34
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR3/DDR3+1333+%28PC3-10666%29/G.SKILL+DDR3+1333+PC10666+4GB+%282GB+x+2%29+?productId=37610

Total = £689.17


If you don't mind spending more of your budget, get the i7 860 http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+i7/Intel+Core+i7+860+CPU+%5B2.8GHz%2C+Retail%2C+Socket+1156%5D+?productId=37728

 

[cato205]

With your relatively modest needs, if you're not set on building yourself, I'd look into one of Dell or HP's "commodity" computers. I don't know how much they cost in the UK but here in the states, it's not impossible to get a decent one for $399 including a 20 in flatscreen. That's tough to beat considering you get a warranty and legal windows license.

Ye I know what you mean, I currently have a Dell XPS M1530 Laptop and its fine. I just would like to build my own PC for the experience firstly (Im doing a computing degree at university so i would like to learn more about the individual parts so building it myself will help). If I wasn't so keen on building it myself I would get a Dell for sure.

Thanks for the relpy.

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Retail Boxed - £148
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755

XFX HD 4670 1GB - £49.74
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175344

Antec 300 Three Hundred Black Case - £39.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854

OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W PSU - £48.07
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159

LG CH08LS10 Super Multi Blu-Ray Reader & DVD±RW with LightScribe SATA - £77.25
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177383

Hanns-G HI221DP 22" TFT Monitor DVI-D/VGA W/Speakers Black - £110.50
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173911

Gigabyte P55-US3L - £87.34
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Intel+Socket+1156/Gigabyte+P55-US3L+Motherboard+LGA+1156+Socket+GA-P55-US3L+?productId=37774

1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 - £55.95
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/1TB+Samsung+Spinpoint+F3+SATA2+7200RPM+32MB+cache+?productId=37726

G.SKILL DDR3 1333 4GB CL8 - £64.34
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR3/DDR3+1333+%28PC3-10666%29/G.SKILL+DDR3+1333+PC10666+4GB+%282GB+x+2%29+?productId=37610

Total = £689.17


If you don't mind spending more of your budget, get the i7 860 http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+i7/Intel+Core+i7+860+CPU+%5B2.8GHz%2C+Retail%2C+Socket+1156%5D+?productId=37728

Thanks, ill check out all of these links and read reviews about them.

Thanks for the reply and taking the time to find components

 

[cato205]

Also what about a Wireless card, which one would you recommend?

 

[build]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/103208

 

[cato205]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/103208

Thanks

Is there anything else which Ive forgotten about?

Motherboard
CPU
GPU
Case
PSU
Optical Drive
Monitor & Speakers
HDD
RAM
Wireless Card

Ive already got the OS [Win 7 Professional] and the Keyboard/Mouse

Also in your earlier post you mentioned possibly getting the i7 CPU, would this CPU be a significant upgrade to the i5 for the £38 difference.

Thanks

 

[build]

Yeah, would be well worth it. It has a higher standard clock speed which is a plus since you don't plan to overclock and it also has hyper threading which basically means it can utilize up to 8 cores in total (4 physical cores + 4 virtual cores).

Apart from that, you got everything you need

 

[cato205]

Thanks, couple more questions.

The RAM stated doesn't look like its in stock so what other RAM would you recommend and also would the graphics card be good enough for the 3D work that I will be using it for and watching blu-ray movies or would I need a different type of GPU

 

[build]

A workstation graphics card is another option, but a gaming grade graphics card often does the trick for less. And since you want to do a little gaming, that would be best way to go. If you go with the i7 860, you'll have about £30 left in your budget so you could spend that on a more powerful one such as a:
Radeon 4850
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173209
or
GTS 250
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/nVIDIA+GTS+250+Series+PCI-E/PALIT+NVIDIA+GTS250+1GB+/w+HDMI+?productId=37305

As for the RAM, this one http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR3/DDR3+1600+(PC3-12800)/G.SKILL+DDR3+1600+PC12800+4GB+(2GB+x+2)+?productId=37612

 

[cato205]

Thanks ill check out the GTS 250 GPU