Ideas on a new build

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: In the Near Fututre BUDGET RANGE: ~£500 ++

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming at nice resolutions

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, gpu

PREFERRED WEBSITE FOR PARTS: www.scan.co.uk

PARTS PREFERENCES: ATI n Intel prob 24" moniter

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe (other forum 4 that ) SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920X1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I've got a asus radeon 5770 gpu i can use

At that budget I would suggest going AMD as it is cheaper and the socket is more upgradeable (you don't have to replace the motherboard to upgrade the processor)

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-ES3 - £58.71
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gig [...] s-RAID-ATX

AMD3 440 3ghz Tri core - £61.62
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD [...] 95W-Retail

Samsung Spinpoint F3 500gb - £34.89
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500 [...] he-8ms-OEM

Dual Layer DVD Drive - £13.88
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Sam [...] -Black-OEM

CASE - Xigmatek ASGARD - £26.78
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Xig [...] Fan-No-PSU

Silverstone 500W PSU - £43.39
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500 [...] -120mm-Fan

G Skill Ripjaw RAM - £97.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/180490

Total: £337.86

For monitors, either 24 inch Acer - £158.60
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/24- [...] -2-ms-VESA

or the LG 23 inch - £159.55
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/23- [...] 0p-Full-HD

Total: ~£500

In my house I have an LG monitor and my wife has the Acer quoted above. It uis up to you which you go with, the LG is a bit smaller for the same kind of price but is technically a better brand quality - although ironically, at home my LG monitor has got a dead spot on it right in the middle of the screen now while the Acre monitor is still perfectly fine.

I just saw that you are not including the monitor in your budget, that is good news, so scrap the CPU and motherboard I mentioned as you can get better. So, without monitor:

i5 750 - £158.60
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Int [...] 95W-Retail

Gigabyte GA P55-US3L - £77.80
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gig [...] s-RAID-ATX

Total: £453.33

This build does not allow for XFire or USB3.0 and Sata 6gb/s, but allows spare cash for a CPU cooler for OCing and posibly a more powerful Powersupply.

The best P55 board that will give you USB 3.0 and Sata 6gb/s and XFire is:
Asus P7P55D - E Pro - £163.97

This will break your budget at: £539.50

If Crossfire matters to you but USB3.0 and Sata 6gb/s does not, you can likely buy a board in between. (For me personally the USB3 stuff was of no interest, it is something that will matter when I get a new system in 3+ years).

Depending on games you play, you may find the 5770 starts to struggle at max settings on some games, but if you have an XFire board you can always put a second one in, or if not buy a 5850 in the future, but other than that the computer is good to go!

Note that I bought the RAM from www.ebuyer.com this is because, while I love scan (I have used them for years) the one thing they lack is RAM variety - G Skill is brilliant RAM and tends to have lower latency than the Corsair on offer at scan, so I always buy the RAM elsewhere.

Odd, the links are working for me

I really wouldn't go with RAM at scan. I buy everything at scan for my PCs except RAM - at Ebuyer you can get better RAM cheaper even with the £2 delivery. G Skill Ripjaw is great RAM, and you will see it recommended often on this site

I5 is a good price at scan, you can check ebuyer and overclockers.co.uk but you will likely find scan is as good a price as you can get it.

F3 is reliable and very good - better than WD. It is no coincidence that almost every single build on this forum recommend the F3 - we are not on some commision, it just really is that good