Building my first PC

[zondervan]

Hiya guys im want to build my own pc because my cpu is broken on this pc which is a pentium 4 and i think its time for a new one

my budget is £600 , which is around $950

its going to be used for gaming the most, other than that isnt going to be used for anything else really

i play high end games such as metro 2033

i have no clue what to buy what so ever , my friend told me i should NEVER buy a pre-made pc because there a total ripoff , so im on here looking for help for builds

i know how i would build one so i dont need any help on that

btw i wont be needing a OS and DVD drive

thank you in advance

 

[omnisome]

What operating system will you be using and is that drive IDE or SATA?

What resolution does your monitor run at and do you plan to get a bigger/newer one anytime soon?

Pre-built computers aren't "rip-offs" but branded ones are!

 

[RazberyBandit]

In general, your friend is right. But that typically applies to mass-produced PCs from the likes of Dell, HP, Acer, Gateway, and so on. Plenty of boutiques and PC shops around the world build solid, affordable systems in-house from the same parts DIY builders tend to use. So, not all pre-built machines are total ripoffs. Sure, they charge a fee to assemble them, but people who don't have the knowledge or time to build their own can still get a pretty fair deal on such machines.

I'm in the US, so I'm not familiar with PC component pricing across the pond. But, here are several UK PC component (and system) vendors to consider:
scan.co.uk
dinoPC.com
novatech.co.uk
overclockers.co.uk

One thing you may also want to include is the resolution of your monitor, as it's a contributing factor towards GPU selection/recommendations. I could hit those sites and offer suggestions, but it's rather troublesome when I don't comparison shop UK vendors enough.

 

[zondervan]

My resolution is 1440x900

my maximum resolution is 2048 x 1536

also i will be using windows 7

oh and also ill be keeping this monitor for a long time , i only bought it recently

 

[QwertyMusicMan]

The GTX 570 is a good graphics card, and couple that with an i5 and you have a good setup. You should do some research yourself (get an idea of how everything works, terminology, models, a build of your own, etc) and come back with more specific questions.

 

[RazberyBandit]

A Gen2 Core i5 2500K (the most value-packed model) + GTX570 system would be near impossible on a 600 quid budget, though. Peeking around Scan's site a bit, the 2500K is 170, decent P67 boards start at about 90-100, and GTX570's start at 252. That only leaves about 80 quid for a case, RAM, and a HDD. It's just not possible. You could save a few quid here and there by choosing an i5-2400 paired with an H61/H67 board, then going with a GTX560/560Ti, but you miss out on a lot of CPU potential (via overclocking the 2500K) for very little CPU cost difference. Most any GPU from the 460/560/6870 range and up is going to be pretty damn God-like at 1440x900.