Gaming/Video Editing computer under £550 (871 USD)

zeebee123

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Hi guys,

I made a post like this a while back, but money was slow, so the thread expired before I could get back to it.

Basically I want to build a new computer for video editing and gaming, aswell as college work, music, torrenting etc. I origonally posted this question on another forum http://suprbay.org/showthread.php?t=35220 but they sent me here :) just thought it might help, to see what I was origonally suggested. I have a budget of £550 (871 USD).

Im at college, so money is not very constant, but at the moment I've got a (reasonably) steady income, and I'm ready to buy the monitor. I was planning on buying one of these two http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143012 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/138555/show_product_reviews now I'm wondering about going bigger, but have a fairly limited space as I want speakers either side. I'm hoping I can build the computer gradually over time, adding and subtracting from my present computer.

Any help would be much apreciated.

-ZEEBEE-
 

zeebee123

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Ah thats cool. Ye it includes monitor.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: When I get the money, within a year. I want to build it gradually if possible.#

BUDGET RANGE: £550 (871 USD).

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: HD video editing, gaming, torrenting, surfing the net, college work...

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: OS, Mouse... not sure what else.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Anything in the UK!

PARTS PREFERENCES: Monitor - between 19" and 22".

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Whatever is best for everything overall.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Quite would be lovely, but not essential. Computer as a whole - nothing too flashy, but needs to have sum style.

Hope that helps, and thanks for the reply!
 
In your price range, you'll probably need to start out with an E5200 CPU and overclock it. You might be able to get a P43 motherboard though, and a 9600GT or 4830 GPU... I'll get back to this one in a few hours.
 

zeebee123

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Ah great thanks, yeah I was recommended the E5200 on the other forum too. I'm not too sure how overclocking works, I'll get a more experienced freind to build the computer for me. Is overclocking fairly straight forward, and are there any disadvantages? I don't really understand it.
 
Yes it will be fairly straightforward with the right motherboard and cooler. Now that I'm free let's see what the money gets us:


Antec 300 case -51
Excellent budget case, can be upgraded with a few extra fans as you go.

Gigabyte P43 MB -75 126
A P43 board from a major company. You'll get a decent overclock from this one.

E5200 -58 184
Sunbeam CCTF CPU cooler -32 216
It's a good cooler, even a great one. Doesn't install easily on the more crowded P45 boards, but yours should have room.

Kingston HyperX CAS 4 800mhz 4GB -32 248
Very high quality RAM, excellent latency and voltage.

OCZ 500W SXS -45 293
Pretty much a budget PSU that is still quality and enough for your needs.

WD 320GB HD -40 333

DVD Drive -15 348

XFX 4850 -120 468
If the final price is too much, this can be cut back... but this is a very nice video card.

ASUS 19" -77

£545 :) Well, there's probably some missing VAT or shipping in there. That's a pretty strong system really. You'll just have to OC the CPU and you'll play any game at decent settings and schoolwork will be a breeze.

My site selection was somewhat random and may not reflect the best price in all cases. It will give you shopping options though, so compare away.
 

xthekidx

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Dec 24, 2008
3,871
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22,790

Um...Within a year...

What exactly is your cash flow like? In a year from now $800 will buy you a VERY different PC than it would today. So if you will be able to raise the funds in a month or less, then you can start planning it out, but if you are going to take more than 2 months to get the money for this rig then there is absolutely no point in trying to plan it out right now. And buying components gradually is a bad idea. You can buy a PSU and a case, as the prices on those items do not change often at all...but everything else in the PC will have its prices drop considerably by time this PC is finished if you buy it over the course of a few months. The components you buy will just sit in your closet and depreciate in value as you are waiting to buy the remaining components. The best way to ensure you get a good deal on components is to buy everything when you are ready, not over a long timeframe. If you can only afford to make payments every so often and can't save up the whole amount at once, some sites will allow you to use a payment plan for the components you buy (with interest of course). OEM's like Dell or HP will also do payment plans on PC's.
 

zeebee123

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Thanks alot Proximon, looks good. Would that set-up be good for HD video editing? Just checking because you only mentioned gaming and college work. Thanks again for your time!

xthekidx - Yeah I see what you mean. I have £200 at the moment, but as I'm at college I'm just doing 'odd jobs' for people so don't really know when will have the £550 but I'm unlikely to get it within 2 months. Just wanted to see what kinda system I could get for the money, but if it's ever changing then I dont know...

I am wanting to get the monitor, and probably speakers soon though. Is there any bigger monitors for a similar price, as depending on the size of the speakers I could go bigger, which would be nice for video editing. Or would going bigger reduce the quality for the money quite alot. Basically the space for the monitor and the speakers is just under 80cm, so on the speakers thread I left about 47cm for the monitor.

Thanks alot for your time, and sorry to waste it if it will be obsolete before I get the money. :??:
 
You would basically get the same setup minus the video card...

Since you are piecing together a system as you go, I have a few different suggestions:

- Find a large old ATX computer case that someone will give you or sell you for nothing. These can be made to work well with some modifications, which can be fun in themselves. Mostly the old large cases just need some holes and fans installed.

- Same list as above but start with an AMD dual core 7750 and a 790GX motherboard. This will give you a nicer platform to expand on and will also give you decent onboard graphics, so that you can make do without a graphics card for a while.

Gigabyte 790GX board
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149240

AMD Kuma 7750
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155158
 

zeebee123

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Ah cool thanks. I'm just thinking, if the prices do go down as quickly as I'm being told, I may aswell just wait and but it all in one, if it will work out cheaper for what I get. I can make do with the computer I have for a while longer.

What was your reasoning on going for a dual core instead of a quad, (don't get me wrong, I'm a complete newbie) just wondering as apparently Adobe CS4 is raving about how well it works with a quad core, and it seems to be alot better for everything eccept games. If it would work better for everthing else, I would prefer that probably, as video editing is equallly as important as gaming, and surely it will make all the other stuff I do on the comp (which will make up the majority) alot faster. Just a thought...

Thanks so much for your help so far, it's really helped alot, sorry to keep asking questions.

EDIT. And which parts bits will I be overclocking?
 
Click on the link to my guide in my signature, or look at the top of the forum for it. There's a section there about quad and dual cores. For a program to run better on a quad core, it has to be specifically written to take advantage of it. Quite possibly CS4 is, as well as other professional programs.
 

zeebee123

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Ah cheers, great article.

Hmmm well I also wouldn't dream of "burning a DVD, downloading a movie, and playing TF2 all at the same time." and I wouldn't drive while on the phone either :). So in that respect I should go for a dual core. But as I am also going to be doing a fair bit HD video editing, and abit of photoshop I don't know... How much more would it be? And would it be alot worse for gaming, or just not worth the extra cost? I think probably, as I'm getting on okay at the moment with what I have, I could survive with a dual. But would I really be missing out? :??: Im sure I could happily start multitasking if my computer was up for it. I mean I multitask a fair bit, but never with big programs. Like I have probably, at times surfed the net, chatted on msn, listened to music and done college work on Word at the same time, or the same but downloading stuff instead of surfing the net. But would never do anything else if I was playing a game. Occasionally I listen to music while editing if my computer permits :p. But I wouldn't say I was a heavy multitasker.

What you think? now that you know my life story. :sarcastic:
 

xthekidx

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Dec 24, 2008
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It would run you about another £120-140 for a cheap intel quad. You might consider a Phenom for cheaper, but they aren't very good processors. PII x3 720 is a decent option as well, but its a tri core not quad.
 
Yep the idea here is to have upgrade options. It's more important, when your budget is low, to buy parts that will last a while and buy cheap the parts that will be replaced.

So, in order, here is my list of priorities for spending (in your case.)

Case - Can work through many builds.
PSU - Can last 5 or more years, an eternity in PCs.
Drives - you might buy another HD later, but you won't replace a good one.
CPU cooler - A flexible one that will work on many different CPUs and boards.
Motherboard - Hopefully you can stretch this 4 years.
RAM - Same
GPU - usually lasts two years when you get a decent one.
CPU - If you start out slow you'll have all sorts of upgrade options. There's a lot of difference between an E5200 and a Q9650, or a 7750 and a PII 940.

At least if you get a cheap CPU and a motherboard with built in graphics, you arrive at the working PC a bit sooner. Then you can upgrade from there.
 

zeebee123

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Cool, ye I was wondering how long it would all last. Seems good. So what you rekon, dual or quad?

Thanks again, I think I might nearly have finished pestering you with questions now. But then theres the whole overclocking business. :sarcastic:
 

zeebee123

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Sweet. Well thanks alot for all the help both of you, really helped alot. Now just to get the money. I think as my present computer is doing ok I'll wait and build it in one when I get the money, hopefully there will be sum better prices/parts by then.

Oh and are there any 20" monitors (or maybe even 22" depending on the speakers I get) for a similar price, and quality. Or do you think this one you reccomended is the is the best bet for the price.

Thanks again,

-ZEEBEE-
 

zeebee123

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Ah ok, good plan, hadn't thought of that.

Right I better get saving, will report back when I have more money. THANKYOU!

-ZEEBEE-
 

Helloworld_98

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Feb 9, 2009
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well, I made a list on OCUK,

Monitor - Dell IN2010N - £104.98

CPU - Phenom II 720 BE X3 - £89.99

GPU - HIS 4850 512MB - £79.99

mobo - ASUS M4A77TD Pro - £68.99

memory - Corsair XMS3 4GB 1333MHz - £60.00

PSU - OCZ StealthXStream 500w - £48.99

Case - Antec 300 - £45.99

HDD - Samsung Spinpoint F1 320GB - £34.99

Optical drive - LG GH22NS40 - £18.99

it comes to £567.28 inc delivery.