Hi. I've been lurking here for a long time but never registered or posted. First post ! Be gentle.
1 Use
Playing games at 1080p. Full HD movie playback, web browsing, basic Microsoft Office usage;
most of the PC games I play are older, less demanding strategy games: Europa Universalis 3; Civ 4; Ragnarok Online, Rome Total War, and Medieval 2 Total War. All run smoothly on my old E6300/HD4670 at 1440x900 res. I am going to use my 32 inch Toshiba HDTV as a desktop monitor though, so it will be bumped up to 1920x1080. I am thinking about other genres, but all of them require much beefier GPUs.
also I will be running some folding, but I am not into maximizing my hardware with that in mind, it's just a bonus with gaming taking priority
2 Budget
600-700 pounds without a new GPU
800-900 with a new GPU
3 Country
United Kingdom
4 Brands
Don't really care, but I am leaning slightly towards i3/i5 and HD 58xx as the foundation. Open to suggestions though.
5 Current parts
DVD RW writer
possibly my old HD 4670
6 Yep, whenever I am not preparing for my final exams, I browse tech sites/forums
7 I will not do any OC myself, but I am thinking about buying an OC'd CPU+mobo+cooler+RAM bundle from Scan. I will not touch anything myself though.
8 1920x1080 and smooth frame rate at medium/high settings.
9 I want to order parts around May 20.
I need a new PC, because I am fed up with the old one. As you can see, I mostly play strategy games with low requirements and my current card should be fine for running them at native res with medium details. I play other genres on my PS3, but I was thinking about trying out some of the PC exclusives (Stalker/Crysis) or run games like Fallout 3 with PC mods. Right now it means I either get an i3 and a 5850/5870 or i5 and upgrade card later. Right now I am leaning towards i5 mainly because of the steadily rising prices on Ati cards. Their performance is nice, but paying a premium compared to release prices for 6+ month old hardware makes me cringe. Also, I am in no rush to upgrade GPU so I might just keep playing my current games and upgrade once supply/prices are better; the 6xxx series are out or Nvidia gets its act together. I've been thinking about Crossfire and say 2 5770 straight away or a 5830/50 and adding a second one once frame rates take a nose dive but in my price range single GPU solutions might be better.
What I have so far:
CPU+mobo+Ram+cooler
http://www.scan.co.uk/shops/3XS/bund..._icmp=yH5WRg6u
Either
Intel Core i3 530 - Dual Core Processor
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 Memory
Gigabyte H55M-UD2H Motherboard
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Cooler
for 316 GBP (all prices include VAT)
or
Intel Core i5 750 - Quad Core Processor
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 Memory
Asus P7P55D LE Intel P55 Express PSS Motherboard
Akasa AK-CC017 Freedom Tower CPU Cooler
for 428 GBP
Case
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Fract...-inc-Front-I-O
Fractal Design R2 for 80 GBP
PSU
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/620W-...0TX12V-V23-PSU
620W Seasonic S12II-620 Bronze for 69 GBP
HDD
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1TB-S...-89-ms-NCQ-OEM
1TB Samsung F3 for 62 GBP
OS
I can't reuse the OEM XP from my old PC and I've been thinking about buying a retail Win7 Home in case I need to reuse it a few years down the road. OEM would save a few pounds though.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Micro...-32-and-64-Bit
Win 7 Home Retail for 87 GBP
Currently 613,5 with the i3 build, 725 with the i5.
1 Use
Playing games at 1080p. Full HD movie playback, web browsing, basic Microsoft Office usage;
most of the PC games I play are older, less demanding strategy games: Europa Universalis 3; Civ 4; Ragnarok Online, Rome Total War, and Medieval 2 Total War. All run smoothly on my old E6300/HD4670 at 1440x900 res. I am going to use my 32 inch Toshiba HDTV as a desktop monitor though, so it will be bumped up to 1920x1080. I am thinking about other genres, but all of them require much beefier GPUs.
also I will be running some folding, but I am not into maximizing my hardware with that in mind, it's just a bonus with gaming taking priority
2 Budget
600-700 pounds without a new GPU
800-900 with a new GPU
3 Country
United Kingdom
4 Brands
Don't really care, but I am leaning slightly towards i3/i5 and HD 58xx as the foundation. Open to suggestions though.
5 Current parts
DVD RW writer
possibly my old HD 4670
6 Yep, whenever I am not preparing for my final exams, I browse tech sites/forums
7 I will not do any OC myself, but I am thinking about buying an OC'd CPU+mobo+cooler+RAM bundle from Scan. I will not touch anything myself though.
8 1920x1080 and smooth frame rate at medium/high settings.
9 I want to order parts around May 20.
I need a new PC, because I am fed up with the old one. As you can see, I mostly play strategy games with low requirements and my current card should be fine for running them at native res with medium details. I play other genres on my PS3, but I was thinking about trying out some of the PC exclusives (Stalker/Crysis) or run games like Fallout 3 with PC mods. Right now it means I either get an i3 and a 5850/5870 or i5 and upgrade card later. Right now I am leaning towards i5 mainly because of the steadily rising prices on Ati cards. Their performance is nice, but paying a premium compared to release prices for 6+ month old hardware makes me cringe. Also, I am in no rush to upgrade GPU so I might just keep playing my current games and upgrade once supply/prices are better; the 6xxx series are out or Nvidia gets its act together. I've been thinking about Crossfire and say 2 5770 straight away or a 5830/50 and adding a second one once frame rates take a nose dive but in my price range single GPU solutions might be better.
What I have so far:
CPU+mobo+Ram+cooler
http://www.scan.co.uk/shops/3XS/bund..._icmp=yH5WRg6u
Either
Intel Core i3 530 - Dual Core Processor
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 Memory
Gigabyte H55M-UD2H Motherboard
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Cooler
for 316 GBP (all prices include VAT)
or
Intel Core i5 750 - Quad Core Processor
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 Memory
Asus P7P55D LE Intel P55 Express PSS Motherboard
Akasa AK-CC017 Freedom Tower CPU Cooler
for 428 GBP
Case
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Fract...-inc-Front-I-O
Fractal Design R2 for 80 GBP
PSU
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/620W-...0TX12V-V23-PSU
620W Seasonic S12II-620 Bronze for 69 GBP
HDD
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1TB-S...-89-ms-NCQ-OEM
1TB Samsung F3 for 62 GBP
OS
I can't reuse the OEM XP from my old PC and I've been thinking about buying a retail Win7 Home in case I need to reuse it a few years down the road. OEM would save a few pounds though.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Micro...-32-and-64-Bit
Win 7 Home Retail for 87 GBP
Currently 613,5 with the i3 build, 725 with the i5.
