New Computer

[quote=sirell]So my old computer has died or is pretty much there and I was looking to get a new desktop computer to keep up with the ever increasing demands on gaming. So the only minimum requirements I have are that it has at least 8GB ram, 1TB HD and will be able to keep up with games (and games graphics) for the next 1-3 years on at least medium-ish settings. Price range in and around £400 (can be higher if absolutely necessary). Any suggestions?[/quote]

[quote=Searz]You're building it yourself, right? The PC listed below will last you a long time. Sometimes spending a little more will make a PC last you a few years extra. i5 3570K is an obvious choice in CPU. It will last a loong time, you can probably upgrade your graphics card in 5 years and play most games on max again if you overclock it a little. DDR3 RAM at minimum 1600MHz with 8 or 16GB in capacity, preferably 2 sticks. Nvidia GTX660 is a the best price/performance in the mid-range(you can max out most new games at 1080p). Asus and MSI have the best cooling on GTX660. AMD HD7770 is the best price/performance on the market, but is considerably weaker than GTX660 and will almost require a GPU upgrade in ~3years(i.e: nothing other than the GPU needs to be upgraded). HDD should be 2TB(best price/GB) at 5600-6XXXRPM if you're getting an SSD and 7200RPM if you're not getting an SSD. Samsung 840 and Corsair Neutron are good SSDs. Best price/GB is at ~250GB currently, but ~120 works too if you're short on cash but really want one. In a PSU (Power Supply Unit) you'll want something that has 80+Gold and 500-700W depending on which ones are the most cost effective. It's a bonus if it is modular (removable cables), but nothing that is worth spending too much money on. In cases I mainly know one big good case that isn't a budget case, but is very much cheap for what it is offering; Fractal Design Define R4. I can't make any blanket statements on motherboards, but gimme the site you will be purchasing from and I'll find a good one. Now you could also cheese it and go with a cheap integrated solution, not requiring you to buy a separate GPU, but it will also not be able to run games on much other than low or medium in 1080p. I'm talking about using AMD A10 5800K(+compatible motherboard). This will be considerably cheaper, but less cost effective. The rest of the components will be roughly the same, with the exception of case and RAM. You should just get some cheap case if you're cheesing it. With integrated graphics you'll want really fast RAM because the RAM is used as VRAM (and faster VRAM gives big performance increases in games). So minimum 1866MHz, preferably 2133MHz.[/quote]

[quote=sirell]Well, if possible, I'd like to buy it whole, or have it assembled for me (like on CyberPower Systems), since I have little experience compiling a computer, other than what I've seen other people do. I'd rather not run the risk of messing it up by myself. Do you have anything more in this direction?[/quote]

[quote=Searz]It's very hard to really recommend anything in the pre-assembled department. Those things are often considerably more expensive than comparable computers you build yourself and they generally have at least one or two sub-par components. There are good guides for building your own PC on the internet. It's not hard. There isn't really anything that can be put in a slot it doesn't belong in. It may take quite a while if you're new to it and don't wanna rush it, but the payoff is pretty big. (especially since you don't "need" to pay for the Windows license, M$ uses pretty heavy overpricing) If you still wanna go through with the whole pre-assembled thing I would recommend looking at PCs that have a HD7770 (you won't find anything with GTX660 in a reasonable price-range).[/quote]

[quote=FireLord]a real cool thing for pcs would be like to have a sleeve coming out of the pc with the hot air to warm your feet. i think honestly that you should see if it exists[/quote]

[quote=sirell][quote=Searz] It's very hard to really recommend anything in the pre-assembled department. Those things are often considerably more expensive than comparable computers you build yourself and they generally have at least one or two sub-par components. There are good guides for building your own PC on the internet. It's not hard. There isn't really anything that can be put in a slot it doesn't belong in. It may take quite a while if you're new to it and don't wanna rush it, but the payoff is pretty big. (especially since you don't "need" to pay for the Windows license, M$ uses pretty heavy overpricing) If you still wanna go through with the whole pre-assembled thing I would recommend looking at PCs that have a HD7770 (you won't find anything with GTX660 in a reasonable price-range). [/quote] OK, thank you. Now assume I'm building one (sorry to impose so heavily), which parts would you consider compulsory? Video card/graphics card Motherboard Power Source Disk Drive (HDD/SDD) CD Drive USB add-ons (I have a lot of things to plug in) Is this all? Or did I miss something?[/quote]

[quote=FireLord]do you use cds that often? everyone uses usbs now a days[/quote]

[quote=sirell]To play music, DVDs, blu-rays and install games on CD? Sure. I don't pirate as much as I used to. I think I became more honest since starting uni.[/quote]

[quote=Searz][quote=sirell] OK, thank you. Now assume I'm building one (sorry to impose so heavily), which parts would you consider compulsory? Video card/graphics card Motherboard Power Source Disk Drive (HDD/SDD) CD Drive USB add-ons (I have a lot of things to plug in) Is this all? Or did I miss something?[/quote] You most certainly did :P CPU and RAM is very necessary. (Central Processing Unit = Processor, Random Access Memory) Now, are you sure you need a DVD/CD/BlueRay? Did you know that almost anything can be purchased digitally nowadays? Steam has a huge library and good prices and GOG.com has many old classics all DRM free for reasonable prices, so I have no reason to pirate games at all. There are numerous sites that allow you to buy music, most notably Amazon. The only part that is kinda lacking is the movies department. Buying movies online is very hard (which is why I'm using [url=http://yify-torrents.com/browse-movie/0/All/All/8/latest]this pretty little site[/url] for them :3 ). There are however some good movie&series streaming services available in most countries (most notably Netflix and HBO). While BlueRay readers are expensive as fuck DVD/CD readers are pretty cheap, but optical media in general is on the way out. People use it less and less. It's an old and very slow way of storing data and it's quite frankly almost on it's dying breath. So if you really find that you need a DVD/CD reader then I recommend getting a portable one that plugs into USB.[/quote]

[quote=sirell]Ah, of course. CPU and RAM. XD So the recommendations for all these parts are suggested above? Too lazy to scroll back up and check against the list, lol. I don't really think I need a DVD/CD/BluRay (I rarely use it to be honest), but I currently have one that works fine, so I was just going to move that over. Amazon actually has a more restricted music selection than I'd care to admit and the pricing is usually not as good as I might find somewhere else, but for a hard-copy and not digital. Though I usually get most of my music on iTunes atm. I rarely buy movies, I usually stream. Some games can be bought on Steam, but not necessarily for the best prices (I got Dishonoured really cheap at a local store, and that was a hard-copy as well, though it linked with Steam anyway). Everything else is stored on an external HD. Films, PDF books, etc etc. And I don't actually have any BluRays. The disk drive came as part of the old computer. :P[/quote]