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So, I’m looking to replace my hamster powered pc with something halfway decent, the only problem is I don’t really have a clue how to go about it. I have a budget of £500, and i already have a monitor, mouse and all that jazz. Pretty much the only thing salvageable from my old pc is my sound card. So could someone recommend me some parts, and also a good uk website to buy them from. Thanks :)

AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE or Phenom II X4, if it fits the budget
AM3 Mobo
ATI HD5750 or HD5770
2x2GB DDR3
Samsung F3 500GB HDD
LG SATA DVD drive
Antec Three Hundred case
Corsair CX400 or VX450 PSU

or sumttin like that :)

Should get those for about 500£, i guess.

http://yfrog.com/11brittikonej

These guys are good: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

Gl hf.

Quoted from FADe

Make sure you max out your budget!

– build it yourself, prebuilt pcs are ALWAYS more expensive
– stay well away from AMD cpus, intel has their pants down as far as gaming/bang for your buck is concerned
– stay well away from NVIDIA gpus, ATI has their pants down as far as gaming/bang for your buck is concerned

What fade said +1 !

Quoted from FADe

– stay well away from AMD cpus, intel has their pants down as far as gaming/bang for your buck is concerned

Eventhough i truly love my i7, i beg to differ: http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=13034

Also take a look at: http://tweakers.net/reviews/1504/3/tweakers-punt-net-best-buy-guide-editie-januari-2010-game-en-high-end-gamesysteem.html

Eventhough its in dutch, you get the general idea about what you need etc. I calculated 500 pounds as 545 euro’s, which should do if you take away everything besides the pc itself (no screen, speakers, mouse, keyboard etc.) You can buy the pc mentioned in the tweakers link for about 700/750 euros. Though thats just using dutch shops, dunno bout your prices etc.
Gl though!

edit: wrong calculation from pound to euro, its 545 euro’s

Quoted from SfynX

this is an intel build, however you can go to OverClockers UK and get a tri/quad amd version!

http://yfrog.com/iy32610403p

Good choices right here, I’d personally go for AMD but that’s just me.

Protip:

Stop being idiots and caring about companies. If chip ‘x’ is better value for money than chip ‘y’, it doesn’t matter if its AMD/Intel/SiS/VIA/actomctumshygoogleboggle.

However, as a rule of thumb:

Intel are better if you have the money for i5/7, otherwise phenom is the better option. ATI 4xxx and 5xxx series are – AT THE MOMENT – better value for money than their Nvidia Counter-parts. Remember this balance swings about every 18 months so just because ATI are better now, thats not say Nvidia’s new GTX 3xx range isn’t going to wipe the floor. About 2 years ago people were genuinely worried that ATI would go bust due to having nothing remotely as good as Nvidia’s 8xxx series.

So for that money:

Phenom Quad
4GB RAM
radeon 4850/4770

Fill in the blanks. ;)

This should be about right:

http://px1.voodoostats.com/stuff/PC.png

Maybe spend a touch more on the gfx if you like, but that system will run TF2 and most other games no problem.