Buying advice on new gaming rig :)

[ryryryan]

When it comes to building computers, I'm pretty much a total noob to be honest. I don't really know much about what terms mean what, and which graphics cards are the best. But I want to buy a new computer that will run pretty much everything and I am giving myself a £800 - £900 limit.
Obviously I can't build it myself, but I'm getting it done on PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK - Custom PCs, Custom Computers, Custom PC, Custom Built Computers, Gaming PC where I choose exactly what parts I want and they build it for me. Now basically I would love some help from you guys into whether I am making a clever decision with my buying choices :)

I have split it down to 2 main decisions really, judging on what price I am trying to work with. I'll copy/paste what my choices are. First one is...

Processor (CPU) AMD PHENOM™ II X4 810 (2.6GHz) 8MB CACHE (Socket AM3)
Memory (RAM) 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)
Motherboard ASUS® M4N72-E: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II, 2 x PCI-Ex, 2 x PCI
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory 500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
CD/DVD Drive 6x BLU-RAY ROM & HD-DVD ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£69)
Graphics Card 896MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX275 PCI EXPRESS
Case ANTEC 900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Power Supply & Case Cooling 700W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£58)
Processor Cooling ASUS TRITON 81 PURE COPPER BASE ULTRA COOLER (£49)

PRICE: £898

Now this is the absolute limit for me in terms of money. I can't really afford to go any better at all. I've read good reviews on the 896MB GTX275 video card, and I am under the impression AMD is better for gaming.

Second choice:

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™2 Quad Q8400 (2.66GHz) 1333MHz FSB/4MB Cache
Memory (RAM) 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)
Motherboard ASUS® P5Q DELUXE: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II,2 x PCI-e x16, 2 x PCI, 2 PCI-E x1
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher
USB Options 8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory 500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
CD/DVD Drive 6x BLU-RAY ROM & HD-DVD ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£69)
Graphics Card 1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 4890 PCI EXPRESS
Case ANTEC 900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Power Supply & Case Cooling 700W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£58)
Processor Cooling ASUS TRITON 81 PURE COPPER BASE ULTRA COOLER (£49)

PRICE: £850

This price is more attractive, but is it a better system? I am worried that being on intel it may not give as good performance as the first choice. I tried out the same spec as above on AMD and the price was an extra £100, so that's a no go.

In terms of moniters, I'm going to use my samsung 26" 1080p HDTV. It's looks great when i plug my laptop up to it (using a 1360 by 768 resolution) so will that all be fine for my desktop?

Thanks guys :)

[jcmaz]

Drop the POS Asus air cooler. You don't need Blu-Ray drive, so chuck that out. For the AMD system (non-Crossfire/SLI) use Gigabyte MA 770-UD3 + AMD 720BE + Xigmatek S1283 (normal edition, cheaper)

Intel: E8400 + Asus P5Q + Xigmatek S1283 Dark Knight and MASSIVE OC.

[upcoast604]

A x3 720BE or x4 940BE on the amd side and a Q9550 on the intel side would be my prefference for overclocking keepng in mind pricing. G.Skill 2x2GB 1066 ram is also good enough. Look into a WD 640GB Black 32MB sata drive. HSF maybe vendetta 2 or XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 does a far job on cooling. I don't know how these are priced there but in Canada it's fairly cheap to build a comp these days.

[upcoast604]

Overclockers UK

I dug this up looked around and they have a pretty good selection, you might want to have a look.

[ryryryan]

Thanks guys! I'm not sure on the odd things you mentioned, but took your advice and bundled this up instead then:

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz) 1333MHz FSB (Special Offer)
Memory (RAM) 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)
Motherboard ASUS® P5Q DELUXE: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II,2 x PCI-e x16, 2 x PCI, 2 PCI-E x1
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher
USB Options 8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory 640GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
CD/DVD Drive 22x DUAL LAYER LIGHTSCRIBE DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Graphics Card 1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 4890 PCI EXPRESS
Case ANTEC 900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Power Supply & Case Cooling 700W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£58)
Processor Cooling ARCTIC COOLING FREEZER 7 PRO QUIET INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)

PRICE: £844

I've underlined the changed components, and this seems a better system for a similar price. But the procesor cooling can only be the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7, or the one i chose before. Will this be okay for £19? With the Antec 900 case and the cooling chosen it should be fine I'd imagine.

this is actually the page where i choose all the components i want:
PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK - Custom PCs, Custom Computers, Custom PC, Custom Built Computers, Gaming PC

There isn't some things there that you guys have suggested (like the hard drive).

Anything else I can change or would that pretty much be it?

EDIT: Oh - I'm also not really going to look into overclocking it any time soon. The default speeds should be plenty for now I imagine.

[ryryryan]

Ah, I have been searching around on the site and found i can change the motherboard from the ASUS® P5Q DELUXE: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II,2 x PCI-e x16, 2 x PCI, 2 PCI-E x1 to the ASUS® P5QL: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 3 PCI, 2 x PCI-e x1. Shall I go for the second option? cause that takes the deal price from £844 to £769! They also suggested going for the 450W power supply as I only need 444 with a 20% allowance. But would it be best to stick with the 700W anyway? The price goes down to £730 with the 450W power supply.

EDIT:
OH DARN IT! I found a better deal! (I think)

So instead of the 2.8 intel quad core... i put in:
Processor (CPU) AMD PHENOM™ II X4 940 (3.0GHz) BLACK EDITION (Socket AM2+)
Memory (RAM) 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)
Motherboard ASUS® M4N78: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II, PCIe x16, 2 x PCIe x1, 3 x PCI

With everything else the same as before. And that comes to 726 all together. (I need the 700 power supply on that one). Would you say that's now the best one to go for??

[Cowboy]

You need more than 450 for that setup. I'd go with a decent 600w or a 550 from corsair. Especially if you OC and even more so If you want this computer to last for a while and not give you random problems down the road.

[ryryryan]

Don't worry, 726 includes the 700W power supply. I don't think I can beat that last deal now :S

[CroSsFiRe2009]

700£ = 1338 Cad google conversion...methinks your getting ripped off.

your better off buying your parts separately from a store and asking them or another shop to assemble it for you. Shouldn't be around $50 CAD to $100 max. Smaller stores can usually do it cheaper too for around $30.

[Cowboy]

Yeah I agree that is a bit much, but I think we have to include the insane taxes you pay in the UK (VAT? I think). That could be why its so much more.