Desktop/laptop reccommendations?

Widge · Oct 27th 2012, 1:26am

So here's my situation, I have a budget of £500 and I'm getting a new computer, I'm leaning more toward the desktop and monitor side of things as I'll likely get more for my money performance-wise.

What i want to use it for:
Internet use
Gaming
Music (I'm going to be recording and hopefully uploading songs)
Documents and work

I realize £500 isn't a lot for a game-worthy setup but if you know a good one, please take the time to tell me. cheers.

James Summers · Oct 27th 2012, 1:34am

first off 500 dollars wont really get you anything

but for me i'd go with a Razer laptop

1. very excellent for gaming, etc
2. portable
3. cheaper than an " ULTIMATE GAMIN MACHINE "

thats my opinion and i'm sticking with it

Widge · Oct 27th 2012, 1:40am

not 500 dollars, 500 pounds, gbp's, squids! so thats like 1000 dollars almost

Rune · Oct 27th 2012, 2:00am

Yeah that's roughly $800, you get something decent with that but it depends entirely on what sort of games you want to play. I've always had Acer laptops but pretty much anything with enough RAM will do the job at the end of the day :p

Widge · Oct 27th 2012, 2:06pm

what does everybro reckon to this? eurogamer.net/articles/df-hard…ng-the-digital-foundry-pc and how difficult is it to build one's own pc?

ricards009 · Oct 27th 2012, 11:34pm

Widge wrote:

what does everybro reckon to this? eurogamer.net/articles/df-hard…ng-the-digital-foundry-pc and how difficult is it to build one's own pc?

Yes, you get the best value for money by building your own PC, it has much better performance and in the future you can easily upgrade/change any parts.
It shouldn't be hard, it should actually take roughly an hour to build your own PC from scratch.
If you're a beginner and don't know much about parts I would recommend using this website - pcpartpicker.com/uk/ - it makes sure all your parts are compatible and shows where you can get the specified part for the best price. It also provides some benchmarks, those are still in beta stage, I believe.

karlsanada10 · Oct 28th 2012, 5:13am

Check out my thread on my signature. That might help.

Widge · Oct 28th 2012, 12:40pm

I've decided to not build my own as I've no idea what I'm doing and I dont want to risk it not working properly, what do people think to this setup?: amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/wishl…S243W6/ref=topnav_lists_1 the sandy bridge has been proven good enough in the build i posted before, but are integrated HD graphics enough?

ricards009 · Oct 28th 2012, 2:26pm

Widge wrote:

I've decided to not build my own as I've no idea what I'm doing and I dont want to risk it not working properly, what do people think to this setup?: amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/wishl…S243W6/ref=topnav_lists_1 the sandy bridge has been proven good enough in the build i posted before, but are integrated HD graphics enough?

For casual tasks such as watching movies / surfing the net / listening to music (probably not rendering & producing your own).
Some casual gaming (low/mid on reasonably low resolutions).
I certainly would not recommend getting an integrated intel chip, if you have decided to go for a prebuilt, then at least look for something from AMD or Nvidia. I currently have an Intel HD Graphics chip and I'm not very happy with it. You can pretty much forget about playing any game from 2011+ (unless you play it in 800x600 at lowest possible), since I mostly play Valve games, older games and indie-bundle games, I'm fine with it... for now.

Widge · Oct 28th 2012, 10:10pm

Now i may have changed my min on the build front, and modified my budget slightly. hows this?

CPU- Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core $189.99
CPU Cooler- Zalman CNPS7000C-Cu Ball Bearing $23.99
Motherboard - Biostar B75MU3+ Micro ATX LGA1155 $77.55
Memory - Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 $33.99
Storage - Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM $69.99
Case - Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower $64.98
Power Supply- Antec 380W ATX12V / EPS12V $41.99
Optical Drive - Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer $15.99
Monitor- ViewSonic VX2453mh-LED 24.0" $198.98
OS- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) $91.99
Keyboard- Gigabyte GK-K6800 $14.99
Mouse- Gigabyte GM-M6900 Wired Optical $24.99

Grand total: $849.42 (£527.66)

karlsanada10 · Oct 28th 2012, 11:06pm

Power supply is a bit weak. No graphics card?

atx: NZXT Source 220 $60 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…%20Source%20220
motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP $80 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…N82E16813157302
cpu: Intel Ivy Bridge i5-3450 $195 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…N82E16819116506
hdd: WDC Blue 1TB SATA III $85 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…N82E16822236339
ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $42 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…N82E16820231314
psu: Seasonic M12II 620w 80+ Bronze $90 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…080%2b%20bronze
vga: Asus GTX 660 Ti DirectCu II TOP $310 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…N82E16814121656

$862

You don't want this? No monitor and OS though. But can run games at MAX!

Widge · Oct 28th 2012, 11:15pm

damn! forgot sound and video card!

Widge · Oct 28th 2012, 11:32pm

for another £90 onto my build i can get an msi radeon hd 6670 and an asus xonar DX 24-bit 192 KHz, thoughts?

karlsanada10 · Oct 28th 2012, 11:49pm

What's your maximum budget? 6670 is really weak now, it barely handles BF3.

Or this + Monitor. You don't need a sound card.

atx: Fractal (Core 1000) $40 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…l%20Core%201000
cpu: Intel Core i3 2120 3.3GHz (Dual Core) $125 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…N82E16819115077
mb: lga1155 Asrock H61M U3S3 $67 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…N82E16813157236
hdd int: WDC Caviar Blue 500GB SATA III $70 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…%20blue%20500GB
psu: Seasonic (S12II) 520watts PSU 80Plus Bronze $70 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…%20S12II%20520w
ram: G.Skill Value 4gb ddr3 1333 CL9 (F3 1066CL9S 4GBNT) $18 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…N82E16820231421
vga: MSI GTX 650 2gb/128bit ddr5 $120 newegg.com/Product/Product.as…N82E16814127701

$510

+Good case
+2 cores, 4 threads. PseudoQuad Core.
+Awesome cheap mobo
+500GB HDD
+80+ Bronze PSU with 5yrs warranty
+Fast ram. 4GB. You can add another 4GB ram.
+2nd gen intel GPU. Cheap and strong.

This is just an entry level build. Let's say med-high for BF3.

Difference with 650 vs 660 Ti
anandtech.com/bench/Product/681?vs=647

i3-2100 vs i5-3470
anandtech.com/bench/Product/702?vs=289

Widge · Oct 29th 2012, 12:32am

max budget is probs now £600 (about $970-80) but including mouse, monitor, keyboard and os. Reason i wanted a sound card is because i'm probably going to rbe recording and playing music and I want some good sounds. can I expect anything decent with no sound card or a cheap one?

karlsanada10 · Oct 29th 2012, 12:47pm

You cannot go wrong with Asus Xonar DX.:)

Widge · Oct 29th 2012, 1:16pm

My new thinking for a graphics card is a powercolor radeon HD 7770 1gb, good enough?

TimmyCr4ft · Oct 29th 2012, 1:42pm

lol Karl are you talking some guys into building their own PCs? I remember when you did that with me, I still bought a PC from Best Buy, I bought one with an i3 processor, 6GB of ram, and an integrated video card, runs games fine until I change the resolution too high xD I only got it cuz I plan on upgrading in Christmas :3

anyway bro listen to karl, he knows what he was talking about, take a look at the PC he helped me scrap together, I only got 400 bucks in the end so I bought my current one First Time Building a Gaming Desktop, care to give advice

also thats the graphics card I am putting in this PC in Christmas so it should be

karlsanada10 · Oct 29th 2012, 2:31pm

^It's a lot better if you buy from scrap.xD

Anyways, Can you go a little bit higher like 7850?

Bundyclan · Oct 29th 2012, 2:40pm

Desktop pc is the best, but if you're planning on travelling a lot, laptop is needed.
The cheapest yet strongest laptop would be from Packard Bell. I'm using it , it was pretty cheap considering the fact
that it runs Bf3 on max.

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