A.new.pc. :)

[scoop]

I think the last time that i was able to play games "decently" on my PC was back when Halflife and Quake 3 were out.. Every time i walk into Game and see all those lovely games staring at me i wish i was able to play them.. ANYWAY

Excluding the monitor, what would motherboard, graphics card, cpu, hard drive, case.. etc would you recommend me getting..? I've been out of the loop for so long now that i really dont know where to even start.

I'll only be using it for games and would like them to run smoothly.. and in high detail if its not going to cost too much..Halflife 2, Quake 4, f.e.a.r ..

Idealy I'd like to spend a maximum of £700 but would be willing to pay more if that would'nt be enough.

Would really appreciate any help! Laptops are lovely for lazy web browsing on your bed, but thats about the best mine can do :/

 

[scoop]

Forgot to add, HD wise im not bothered on the size as long as its over 40gig.

 

[tris-]

same rules apply now scoop - the more it costs, the better it is

 

[inactionman]

This is all from scan.co.uk, you may find stuff cheaper on other sites, but scan are normally good value overall.

The things on two lines are today only specials, so the prices will change come monday.

Not included is a XP license (which you'll legally need).

Areas where spending a bit more money may help:

1) The Processor, you can get much more powerful processors than this, but obviously you pay for them. If you don't mind overclocking you can get a socket 939 Opteron (AMD's server/workstation version of the Athlon) they don't cost much more, however they overclock to 4000+/FX-57 levels (they can be hard to get, but I am about to ebay a load, pm me if you are interested). And if you are overclocking you'll probably need a more suitable mobo and cooling.

2) The Graphics Card, getting a 7800GT instead will give you a lot more graphics power for about £80 more.

3) The Ram, things already run a lot better with 2Gb, soon (towards the end of the year) they may need it (UT2007 almost certainly will for decent performance).

 

[scoop]

Thanks for that. Has given me a guideline of what i'll be able to get

 

[KevinUK]

I wouldnt bother with that soundcard, get one cheaper cos if you are spending £700 ish on a PC I guess you wont have £200 + speakers that would make that card worth the money?

£20 for soundblaster live 5.1 might be good enough, I know some freddies who just use the on board sound too...

Anything over 40gb will do you? Hehe, do they even make them that small any more?

Careful though for example Star wars RTS demo = 700mb download + 1.5gb to install

 

[SheepCow]

Why not just use onboard sound? Sound Blaster Live's always used to eat the PCI bus and they're no better than the 7.1 sound that my mobo comes with ...