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I have a £2000 budget for this badboy, and it'll probably be summer before I can lay my hands on it unless I decide to abuse my student overdraft(which is unlikely), so hopefully prices will have dropped.

Primarily the system is for gaming/entertainment but I'll also need it to handle other packages, most likely graphical pretty well, although given the shitty computers I've used in Uni, this computer will have np handling too.

I would prefer one with the most common peripharels, keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor but it's not essential.

I'm opting for a prebuilt over custom made, partly down to the warrenty and hassle it could potentionally save me, should anything go wrong. 1 year would really be adequete, as that would see me through my student years at least

I have a few systems in mind, but really I don't have a good grasp of the hardware these days and what's shit hot/what's not. So the more help the better.

I would appreciate if someone could find me something like what Nixon asked for, but with a budget of around £1k in mind. Monitor and DVD not required.

Hijack thread more, you terrerist!

p.s. £2k, wtf

Benn wrote:Hijack thread more, you terrerist!

p.s. £2k, wtf

Well that's kinda like my limit. I am after a really good system, which I think with my budget will allow me to do.

My current system which is now closing quite a few years old, was medium - high range at the time, however I never really considered my gaming(more so future games) which kinda sucked - was really just after a computer to see me through uni

Well obviously 2k and self build will get the absolute dogs bollocks system but I myself am a fan of pre built simply for the out the box usability, and getting a tried and tested system with a warranty. Yes building a custom all the parts have the same warranty, but they dont cover you when you short the graphics card because you didnt earth yourself properly.

So for £2000 you really do have some fantastic options. If you want something that looks cool and designed for gaming stuff like alienware and Monkey systems do some cool looking stuff, but personall I would recommend something like a top of the range fujitsu siemens Scaleo PC. For around £1000 you will get all the latest processors, graphics card etc, but here's the beauty:

You can buy the system without monitor and with dirt cheap peripherals, and instead buy seperately a Logitech G5 laser mouse, or G7 if you want wireless, and get yourself the Mac Daddy of keyboards in the shape of the Logitech G15. It's wired so no pissing about with batteries, and comes with backlit keys so you dont need the lights on when playing CS etc, an LCD screen that has user programmable scripting language, already there are many custom made apps available for it that do various things from controlling itunes to displaying chat lines as they appear in Irc! Finally it comes with a set of "G" keys. These are like a second numeric keyboard to the left of the keyboard, and are fully programmable and recordable, and compatible with all games including Ultima Online etc. So people are actually recording length macros with it.

So that would get you the very best peripherals, and then with the rest of the money get the dogs bollocks of TFT monitors. A 21" monster or something.

Or forget gaming and get one of these:

http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/Resource ... 038491.jpg

Ive had a play with Windows Media Centre enabled homes and have to say it's fucking cool, with things like wireless streaming of media files to your various consumer electronics units like your LCD TV, Amplifier for music etc. Better yet Xbox 360 is specifically designed to hook up to WMC and stream files to your TV in HD format.

Here's the spec sheet for the top end Scaleo PC:

http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/Resource ... 790482.pdf

They are quite sexy looking and come with front access USB and multi memory card reaers. The best thing is how customisable they are, you can specify Intel or AMD CPUs, get every type of optical drive or how many you want right upto dual layer dvd writers, dual layers are worth getting because it means you can fit 4 hours of DVD quality film onto one disc so is essential for films like lord of the rings, or fitting four tv series episodes on one disc.

Specifiable graphics cards (PCI E) and latest soundblaster audigy 7.1 or whatever it is.

Of course for hardcore FPS gaming this might not be what you want, because stuff like alienware comes with dual core motherboards and processors but I prefer stuff like the Fujitsu for flexibility, after all we all do more than gaming with our PCs.

Ultimately up to you though!

If you go the Alienware or Monkey bear in mind you are paying a lot of money just for style, they are certainly not value for money machines. But with a budget of £2000 you can afford their kit.

For Villa with £1000 you can get a system almost as good as Nixon. The difference at the top end of the market is marginal and costs £100s for the privilege of having the very best stuff.

So again you could get yourself a really good Fujitsu system (yes I am a fujitsu fanboy ever since I got one, best system ive ever owned).

Another good option is Dell, but the Dell systems whilst good value and good kit, have a habit of making expandability difficult because they want you to buy another system instead. But if you're anything like me the only kit you add is stuff like wireless network cars or similar slot in PCI cards, for major upgrades I just end up buying a whole new system as it's so cheap these days.

If you stay in the UK and want a pre built PC for peace of mind...

Look no further than
http://www.meshcomputers.com
or
http://www.evesham.com/

3 years warrenty

2-3 Onsite
0-1 RTB

prob the best suppliers in the UK.

Zim Zum wrote:Well obviously 2k and self build will get the absolute dogs bollocks system but I myself am a fan of pre built simply for the out the box usability, and getting a tried and tested system with a warranty. Yes building a custom all the parts have the same warranty, but they dont cover you when you short the graphics card because you didnt earth yourself properly.

Yes, the system I had before this, I built up myself but I did find it a little harder to maintain cause I was always fiddling about trying to get the max performance out the PC, but I never knew really what I was doing - well not the specfics like some people do, as I've never been overly into the hardware side.

One of my close uni mates builds PC's and stuff, so I think thats an option I may look at, but only under the watchful eye of someone who really knows there shit till I can at least trust myself with 2 grand of equipment.

I looked at the Logitech range earlier, some of the products interest me quite a bit, however a lot of them are fugly with the wrong setup. I think they are something I can really concern myself with after I've purchased the base unit (or built it whatever the case maybe).

I don't have to concern myself too much with hooking up with my TV and so forth yet, as I don't have that kind of equipment alongside my PC

I'll defo gives the link some thought. Its a lot of money for me to part with, so I want to be 100% confident with my choices.

Style of course is important for me, I like things to look sweet as well as run sweet Even if it does whore a little bit more power!

Cheers for the linkies as well Knightrox

In terms of Logitech the LCd keyboard could be seen as gimmicky but there's no doubting the G5 mouse is by far the best on the market. The wired version even comes witha box of weights you can insert into the mouse to give it the feel you like!

I want to get one but at the moment Id rather put the £50 it costs towards my new home cinema system. Plus I just spent £200 on a suit today so really cant afford it for now.

But if you go to ebay and search for stuff like the g15, g5 or g7 you'll see that even the ebay prices are very close to new retail price, which is always a good indication of demand/quality.

Zim Zum wrote:For Villa with £1000 you can get a system almost as good as Nixon. The difference at the top end of the market is marginal and costs £100s for the privilege of having the very best stuff.

So again you could get yourself a really good Fujitsu system (yes I am a fujitsu fanboy ever since I got one, best system ive ever owned).

Another good option is Dell, but the Dell systems whilst good value and good kit, have a habit of making expandability difficult because they want you to buy another system instead. But if you're anything like me the only kit you add is stuff like wireless network cars or similar slot in PCI cards, for major upgrades I just end up buying a whole new system as it's so cheap these days.

How does this system look ?
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/085705
£900 and it includes a monitor too.

I can do more floating point calcs in my head then that graphics card.

Ingo speaks truth.

That's a good value system let down by two things, firstly Ive used several advent systems (never owned but used) and whilst you get a lot for the money the use of budget components can lead to a lot of conflicts and crashing when the machine is pushed to its limits. I.e. for office use it's perfect but for gaming it isnt.

Secondly that really is a piss poor graphics card for a £900 system.

It would be a good buy for casual multimedia use, ie storing lots of video files and mp3s, running multiple instances of spreadsheets and internet explorers etc, but not so good for gaming or intensive graphics packages.

Also im not a fan of wireless mice and keyboards although this is a matter of personal preference.

Certainly not a bad syste, but im confident you can do a lot better, but Advent go for the WOW factor, ie on first glance things like 2 gigs of ram and massive hard drive have numerical appeal until you open the case and see it was made by wing yip in China. Yes I know all components are made in China, but big brands have quality control, Mr Yip does not.

rofl

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/productinf ... uctID=9696

Not been through it properly yet but that looks more like it, decent 17'' or half decent 19'' lcd will put you up to around a grand too.

i'm actually tempted to buy this one http://www.microdirect.co.uk/productinf ... uctID=9697