Need help choosing a computer.

Corey1995

Honorable
Jan 30, 2014
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10,510
Hello this is my first time using this site so sorry if I don't sound too knowledgeable when it comes to computer's and their parts!(cause i'm not )
Right, basically i'm 18 and want to upgrade from my intel Pentium inspiron laptop.(terrible I know).
My main priority is gaming, whereas I want to be able to do my uni work on it as i'm going to uni next year. By uni work I simply mean word documents etc I'm pretty sure all computers can do this anyways?
Right I get paid tomorrow and my budget is about £800-900.
From looking around this is how I see it so far(bear in mind I barely know the basics)....
I am looking for..
Intel i5(I can't afford i7)
Preferably a dual core?(heard this is better than quad core for gaming?)
3+ GHz(this is essential to run the latest games, right?)
1TB of hard drive(don't really understand why this is important but apparently this is the recommendation)
6-10GB of RAM?
And I've looked into graphics cards and honestly don't understand them at all. I've found plenty of computers without built in graphics cards and all the specs above and better for around £800, but as soon as its one with a graphics card it soars up in price? is it cheaper to buy one with really good specs then buy an external graphics card?

But yeah, I'd really appreciate any advice, and when someone does reply, please try and explain everything simply as quite honestly I don't understand when people throw about numbers and systems without explaining them in the simplest terms. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope someone can help!
 
Solution


dont get that.

get this instead. this is...
edit: I am planning on buying a pre-built one if anyone was thinking, I wouldn't have a clue where to start when it comes to building my own so please don't suggest that!
 
As soon as i finished the build for you, i just saw that you need pre-build one:)
Btw i made £600 build, with all the things that modern games need.
Buying pre-build pc is much more expensive than building one yourself, plus you have warranty on every single part that you have selected for your build, unlike the pre-build pc's have all round warranty of 2-3 years and you can't open them to change a part or to clean them
If you have the time, there are many youtube and forum tutorials about building pc's or first time builders, it isn't some rocket science :)
 
Sorry for wasting your time on the build you prepared for me 🙁 I'll be completely honest, I really don't want to build my own PC! I know building one will give me my best value for money and exactly what I want, but I really want to just buy one from a store. I know I should take the advice and look into it and build one but i'm not that extreme of a gamer, I mostly play a game called Runescape which isn't that graphically challenging at all! I've looked into wesbites and my favourite one I've seen so far is ,
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/desktop-pc-monitors/desktop-pcs/gaming-pcs/cyberpower-revolution-elite-gaming-pc-21832014-pdt.html

Can you tell me if the graphics card is good on it please?
Please remember I know I'm not getting the best possible setup buying a pre-built one, but its what I want to do!
 
you know. usually pre built systems are way expensive plus the fact that they cant perform good. usually they would give an i5 or i7 procy with a junk gpu. so build your own. if you can give me a website where you can buy parts. ill help you on what parts you're going to buy
 


-The graphics card is good, it can handle most modern games on high or ultra settings.
-The funny thing is i almost made the same setup for £600 but with out Windows 8.1.
-Just there are some problems:
-Warranty, only one year, that is really bad
-No name RAM
-Can't find what kind of motherboard is used in the build
-No specification on what power supply is used in the system.
 
I can see that pre-building is the way forward but I simply don't want to build one! so lets re-word this 😉

What's the best 'worst' pre-built CPU I can buy with £800-900, or even just some suggestions, please don't suggest to build one on my own! I know that you're all 500% smarter than me and see the idea of buying a pre-built one absolute anarchy but please understand that I don't want to build my own!
 


well the rig you showed is good. if you dont want to complicate things by building your own then get it. im not familliar with the prices in your country. so leaving the price behind. that is a good pc.
 
Can you explain what no name RAM means please? and what difference the type of power supply makes? Sorry for going on and on I'd rather just ask the questions I need to ask and be answered directly like you guys are. You're putting it in simpler terms for me too, so thanks:)
 


there are generic rams. the cheap ones. branded ones are corsair, g skill, kingston, maybe even crucial ballistix. they are good quality rams with heatspreaders. heatspreaders for you may look like just a design like the g skill sniper. it looks like a gun but it actually helps to cool the ram. Power supplies, from the title supplies power to your computer. it is important to have a branded power suply. thermaltake,aerocool,antec,corsair etc are good brands. get at least 600w bronze power supply.

 


that also is one of your enemies when buying a pre built pc. you dont know if they will give you a quality ram and a quality power supply
 
See this is where I get lost🙁 Thanks for your help guys! my very last question, why is this one £100 less than the first one I posted? The only difference I can see is one runs windows 8.1 and the other runs 8.0, and the graphics cards are different... should I pay £100 less and get this one?

The two Pc's im referring to:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/desktop-pc-monitors/desktop-pcs/gaming-pcs/acer-predator-g3-605-gaming-desktop-21656659-pdt.html

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/desktop-pc-monitors/desktop-pcs/gaming-pcs/cyberpower-revolution-elite-gaming-pc-21832014-pdt.html

I have a lecture at 2:30pm, so I have to go in 10mins, so if I don't reply before then I'll reply at 4:30!
 


dont get that.

get this instead. this is amd's best procy, can match the i7 multi thread, meaning performance in games etc.
r9 270x wont let you down but the 760 is better but you can never go wrong with the r9 270x. it will play the latest games on a full hd monitor easily. but in crysis 3 and battlefield 4 maybe you need to turn off anti aliasing. but it wont affect graphics. i cant even identify the difference whenever i turn off the anti aliasing. to sum it up you save 100 bucks ang still get a good pc
THIS ONE http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/desktop-pc-monitors/desktop-pcs/gaming-pcs/cyberpower-empire-pro-gaming-pc-21835916-pdt.html
 
Solution
Vince, im going now but i'd love to speak to you later on in a few hours, I have to rush off but i'd love you to break down that computer you just recommended, I rang up and they have it in stock aswell:) I don't know if you'll have time later to talk to me but I hope so! I'll be back in about 3 hours!
 


okay just comment here so i can get the notification
 


I agree with vince completely! From personal experience the r9 270x is a VERY good card. VERY good. i have it in my own system. I max out every game i have ever played. i havent tried crysis 3 yet but i max out witcher 2 (besides ubbersampling, which a 780 cant even turn on ubber sampling and have 35+ fps) and i get good frames on all games max. Bf4 i max and get an average of 45-55. including AA. and the 8320 is a very good 8 core cpu. you wont see any bottleneck there and it will work perfectly fine. i do worry about the power supply and RAM in prebuilt systems though cause they never give any info on them
 
well bottom line is you can get any of the two. one is the one with 760 and the other with the r9 270x. both are great rigs. if you want maximum performance and doesnt mind the budget go for the one with 760. the r9 270x rig is more of a bang for your buck type. save the 100 bucks and buy other stuff. i5 would be faster than the 8320 on single thread which means opening google chrome, casual things you do on a computer by about 50% meaning if it takes an 8320 to load a thing for 10 sec it will be 5 seconds for intel theoretically.. but when you multi thread, when you run games,editing,rendering, it uses more cores, the 8320 will be head to head with an i5.

for the gpu 760 is better than the r9 270x but not that much approximately 10-15%. but the r9 can still play the latest games on max. just like i said the most demanding game is crysis 3 maybe you need to turn off anti aliasing but the 760 wont be much of a difference given that its only 10-15% better.

overall the rig with i5 is better but the rig with amd is more bang for your buck. and given the fact that you're just a casual gamer, go with the amd.
 
Right i'm back at home now so i'll be here all night!:) I love how smart everyone is on this website and i'd love someone to spend however long they're willing to actually speaking to me on Skype if anyone wants to help a fellow gamer out?! Like I've said further up the post, I literally barely know the basics of computers so you'd really be helping me out! But yeah if any of you are bored and think you could spare some time my skype is 'Glinpker'. This is the first forum i've ever posted on for anything and its given me such a good impression. Before today I thought you didnt get answers on forums for days or weeks but it's literally 10-15mins if that! so impressed with all the help :)
 
And dont rush to buy a rig. Take time to google infos on pc parts. Watch ncix tech tips on youtube and other helpful infos and read forums here. As we all say here. It is better to build ur own rig. It would only take a month to have a good knowledge on pc parts