Hi all, thanks for looking in my thread. I want to buy a new PC (probably from Chillblast.com and i want it mainly for gaming purposes) and have my eye on something along the lines of this:
Xigmatec Asgard Black Case
Intel Core i7 860 Processor (2.80GHz) Overclocked to 3.6GHz - must have Freezer 7 Pro
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (lowers system noise!)
Which comes out to £925.38, i am willing to pay a bit more (perhaps 200 more if, and only if, its a really good performance increase but cheaper is always better of course)
CPU: Now i havent bought a new pc for over 5 years (i just keep them till theyre run into the ground lol) so have got really behind with what is good for gaming but the research i have done so far suggests that the I7 860 will give nearly the same performance as the 920 for a cheaper price. However my brother says that i should just get the I5 750 as this will be just as good for gaming but with an even cheaper price tag. But whilst i do want a PC optimized for gaming i would like something that can run Photoshop well and be able to run several programmes at once at a good speed.
Graphics card: The Radeon 5850 appears to give the best performance for value with it being quite a bit better than the 5770 and not that far off the 5870 so im pretty sure this is the one i want to go for but if im horribly wrong then please correct me. Is the GTX 285 a viable option?
Memory: Now this is where i really dont have a clue. I have gone for the cheapest option avaliable but will that be enough to run the machine well or should i go for more?
Motherboard: Again, im not really sure and like the memory ive just gone for the cheapest avaliable. Any good though?
I would be very grateful if you have any thoughts on my potential purchase, thank you.
There is no name brand on the memory, so it is probably total junk. Get some corsair instead. 4GB is enough, but 6-8GB would be better, especially if you intend to use the system for a year or more.
The CPU isn't bad, but it isn't really a good value when it comes to gaming...an overclocked i5 quadcore would probably do just as well.
Onboard audio has gotten better over the years, but a good dedicated card will still give you better audio.
The mainboard is total junk...just like every board Asus makes. Get a gigabyte instead.
The generic power supply is also a weak point...a 400W corsair would probably make more power than that POS.
Sony makes terrible products...the PS3 is the only thing I would buy from them, and only because no one else makes the PS3. Pioneer and LG both make much better DVD burners for the same price range.
The hard drive is a bit small for my taste; you could go to 1.5TB 7200rpm for a few bucks more...if you think you might need the space, that is. If you don't need space, then you could go with a faster drive in a smaller size.
The 5870 is considerably more powerful than the 5850...but in terms of FPS-per-dollar, I think the 5850 is still a better deal...and you can always overclock. However, I would go with a better brand if I were you...according to the chillblast website, their "5850" is just a remarked 4870...this may be a mistake, but their description seems to confirm this...and I wouldn't risk it. (in fact, I would not buy anything from a company that would sell a 512mb 4870 by calling it a 1024mb 5850.)
