Considering upgrading, wondering what I can get for my budget

Danger781

1. What is your budget? €400 - €600, less is better. I'm a student so I'm not exactly loaded.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? I watch a lot of movies and love listening to music. Other than that I'd play games every so often. Mainly multiplayer steam games. Wouldn't mind playing the likes of BF3 as long as it doesn't increase the cost. Othwerwise my PS3 does just fine.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Nope

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Computer is a few years old at this stage so not likely. Other than my two external hard drives.

5. Do you need a monitor? Nope

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No harm in throwing in a wireless card I suppose.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yep

8. How can you pay? Credit Card, Laser Card, PayPal

9. When are you purchasing? Not sure yet, weighing up my options at the moment.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Cork


Also, if the tower could have orange or red LED's in it, that would be awesome. It would match the rest of my equipment.

Mouse: http://gallery.techarena.in/data/513/logitech-g9-wallpaper.jpg
Keyboard: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Logitech_G15v2.png/300px-Logitech_G15v2.png
Monitor: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IinLCtm-l2g/SA3Nk6WNFTI/AAAAAAAAASc/owyRteJFsq0/s400/Samsung_T220_LCD_Monitor.jpg

Monotype

Here's one on another thread for someone with a €400 budget.

Item|Price
WD Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 3 6Gb/s|€61.79
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€40.99
BitFenix Merc Beta|€32.17
4GB-Kit G-Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€19.89
Powercolor HD6870 1024MB Dual-DVI/HD1M2I5|€137.82
ASRock B75M, Sockel 1155, mATX|€60.07
Intel Celeron G530 Box, LGA1155|€37.27
TP-Link TL-WN781N, 150Mbps, PCIe x1|€10.20
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€419.19

You'd need a DVD in there as well. That's to give you a general idea of what you money can get you. I suppose if you want somewhere to put a bit more money, the CPU would be a good place. The celeron is actually good value for money and it's a dual core and you could always replace it later if you preferred. Some games might demand a bit more power here though.
A second option is to get an SSD. If you want a speedy system where your main programs open instantly get one of these.

You could throw in an orange led fan or two for an orange effect?
Alternatively, a different case. The NZXT has a bit of an orange theme going and would be alright if you wanted a compact mATX case.
They don't seem to sell it on hardwareversand now... they have it on scan for £50, so maybe I could shift the build over there. Mightn't get as good value in terms of PSU and a few other items.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-vulcan-black-micro-atx-gaming-case-with-handle-w-o-psu-(atx-psu-fits)

Danger781

Monotype wrote: »

Here's one on another thread for someone with a €400 budget.

Item|Price
WD Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 3 6Gb/s|€61.79
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€40.99
BitFenix Merc Beta|€32.17
4GB-Kit G-Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€19.89
Powercolor HD6870 1024MB Dual-DVI/HD1M2I5|€137.82
ASRock B75M, Sockel 1155, mATX|€60.07
Intel Celeron G530 Box, LGA1155|€37.27
TP-Link TL-WN781N, 150Mbps, PCIe x1|€10.20
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€419.19

You'd need a DVD in there as well. That's to give you a general idea of what you money can get you. I suppose if you want somewhere to put a bit more money, the CPU would be a good place. The celeron is actually good value for money and it's a dual core and you could always replace it later if you preferred. Some games might demand a bit more power here though.
A second option is to get an SSD. If you want a speedy system where your main programs open instantly get one of these.

You could throw in an orange led fan or two for an orange effect?
Alternatively, a different case. The NZXT has a bit of an orange theme going and would be alright if you wanted a compact mATX case.
They don't seem to sell it on hardwareversand now... they have it on scan for £50, so maybe I could shift the build over there. Mightn't get as good value in terms of PSU and a few other items.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-vulcan-black-micro-atx-gaming-case-with-handle-w-o-psu-(atx-psu-fits)

Thanks for the reply

I was hoping to get a bit more for €400 but at least I know I'm gonna need a higher budget. I think it would be worth putting the money into getting a better processor at least. And I would want a sound card too.

Would that graphics card be one of the relatively new models?

Monotype

I don't know enough about which sound cards are the best to go for at the moment so maybe someone else would help you here.
The 6870 is a pretty good card. It's the best value around that price - you could get a newer 7770 which is weaker and poor enough for value while the next one up is a 7850 which is about €220.
There's no real news of either AMD or nVidia releasing cards to fill this gap in the near future.

Danger781

Monotype wrote: »

I don't know enough about which sound cards are the best to go for at the moment so maybe someone else would help you here.
The 6870 is a pretty good card. It's the best value around that price - you could get a newer 7770 which is weaker and poor enough for value while the next one up is a 7850 which is about €220.
There's no real news of either AMD or nVidia releasing cards to fill this gap in the near future.

Cool, thanks for the help!

I have a great starting point now anyways..

Would the PSU you linked allow for future upgrades? e.g. Adding more RAM or a second hard drive, or changing some other components?

Sarz91

That 450 Watt psu should be good for anything up to a 3570 K with a 7850 and some slight overclocking as well.

Procrastastudy

I have a 6870 teamed with a 3570K and can run 1680x1050 maxed setting quite happily on BF3. CPU wont make a whole host of difference.