Time to invest in a new pc but have no idea what i should be buying

im in two minds at the moment and am considering buying the full pc from Overlockers rather that build one as i have no idea what components i shoud be buying due to the amount of diff cpu's, rams, and motherboards not to mention sound cards, hard drives etc out there ( its a bloody minefield) .

i want to upgrade to pc which would hold its own and play the new releases for at least the next three years.

From my current pc (fujitsu-siemans Scaleo T) i should be able to use the psu, possibly the ram and disk drives x 2 . i think my graphics card, although good ( so i have been told ) maybe a bridge too far as has agp connection.. (ATI HD3650 pro, i think ) although i know there are dual pci-express and agp connection on some motherboards again i wouldnt know where to start to ensure everything else would be compat


Budget is 500-600. So should i cut the mustard and just buy the full or components? , and which components should i go for? i3, i5, or i7?

Thanks in advance peeps

£600 should be enough if you can use existing hardware. Your current PSU needs to be 450w MINIMUM with at least a combined figure of 36 amps on the +12 volt rails. Gfx card is poor i'm afraid.

HardDrives, yes you can use the same ones, i would but some peeps prefer to upgrade them aswell. I would say its the last piece of hardware to upgrade. RAM, its DDR2 so you would be stuck with a DDR2 system ie hardware thats already 12 months in to its shelf life at best. This a decision you would have to make early on in your new build quest. Sticking means your £600 will only last the 2-3 years as it really won't be upgradable when that time comes. Going down the the new i route means your hardware won't be the best but it will be cheaper to upgrade a couple of components at a time. This is really personal preference. If i had £600 to spend now and had your current system i would probably go for the best DDR2 Socket 775 system and then struggle to see how i can upgrade it in 3 years time (where i will be this year lol). It really is how you want to proceed? Certainly the majority of those in the know would say avoid my way so i'll only post whats worthy to consider of the I series

Home built is always the cheapest but there is a bridge between home built and pre built and thats the OC'd bundles.

£449
*OVERCLOCKED* Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz @ 3.60GHz / Asus P7P55D Intel P55 Motherboard / Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz DDR3 Bundle

Or if you can stretch your budget to £640

£519.98
*OVERCLOCKED* Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz @ 4.00GHz / Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Intel P55 Motherboard / Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz DDR3 Bundle

That just leaves a Gfx card and a case assuming your PSU is powerful enough.

£80 for Gfx card
Asus GeForce GTS 250 512MB (which will play BC2 on high settings with only a couple of other settings tweaked down. But will struggle this time next year)

£40 for case and your sorted.
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

Going that way means your limited to whats in the bundle. If you were willing to build from scratch then you will see a better return for your money.

CPU - £160
Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz

HSF - £35
Zalman CNPS10X-Quiet CPU Cooler

MOBO - £85
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55

MEMORY - £85
Corsair 4GB (2X2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9

PSU - £74
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Suppl

GRAPHICS CARD - £119
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5

CASE - £43
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

HDD - £0
Existing ones.

TOTAL = £601

The i5 750 is regarded as the best bang for buck CPU there is right now. You'll notice the CPU, Mobo, and Memory is the same as that in the bundle that costs over £500. Nothing is different apart from the memory is the next step up in speed and the CPU comes overclocked by OC. The difference in price is £150 so self build really is the cheapest way to go.

That system will rock your world Geordie. Gfx card isn't the best. The GTX 260 is currently the best for your money card but Nvidia know it and have kept it priced £30 more at £150. If you could stretch to £630 then the GTX260 will be worth it.

Cheers for that indepth breakdown chef, i appreciate it mate.. looks like i will be going for the ddr3 components based on what you recommended.

i feel a little out of my depth though as this would be My First build.

You don't fancy a weekend away in Newcastle next week So you can put it together for me. lol

I finish work on Wednesday for 4 days so it could be possible if the misses ok's it but you'll be fine mate. As it would be a new build you can keep your old one online and be in TS as you build it all up, then when its all together just slot the HDD in at the end. Remember you'll need to install the OS again as the new mobo will cause driver problems.

I will give it a bash, im sure ill be fine :/

My psu will be fine, its a cool master 650w, but i dont have a copy of windows so i think i will buy windows 7 at 67.99 with the money saved.

N1. Yea W7 is all kinds of awesome. I'm running the ultimate edition and its just given everything in my pc a new lease of life.

Let me know when your planning to build it and i'll make sure i'm online just in case you need some help.

i have had to put this on a back burner for now, didnt have as much spare cash as i thought (the wife made sure of that )

k mate no worries. I've just convinced Jonny to buy this system next month ready for BC2

nice(with or without the gtx260?). hopefully i wont be to far behind him ..

Without, the ATI Radeon HD 5770 will be plenty for BC2.