Design me a PC!

  • Thread starter Tom
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Tom

Tom

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Right, so I got a job back in mid-June and I want to build a PC with the money that I've earned. Now I think that after putting sone money away in the bank for the future, I should have a budget of around £400. I only need the tower as I will run it through my LED TV via HDMI.

Now, I'd quite like to have a dual-boot if possible. One for gaming and one for music production and recording. So what sre the best things out there that I can buy for the money that I have?
 
I'd suggest a Hackintosh system for your needs, but with a budget of around £400, that might make things a little complicated.
 
Not really sure why you'd need a dual boot, unless you're looking at a mac and you want windows to game. I don't know what used mac prices are like across the pond, but over here you could buy a new ish used mac for the Canadian dollar equivalent to your budget.

You'd probably be able to get more bang for your buck with a windows machine, but if you already have a monitor then the best used mac mini to fit your budget could be an option. I guess I'm operating off the stereotype of macs being more suited to music and videos etc etc, but frankly I don't know the first thing about music production :lol:
 
I hope you aren't planning on doing any gaming with that budget! Also does the budget include OS?
 
His budget should be at least £500 to allow for gaming(Maybe a little more to adjust for the OS price). Plus if his plans is to use windows for music production then there is no reason to dual boot(This has not been clarified if it's going to be only a windows dual boot).
 
I guess the other bit is that at lower price points it's pretty hard to beat the Dell's and Lenovo's of the world on value. At lower prices they can just order parts and build systems en masse, compared to buying each part individually. I'd recommend building for the fun of it though.
 
It would be a Windows dual-boot. It certainly wouldn't also be "serious" gaming. Just good enough specs to run a few race simulations at a decent rate.
 
nick09
Good but he would have to buy the windows operating system as additional cost.
Click to expand...

Probably would've been best to mention that I have a corporate copy of Windows 7 available to use.
 
OK. I'd skip the pre-built computer because DQuaN has made up a list of better hardware. That hardware will play about every video game out there. Though instead of the 500GB HDD he could go for a 1TB HDD for not much more. That way there will be room for his projects and his video games.
 
The only problem I see is that the CPU is a bit under powered but there will be room for an i7 if you choose to upgrade in the future.
 
Maybe something like this...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.75 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $603.64
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-26 21:44 EDT-0400)

$603.64 = £392.41
 
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