# New Computer £600



## carl123uk (Jun 16, 2008)

Need help with finding the bestt with the budget i'v got. Been given the task to buy a new pc for someone. Budget of about £600ish.

Need a PC, Monitor, Keyboard & mouse, joystick and a flight sim.

Most of the use will be internet or playing flight sim.

I don't have the know how to build anything myself so will all need to be off the shelf stuff.

What would people recommend?

Best i have found so far is this tower
Lenovo H50


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

You'll need a better graphics card for flight sim than that.


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## carl123uk (Jun 16, 2008)

ardandy said:


> You'll need a better graphics card for flight sim than that.


What's the minimum graphics card it would need?


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

Depends on the version of flight sim.


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

carl123uk said:


> What's the minimum graphics card it would need?


as a minimum I would have thought something like Nvidia GTX 960 2GB card - that card alone will cost you between £170-£200, go up to the 970 and your looking at between £240 - £400

£600 for a machine of the spec you are looking for will be a budget machine and you will always need to compromise on something.


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

After the monitor etc there's not enough left for a proper flight sim PC. 

You could prob just about build one for that, maybe.


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## carl123uk (Jun 16, 2008)

Thanks for all the replies.

Would something like this be better?

http://www.game.co.uk/en/fierce-shotgun-quad-core-gaming-pc-bundle-includes-gaming-keyboard-mouse-21-5-monitor-windows-7-327103?pageSize=40&searchTerm=pc%20bundle&catGroupId=


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## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

Do they currently have a system that you could salvage a monitor, or maybe other bits, from as a stop gap until he can afford a decent monitor?


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

carl123uk said:


> Thanks for all the replies.
> 
> Would something like this be better?
> 
> http://www.game.co.uk/en/fierce-shotgun-quad-core-gaming-pc-bundle-includes-gaming-keyboard-mouse-21-5-monitor-windows-7-327103?pageSize=40&searchTerm=pc%20bundle&catGroupId=


I would have said below was better but appreciate it is only a tower and doesn't have the other parts you need included however they do make cheaper systems if you look at their shop.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMD-PILED...DIA-GTX960-2GB-1TB-HDD-Win-7-HP-/221750726737


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## Scottien (Jan 3, 2006)

Don't buy overpriced and under specced stuff like that Lenovo you linked. Go custom, there are plenty of people selling very competitively priced custom built gaming pcs on ebay. You could get something half decent for £600-700


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## carl123uk (Jun 16, 2008)

m1pui said:


> Do they currently have a system that you could salvage a monitor, or maybe other bits, from as a stop gap until he can afford a decent monitor?


No nothing at all.


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## carl123uk (Jun 16, 2008)

m4rkymark said:


> I would have said below was better but appreciate it is only a tower and doesn't have the other parts you need included however they do make cheaper systems if you look at their shop.
> 
> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMD-PILED...DIA-GTX960-2GB-1TB-HDD-Win-7-HP-/221750726737


Looking at there other items would this work?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Pentium-K-G3258-4-4GHz-Overclocked-Gaming-PC-1TB-HDD-NVIDIA-GTX960-Win-7-/321731538278


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## stuartr (Mar 11, 2014)

carl123uk said:


> Looking at there other items would this work?
> 
> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Pentium-K-G3258-4-4GHz-Overclocked-Gaming-PC-1TB-HDD-NVIDIA-GTX960-Win-7-/321731538278


Not a fan of the processor (weaker than i3) and they have overclocked it quite high to get decent performance.


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## The_Weasel (Nov 23, 2006)

22" monitor if it's any use to you £67.98
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/aoc-ips-1080p-60hz-22-monitor-67-98-ebuyer-2235678


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## Crafoo (Oct 27, 2013)

My advice, wait a little longer until you've got another couple of hundred to chuck at it, I assume you're not in any great hurry.

I'd say £750 should get you where you want to be.


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## carl123uk (Jun 16, 2008)

The_Weasel said:


> 22" monitor if it's any use to you £67.98
> http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/aoc-ips-1080p-60hz-22-monitor-67-98-ebuyer-2235678


Thanks just bought it. I'v managed to get £600 max now for a tower.

Is this one still the best for my budget?

[URL="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMD-PILEDRIVER-FX-6350-Six-Core-Gaming-PC-NVIDIA-GTX960-2GB-1TB-HDD-Win-7-HP-/221750726737=[/URL]


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

Stretch it a bit more and go for http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ASUS-G750...351?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3a9db71057

Full 2 years warranty!


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## hobbs182 (Jul 10, 2013)

Go with someone like scan, overclockers or PC specialist....

Ebay PCs just aren't worth the time or day, especially when they go faulty 

I wouldn't usually recommend the main stealers (I work at a local PC sales/repair centre building high end gaming systems) but when compared to ebay systems at least the bigger etailers have proper knowledgeable engineers who know what they are doing and are only on the end of the phone,


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## Serkie (Dec 8, 2007)

Decent spec and price...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Cor...995?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item234bdafc4b


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## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

Are you any good at assembling yourself?
It's definitely the cheapest way to go and you get alot for your money
I can spec you a full list of components if you want? I do this on a regular basis, including all the PCs at my work and tonnes for myself, family friends etc
Or if you're not confident I can do the build for you too

Oh and avoid eBay computers like the plague. They scrimp on important things like the power supply


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## carl123uk (Jun 16, 2008)

Hereisphilly said:


> Are you any good at assembling yourself?
> It's definitely the cheapest way to go and you get alot for your money
> I can spec you a full list of components if you want? I do this on a regular basis, including all the PCs at my work and tonnes for myself, family friends etc
> Or if you're not confident I can do the build for you too
> ...


Is it all plug and play sort of stuff?


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## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

carl123uk said:


> Is it all plug and play sort of stuff?


Basically yes, there are plenty of guides on the internet to help, or I can walk you through it
I'll get you a list of components, do you already have a windows licence?

Where abouts are you based?


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

Should point out that windows licences aren't transferrable. 

Not that I'm bothered though!


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## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

ardandy said:


> Should point out that windows licences aren't transferrable.
> 
> Not that I'm bothered though!


It all depends on the version, if its an OEM license its tied to the motherboard, but if its a retail license, you can transfer it as much as you like


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## carl123uk (Jun 16, 2008)

Hereisphilly said:


> Basically yes, there are plenty of guides on the internet to help, or I can walk you through it
> I'll get you a list of components, do you already have a windows licence?
> 
> Where abouts are you based?


Yea if you wouldn't mind putting together a list of what i need that would be great. Got to learn somehow so i might aswell have a go myself.


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

Hereisphilly said:


> It all depends on the version, if its an OEM license its tied to the motherboard, but if its a retail license, you can transfer it as much as you like


As he's never built one before I would assume hes not got a retail one.

Most builders somehow never seem to buy a licence! Cant think how!


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## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

Right, I've specced you a nice all rounder PC, that has basically everything you need, Inc some better than normal peripherals
Now if you want to save some money or jump to a better graphics card (gtx 970) you'll have to drop some bits, or get some dirt cheap peripherals and maybe upgrade later.

I've found that getting all your components from one site is much easier, there may be fractionally cheaper prices for certain bits from other sites, but one postage is factored in it basically equals out. Scan.co.uk is my retailer of choice

For a windows license I've found eBay to be great, as there are loads of W8 codes knocking around and people send them via email. You have to activate with microsoft straight away, so you know instantly if they're genuine or not. If its not just open a dispute with paypal, job done. You'll also get an upgrade to W10 at then end of July for free
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=151729948411&alt=web

CPU - i3 4170 - great all rounder
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/inte...gt-s-dmi-1150mhz-gpu-37x-ratio-54w-cpu-retail

Motherboard - MSI H97 PC mate - fits the case, its full atx so you can easily add another graphics card. As its H97 you won't need to flash the BIOS to use with your cpu which you need to do with H81 - no overclocking but you cant overcl**** your cpu either so its all fine
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-...0-(x16)-2-way-crossfirex-d-sub-dvi-d-hdmi-atx

Case - very good for the money and from a good manufacturer
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/frac...ce-case-with-usb-30-and-2x-120mm-fans-w-o-psu

GPU - very good mid range card, this gainward is very quiet and only needs 1 6 pin PCI power adapter
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-...-1203mhz-boost-1266mhz-cores-1024-dvi-dp-hdmi

PSU - way above your current power requirements and will easily be able to handle the addition of another 960 GPU if you want further down the line - corsair is a reliable manufacturer too
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w...u-certified-1x120mm-fan-black-casingplussleev

Ram - 4gb for now which should do the job for flight sim, you may need to jump to 8gb if you find it lacking, but its dirt cheap and your mobo has enough slots 
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-...0-(1600)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-150v

SSD - 256GB should be enough and this is single most important component you can buy to make windows feel snappy, you can buy traditional rotating hard drives for media storage if you need
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/250g...m-slim-read-535mb-s-write-370mb-s-87k-iops-70

Monitor - cheap 22" Acer, can't really comment on how good it is but its 1080 and cheap
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/215-acer-k222hql-led-monitor-hdmi-dvi-vga-1920x1080-200cd-m-5ms

Keyboard - good gaming one that gets good reviews
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/i-rocks-rock-series-k10-gaming-usb-keyboard-with-anti-ghosting

Mouse - again as above
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/i-rocks-m09-gaming-mouse-black-with-green-led-1750dpi

CPU cooler - not strictly necessary but if it was me I would get it for the price as it cuts down on temps and noise levels over the stock Intel cooler
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silv...-fan-s775-1155-1156-1150-1366-2011-am2-am3-fm

I haven't included a DVD drive, these are being used less and less nowadays, up to you if want one they cost about £11

With a windows code, it comes to £655 all delivered, and as I said there are a few areas you can trim the cost down if you want

Hope this helps and PM me if you need building help or anything else


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## carl123uk (Jun 16, 2008)

Thanks for doing that Hereisphilly. Any questions i'll send u a PM


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## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

carl123uk said:


> Thanks for doing that Hereisphilly. Any questions i'll send u a PM


No probs, as I said this is what I do regularly, so just hit me up if you need anything else


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## hobbs182 (Jul 10, 2013)

Hereisphilly said:


> Right, I've specced you a nice all rounder PC, that has basically everything you need, Inc some better than normal peripherals
> Now if you want to save some money or jump to a better graphics card (gtx 970) you'll have to drop some bits, or get some dirt cheap peripherals and maybe upgrade later.
> 
> I've found that getting all your components from one site is much easier, there may be fractionally cheaper prices for certain bits from other sites, but one postage is factored in it basically equals out. Scan.co.uk is my retailer of choice
> ...


Nice to see someone post a reliable and worthwhile spec and know what he's on about while sticking to budget!

See too many 'it pros' aka home book readers that like to think they can spec someone and include dog sh** parts lol

Only thing I'd change on this is motherboard to gigbayte or asrock and graphics card to evga or gigabyte however that's really personal opinion and findings but otherwise think you've sorted him out well there mate!


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## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

hobbs182 said:


> Nice to see someone post a reliable and worthwhile spec and know what he's on about while sticking to budget!
> 
> See too many 'it pros' aka home book readers that like to think they can spec someone and include dog sh** parts lol
> 
> Only thing I'd change on this is motherboard to gigbayte or asrock and graphics card to evga or gigabyte however that's really personal opinion and findings but otherwise think you've sorted him out well there mate!


Cheers bud, thanks!

Yeah I only go gigabyte for mobos on my main rig due to their better component selection, but when budgets are tight MSI punch very well for the money. Plus they have good mobo layouts on the cheap end, something Asus/gigabyte do not unfortunately

Again evgas gpu warranty is hard to beat but the gainward has a lovely quiet cooler and boosts higher than the popular MSI for about £8 less, so again, saves money where it counts

I've been building now for 8 years, 100% cycled my parts about 3 times as well as doing countless for friends and family, as well as about 20 boxes for work

My rig's fully water cooled in a phanteks enthoo primo, plenty of rad space to keep my delidded i5 cool  (eyeing up a 980ti now that the furyx reviews are disappointing), plus I've got a custom 10tb Plex/file server and htpc

I'm a firm believer in getting the right hardware and knowing where to save to make it count, so that you can get the right system for your money. If you don't game and just want an office box then a 1150 pentium is basically all anyone ever needs when paired with an ssd
Also PSU capacities are a big bugbear for me, again unless you are sli-ing 400-500w is all you ever need as component efficiencies are so good nowadays


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

Hereisphilly said:


> Right, I've specced you a nice all rounder PC, that has basically everything you need, Inc some better than normal peripherals
> Now if you want to save some money or jump to a better graphics card (gtx 970) you'll have to drop some bits, or get some dirt cheap peripherals and maybe upgrade later.
> 
> I've found that getting all your components from one site is much easier, there may be fractionally cheaper prices for certain bits from other sites, but one postage is factored in it basically equals out. Scan.co.uk is my retailer of choice
> ...


I use scan all the time, their service is excellent - good trade prices too. If you don't have a trade account the today only deals re sometimes pretty good.


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## hobbs182 (Jul 10, 2013)

m4rkymark said:


> I use scan all the time, their service is excellent - good trade prices too. If you don't have a trade account the today only deals re sometimes pretty good.


How good are their trade prices though? 
At work we have a credit/trade account with ebuyer and use them a lot but they don't offer any trade discount as such so competing is not possible for us, I've used scan personally and found them spot on so if its worth all the paper work for a trade account I may have to get the ball moving?


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