Buying new computer

I think you'd get more help if you had this moved to the computer section.
One thing I came across, was that other manufacturers (acer, HP, you name the lot) make better pc's for less money. With Dell, you get all sorts of extra services, that you don't really want (at least I don't)

[quote name='scrtmstr' post='3238664' date='Nov 1 2010, 05:39 PM']I think you'd get more help if you had this moved to the computer section.
One thing I came across, was that other manufacturers (acer, HP, you name the lot) make better pc's for less money. With Dell, you get all sorts of extra services, that you don't really want (at least I don't)[/quote]
I thought that since this was personal, I'd put it in the blog section, oh well. I'll check out the other manafacturers. Thanks.

You can get a better system for the price your paying.

[quote name='hullo8d' post='3238670' date='Nov 1 2010, 05:42 PM']You can get a better system for the price your paying.[/quote]
Any suggestions? Any shops you know that have good prices?

If you have that kind of cash, are buying a single machine and want performance avoid dell and OEM/branded machines- you will thank me in the long run (barely a week goes by when I do not have to sort issues caused by dell being cheapskates when it comes to hardware).

They are a bit expensive here but http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct....444&subcat= is a good start.
You will to drum up an OS but that is not difficult not to mention you can always defer it for later.

If you want to go parts look at the prebuilt machines there and work backwards, indeed if you wanted (and could ignore the monitor for a while- that Dell has no monitor) then you could even build a really nice machine stopping short of going SLI and massive RAID array. I am afraid I am a few months out of the what it takes to build a gaming grade rig on a budget game but if you want some pointers that can be done. The obvious trick is to defer items you can buy later until later- monitor, graphics card (I rarely suggest it but consider integrated for now- should be enough for minecraft and more than enough for general usage), operating system, fancy speakers and so on.

[quote name='BobTheJoeBob' post='3238674' date='Nov 1 2010, 10:43 AM']Any suggestions? Any shops you know that have good prices?[/quote]
You'd be better off building your own, but if your looking for pre-built ones I'd suggest buying from smaller companies and doing some research on the parts that they are using.

Edit: The build in FAST6191's post is pretty reasonable.

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Well, from the suggestions from you guys, I've decided to build my own computer. I'm a complete newb when it comes to computer hardware. So I just wanted to know whether all of these parts would work with each other:

Motherboard: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga...-1666-sata-matx

Ram: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-...0-is-same-price!

Graphics Card: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/256mb-ati-f...%28brown-box%29

Internal Hard Drive: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-hitachi...e-89-ms-ncq-oem

CD/DVD Drive: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/samsung-sh-...l-scribe-retail

Cooler: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asetek-vapo...er-inc-brackets

Power Supply: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-powerc...l-12v-rails-fan

If you see any problems. or I'm missing something, or you have a suggestion, please reply.

The RAM page doesn't work, and you're missing a CPU, though the link says something about a Intel Core i3. When you choose RAM for the motherboard you have chosen, be sure you look for DDR3 and not DDR2 as those are not compatible. The "speed" of the RAM should be 1066, 1333, or 1600 MHz according to the webpage.

The cooler you picked is a LGA 775 socket compatible cooler, when you should be looking for a LGA 1156 socket compatible cooler. Just to add to this, I have a Intel Core i3 and I find the stock cooler to be fairly alright for this CPU, unless you really want a aftermarket cooler.

The graphics card (The FirePro) you picked is a "workstation" graphics card meaning it's meant for AutoCAD and such, while a card at the same price in a "normal?" graphics line like the Radeons would probably perform better for typical scenarios like gaming or just videos. I'd probably recommend a card from ATI's Raedon 4000 or 5000 series. Well, some people might say go for Nvidia. Or you could just simply go for the integrated video that's on the Core i3/i5.

The PSU is probably fine unless you start getting graphics cards higher/better than a 5750 HD, as those would require a bit more power (450 watts is the minimum for this card).

More people would probably go for Western Digital or Seagate as their hard drive brand, though I believe Hitachi has actually been my primary hard drive in this computer since I bought it prebuilt and have reused my older parts ever since. It has held up for some time for me.

And if you don't plan to pirate Windows, be sure to factor that into the cost.

Thanks for your help; this is my new adapted list. I'm not sure if that proccessor is compatible with that mother board, can you confirm?

Motherboard: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-boxdh...-sata-3gb-s-atx

RAM: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-%282x2g...ProductFeatures

Proccesor: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-i3-55...-23x-73w-retail

Graphics Card: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-asus-hd...-sub-dvi-i-hdmi

Cooler: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asetek-vapo...er-inc-brackets

Power Supply: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w-powerc...v-low-noise-fan

Thanks in Advance.

Both motherboards, the old one and the revised one, don't support 2000 MHz RAM without overclocking, and I don't know if they will even overclock. The RAM web page has the MHz unlabeled in parenthesis (2000). I'd recommend to go for maybe 1333 MHz RAM, although I did list some speeds in my previous post. I think the motherboard would downclock? the RAM to the maximum allowed settings, but I'm not entirely sure on this. It would probably be better to get some slower RAM, which would be a bit cheaper too.

The Gigabyte motherboard from before was probably fine actually.

The CPU is fine for both motherboards.

The cooler is still not LGA 1156 compatible, and it doesn't say in the description if it was. Like I said before, you can just simply go for the stock cooler the processor comes with, since the Core i3s seem to run fine with them, unless you're overclocking.

The PSU from before would be fine with the graphics card you chose, unless you want to make room for any future upgrades. As for brand of choice, I've had pretty good experiences with Corsair, OCZ, Antec, and Thermaltake. You can maybe find some reviews somewhere on that power supply as to whether or not it's reliable. 80 plus certification seems to be pretty popular as well.

Ignore this and go for the EDIT: The graphics card would be fine for some older games, but if you want to play any newer games at decent/playable settings, it may be in your best interest to invest more in this area. I don't know what games you might plan to play though. If you decide to up on the graphics card, the PSU you have chosen in the revised list will likely cover it. Here's a list of cards in order of performance. You may want to look up "benchmarks" of those cards. Just google benchmarks and the model of the card. A card like the 5670 would be decent for most games, maybe medium and 1280x800 resolution for some newer games? They wouldn't require too much power and the Corsair 450 watt PSU would go fine with this. As the numbers go up in the 5000 series, the better it is. So the 54/5500 series are more their low end, and the 5600 and maybe the (lower?) 5700 series would be more like their mid range cards.

EDIT: Just read your post and it said Minecraft. Then the card is fine. Just go for the 450 watt power supply if you're not planning to upgrade later.

Just remembered, you forgot to add a case. Personally... I favor Coolermaster cases... But I wouldn't have too much experience in this or choosing other brands. Don't forget to give yourself room for your monitor

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OK, I'm pretty sure these should all work to together.

Motherboard: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga...-1666-sata-matx

PSU: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-powerc...l-12v-rails-fan

Hard Drive: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-hitachi...e-89-ms-ncq-oem

Proccessor: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-i3-55...-23x-73w-retail

RAM: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-%282x2g...s-9-9-9-24-150v

CD/DVD Drive: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/samsung-sh-...l-scribe-retail

Graphics Card: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/512mb-sapph...i-d-sub-s-video

I decided to take your advice and just go with the stock cooler. So, will this all work?

Parts are compatible with each other now so that's good.

This might be some nitpicking with the brand. The PSU is fine wattage-wise as rated for the system, but I cannot find any reviews for it and have no experience with it. Someone may say otherwise though. You don't want to cheapen out on the PSU, since, that could be dangerous(though, I don't know how often "danger" like all your parts fry actually happens). You could probably go for the Antec or Coolermaster PSUs which I have at least found pretty good reviews for.

You're still missing a case. Not sure what your situation is on that. Since the motherboard is Micro-ATX, most cases should work with it. The dimensions should be listed for most cases, and a mini-tower case should work with a micro-atx motherboard. You could go for a bigger sized case if you want, which may also be easier to work in, have better airflow, larger fans, and will likely allow more/bigger additions if you plan to do so.