Hi,


Well basically i start a new job on the 6th of july, and will be earning much more than currently. So i figured it would be time to invest in a new computer, as i've had my current one nearly 3 years. I was looking to spend around £1000 on the system, and the best one i appear to have found so far is the following.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/807769

I was just wondering if that pc is any good, and if not any other possible systems that might be worth investing in. Please don't suggest i build my own, as i don't have the time/skills.

Thanks in advance

You'd get better performance from one of these (the one on the right is better). That's without an operating system, but Windows 7 is free for another year and is better with games than Vista.

Of course you can also build your own.

Give me the first computers case and the second computers hardware and it would be a awesome system.

You gotta admit that case is beautiful.

If by beautiful you mean beautifully dysfunctional, then I guess you're right. The chassis that Acer uses is all plastic and the hinge wears out quickly. It scratches easily and overall both looks and feels cheap. Not to mention the cooling is pitiful.

I thought the cooling was supposed to be really good? Seeing as its liquid cooled. Which system would you suggest bob?

Building your own would get you far better results for a fair bit less.

Components:


Case


Operating System


Extras


Should total around £800, depending on your options. This is a lot better than that pre built one though.

I agree with Caboose's suggestions but if you plan to do any real gaming I would advise against the Linux Operating Systems.

Just been looking through all the parts listed, and there's some pretty impressive kit in there which i wouldnt expect to get for £800, one problem though would be building it myself.

Whilst i am currently doing a Computer Science degree, and a computer based placement, i have no knowledge of hardware or how it fits together, just the software side of things, which is why i swayed to a prebuilt system, along with the fact they have warrantee's. I can also get 10% off the system i posted earlier, so that works out about £900 if that makes it any better? I just wouldnt know where to start building my own with all those pieces?

It depends what games:

http://www.winehq.org/
http://www.cedega.com/

if they work well with those then it should be better, but for most games it's best to stick with Windows which is why i put all of those options up there. You can dual boot if you want.

There's also CrossOver, which is what I use. It's based on WINE. Outside of Java and games that are compatible, I'd suggest you use Windows 7 at least until it's released to public.

Here's how to build a computer. Skip to the actual building (step 4 I think).

Just read through that link ^

Building one myself does look fairly straightforward, its just if i buy incompatible parts or leave something out then i'm pretty snookered as the only person i know who has built one themselves is at a different uni so would be on my own.


Also, is there a good website which sells cases? As if i was to build my own, i would definitely want to get a fancy case to go with it so it's kind of a show piece

Don't worry about it, tell us what you want the computer for (gaming/graphics/whatever) and we can suggest builds for your budget. Alternatively, you can pick parts and we'll let you know if they're good deals and if they're compatible with each other or not.

Well it would be primarily for high-end gaming, so would want it to be extremely quick and not get slow down when multitasking, but as doing computing i do alot of coding, so would need to be able to build and compile in microsoft visual studio efficiently. I may use it as a media center too, so decent graphics cards would be needed (DVA out, VGA out, possibly HD but not essential).

I don't know if that's too much to ask? Live in the uk and looking to spend anywhere up to £900 really

Oh, and would quite like to dual-screen too as got used to it with my current pc.

Yeah, my suggestions would tick all of those boxes. Depending on which OS you picked, of course. Look above, it's very good and only £800, in total.

And i think that you'd need one of these as well for crossfire, but i'm not sure where it would go: http://www.overclock.co.uk/product_detail.php?product=348

But you've got to remember, the case is just a vessel for the real stuff. Most of the time you're not looking at it, and it's stuffed away under a desk. You don't really want to be spending £100 odd quid on it when this is probably better than them. You can do your own research, find something you like then tell us, and we'll see if it's any good if it's really important to you.

The crossfire ribbons just attach the two cards together like in this picture:

Okay, so two of them then. That's still just over £800, if you don't choose to get a gazillion pound case and choose Win7 &/or Linux.