Looking to buy a new pc

[v85rawdeal]

I am currently in the process of getting a new PC in order to facilitate much better working practices at home. (plus a bit of crafty gaming on the side), Looking to spend no more that £600 on it.

Looking at the following spec from Eclipse Computers. What do people think?http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/images/spacer50.gifhttp://www.eclipsecomputers.com/images/spacer50.gifhttp://www.eclipsecomputers.com/images/spacer50.gif
Motherboard
Asrock M3A770DE AM3, DDR3, PCI-E, 5.1Snd, LAN, ATX
Processor
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition AM3 Processor - Retail
Memory Slot 1
4Gb (2X2Gb) Dual Channel DDR3 1333Mhz Memory
Memory Slot 2
4Gb (2X2Gb) Dual Channel DDR3 1333Mhz Memory
Graphics Slot Crossfire 1
1024Mb ATi Radeon HD 5570 PCI-Express VGA Card
CrossFire 2 (Must be same as CF 1 Slot)
1024Mb ATi Radeon HD 5570 PCI-Express VGA Card
Network
Wireless-N PCI Network Card
Hard Drive 1
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200rpm S-ATAII 32MB Hard Drive
Optical Device 1
NEC AD-5260S-0B 24x+/-DVD-R SATA DL DVD Writer - Black
Floppy Drive Bay 2
All-In-One Internal USB2.0 Card Reader (3.5 Inch Bay) -Black
Power Supply Units
EZCool Infinity 700W ATX, PFC PSU
Case Cooling - Rear
Zalman ZM-F3 120x120x25mm Silent Fan
Operating System
MicroSoft Windows 7 Home Premium – 64Bit, OEM


They will also do the build for me, which is good as I neither lack the time or the confidence to do it myself.http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABYAAAAUCAYAAACJfM0wAAAABHNCSVQICAgIfAhkiAAAAAlwSFlzAAAK8AAACvABQqw0mAAAAB90RVh0U29mdHdhcmUATWFjcm9tZWRpYSBGaXJld29 ya3MgOLVo0ngAAAAWdEVYdENyZWF0aW9uIFRpbWUAMDQvMDQvMDhrK9wWAAACLklEQVQ4jbXUP0wTcRQH8O/9ekdjkT8CUqpee00bRyNNmSRSV0PcJJoQg2i6ODTExEUHg04OaNSppqtCjQ4ukDSKSuLUwcm4NNZcQYsIGtD+u/f7MZSWXltqo/Ul7/JL7u7z3r3fLye53e5xj8ejoYWRSCSSstfr1YLBYHcr4XA4rMmMMciy3EoXjDHIjDEoivL/4fefrP1P3nYEvqzLajOIo8fQz5/cfH3cnVttCM8udQaODBxQFx44Ye9h4HxvdGWtgMlbSXV2SQoMHf0RNcGSJJlmvPLdos7fdyIWL+D5myx+ZwwUDAIRh2EU1wYRFItA6FwvIjdcGJr4qFYakiSBlTavlABwsJth7mUWmSyBOAfnAkQE4 gKccxBx/MoYmHmcxuH+NgAwGQ03j3NeRjjnoGqcC/zcIgghAMBkNISJuKlbEy4EaKdoKerC5nNMxQdlgVx+t0siKhYQovwV1rbdtyoNxlhxxoqilBMA0uuES6Pt6NqP2hHsoDarhJuXD2F5NV/uuJR1T4XLzvTJ25/VyHUnzgzba0YkKq6pdB4T00m47EyvPhU1M54asy3ee5o55bvwQQWAr/PHMBfbQGhGrykCANqARZ8asy3+ccYjg/K3kcF9UQAYvrJ29dmrDUxHlnOxu72P+rpYrq5eFU39K649TCF0tnPB0WdtCt2z48rQHIp+8XTHu9ET7alm0aY6fnFHjda98a/w3wZjDJLP5xv3+/1aK+F4PJ7cBm32CUNiyI2GAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC

[Harrison]

I could build a much better specced PC for the same money. 2 graphics cards in Crossfire/SLI are not worth it. It is better to spend the same money on a better single GPU.

I would also get an Intel i5 instead of any AMD processors at the moment; much better performance, cooler temps and better value for money. The Quad core i5's auto overclock when needing more performace, which is a brilliant feature.

I've never heard of EZCool PSUs and looked around quickly and they are quite low end budget PSUs, so I highly recommend you avoid them. The PSU is one of the most important parts of a PC, because it regulates the whole system and is the one component that can cause system instability, or even damage other components if it goes wrong. Only get a PSU that is a known brand make. At the moment I recommend Coolermaster or OCZ. They both make affordable models, and even 700W modular PSUs under £80. Any PSU priced less that £50 is suspicious because to get the price that low they must have used cheap electronics inside.

If you don't want to build the PC yourself, which is actually quite easy, then have a look at Chillblast instead. They do some value ranges with well specced quality components for your budget. http://www.chillblast.com

If you were interested in building it yourself then here are the current components I would recommend. I've got all these prices from Novatech, which you could use in Portsmouth.

Graphics cards:

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD6850 - Great priced mid ranged card. - £139
Gigabyte nVidia GeForce GTX560 Ti - A bit more expensive, but the current best price to performance gamers card. - £200

Harddrive:

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - £42

PSU:

Coolermaster GX 750W PSU - £67
OCZ StealthXStrem2 700W Silent ATX2 PSU - £69.98

Case:

Antec Three Hundred - £49.99

Optical Drive:

Sony Optiarc (new name for NEC) AD-7261S-0B 24x DVD-RW Lightscribe SATA - £16.99

Processor:

Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz (Sandy Bridge) Socket LGA1155 - £166.98

Sandy Bridge are the new CPUs just released by Intel, and offer amazing price to performance. Have turbo boost technology so will alto overclock to 3.7GHz when needed. And the K versions are multiplier unlocked for true overclocking if needed.

Motherboard:

Gigabyte GA-PH67-UD3 intel H67 (Socket 1155) - £69.99

CPU Heatsink:

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rer. 2 - £18.37

Memory:

Corsair 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR3 12800/1600MHz dual channel kit - £39.98

If you want 8GB just get 2 of these dual channel kits, as the performance will be better than 2x 4GB.

So if you were going to build this lot the total price would come to:

Antec Three Hundred - £49.99
Coolermaster GX 750W PSU - £67
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - £42
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD6850 - £139
Sony Optiarc AD-7261S-0B 24x DVD-RW SATA - £16.99
Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz (Sandy Bridge) Socket LGA1155 - £166.98
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rer. 2 - £18.37
Gigabyte GA-PH67-UD3 intel H67 (Socket 1155) - £69.99
Corsair 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR3 12800/1600MHz dual channel kit - £39.98

Total: £610.30 inc. VAT. So roughly bang on your budget.

Hope that helps.

BTW, don't bother paying for an OS. Easy to get one for free! ;)