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Geek Culture / Help! Need a PC build for around £500

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BMG
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Posted: 17th May 2012 23:49
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So...I haven't posted in this forum for years, but have occasionally looked around. Throughout the years though, I've come to know you guys as reliable people who know your stuff.
Anyway, my point. I'm looking to make a PC for around £500, but that could easily go up to around £700 if need be. I'm selling my Macbook pro to try and get more powerful hardware for video editing, and perhaps, game development. My old tower computer is an old Pentium 4 @ 3.0Ghz, and as such is pretty damn insufficient for most things.

I'm looking for something with an i7 cpu, 16gb or more of ram and a decent graphics card. I've put together some options, but since you guys are more experienced in PC hunting than I, I thought you might know of the differences between one card and another in practical circumstances, since benchmarks don't always show the full picture. And if anyone knows of any special deals/bundles that they've found, that would be great too.

So again, what I need it for is:
- 1080p video editing, including Adobe After effects
- Good graphics card for game dev (Not to the extremes of BF3 at 60fps etc. but just something nice)
- Cost, perhaps even power efficient
- Around the ballpark of £500-700

That's probably quite long-winded compared to what I should have maybe wrote...oh well!

So yeah, what's your opinion?
Thanks in advance!

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creator of zombies
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Posted: 18th May 2012 00:09
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For that money, I would look at perhaps an i5, or one of the cheaper ivy bridge models. Couple that with a 7950 and you should be golden. It will even play BF3 well too!

CPU : PHENOM X6 1090T BE @ 4.1GHZ| MOBO: CROSSHAIR IV FORMULA|
RAM: 16GB CORSAIR XMS3 DDR3 | GPU:2 x XFX 6970 2GB CROSSFIRE| 250 GB SSD| PSU:XFX 650W BLACK EDITION |CASE: NZXT PHANTOM
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MrValentine
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Posted: 18th May 2012 00:11
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have you denominated any particular shopping channels [local pcworld or ebay or amazon etc] that you prefer to buy from... or had in mind, that way we can look at your options better

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BMG
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Posted: 18th May 2012 00:26 Edited at: 18th May 2012 00:35
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@coz thanks, I'll look into that - EDIT: Just looked at a few, do you know what sort of differences there are in sub-manufacturer models? (e.g: 'Sapphire' brand 7950)

@MrValentine no particular shopping channel, just the best cost efficiency will do me fine! Thanks.

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The Wilderbeast
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Posted: 24th Aug 2012 13:13 Edited at: 24th Aug 2012 13:19
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He's in the UK, so unless he knows someone in the States then Newegg is out. For a new computer build I would really avoid eBay too - it's far to easy to get faulty parts and not realize until it's too late.

Best bet is either Ebuyer or Scan. I've been out of the loop for the past six months so I'm afraid I'm not much help - but basically the more cores the better. This page might be of some interest, as it looks like only Nvidia GPUs are supported in some acceleration tasks.

£500 IMO is too little for a video processing machine like this. I came up with this:


I am assuming you can re-use your existing case (if not I would heartily recommend the Fractal Design Define R3) and hard drive. There's a pretty nice SSD in there for the OS and your workflow (Adobe After Effects and scratch files).

I'm not so sure about the CPU, like I said, I've been out of the loop recently. TBH I think you'd be better off getting a cheaper Sandybridge CPU. The advantage of the CPU in there is that the multiplier is unlocked, so you'll be able to overclock it with ease and match the performance of some of the higher end Intel CPUs. I've included a nice aftermarket cooler too - it was actually about the same price as the CPU with a stock Intel one but should be quieter and keep it cooler.

The motherboard supports up to 32GB of RAM, and currently has 2/4 slots occupied (16GB) so there's room to upgrade in the future. There are also two PCIe slots, meaning you can drop another GPU in there if needs be (you'll need to upgrade the PSU though). The motherboard also supports both i5 and i7 - so there's another future upgrade.

I would recommend any Nvidia card from the Kepler range (600 series) because they have best support from Adobe, and are very power efficient. I have picked this card simply because a friend of mine has it and has said that it is both quiet and performs well. You may be able to save a bit by going for a GTX 660, or even a GTS 650.


You'll want to run it past some other people first though, as I don't confess to know much about video editing!


Raspberry Pi Forum
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lazerus
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Posted: 25th Aug 2012 23:30 Edited at: 25th Aug 2012 23:40
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Scan G20 System

Up the processor and Gpu by 1. £590 delivered.

Just up the processor by itself and you should be okay. £513 delivered.

I cant see you using the 16BG RAM. In 2years and 12Gb's I've rarely ever hit 10 with 3ds max, rendering and some minor->major video editing.

Working on one of these today, putting it through it's paces ect. Performed pretty dam well for a entry level system.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////

There's also the Scan GW25 System, which is made for what you are doing. Same page as above, but scroll to the bottom. Drop the OS since you'll probably have one. Upg to the 1Gb Nivida Quadro, Upg to I7 if your after that extra kick. All the computers come with OS's on trail with all the driver's installed too.

£640 with I5
£722 with I7
Next day delivered

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Phaelax
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Posted: 27th Aug 2012 18:59
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Quote: "Upg to the 1Gb Nivida Quadro,"

If he wants to do game dev, I don't see the need for the quadro. Those cards aren't really optimized for gaming, despite all their power.

"You're not going crazy. You're going sane in a crazy world!" ~Tick
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BMG
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Posted: 27th Aug 2012 22:22
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Thank you all, I've been looking myself but haven't figured anything as good as your options!

@TheWilderbeast thanks for going to all that trouble, that's a great help, especially the motherboard choice. Reasonable price too, I'll looks into it.

@Lazerus thanks, that's a pretty good value system. I think I'll need that 16gb though, considering I somehow use up all 8gb on my Mac with very little use of After effects!

Thanks again everyone, you have no idea how bad I am at configuring systems!

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And a blog, full of game-related things: http://gradebmedia.blogspot.co.uk/
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Dark Frager
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2012 20:15 Edited at: 2nd Sep 2012 20:16
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How about something like this:

http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/saving/show.aspx?id=475204

(The parts are already chosen for you, and the price is on the side of the page)

Oh come on. We're trying to talk with sigs here and you rudely interrupt.
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MrValentine
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2012 21:09
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Dark Frager that website is very annoying... do you actually buy from there?

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Dark Frager
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2012 21:13
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Well not yet but I'm hopefully going to near the end of this year/early next year. The selection is a bit annoying but I guess it is manageable.

Oh come on. We're trying to talk with sigs here and you rudely interrupt.
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Phaelax
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Posted: 3rd Sep 2012 19:39
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In a few months you might wanna look up new parts all over again

"You're not going crazy. You're going sane in a crazy world!" ~Tick
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