What PC computer should I go for?

Hiya everyone,

I got about £500(It doesnt mean that I will spend £500 but I like to get cheaper as possible to get good computer) to spend on good PC (I already got graphics, hard drive) and I do play games such as Football manager 2007, Command & Conquer Generals and also latest game(I like UNREAL games and RTS games as well) that I can play.

I will be looking forward COMMAND & Conquer 3 to play on my new pc when come out next year.

So I been looking on ebay for good computer and I do know that Core 2 duo is very good computer but core 2 duo E6300 is fast enough?
Even thought it is dual core of 1.86GHZ....is that correct?

I am going to build computer or just buy full computer inself and I thinking of computer spec that I would like to have are

CPU - E6300
RAM - 2GB
GFX - GEFORCE 7900GS( already got that)
PC CASE - unknow(I havnt decide which one to get unless I buy full tower with core 2 duo in it on ebay.

I would be delight if anyone can help me.


cheers

The thing about Core 2 Duo is it is very overclockable.



http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/10/10/cheap_thrills/

1GB of RAM will probably do for the time being - I advise you to get 1GB sticks of RAM whether or not you install 1GB or 2GB

Depends -- using 2x512MB will give you a speedboost over 1x1GB, since the former can run in dual mode, where it spreads out the bytes across two sticks and can theorethically read/write data twice as fast.

Especially if you have a motherboard with 4 banks so you still have the ability to put in more memory later without removing your current ones, I'd go for the dual mode rather than conserving one additiona slot.



One thing to keep in mind: there are many affordable cases, but pretty much all the cheap(ish) ones come with very poor powersupplies... A lot of the times you can save yourself a lot of headaches by either:
1) Buying a more expensive case with a decent namebrand powersupply
2) buying a cheap case, throw away the powersupply it came with and buy a decent one seperately

A mediocre powersupply can lead to an unstable/crashing computer due to varying power levels, or can have a significantly shorter lifespan, or have a cheap fan that can be much louder than a properly designed/engineered power supply... Mind you, you may get lucky if you get a cheap one, but overall there is a fairly big quality difference between the good ones and low end ones.

It's all too easy to blame windows when your computer crashes, but in too many instances it's really the hardware that's at fault.

One final thought: Keep in mind that computers are one of the most fraud-sensitive things you can find on ebay. There are *tons* of hit-and-run scammers that steal other peoples accounts (remember those nice phishing scams, emails claiming to be from ebay telling people to 'update their account information'?)
Even when you deal with someone with 100% positive feedback, there's still no guarantee that it's not a freshly stolen account with someone waiting to take your money with no intention of shipping. Laptops, HD TV's, LCD's and computers are the most popular items among those scammers since they are so expensive... Just be careful. :-?

A factor here is going to be the mobo though.

My new mobo supports quad core processors, which is why I put in 2x 1GB RAM - I have 4 slots so, it made sense for me to do it that way as this mobo is good for some time into the future. Plus, the mobo will take 3x 8800 GTX's - one would serve as a physics unit.

So, it is really a case of whether you intend to get another computer in a couple of years or not. If not, then put money towards a good mobo (even if it means only buying 1GB of RAM). At least that way, you can just upgrade into the future.

Thank for good information Mar van den dikkenberg, I will be getting good quality pc case like thermaltake.

What motherboard do you have? Puki

cheers

My new one is going to be the Asus Striker Extreme nForce 680i.

However, I'd recommend any mobo that is based on nVidia's new nForce 680i chipset.

Core 2 Duo CPU plus 680i is a good combo - this is based on the fact that your graphics card is nVidia.