Yet another computer building thread...

I'm thinking of buying a new computer (mainly because gw2) and i need your help. I've searched the web and i'm still unsure what to do.

Keep it in range of 500-600 euros (i'll salvage cd/dvd and cooler unit from old computer ). Nothing too fancy, i'm not looking for supercomp mainly cause some components would be hard to find (without driving to another city lol) and because of limited budget.

My choice of processor would be AMD Phenom X4 925 2.80GHz AM3 BOX. Seems reasonable, mid ranged, not too expensive.
So lets build around that. I will appreciate details (product name etc)
How much RAM and which one?
What motherboard?
What graphic card?
What HDD? (i probably won't need more than 160 gb, i don't have a habit of hoarding dvd movies / virtual drives).

unless you buy an SSD, (which at 500 euro budget, u shouldnt), 160gb hard drives are hard to come by, and probably cost more then 500gb or 1 tb ones.

hard drives are cheap, ram is cheap
like 50 euroes will get u decent for both.

tbh if you only gonna use the computer for gw2, u may as well stay on ur current computer until gw2 comes out.

computer parts get faster and prices drop so quickly that u'll probably save 100-200 euro buying the same computer when gw2 compared to buying it now.

oh and if ur dvd drive is old, it might be IDE and may not be compatible with all pcs.


Also:
I'd just buy premade at that budget. They will probably gimp you on power supply and ram, but processor and graphics they get u better ones for cheaper.

I too was thinking of waiting for gw 2 and then consider buying in case that prices drop. (hopefully by the end of this year). But i will need a new computer computer soon, this one car barely handle 2 games, winamp and browser running at once (mostly beacuse i have only 1 gb of ram)

How come 160 gb drives cost more than 500 gb? Doesn't make sense.

you could get a 160gb hdd but would only save £2 over a 500gb hdd - or for an extra £10 you can get 1000gb

160GB HDDs are no longer in production, nor are 250GB HDDs. I think 320GB HDDs are also being phased out, or have been already.

Go for a 500GB or 1TB HDD. Those will have the best value for money and won't cost much more than a 160GB HDD. Last I heard, Samsung Spinpoint F3 HDDs were fast, yet cheap. That was back in August though.

Hard to tell you the ram you need till you choose a motherboard
But 4 gb is good (right now) for a basic win 7 system

Graphics low end ATI 6000 series (good price for performance plus Dx 11 and Eyefinity capability) I have a 6850 that originaly was over 200.00 (US) it has already dropped to 179.00 (US) It kills GW and is pretty good in Cyrsis for an example 45-50 FPS at Gamer Settings The 5000 series are more horsepower but they like larger wallets. (Nivida cards are dropping in price to)

Hard drive ~ I really like my WD black drive 320-500 GB is not expensive

Where do you live? I'd be happy to help you select some parts, but I need to know what country at least, so I can get a rough idea of how expensive certain parts are there.... USA prices are usually much cheaper, but I'm not going to be of much help if I quote prices and components from here..

The price is not based upon the number of Gigs. The drives use essentially the same hardware, and therefore cost about the same to make, package, and ship. In this case, the 160Gig is older stock from when HDDs cost a bit more. And the reason why a 1TB drive doesn`t cost much more than a 500Gig is (most likely) because the 1TB just needs 1 more platter.

here you go

i3 sandybridge



Phenom II x4




Examples, as wouldn't know where to shop in Europe.

Basically, I'd go SandyBridge i3, with a H67 motherboard to keep the price down. And a GTX460, or the HD6850 but I think it's more expensive. Either will be fine, and are roughly similar.

I prefer the Sandybridge i3 over the Phenom Quad-core, even though the i3 is dual core. You can always upgrade later to a i5, but that wouldn't even be necessary.

Use a good power supply, the Corsair budget line is very good.

I've put a decent case as well.

I'd recommend the WD Caviar line for hard drives.

The Corsair XMS memory is reliable.

EDIT : You may be reusing old components, but I would get a new PSU, you'd need a stable 600W+. The cooler may not be compatible with the motherboard, but the processors will come with its own cooler.

The motherboard may not be compatible with the old case (micro-atx).