Getting a decent PC?

[Badger]

So I'm getting a PC for my birthday, as I'm fed up with my laptop. It has everything I need... except a half decent graphics card. Therefore I'm getting a good deskop. What should I get? I'd like at least 3gb ram, 200GB of HDD or more and as good a graphics card as I can get, for £500 or less. I have no clue about buying PCs, so I'm not even sure if £500 would buy me a relic from 1995. In case it makes a difference, I have the monitor sorted.

If possible I would like to avoid building a PC, because I'll all end up broken and in the bin with all the small bits missing.

Also, nothing from Apple. I am putting XP on this thing and that's final. Also, I'd prefer no Dell. Getting Stereo Mix on those things is a pain, and you can't record sound without it.

*Note* Could you please tell me what kind of game I could play on these PCs? I mean, Minecraft doesn't require as good a PC as Crysis on max settings.

I greatly appreciate your time.

P.S.
How could I transfer my ~100GB of crap from my laptop to the new PC? The largest USB I have is like 1/4 of a GB

[Enigm@]

P.S.
How could I transfer my ~100GB of crap from my laptop to the new PC? The largest USB I have is like 1/4 of a GB

Blank discs. Lots of 'em.

[Badger]

P.S.
How could I transfer my ~100GB of crap from my laptop to the new PC? The largest USB I have is like 1/4 of a GB

Blank discs. Lots of 'em.

Funnily, I do have a stockpile of about 50, but they're all CD-Rs. Would they still work for non-audio formats?

And I was thinking of a kin of transfer cable, something that isn't painfully slow.

But is it takes 50 CDs to clog up my new computer, that'll be what I'll use.

[nightcracker]

Just plug in the old hard drive into your new computer.

Also, here is a quite nice setup for less then 500 euro which is even less in pounds (the site is in dutch but the components names should be readable):

http://azerty.nl/winkelmandje/winkelmandje/?legen=1&product%5B280241%5D=1&product%5B410215%5D=1&product%5B341966%5D=1&product%5B423145%5D=1&product%5B387717%5D=1&product%5B397470%5D=1

You'll still need a case, CD/DVD-drive, a screen and a mouse n keyboard, but that is situational because you might still have some of these.

EDIT: Changed the setup a bit.

[Badger]

Thanks, do you know what kind of games I could play on it? I have no clue if a "Sapphire RADEON" is a good enough GPU for games such as CoD. And I would rather just have the full PC, but you could probably add a cheap case/DVD drive on the website, right?

[nightcracker]

Thanks, do you know what kind of games I could play on it? I have no clue if a "Sapphire RADEON" is a good enough GPU for games such as CoD. And I would rather just have the full PC, but you could probably add a cheap case/DVD drive on the website, right?

Sappphire RADEON is only a manufacturer, HD 6850 is what matters. And yes, you can play any CoD game on high to full settings easily on this PC.

[russian roulette]

1TB External Harddrive by Western Digital... Supports USB 2.0 and 3.0 and is my current replacement to the flashdrive (USB 3.0 kind of cancels out the load time)

[Badger]

Just plug in the old hard drive into your new computer.

Also, here is a quite nice setup for less then 500 euro which is even less in pounds (the site is in dutch but the components names should be readable):

http://azerty.nl/winkelmandje/winkelmandje/?legen=1&product%5B280241%5D=1&product%5B410215%5D=1&product%5B341966%5D=1&product%5B423145%5D=1&product%5B387717%5D=1&product%5B397470%5D=1

You'll still need a case, CD/DVD-drive, a screen and a mouse n keyboard, but that is situational because you might still have some of these.

EDIT: Changed the setup a bit.

Does it come pre-built, and how much extra would it be for the items in bold to come built in (or around, such as case) to it?


And thanks for all the help.

[nightcracker]

Oh I wouldn't suggest buying at that website, because it's dutch and I'm not sure whether they ship to other countries (and at what rate).

It was more of a collection of the right parts, you should find your own appropriate hardware seller to order them from, I can't help you with that.

[Badger]

Oh, OK.

[smashysmashy]

Look for a chillblast. Good service, good computers and this one looks about right for you. £500 including VAT, too expensive or not bad? From what I have read their customers are over the moon with it as well.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/desktop-pc/3288926/chillblast-fusion-atom-review/

http://www.chillblast.com/product.php?productid=17810

You buy straight from them, problem or not?

[Badger]

Looks good, except it has a monitor, keyboard, mouse and Windows 7 with it. I would rather go without these things as I already have them/I'm putting on XP, and without them I could save money to spend on a better specced PC.

Thanks for the help, though.

[smashysmashy]

Looks good, except it has a monitor, keyboard, mouse and Windows 7 with it. I would rather go without these things as I already have them/I'm putting on XP, and without them I could save money to spend on a better specced PC.

Thanks for the help, though.

Ok, not a problem

[DuckRA2]

I love xp too. Just be sure you don't end up driverless...

If you want a good pc game get cod4.

[Badger]

I love xp too. Just be sure you don't end up driverless...

If you want a good pc game get cod4.

I know what games to get, CoD4 is the best CoD (Despite it being hacked to and back ATM)
I'll also probably get;
Killing Floor
Black Ops (For zombies)
SSBB (On emulator)
Hello Kitty Sunshine Island

[nightcracker]

I would suggest putting Windows 7 on now, XP is very very old.

[Badger]

I would suggest putting Windows 7 on now, XP is very very old.

Window 7 looks too much like Vista. There was nothing wrong with XP, and I can trust it.


[/stubborn]

[Mr. AS]

I would suggest putting Windows 7 on now, XP is very very old.

Window 7 looks too much like Vista. There was nothing wrong with XP, and I can trust it.


[/stubborn]

XP is good for machines with tons of RAM/CPU.