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**abigsmurf** · 22-12-2008, 22:58

you get used to keyboard + mouse very fast. It's incredibly precise compared to controllers. If you're desperate, there are plenty of adapters for dual shock and xbox controllers around for cheap.

CPU - core 2 or i7 CPU. i7 is the next generation of CPUs and is about 30% faster than core 2 but it's expensive, give it a few months for more entry level motherboards to appear and for ddr3 ram to come down in price. Best bang for buck at the moment is core 2 is the Q6600

motherboard - not up to speed on these, check for compatibility with your chosen CPU. If you're not overclocking (which you probably won't be) you don't need high end ones.

Ram - 800mhz+, 2gigs if you're sticking with XP, 4gigs for Vista or Windows 7. Will need DDR3 for Core i7 DDR2 for anything else.

PSU - get a name branded one. A duff PSU can cause random reboots or even fry your system. Depending on the graphics card you use, I'd say aim for a 500W one. Earthwatts do reasonable ones that are relatively cheap and reliable. Often come bundled with cases too. If you're getting a top end card, it'll eat more juice and you'll need a higher powered one. Under powering a system will mean random reboots.

Graphics Card - may change in a few months but the choices are 8800 or 9800s from nVidia and 4850 and 4870 from ATI. An underpowered graphics card is the main bottleneck of modern PCs, it can make the difference between 10fps and 60fps. The numbering system for the cards, especially for NVidia (who rebadged older cards to make them seem new) is incredibly confusing. Post on here if you're not sure about a card and always check out reviews. The differences between different brands of the same model card are usually pretty slim.

You can build a good, upper mid range system for about £550. It's not as hard to build one as some people fear as it's pretty much a case of "this thing will only fit there". Only thing to be careful about is putting in the CPU. You can bend the pins putting them in wrong. Also very easy to overlook power connectors and stuff like front USB ports and case buttons but that's rarely fatal.

**ShadowDancer** · 22-12-2008, 23:07

My lappy is Core 2 Duo.

Thanks for the specs...say I had £500 to spend then..would this do the trick http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...6&category_oid=

**abigsmurf** · 22-12-2008, 23:21

The graphics card is horrible. The 9600 is a die shrinked 8600 which were appauling cards that got shoved into thousands of prebuilts despite being useless for gaming. The rest of the system is nice but you'll really be dragged down by that card.

Check these out, other than the two at the bottom and at the top, these are incredible systems for the money:

http://www.mcscom.co.uk/section.php?xSec=37

They are refurbs mind.

**ShadowDancer** · 03-01-2009, 18:52

Thanks for the help Smurf. Okay..Christmas is done, the new year is here.

What did I need to look for on the PC and on my HDTV to get them to hook up together.

The HDTV is a 50" Sammy (Q7 series, I think)

Do i need to check the back of the set?

**MattyD** · 03-01-2009, 19:38

As long your TV has a VGA or DVI socket on the back (usually labelled 'PC IN') then you're good to go and don't need any special equipment. If your TV only has a VGA socket and not DVI fear not, as video cards with DVI outputs only (like mine) always come packed with a DVI to VGA adaptor so any old VGA cable will do the trick.

It's worth checking the manual for your TV first though to see what resolutions it supports through VGA. I use a 32" Sammy and the range of resolutions it supports is quite limited, but then it is a year or two old and that might have improved on the newer sets. Most importantly you'll want to know what the native resolution of the screen is, as setting your PC output to match it will give the best picture quality but might hurt your performance in games, especially if it's a 1080p telly as the native res will be quite high.

For what it's worth, my LCD's native res is 1360x768 and I'm running an Nvidia Geforce 8800GT that cost about £80 new two months ago. That's a pretty mid-to-low res by PC standards (still higher than most console games though) and the upside of that is I get good framerates and a nice sharp, overscan-free image on my TV.

**ShadowDancer** · 03-01-2009, 19:54

Hi Matty. It has a box. Its says PC, Then PC in, then it has audio with one socket.

I guess I'm good to go?

Thanks for help.

**BearBoy** · 05-01-2009, 20:31

Rather than start yet another "what laptop" thread I thought I'd piggy back on this one

Would the following be any good for playing some games? It'll mainly be used for fairly bog standard PC type stuff (iTunes, web browsing, photo stuff etc) but I wouldn't mind being able to play a few games as well (e.g. Outrun 2006, Rugby 08 - nothing too taxing).

NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT GPU 256MB
Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1 GHz
RAM: 4 GB (installed) / 4 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM - 667 MHz ( 2 x 2 GB )

Cheers,
BB

**Matt** · 05-01-2009, 21:02

If you've any interest in PC gaming, I wouldn't consider anything less than an nVidia 8600 for the gfx, even on a laptop. The games you mention now may not be too taxing (I have no idea about them tbh) but for £30 or so more, you'd have a machine far more capable.

Despite what Smurf says above, they're not that bad for gaming - they're no match for the 8800 of course, but for a laptop res I reckon they're ok. No Crysis for you though

**BearBoy** · 05-01-2009, 21:34

Thanks Chain. I would probably be displaying it on my 32" 1080P LCD via HDMI for gaming so I guess I would need a better graphics card? Back to the drawing board

**Matt** · 06-01-2009, 15:47

For older games, an 8600 is fine. Look at the options available on laptops. I think there's an 8800 option. For the money the best card right now imo is the AIT 4850. Are there any variations on that for laptops? I really don't know!

I run a 8800GTS 512 on a 768p TV, and most games I play hit a nice solid 60fps with VSynch on (very important imo). UT3, maxed out, for example is mostly solid, and that engine is widely used. 1080p will be quite a bit more taxing that my res, but 8800 or above should be fine for most things

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