Advice

[Aidan Hanlon]

Hey guys, I'm looking for some advice from the tech guys here at RD.

I've been a gamer pretty much all my life but I've only recently got into PC gaming except a for a few online games but nothing like sim racing etc.

I'm looking to buy a new desktop for about £300-£400 and since I've only ever had laptops I'm not really sure what to get or what to look for and this is where you guys come in. What would you recommend? Before anyway suggests building my own as much as I'd love to I don't think I have the technical skill required for that.

So what would you suggest? I mean I'm not going to be playing games like Call Of Duty, I'll be going into the Sim Racing aspect of it. I already have rFactor but I can't run it as well as I would like to.

So once again, What would you suggest and if you could provide a link etc that would be great!

Thanks guys.

 

[Nigel Atkins]

theres lots of pc build advice threads http://www.racedepartment.com/search.php?searchid=647514

 

[Aidan Hanlon]

Your link doesn't work and also i'm not looking for build advice as i stated in the topic that I'm not looking to build a pc, I'm looking to buy a pre-built one and asking for recommendations.

 

[Nigel Atkins]

try searching "PC build help" theres plenty of advice on pre built and custom built PC`s. for £300 - £400 your not going to get much if you buy a pre built let alone a custom built PC.

 

[Aidan Hanlon]

Fair enough, I'll have a look. Cheers.

 

[Craig Stevenson]

I think you're at least £300 below budget for an entry to mid-range gaming rig, take a look at OCUK, bear in mind that you need to add a vid card to the cheaper ones and an OS & Monitor to all of them.

My Brother recently bought one of these as a stop gap after his system died, he's running it with his 8800-GTX and it's not a bad system for the money.

HTH

 

[Dave Stephenson]

Bear in mind though that overclockers is pretty expensive compared to some of the other online outlets

 

[Craig Stevenson]

A phone call or webnote to sales will usually get you a discount or price match.

 

[Hiroshi Awazu]

Your link doesn't work and also i'm not looking for build advice as i stated in the topic that I'm not looking to build a pc, I'm looking to buy a pre-built one and asking for recommendations.

I recently bought a HP Elite 510F. It is a mid range gaming tower. It will run Any simracing games with no issues. Google it to see specs and pricing. I can't see where you are from but in Canadian dollars it cost me $1000. But came with 23.5 inch HP monitor and wireless keyboard and mouse and a multimedia remote which i don't use.

 

[Aidan Hanlon]

Thanks guys . What's your views on buying a refurbished gaming tower? So basically its second hand. At the moment all i can think of yes its a lot cheaper but its been refurbished for a reason lol

Oh i forgot to mention as-well Wireless capability is a must as the router is downstairs and I am situated upstairs lol

 

[Jim Cole]

Adding wireless to any system is relatively inexpensive and most of the wireless adapters plug into the USB port now a days.
As far as a refurb, as long as it's a factory refurb it shouldn't be too bad, but pay attention to the specs. I would suggest a minimum of a quad core system running at least 2.8gig with at least 2 gig of system ram. Minimum 4 gigs of ram if you plan on using a 64 bit operating system, but max of 4 with 32 bit OS. One thing that I usually do for comparing systems is have a look at tomshardware.com and there are usually reviews about inexpensive gaming systems if you search a little. They usually talk about custom builds, but you can get some ideas of the specs you want to try and find for the money you wish to spend.

Don't compromise on the graphics though as that is one of the two main things the system needs in order to play the games correctly. The other being the CPU.

 

[Hiroshi Awazu]

Hi Aidian did you check out the HPE 510f? If you did, the specs should be to your satisfaction. It has built in wireless. Perhaps there is a refurbushed model available where you live. I've bought refurbished products before. I have not yet had a bad experience with it yet but i just may have lucked out.

 

[Aidan Hanlon]

Hi Aidian did you check out the HPE 510f? If you did, the specs should be to your satisfaction. It has built in wireless. Perhaps there is a refurbushed model available where you live. I've bought refurbished products before. I have not yet had a bad experience with it yet but i just may have lucked out.

Hey, Thanks for the reply! Yeah I checked it out and it's fairly pricey but I did find a similar model which has been refurbished for a lot cheaper with similar specs it's the: HP Pavilion Elite HPE-470uk.

Your reply was really helpful at the moment I do not have the money to purchase straight away so this thread was made to set a target for myself and see what I need.