[Falcus]

Hey,

Sorry for the delay in my response.

As a General Rule, I'd agree with what Disc said. *IF* you can get AMD Processors, they're generally a a world better then *most* *Comparable* intels (This is a very broad generalization, with exceptions). CPUs are kind of like Car Parts. You buy Bosch whenever you can get it if you can afford it, otherwise you go with what you can get with is usually in order Napa > Autozone > O'reilly's, lol (Ducks in case the O'reilly groupies are reading this, lol). Intel's are generally just fine, they just don't usually tend to last quite as long if you try to work them as hard, they put out alot of heat, and if you don't try to clean them of dust once or twice a year are *A tad* more likely to fail (IN *MY* experience). They're just fine CPUs, just don't abuse them (Which you shouldn't be doing to your comp anyway, though many do).


Out of what you've posted so far, Id probably pick this as my favorite so far:
AMD Athlon II X4 740 Quad Core Processor / CPU Running at 3.2Ghz!
8GB DDR3 1333Mhz RAM
AMD / ATi HD6670 Graphics Card With 2GB Dedicated DDR3 Graphics Memory
1TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
CD / DVD-RW Optical Disc Drive
MSI FM2-A55M-E33 uATX Motherboard (Full specifications of this board can be found here)
Stylish Galaxy Blue Bubble Desktop PC Gaming Case
Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN
4 X High Speed USB 2.0 Ports on Back Plus 2 On Front
8 Channel HD Audio
4 X SATA II 3GB/s Ports
1 X PCI Express X16 Slot
1 X PCI Express X1 Slot
1 X PCI Slot
2 X PS/2 Port (For Keyboard / Mouse)
1 X VGA Port
1 X DVI Port
1 X HDMI Port (With Audio)
UK Mains Cable Included
All Relevant Driver Discs Included
PLEASE NOTE: An Operating System is not included with this PC.

AMD, Quad Core (More cores means better multi-tasking). Invest in Windows 7 if you can. Windows 8 is ok (Alot of people seem to hate it, they changed some of the UI stuff, particularly in areas that were affected by their attempt to make it dual purpose to include Tablets and Touch Screens in general, but overall so far I've been ok with it. Its like 7 with some changes, maybe not quite as user friendly, and keep in mind 7 wasn't quite as decent as XP, but there ya go, good luck finding a Copy of XP with a working CD Key now without Cracking one).

Another good rule of thumb when you're doing anything graphics related in particular, but also if you're really doing anything other then web browsing, you want Basic Stats > Cache size. In the past couple years I've seen some *meh* computers with *Meh* stats come out with advertising hi-lighting their *Improved Cache size*, which is good and all (Never hurts), but Id take another set of Processors or more Ram over a bigger Cache any day.

Anywho, good luck!
Falcus

[ChrisP]

Thanks for the reply.

Idiot that I am I forgot to bookmark the item and now I can't find it on Amazon even when browsing my history. I suppose I could price the components individually and see what it comes to and then see about having them installed in my Shark Thermaltake case.

Whilst trying to find it I came across this at Palicomp Palicomp. Not heard of them before but I suppose there are so many custom build firms that's not a surprise and it's juts a case of fingers crossed if you buy. This is listed as £399.99 including Windows 7 which seems a very good price. It also has a 3 year return to base warranty.

There are other options albeit at extra cost. For example the PSU is just shown as an unspecified 450W. Likewise the case only has one fan.

Processor (CPU): AMD Bulldozer FX-6 Six Core 6100
3.30Ghz (3.9Ghz Turbo Mode)
6 CORES Black Edition Perfect For Overclocking
Motherboard: ASUS M5A78L-M USB3 With AMD 760 Chipset
Supporting Quad & SIX Core CPUs & DDR3 Memory
Memory: PATRIOT VIPER V3 RED 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz - Performance/Gaming RAM
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA3 - 6Gb/s 7200RPM & 32MB Cache
Optical Drive: SONY 24XDVD+/-RW Dual Format & Dual Layer
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 6450 2GB Graphics Card
Direct X11 With VGA, DVI & HDMI Outputs
Case: COOLERMASTER K350 Black Case With 12CM Fan
Comes With A Clear Side Panel & Front Mounted USB3
450W Power Supply Unit
Connections: 8 x USB2.0 Inc 2 USB3.0, Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 & 7.1 HD Audio
1 x PS/2 Ports, 1 x Optical S/PDIF Port
Software: MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 PREMIUM 64BIT
GOT YOUR OWN OS? - SELECT REMOVE ALL SOFTWARE FOR £50 DISCOUNT
AVG Anti-Virus Package
Open Office Suite Inc Word Processing/Spreadsheets
Nero Burning Version 7.0
Monitor: NONE - Can Be Added In Upgrades List Below
Extras: FREE GAME 1 = DIRT4 SHOWDOWN

Doesn't look too bad.

[ChrisP]

oops posted in error, please remove.

[disc]

 ChrisP, on 16 August 2013 - 02:00 AM, said:

Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 6450 2GB Graphics Card

It's not a fast card these days. Actually it's a low end HTPC video card.

[h5djr]

I am also UK based and have recently purchased a new PC from Dell. It's mainly used for business type software, Excel in particular, but in runs OR very nicely. It's a Dell 9020 with an i7-4770 Haswell processor, 8GB RAM, 500GB hard disk, Windows 7 64-bit Pro and comes without a monitor as I already have a good monitor. The graphics card I already had and is an ASUS HD7750-DCSL-1GD5 which has no fan and therefore the whole system runs in silence. I also already had a 256GB SSD which I now use as the system disk with the supplied 500GB hard disk being used for nightly image backups. This may well be a bit over the top and expensive but you can get cheaper versions of similar machines from Dell and they come with a 3-year next working day on-site warranty. The main point here is to look at the Business section of the Dell website rather than the Consumer section. It also means using the Business section you can still specify Windows 7 if you prefer. The total cost of my particular PC was £820 including delivery and vat. Other PCs in Dells Vostro range of business machines start from £269 and their Optiplex range (with access etc requiring no tools) also from £269. The se are prices without a monitor although they obvious do a range of monitors if you require one.