Ok, so my main computer keeps breaking down on me. I'm going to try to get it repaired one last time. If this does not work I'm looking at a computer with these basic specs.

Intel i5 750 2.66 8MB CACHE 1333 MHZ SKT 1156 (Quad Core)

4GB 4096MB DDR3 "Branded Memory"

500 GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200-RPM

ASROCK P55 Extreme mother Board

NVIDIA GEFORCE GT220 1GB 1080P DISPLAY SUPPORT PCI EXPRESS 2.0

This will run me about £500 without windows 7

Any suggestions, comments that are helpful?


and NO I will not buy a Mac.

Not a bad set of basic specs...depending on what you want/need to do with your PC

Hard drive is a little light at 500GB nowadays...but perfectly workable.

Are you building it yourself...or getting it built?..Because the ASROCK motherboards have got a small rep as being a bit of a fiddle to configure. Once going I hear they are nice.

You haven't specified which OS you will be running. You did mention a price without Windows 7, but you have not specified what you are going to run on it.

If you do run Windows 7, 8 GB of ram would be much better. From my testing on my laptop (I have a nice Asus) going above 6GB makes Windows 7 much more efficient.

If you are running Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, etc then 4GB is fine unless you plan on doing some serious video editing.

And if you are doing serious video editing on Windows... 8 is the bare minimum.

Otherwise system looks good.


Edit: And if you bought a MAC (I own 2) you wouldn't be having the issues you mentioned)

If you're interested in what looks to be the next wave of technology, I'd reccomend the IZ3d monitor. I've been using mine for 8 months now, and it works quite well. It's a bit pricey, but I think it's worth it.
[edit]Silly me, I put the wrong number for how long I've been using my monitor...
Magius out.

Not to discount what magius says (I don't know about the monitor he's discussing) , I really recommend a viewsonic LCD. Consistently high quality.

*Edit:* checked out iZ3D, looks pretty sweet but you'll have to check it out for yourself - some people see ghosting on-screen 'cuz their binocular vision is sub-par.

Depending on your finanical situation. Work just got me one of and it is OMG!!! JimP'ed to the Nth degree... I have not tried it for gaming yet.

But for the budget minded and from reviews I've read about ghosting, etc.. Dell, LG and Samsung come out on top.

I do believe you do a fair amount of gaming LA, if possible see if PC Gamer has their latest round up. It was their recommendation along with Tom's Hardware that led me to purchase my Dell 24" for home use a few years ago.

From what I have read, most HP and Dell monitors are made primarily by Samsung. I have a BenQ and have been very happy with it. And it was cheap.

I have two Samsung SyncMaster and one LG monitors, not sure which models.

No complaints about either - the Samsung monitors are a trifle crisper and brighter, but are also a few years younger. The biggest difference is the viewing angle - a lot more play on the Samsung monitors.

I also have a Westinghouse, again, no complaint, but it was smaller, so when I played musical monitors it was the one without a computer.

The Auld Grump