Build or buy Desktop for a good deal - Hardware & Software

I have to start by saying I am broke (relatively). I have a laptop but it just does not cut it for my gaming needs, so I need a PC. I do not want to spend more than £400 on a PC and monitor. I play World of Warcraft, Arkham City, Crysis, general steam games and such. Watch movies Programming wise MATLAB, webGL and VMs I seldom run are the most taxing. If you think building one is better than buying please give me tips/tutorials :) EDIT : I'd preferably want a silent one and am a bit flexible on the price. I also have MSDNAA so I get windows products for free :D

[url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1203091]This thread[/url] has some basic guidelines that you can go by, but does not include a monitor in the pricing.

I have an update! I found my bro's old PC (from 2008) which I can salvage stuff from like the DVD-Drive, HDD and RAM. I believe it had an overheating problem and kept abruptly turning off. I used to play DMC4 on it. It has an average GFX card I think. Will be posting the pics as soon as my phone comes back on :) [editline]15th September 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Zephyrs;37678591][url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1203091]This thread[/url] has some basic guidelines that you can go by, but does not include a monitor in the pricing.[/QUOTE] Thanks for the link bro, now I just need to figure out if I can use my bro's old case or not.

If it's from 2008, it's likely to use DDR2, everything uses DDR3 now. You can probably use the PSU from it though. I would sell the board, CPU, RAM and GPU from his old rig on ebay and use that money as well as the £400 to get a new board, CPU, RAM, GPU and PSU if the old one isn't beefy enough.

Here are the pics if it makes a difference :) [url]https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1pjihnRz4XQMW0tNFh3VGJHSG8[/url] [url]https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1pjihnRz4XQRGtMZUVtT0dNd28[/url] [url]https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1pjihnRz4XQWUV3ME5VSVh4TU0[/url] [url]https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1pjihnRz4XQWm1RbXB5MGxfTmM[/url] [url]https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1pjihnRz4XQamVLMTdGVk4wck0[/url] [url]https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1pjihnRz4XQc1RlcHMyZXRseEU[/url] [url]https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1pjihnRz4XQeFJJV2I3UzlraGM[/url]

I can see what's wrong with it from right here. Bring the PC outside and attack the CPU cooler with some compressed air. [editline]15th September 2012[/editline] It's an oldie You would probably get more money if you cleaned it and got it working again, installed a fresh copy of windows, then put it on eBay. That case won't have enough airflow for a decent rig and i doubt that PSU is manly enough for a decent GPU. [editline]15th September 2012[/editline] Would you be able to post the specs?

[QUOTE='[EG] Pepper;37679903']I can see what's wrong with it from right here. Bring the PC outside and attack the CPU cooler with some compressed air. [editline]15th September 2012[/editline] It's an oldie You would probably get more money if you cleaned it and got it working again, installed a fresh copy of windows, then put it on eBay. That case won't have enough airflow for a decent rig and i doubt that PSU is manly enough for a decent GPU. [editline]15th September 2012[/editline] Would you be able to post the specs?[/QUOTE] I didn't get a chance to check for sure, but from what I remember it has 2GB RAM a 512MB Nvidia Graphics card (HDMI + DVI output). 2.4GHz Dual core Intel VIIV. 500GB HDD, card reader drive and lightscribe DVD+-RW. The rest are the usual 7 USB ports, ethernet, etc 7 USB ports

If you cleaned it up, re installed windows and made it look nice, you could get 150 - 200 quid for it.

I cleaned the PC out and installed its fresh Vista from the recovery partition. This is it's exact model : [url]http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00866144&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=uk&dlc=en&lc=en&product=3344582[/url] but with the GFX card changed for an NVidia GeForce 8400GS 256MB

Now you have it working, grab [url=http://www.piriform.com/speccy]speccy[/url] and take a screenshot and post it here.

[QUOTE='[EG] Pepper;37738712']Now you have it working, grab [url=http://www.piriform.com/speccy]speccy[/url] and take a screenshot and post it here.[/QUOTE] We never took it past the "Welcome to your new computer" screen, but from the preliminary checks I did before wiping it, the information on that link is correct, other than the addition of the 8400GS.

So here it is. [url]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320987973650?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1288[/url] My very first listing on eBay

[QUOTE=Motion.Killa;37760715]So here it is. [url]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320987973650?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1288[/url] My very first listing on eBay[/QUOTE] I'd put in the listing that it has a fresh copy of genuine windows Vista Home Premium and that the key is on the top/side/back/where ever it is.