I am an absolute novice at building PCs. Never done it. Don't really intend to. Don't know how to flash hardware. ANYWAY :O I'm looking at getting a new computer. Mine is 6 years, going on 7 old, and its performance, is, well, a "bit" poor. Here are a few fun facts - Integrated Radeon x1300 pro graphics - Dual core intel viiv Em.. yeh. So, I only have about £700 at MOST to spend. At £700 I really am looking at including a monitor with that. I have a few basic outlines about this system I am looking at: - Intel processor (AMD is just not up to scratch anymore, although if need be I would suffice with a Phenom, they arn't bad) so I am looking at an I5-2500 or 2500K - MINIMUM Radeon 6850 graphics - At least 500GB hard drive - 8GB of RAM - OS included - Any monitor should be above 20 inches and Full HD ready. COuld any of you nice young men help me out?
It seems like you have all the specs outlined so you could really just google "computers with x specs really. I know you've never built a PC but I would highly recommend it -- especially if your price range is that high. In the end you're getting more out of your money. Building a PC is not very hard, or at least as hard as you might think it is. There are plenty of video step-by-step tutorials and BIOS is now point-and-click. There's not much for you to do besides taking one day out of your schedule to assemble it. If you were to really need help with it, you could VM, PM or Skype me and I could help you get things sorted. Building a PC is also a lot more fun than you might think and nothing is more satisfying than being able to say, "Yeah, I built that." (Even if you say it to yourself).
Value for money is the main reason I want to build my own. Plus I get a bit more freedom when making it. Even still, I do appreciate your help offer. I probably will take you up on that at some point.
2500k. amazing. look on overclockers.co.uk. They offer some good component bundles that could save you a little bit, as £700 may be a bit tight for the 2500k range (seems more 800-99 including monitor). With the 2500k bundle they offer (comes with motherboard and 8gb ram), you could throw in a cheap case, 650w psu and 1tb hard drive. You'll need £150 ish if you want to get a high end card. Consider the 460 gtx if you want to be conservative, as like the 2500k it's very very efficient, that means it's very very overclockable. An MSI 460 gtx would come with overclocking software that will manage your gpu and memory overclocks while the ASUS mobo in the bundle will easily manage your processor overclock. All of these together make for a very powerful, very adaptable and upgradable pc at a reasonable price.
is overclocking worth my while? I know it can improve performance up to extremes, even like 40%, but won't it reduce the lifespan of my system?
I'm not saying you have to OC, it's just in support of the argument for buying heat and enrgy efficient components over the highest spec ones. The Sandybridge overclocks by default, it's called turbo mode.
Not to mention that Intel and most GPU manufacturers offer free warranties on their newest models. You might as well buy a non-stock heatsink and utilize it's "maximum" potential. If you do CPU or GPU intensive work, it'll help out a lot -- if you don't, it won't make much of a difference. To be honest though, if you're not going to need the extra power, don't bother. If you decided that you do need more power, then you can buy a fan and overclock accordingly.