der....my brain hurts......help

[aaronb561]

Hiya, hopefully clever pc purchase advisors! I have just bought a big flat screen TV with HD etc and I have playstation etc to make use of the 1080 graphics. Can anyone suggest a really up to date base unit , about £300 that has HD connection so I can do artwork etc and play through the tv with good graphics and speed please. I know its not a big budget but have a think will you????? Thanxxxxx

[DirtyPolo]

Are you looking to play the sound through your TV too? or do you have a seperate Audio system?

[aaronb561]

Nice one

 

Well done and thanks. I'm not that bothered either way about the sounds, either through tv or my surround system. Photos are great, would like it to be mini or midi size if poss as my space is fairly minimal, sorry to be a fusspot!:o

[DirtyPolo]

I am afraid to say that you will really struggle to find an "up to date" HD unit for that budget, but none-the-less I shall see what I can find for you :)

[aaronb561]

Thank you.

[Dalo Harkin]

I will leave this with Polo as I do not really recommend media systems.

You will be extremely limited on £300 though, media pcs are normally used just as a file server as opposed to actually using it to do artwork etc.

artwork requires a GPU and your budget is too minimal to have anything other than onboard

[aaronb561]

appreciated

 

thanks for advice, if only I could understand what your advising, looks like I need to keep saving.

[DirtyPolo]

Hey again aaron, I have looked around and tried my hardest to find and build a PC that you require, but as Dalo said beforehand, it is an almost impossible task for that low price.

 

I am afraid to say that I have been unable to do so and therefore must say that if you require a PC with such needs and capabilities, your budget will have to increase by quite a bit :(

 

What Dalo basically said in his above post, is that the type of PC you are asking for, is generally classed as a "Media PC", but these types are normally only used to store files for other workstations to access.

 

Also that do to "artwork" on your pc, would require quite a powerful Graphics card, which have a base price of about £100,knocking out 1/3rd of your total budget already on one componant :(

[Dalo Harkin]

The biggest issue with media centre pcs is that as they are designed to be such compact units you pay a premium for the parts, a decent media pc case will not leave you much change from £100

The fact that you want to use it for artwork suggests to me that paint wont cut it and as such you need a good CPU and a good GPU and these coupled with the other costs are just well over £300

[Tootech]

so I can do artwork etc

 

Can you give us a little more insight into what your are thinking here, what programs you use and how you might want to use the PC.

 

I've had a look at the lower end of media builds and dropped together a list of 'somewhere near' the mark components.

 

 

 

Please bear in mind, this is just a list of what you might need or want. I wouldn't use it as a definitive list, or expect it to play games like Dalo's systems, but with an Intel Dual Core CPU, 2GB RAM and either XP or Vista it would run just fine for most work. Add more ram and a slightly faster video card for heavier video work.

 

As you can see you are well past your £300 barrier.

 

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Edited September 27, 2009 by Tootech

[aaronb561]

Wow!

 

Thanks, give me a while to take it all in, and I'll definately be none the wiser!!! I'll attempt to do some homework on these components and speak to my son about our requirements. I do appreciate your time and your knowledge, good on yer:D