Putting together a computer for the better half

[Starbrow]

Soooo... To my somewhat large surprise, my girlfriend would actually like to get a desktop to be able to play more modern games than Plants vs. Zombies, so I've set about constructing one under relatively hefty budget restrictions from her part. Below is what I've put together, and just wanted to hear if anyone can spot any huge discrepancies between the various components levels of performance.

Motherboard: Asus P7H55-M PRO Intel H55 S1156 DDR3 mATX  -- 749 kr
Processor: Intel Core i3 550 3.20 GHz 4MB 73W Box S1156 -- 1079 kr
RAM: Kingston Value RAM DDRII 4GB PC533 Kit -- 659 kr
Grafics: Club 3D Radeon PCI-E HD5770 OC Edition 1GB DDR5  -- 1209 kr
Powersupply:  Chill Innovation 450W Silent ATX2.3 +85% -- 500 kr
HDD: Seagate Momentus 7200.4 320GB SATA 16MB 7200RPM -- 429 kr
Cabinet: Aopen H425D mATX case Black uden PSU -- 209 kr

Prices may not mean anything to you, but I left them to show the ratios of spending. Budget is 5k DKKR, which is roughly £550. And yes, she wants to play WoW too... 

[Yoica]

650euro's for a desktop isn't too bad a restriction. You can easily buy a pc that will run WoW without any problem.

Your setup looks fine, but I would check for a bigger HD. I don't know the prices in denmark, but here in holland you could get a Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD with 1TB for the same price.

[delling]

Looks good. No monitor listed, though?

Definitely get a 1TB drive -- they are the best value for money atm.

I would probably get a more expensive CPU, instead of an expensive graphics card.

[Starbrow]

We have everything but a decent tower already, which is why I didn't list any monitor. You were right about the HDD, 1TB was more or less the same price, so have changed that. Guess I wasn't paying attention when I was browsing through it... The price of the graphics card has mysteriously dropped 150 kr overnight, but hey, I'm not complaining about that.

As for a more expensive processor: What's the difference between these two, other than changing three numbers?

Intel Core i3 560 3.33 GHz 4MB 73W Box S1156 -- 1109 kr
Intel Core i5 650 3.2 GHz 4MB 73W Box S1156 -- 1369 kr

[shankski]

Go AMD much cheaper and id imagine better than the i3 at least

[delling]

No idea on CPU differences, sorry. I would get an i7, though!

[Yoica]

Go AMD much cheaper and id imagine better than the i3 at least

I haven't looked at this in the past ~9 months or so, but Intel is (was?) miles ahead of AMD when they brought the i-series on the market.

@Starbrow except the obvious CPU speed I'm not quite sure what the difference is between the 2, but someone more versed in hardware can probably give a better reason. I got an i5 750 and haven't noticed any problems with anything yet. I know the difference between the i5 and i7 is that the i7 can run with 4 virtual cores combined with the 4 real ones whereas the i5 only has 4 real cores, but, again, I don't know/understand the details.

[shankski]

Yeah the intel cpus are well ahead of AMD, ofc id recommend an i7 but they cost a shit load,

AMD still do the job well tho just quite a considerable difference in the price

[Inphy]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu-core-i5-760-core-i7-970,2698-7.html

A pretty decent hierarchy list of CPU's to compare. AMD's are fairly cheaper. But you'd have to change the motherboard.

Like Delling said, I would get an i5 over an i3.

[Palmar]

[Kilizion]

Just make sure the computer is in the kitchen and she learns to cook and play at the same time!