A Low-end value system for gaming - Looking for Basic advice.

I'm looking to buy a low-end gaming PC, that can support the newer games (COD4, Grid, TF2, Crysis) on a low resolution moniter (1020x768) but with medium to high texture and "effects" (smoke, water, etc) to still allow the games to be enjoyable visually, depsite the low resolution.

I've found what I deem to a be a reasonably priced System from Cyberpowersystem.co.uk (apparently a lot more reliable than their American counter-part). It's priced at £450 and seems to contain enough power to suit my needs.

Case:Raidmax Sagitta II Mid-Tower Case (Black Color with Black front panel)

CPU:(Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400 CPU @ 3.0GHz 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache 64-bit

Motherboard:(Quad-Core support) MSI P31 Neo-F P31 Chipset LGA775 FSB800/1066/1333 DDR2 Mainboard

Memory:(Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (G.SKILL Value Select or Major Brand)

Video Card:NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 16X PCI Express

Hard Drive:Single Hard Drive (320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)

Optical Drive:SONY DUAL FORMAT 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (SILVER COLOR)

Sound:HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIOOS: Windows Vista Home premium 32bit.

Power Supply: Standard Case power

Things that I am considering the change are:

1. Video card - I'm not sure how well the 9500gt performs, it's said to be slightly better than a 8600gt, but then that makes me start to think it's slightly bottle-necking the rest of the system. Would it be worth going for an 8800gt instead, despite it increasing the overall cost of the system by around £66?

2. Operating system - with memory upgrades being a very cheap way to upgrade in the future, I'll hazzard a guess that it's worth spending an extra £9 for a 64bit version to allow 4 gig of ram to be placed in at a later date.

3. Power supply - I believe the one suplpied with the case is 425W, I'm not sure if this is enough. At worst I could use the 425W one, and then upgrade it when I buy another video card. But I really don't want something as avoidable as not enough power to be holding back the system, on the other hand I've VERY tight for cash, and any upgrade is already stretching my pocket's depth.

Any and all advice is appreciated.

P.S I'm NOT interested in building my own PC yet, once my current one has been replaced I'll play around with it and learn how it works, until then I don't really trust myself (a 16 year-old kid) to be fooling around inside a PC case, when I've yet to carry out a precedure as simple as upgrading ram by myself.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-072-OK

Check out the other systems they put together gaming systems. dont forget to factor the OS as its not included.

About PSUs:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/index.php

12v rails on psu are important - you say that you might swap the 9500 for the 8800. Well I've tried the 8800 with a cheap 500w PSU (the type that comes with a standand prebuilt) and it coudn't cut it. Read through this website. Ive had many PSUs - and what have I learnt : dont skimp.

Google '9500gt review benchmarks' ... you get the idea. It is likely that many of the new games will need more of the settings scaled back to hold the framerate even at 10x7.

4u70

That system you linked me looks excellent value compared to all others I've seen, I'm pretty much set on ordering it now. However it only comes with a 450W Corsair power supply, so I'm planning on swapping that out for a 700W~ one in the near future, but will the 450 one cause any problems for the GPU/CPU?

I've no problem with components under-performing (until I upgrade the PSU), but will it cause anything like random BSOD or freezes while using a 450W one?

-Get a cheaper CPU and get a better GPU

-Get a better powersupply because using some cheap generic case one isn't really a good idea

[QUOTE="4u70"]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-072-OK

Check out the other systems they put together gaming systems. dont forget to factor the OS as its not included.

About PSUs:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/index.php

12v rails on psu are important - you say that you might swap the 9500 for the 8800. Well I've tried the 8800 with a cheap 500w PSU (the type that comes with a standand prebuilt) and it coudn't cut it. Read through this website. Ive had many PSUs - and what have I learnt : dont skimp.

Google '9500gt review benchmarks' ... you get the idea. It is likely that many of the new games will need more of the settings scaled back to hold the framerate even at 10x7.

humanbob1

That system you linked me looks excellent value compared to all others I've seen, I'm pretty much set on ordering it now. However it only comes with a 450W Corsair power supply, so I'm planning on swapping that out for a 700W~ one in the near future, but will the 450 one cause any problems for the GPU/CPU?

I've no problem with components under-performing (until I upgrade the PSU), but will it cause anything like random BSOD or freezes while using a 450W one?