Finally purchasing new

[Arzy]

So I've posted here a couple of times over the last few years about getting a new PC and never actually got to the point where I went and bought the damn thing. My currently PC has now passed on to a better place(I gave it to the church to use with their projector) and I am in need of something new.

Life has kicked in as well(wife wants a dishwasher) so my budget is kind of limited. I am looking to put together a system that will be fine for home use(just the normal, mail and a couple of office apps) and a bit of gaming(WoW) with the possibility of upgrading over time. So far I'm considering the following:

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 R 1,200
8400GS 256mb R 570
OCZ 2GB DDR2 800fsb kit R 1,225
160GB SATA R 489
Case & 500W Power Supply R 800
Motherboard R 1,000
17" LCD TFT R 1,600

That's basically R 7,000 working of the Christmas pricelist from Matrix. Now for the questions:

I know this is a rather low end system, how can I improve on it and still get the most bang for my buck?
Should I be purchasing from a retailer like Matrix? or will it be better to go via one of the on-line retailers listed in the FAQ?
Is it better to go for a DDR Kit or to just buy the DIMM's individually, there is R700 difference in price?
Would putting a system together like this be better than going for a prepared system like the following:

Case + Powersupply (Don't know specs)
LGA775 motherboard with the normal onboards
Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4gHZ
1GB memory
160GB SATA HDD
DVD Writer
R4,899 in total, add a screen (R1,600), another gig of ram(R279) and the same graphics card as above(R570) and I'm basically at the R7,000 mark again but I don't know which parts I'm getting.

 

[gifs]

You can do a lot better at the online shops.

at prophecy.co.za you can get:
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 R 1,096.50
8600GT 256mb R 1079.97
Mushkin 2GB DDR2 800fsb kit R 650.01
160GB SATA R 528.94
Coolermaster Case & 350W Power Supply R 370.39
Asus P5K Motherboard R 1,259.35
19" Samsung LCD TFT R 1,753.16
Total = R6738.38

That leaves you a couple of hundred bucks for keybaord and mouse, or maybe a better power supply.

Also try
digitalsaonline.co.za
computersonly.co.za

 

[MrE]

Ye, you should look around before you buy stuff.

 

[Arzy]

Yeah, that's basically why I'm here, almost everyone knows more than I would at this stage. Its been like 3 or 4 years since I last got a new pc.

 

[Brawler]

I wouldn't bother with expensive RAM on a system like that, won't make a differance unless you want to overclock.

 

[hj2k_x]

I wouldn't bother with expensive RAM on a system like that, won't make a differance unless you want to overclock.

That is what I was going to add. The expensive stuff performs pretty much the same as the cheap stuff for regular non-overclocked tasks.

Pretty sure you don't want to go with that 8400. Like people have been saying, check out prophecy, the online store. They have great prices and great service. For R7000 you should get something decent nowadays.

 

[d-_-b]

Is it just me or are you missing a screen card?

As far as I know WoW is a 3D game, so you will need a screen card that can do a bit of graphics, not a integrated screen card. Have a look at Toms Hardware VGA Charts and buy a entry level one for round about R 800.

Regards,

 

[Juggy]

Both his quotes have screen cards on them

8400GS
8600GT

 

[Brawler]

imo anything less that HD3850 is a complete waste of time for todays games..