Best computer for a value of £600 to £650

i3-2120 Processor (3.30GHz, 3MB)

Is this i7 Compatible?

So my plan is a cheap computer for now with

1. 4-6 GB of Ram
2. Lowest HDD space (not important to me)
3. i3 Processor (upgradable to i7)
4. Good graphics card (also upgradable)
5. No monitor, mouse, or keyboard (will get seperate)
6. Included with Win7 Home Premium+
7. Within £600-£650 budget

Upgradable to SSD HDD, better Graphics Card, more Ram and also upgradable processor.

Also please post links to the SSD, Graphics Card, Ram and Processor recommended for the future.

SSD - £100-£150
Graphics Card - £200
Ram - £130
Processor - £250

That i-3 2120 is a "Sandy Bridge" socket 1155 processor.

It requires a compatible "Sandy Bridge' socket 1155 motherboard.

Some i-7 processors are socket 1155 and so would work on that same motherboard, such as the 2600 and 2700.

Other i-7 processors have another socket, such as 1156, and would not fit on that same motherboard, such as the i7-870.

Other i-7 processors, such as the i-7 990X, are socket 1366 and would not work on the same motherboard either.

You need to pay attention to the socket.

If you plan to upgrade the processor, RAM, graphics card, and SSD in the near future, you are probably better off buying the original machine with those upgraded parts after you save the additional money--rather than buying now and upgrading soon.

Otherwise, you will have some slightly used parts (HD, processor, and graphics card) on your hands. You'd have to hope you could sell them.

Intel, Crucial, and OCZ generally make good SSDs.

Crucial, G Skill, and Corsair make good RAM. Which you would need depends on which PC you buy originally.

If you buy a socket 1155 motherboard and want to upgrade to an i-7, it looks like you would be limited to the 2600 or 2700.

You may find that none of these upgrades make as much difference as you thought they might.

The SSD would make a noticeable difference in some areas, like booting and opening applications.

By buying them soon, I meant that I would have to wait and save up the money.

So if I got badgers original system for £469, it would be best for me to upgrade that instead?

Crucial has 8GB (4x2) Ram sticks for my system, I'll get 2 of those.

The only SSD compatible is 512GB (£500) according to Crucial

I think your best move is to wait as long as you can, save as much as you can, and then buy and don't upgrade a bunch of parts. You'll just end up spending more money.

Maybe upgrade a piece once a year or so.

Dell is high priced on some items, but if you buy from Dell and then soon replace the original parts with other parts, the net overall price is even higher.

RAM is one thing you should buy a minimum of from Dell--and then upgrade it on your own. But I don't think it would be cost-efficient to do that with drives, CPUs, or graphics cards. You end up with wasted parts and wasted money.

ignatzatsonic said:

I think your best move is to wait as long as you can, save as much as you can, and then buy and don't upgrade a bunch of parts. You'll just end up spending more money.

Maybe upgrade a piece once a year or so.

Dell is high priced on some items, but if you buy from Dell and then soon replace the original parts with other parts, the net overall price is even higher.

RAM is one thing you should buy a minimum of from Dell--and then upgrade it on your own. But I don't think it would be cost-efficient to do that with drives, CPUs, or graphics cards. You end up with wasted parts and wasted money.

I'm 15, and the computer will be a Christmas present, it would be a boring christmas to do nothing on Christmas.

If it is a Christmas present using somebody else's money, then knock yourself out and go crazy with whatever you want.

My comments were on the assumption you wanted to do something sensible with your own money.