Out of Pod Experience

Anyone know what would be the minimum specs for a comp to run EVE on high graphics with at least 30 fps for under £700 (all parts must be from the UK- sorry newegg)?

Any help would be fantastic as i don't really know where to start...






p.s. I don't know if this is the right place for this post but I was sure that someone here could help me :)

Two links:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-introducing-the-digital-foundry-pc
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2012/08/31/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-august-2012/1

700 GBP is way overkill for that, if you ONLY mean the tower hardware (no software//OS, no monitor, no mouse/keyboard, no speakers).
You can probably build such a "minimum spec" machine (just the tower hardware) for around 300 GBP. 700 GBP most likely gets you a machine that can run a couple of EVE instances at max detail with over 60 FPS, plus a pretty large HDD and a halfway decent SSD.

P.S. You need to be more specific in what exactly it is you want. Would you rather like the cheapest machine that can run EVE at your minimal specs, would you prefer the best performance you can get in EVE (and just EVE) for the maximum budget limit, or would you prefer a more well-rounded but not very impressive machine for something in between ?
And more importantly, DO YOU mean under 700 GBP for just the tower hardware or something else ? If so, what else do you need purchased, and how much of your budget do you want to go on the tower hardware vs how much on the rest ?

Extras:

74 GBP - Win7 Home Premium 64 (max 16GB RAM usable) - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/microsoft-windows-7-home-premium-64-bit-sp1-operating-system-single-oem
8 GBP - basic PS2 Mouse+Keyboard - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/genius-kb-c100-black-keyboard-and-mouse-kit-ps2

Tower:

160 GBP - CPU, Intel Core i5 3570,Quad Core, 3.4GHz - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i5-35701155-ivy-bridge-quad-core-34ghz-5-gt-s-dmi-650mhz-gpu-6mb-smart-cache-34x-ratio-77
65 GBP - Z77 motherboard - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-z77a-g41-intel-z77-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-d-sub-hdmi-atx
64 GBP - 16 GB (2x2x4) DDR3@1600 - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-vengeance-racing-red-pc3-12800-(1600)-non-ecc-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-15v
103 GBP - 2GB Nvidia GTX 650 - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-palit-gtx-650-28nm-pcie-30-(x16)-5000mhz-gddr5-gpu-1058mhz-cores-384-dl-dvi-d-sub-mini-hdmi
77 GBP - 1TB WDCBlack HDD - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-western-digital-wd1002faex-caviar-black-sata-iii-6gb-s-7200rpm-64mb-cache-8ms
77 GBP - 120GB Intel 330 SSD - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120gb-intel-330-series-25-ssd-sata-iii-6gb-s-mlc-flash-read-500mb-s-write-450mb-s-33000-iops-max
36 GBP - Corsair Builder series 430W - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/430w-corsair-builder-series-cmpsu-430cxv2uk-80-eff-uncertified-quiet-fan-atx-v23-psu
30 GBP - Generic halfway decent case - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cit-jupiter-v2-black-midi-tower-mesh-gaming-case-with-blue-led-fan-and-vented-side-panel-w-o-psu
13 GBP - generic DVD writer - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/sony-ad-5280s-0b-24x-dvdr-12xdvddl-dvdplusrw-x8-rwx6-sata-black-oem

Grand total ~707 GBP, ever so slightly above your budget, with nothing set up for any overclocking whatsoever.
You can most likely expect an EVE framerate of 60 FPS with TWO instances running each in FullHD at near-max graphic detail (only AA turned off, doesn't really do much good anyway) in missions or small-to-medium scale PvP.

If you plan on overclocking ANYTHING, scale up the PSU to a 500W or even a 600W, then also maybe change the 3570 to a 3570K (depending on what you overclock and by how much), and you might want to consider an unboxed CPU (no stock cooler) and purchase some aftermarket cooler.
You can downsize the RAM to 8 GB (from 16) or the SSD to 60 GB (from 120) if you wish to go more under budget or counterbalance the extras on the CPU/PSU upgrade without sacrificing more performance, or if you wish to upscale the GPU and/or CPU.
You could also upgrade to a GTX 660 (but that's a lot of cash extra), or get one of the higher-factory-overclocked GTX 650 versions instead (negligible extra, but eats noticeably more power, then again, the base TDP is only 65W, so not a very big problem).

You can use the SSD as standalone OS drive, or you can use up to 60 GB of it as SSD cache for the HDD.
If you get a 120 GB SSD, better use it as an OS drive and also put (some of) your games on it (and do not bother with SSD caching, or if you do, keep it small, at 16 GB or so), but if you get the 60 GB SSD, better use it as SSD cache instead (the entire drive).
Alternatively, you can drop the SSD altogether (but I wouldn't, once you go SSD, you never want to go back to a HDD alone) and get a larger HDD instead, if storage space is more important than anything else. Or you can add whatever HDD you previously already had, if you have any now.

From what I heard, back when I was doing that sort of thing, Scan.co isn't trustworthy. There is another place in the UK that is better, but I understand neither of them have particularly good selection. Don't you guys have PC Stores?

I built my first 2 computers with parts I picked up at the local stores. Heck, we have like 5-7 around here now, so it would be easier now than it was then. Nothing fantastic unless you like to pay extra for them to order it in, but still good enough for most of the primary components. Just the graphics card that might be lacking; they don't usually stock anything that costs a lot and doesn't sell often.

Scan.co.uk has generally overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Even EVE's Verone claims to be a heavy-duty user, with 10 years of experience and many machines built for friends and family with barely existing and easily solved issues.
I'm sure there's at least one person who got shafted at some time or another, but that's almost certainly the exception rather than the rule, and it happens to every major retailer once in a while (you just can't have a completely spotless record with high volumes).