Gaming PC

I'm getting to the stage where I am looking at getting a new PC as the one I have is getting a bit old (over 5 years) and is starting to chug.

I'm not really sure what to get so I was hoping that people can point me in the right direction albeit I don't want to start messing building my own.

The machine I'm currently getting tempted by is:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-065-OG&groupid=43&catid=2475&subcat=2487

 

But.. building your own is fun! (and usually a lot less expensive).

 

What is your budget?

 

I dunno was thinking something around £1,500-£1,600 so around $2,250-$2,400

 

I've had a subpar experience with Ibuypower.com. with poor installation on components. And I would recommend against overclocking unless you know how to tweak it yourself, as most companies do very limited stability testing before shipping.

 

I was going to recommend originpc, but I saw you were in the UK. Just get the best video card you can afford, then max out the RAM, then 50/50 between CPU and SSD drives. I am no expert, but that is how I play.

 

You'll probably want to use a UK based site and not NewEgg, but these are my recommendations on components for that budget. For the case, you want to make sure it has great airflow to keep your components cool. USB 3.0 ports are also a must. The Cooler Master HAF (High Air Flow) series are fantastic cases and I'm grabbing one for my next build (I'm currently using a 5 year old Antec 900 series case which is nice despite its age).

Case - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197

If you're trying to save a bunch of money, the AMD 8-cores are so much cheaper (and the mobos cheaper) but if you have the money to pay for performance, then Intel is the way to go. The debate of the moment seems to be the i7-4770k at $360 or the i7-5820k at $390. The 5820k is the newer processor with more cores, but a slower clock speed. It supports DDR4. Most games don't use more then 1-2 cores. DDR4 has the potential to be much faster in the future, but current benchmarks just aren't showing it. DDR4 and motherboards that support it are much more expensive right now. How often do you anticipate upgrading components? Will you replace them all at once?

Current price and performance suggests you should save money and go with the i7-4770k. If you want the possibility of maybe keeping the same motherboard for DDR4 in the future, maybe you go with the i7-5820k, but I find when I want to upgrade my computer every few years, I end up replacing the motherboard, CPU, memory and GPU all at once. So I'm recommending the i7-4770k. You can see performance really is about the same.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8426/...view-core-i7-5960x-i7-5930k-i7-5820k-tested/6

This PC is 200 pounds cheaper from your same site (upgrade to the GTX 970 on this one to make it comparable to the other)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-432-OE&groupid=43&catid=2475&subcat=2487

I'd use the extra money on more storage personally, but I don't know about you.

Fast hybrid 4TB drive - $170 (the hybrid drives mix traditional storage with fast flash/SSD storage for good performance)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178379

500 GB Samsung SSD - $228 - Put your OS and main games on this HDD and you will get awesome gaming performance. I don't know that a 128 GB SSD is enough these days.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147249

 

most cost effective way I found goes like this.
I check out the local pc shops. I talk to them and see their knowledge level and recommendations. I then ask if I buy the parts if they'll put it together.
I then shop parts and get the best I can find for the lowest price.

As to overclocking. If you just want to generally overclock it and not push the boundaries make sure the use a mobo that has the basic software for it. For example MSI has an OC genie 4 that's pretty good and doesn't require you to have a heavy background in voltage and clock tweaks.

 

This is probably what I'm building in April. I try not to go nuts spending money on myself, so I'm trying to keep this to a budget system, but I'm also building a full PC (case, power-supply, etc) and my daughter will inherit my current gaming rig. I still need to pick out a power supply and CPU cooler but my total cost for this build will be around $1,600.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147373
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178379
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127832
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132118
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231589
edit: changed up my recommendations a bit. Went with the 850 EVO SSD now that prices have come down. The 850 is much faster for only $12 more. Also went with faster memory. Initially through the chipset only supported the DDR3 1600 but you can safely put the DDR3 2400 in even without an OC.

 

Thanks for all the feedback........lots to think about

 

If you are buying a $2,000+ PC then I would definitely spend the extra $100-$150 for a 500 over a 128 but I run 128 on all of machines and have no issues with space. But I also have 3 machines I switch between for different purposes so maybe that's why

 

Is it worth going to 32GB RAM over 16? also is it worth the extra to go from the GTX 970 to the 980?

 

I very recently got a new pc from overclockers myself. My last pc was from there and lasted well but initially came with badly configured RAM. This time everything is fine with the build and i was very impressed with the delivery and packaging!

I got the " Titan Envy M DC" Intel Core i7 4790K @ 4.4GHz Overclocked with a GTX 980 4096Mb... I thought this was a great buy and runs SotA a dream. Being your name sake....i thinks you should get one to!

I have built in the past but in all honesty it costs the same or slightly more with a lot less hassle to buy from them.

16GB is fine for gaming...only need 32 if you doing stuff like editing vids and the like i think.
Instead of getting a 980 you could get two cheaper cards in sli to match its performance for cheaper, although i like mine and will get another in sli when the price drops.

 

16GB is more than enough. 8 GB is enough. Going 32GB is so much of an overkill I'd say no. But more RAM never hurts.

The Jump in performance between the 970 and the 980 is pretty large, worth the upgrade IMO.

 

Pfft, I could build you a world crushing PC for that kind of money. I can build you a simple game crushing one for a quarter of that.

Let's deal with some basics first; Could you put a Nintendo/Sega cartridge into its console? You can? Congratulations, you can build a PC. Because the great secret behind the industry is, apart from the software side of it, trained monkeys could literally do it. You'll pay hundreds of pounds for someone clipping a tab into a slot, slots that won't accept any other input than the ones they're designed for. But let's say you want to ease yourself into it; here's what you do.

1.) I use Novatech for my parts, I'd highly recommend them.

2.) Pick a "Barebones" system. Let's be moderate and look right in the middle of the price range of AMD chips, just for example. How do you fancy this?

AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8350 Processor running at 4ghz?
2 x 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz Memory
750w Power Supply
Including new case?

For £395 inc VAT to you, guv.

Ok, but we're still feeling a bit scared! What do we need to do next?

3.) Go into your old PC tower, unclip the power and SATA cable from your hard drive. You can't miss it, it's normally at the front of the case, below the DvD drives. And you'll be taking those out too. So anything that's in a box but not the power supply is coming out.

4.) Put the drives in the new machine, clip in the power and SATA cables, and turn it on. They're both different cables so you can't mix them up. Have a good stare at them in the old case before moving to be sure.

5.) You get a few free hardware changes on most versions of Windows, and if you've used them up, Windows will ask to verify the new hardware by telephone on WinXP, not sure on Win7 have yet to do it.

6.) Then with the driver disc that comes with the Barebones, install the drivers so the hardware works exactly as it should.

7.) That's it! You're done.

We've only spend 1/3rd of our cash so far though; We could buy a brand new Graphics Card to go with it, or we could wander over to CEX and pick one up second hand for even cheaper. No CEX near you? They home deliver, don't worry.

But we want to stay new for now, and we're feeling greedy having all that money still spare. So let's splurge on something.
MSI Radeon R9 290 TWIN FROZR GAMING OC 4GB GDDR5

People will argue over this, it draws a bit more power than its Geforce equivalent, but it's AMD the same as your motherboard chipset, and available at Novatech too. But here's the important part; they're all PCI-E slots, and they'll only go into that one slot type. You physically can't fit them anywhere else, or even upside down. Doesn't matter what you get, but we're being greedy so...

*tap tap tap* You've got 8gb on the main board, an extra 4gb for pure graphics memory on the card, and it's GDDR5 too (big fast memory). It costs £240 including VAT, delivery is free, so all you have to do is swap over your drives, shove that in, and you're done.

For £630, or half your suggested budget.

And it'll eat alive anything you throw at it for years. Of course, by the time it stops, let's say in 10 years, you'll be ready to swap out older parts, or even build one from scratch. And have saved a fortune

Unfortunately I'm skint myself so my own upgrades (for Elite: Dangerous which requires at least a quad core, sigh) have to wait, but I'll take commission if you're offering it to build you one...!

 

Btw 32 gb ram is only usable with win 7 ultimate or another os

 

The 980 is about 20% faster and nearly double the cost. You're talking about jumping from $350 to $600. That is a huge jump in price. If you're pushing multiple monitors for gaming or want a 4K system, then maybe you need all the power you can get. In that case, I'd do multiple 970s as opposed to a single 980.

A single 970 will cost you $350. And you'll get 88 FPS in Tomb Raider at 2560x1440 Ultra/FXAA.

A single 980 will cost you $600. And you'll get 100 FPS in Tomb Raider at 2560x1440 Ultra/FXAA.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/nvidia_geforce_gtx_970_and_980_reference_review,13.html

Two 970s in SLI will cost you $700 and get you 155 FPS in Tomb Raider at 2560x1440 Ultra/FXAA.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_970_sli_review,12.html

Is it worth spending $250 to go up 12 FPS? If so, then isn't worth another $100 to go up another 55 FPS?

 

People overlook the value you get with a cheap AMD system that will get you decent performance. If I was building AMD today, I'd go with the 9590 at $240 rather than the FX-8350 at $180. It is better performance per dollar. That depends how cheap you want to get and is debatable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113347

My only problem with AMD right now is that they're totally focused on the FX line with integrated graphics and really low-end, cheap processors that I don't care about at all. They've ignored their main desktop line for too long and they don't have a good desktop chipset that supports PCI Express 3.0. That is why I'm going to spend a little more for Intel for once.

 

*nods* It's very easy to continually go that little but further, to think a few pounds/dollars here and you can have so much more there... like funding Shroud in fact! I try and limit myself though because at the cutting edge you don't notice too much difference; the trick is to set the bucks first, and then maximise the bang for that buck.

My own system is about 7 years old now, I've been running an AMD Dual Core 2.9ghz with ATI 4670HD card and it still handles most software on at least medium, but it's starting to fail at the edge now; Elite: Dangerous is the first I can't actually run at all, and Shroud without optimisation suffers badly for me. However there's been at least 2 generations of Chipset since then, my board is running the older AM2 socket, and it's hard to find quad cores as an upgrade path that fit that here; it makes more sense now for me to just change the entire board. But I do agree with you on AMD, when I changed system they were the clear choice, but Intel is now in a much stronger position. But it depends on how much of Envy's total he wants to spend; if he can spend EVERY! LAST! PENNY! then Intel/Geforce is the better system... but who knows where it'll be down the line? So I tend to put current finances above predicting the uncertain future, and suggested a lot of bang for half the buck he has.... but it's just suggestions Hopefully we've all helped him decide what he wants to go for!

 

32G vs 16. Depends on the price difference between the 2. But generally speaking it is not worth it. Simply because by the time your computer actually needs 32G of ram you'd probably would have replaced this new machine already.

970 vs 980. Don't bother. Cards are not that different.