Author Topic: Need PC help! (Read 793 times)

ShiryouKattami · « **on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 19:25:09 »

Hi guys, long tme no see

Lucky me has come into a bit of money rather earlier than I had thought. The obvious thing to do with this money is to drop it into a brand new PC! Only, I don't know enough about PC's to be very comfortable with what I am choosing and that I'm making the right decisions about what to do.

I intend to buy from here www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk, as I've heard great things about their customer service. I'm aiming to spend about £1700, but can go as high as £1900.

So my main things:
- AMD 6 core or Intel i7 quad? The 6 core is obviously cheaper but I'm hearing the Intel is better for the actual gaming side of things?
- I know bugger all about motherboards.

An example thing I popped together is this:
CASE: CoolerMaster Storm Sniper Gaming Case with high air flow
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Max. 3 x 120mm Silent Case Cooling Fans in selected case key areas for ultra silent operation [+23] (1,200 RPM AKASA Silent Fans with Sleeve Ball Bearing 17 dBA and LED light to match the Fans already in the case)
Cyberpower Noise Reduction Technology: None
CPU: AMD Phenom™ II X6 1100T Six-Core CPU
Cooling Fan: Asetek 510LC / Xtremegear Liquid Cooling system w/ 120mm Radiator (For Ultra Slient Operation -- SHARKOON Eagle SE Ultra Slient Modular Fan, 500-1200rpm (Custom PC Award Winning !!) ***Overclockable S&S***. [+10])

MOTHERBOARD: Asus M4N98TD EVO AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI Chipset DDR3 ATX w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB2.0, IEEE1394, SATA-II, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI (runs up to 1600MHZ) ***Overclockable S&S***

MEMORY: 16GB(4x4GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz Dual Channel Memory [+100] (Corsair XMS3 w/Heat Spreader

VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX580 1536MB 16X PCI Express [+273] (Major Brand Power by NVIDIA)
Power Supply Upgrade: 1000 Watts Power Supplies [+96] (Cyberpower 1000watt Gaming Power Supply SLI/CrossFire Ready)

Hard Drive: 120 GB Corsair Force Series 3 SATA III Gaming MLC Solid State Disk (Single Hard Drive)
Data Hard Drive: 1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache Hard Drive [+36] (Single Hard Drive)
Optical Drive: LG CH10LS20 10X BLU-RAY Reader & 16X DVD±R/±RW Drive (please select the Blue Ray software in the Software section)

SOUND: Creative Labs X-FI Titanium 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card
Network: Killer Xeno Pro Gigabit High Speed Online Gaming PCI-E Network Interface Card

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional (64-bit Edition)

Help much appreciated :}

Rowain · « **Reply #1 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 19:42:19 »

I'd go for Intel. I've never seen a game using more than 3 cores effectively, so 6 cores are an overkill. At the performance of a single core Intel beats AMD hands down, and does it while running cooler and consuming less juice = easier to cool, less noise).

Otherwise the setup looks good to me, maybe the PSU is an overkill, you don't need 1000W for this setup. But it doesn't hurt either.

ShiryouKattami · « **Reply #2 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 19:57:59 »

*rubs chin* So perhaps something like this for an Intel? Only perhaps dropping the PSU to 850 or something.

Again not sure on motherboards. What's this Z68 stuff? ;P

CASE: CoolerMaster Storm Sniper Gaming Case with high air flow [+75]
Lights & Illumination: NONE
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Max. 3 x 120mm Silent Case Cooling Fans in selected case key areas for ultra silent operation [+23] (1,200 RPM AKASA Silent Fans with Sleeve Ball Bearing 17 dBA and LED light to match the Fans already in the case)
Cyberpower Noise Reduction Technology: None
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7 2600K Quad Core 3.4GHz 8MB cache LGA1155 + HD Graphics ***Overclockable XXX*** [+141]
Cooling Fan: Asetek 510LC / Xtremegear Liquid Cooling system w/ 120mm Radiator (Asetek CPU Water Cooling ***Overclockable XXX***)
Coolant for Cyberpower Advance WaterCooling Kits: NONE
MOTHERBOARD: Asus Sabertooth P67 DDR3 Intel LGA1155 SLI/CrossFireX ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, SATAIII USB3.0 ***Overclockable XXX*** (B3 Stepping) [+78]
Intel Smart Response Technology for Z68: None
Internal USB/SATA Expansion Module: NONE
MEMORY: 8GB (4x2GB) PC12800 DDR3/1600mhz Dual Channel Memory [+46] (Corsair XMS3 w/Heat Spreader ***Overclockable XXX*** [+16])
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX580 1536MB 16X PCI Express [+310] (Major Brand Power by NVIDIA)
Power Supply Upgrade: 1000 Watts Power Supplies [+96] (Cyberpower 1000watt Gaming Power Supply SLI/CrossFire Ready)
Hard Drive: 120 GB Corsair Force Series 3 SATA III Gaming MLC Solid State Disk [+121] (Single Hard Drive)
Data Hard Drive: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive [+40] (Single Hard Drive)
Hard Drive Cooler: None
Optical Drive: LG CH10LS20 10X BLU-RAY Reader & 16X DVD±R/±RW Drive
SOUND: Creative Labs X-FI Titanium 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card [+61]
Network: ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT -- As standard on all PCs
Ultra Care Option: None
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional [+102] (64-bit Edition)

Alaïs · « **Reply #3 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 20:05:12 »

I'd spend the extra money on an i7 over an i5 only if I were hardcore into video-editing or something equally tasking for hyper-threading. If not; the gain isn't really worth it over the price tag.

Al · « **Reply #4 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 20:13:49 »

I've brought www.ginger6.com before and can vouch for their customer service, maybe worth taking a look to see how the prices compare

Posix · « **Reply #5 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 20:20:05 »

I see your primary drive is an SSD and while they're fast, from my experience and from lots of people I've spoken to on the matter, they can just stop working without warning. I have a 30GB one as a primary drive and yeah it's fast, but I used to have two of them in RAID 0 and one of them failed, taking my all of my data with it. Personally I'm going to be changing to a 10k drive in the near future - they seem to be more reliable and still fast.

Skraa · « **Reply #6 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 20:59:25 »

For gaming use best use for money comes from something like:

- i5-2500K (2600K only if you're into video editing or such)
- P67 or Z68 motherboard. Asus, MSI, Gigabyte or AsRock all work fine
- 2x4GB RAM (not 4x2GB), 1600MHz. More or faster is not really needed for gaming
- Either GTX570 or Radeon 6970 graphics card, GTX580 is faster, but price/performance is pretty bad

SSD is the single biggest upgrade you can get when looking at £1500 computers, don't underestimate it. But get 120GB sized at least, Crucial is good brand, all the rest have reliability problems.

Sound card is useless unless you're either audiophile (then Creative cards are garbage) or you really need it for some home theater connections. Same goes for extra network cards.

ShiryouKattami · « **Reply #7 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 21:43:07 »

Thanks guys, this is damn useful when I'm desperate for a great gaming PC and have no clue on what good and what's over kill

I've had a second look (and with a long talk with Alais - thank you!!) and essentially I've changed around:
- dropped to i5 2500K
- dropped the soundcard
- dropped down to the GTX 570 (they're giving a free upgrade from the 560ti 2G)

So here's the build:

CASE: CoolerMaster Storm Sniper Gaming Case with high air flow [+71]

Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Max. 3 x 120mm Silent Case Cooling Fans in selected case key areas for ultra silent operation [+23] (1,200 RPM AKASA Silent Fans with Sleeve Ball Bearing 17 dBA and LED light to match the Fans already in the case)

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5 2500K Quad Core 3.3GHz 6MB cache LGA1155 + HD Graphics ***Overclockable XXX***

Cooling Fan: CoolerMaster V8 Gaming CPU Cooling Fan (Extreme Silent Operation at only 22dBA + Overclock Proof) ***Overclockable XXX***

MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX/SLI] Asus P8Z68-V Pro Intel Z68 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ BT GO! LucidLogix Virtu and Intel Smart Response Technology & 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, 4x SATA-III RAID, 3 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI ***Overclockable XXX***

Intel Smart Response Technology for Z68: None
Internal USB/SATA Expansion Module: NONE

MEMORY: 8GB (2x4GB) PC12800 DDR3/1600mhz Dual Channel Memory [+73] (Corsair XMS3 w/Heat Spreader ***Overclockable XXX***)

VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX570 1280MB 16X PCI Express [+158] (Major Brand Power by NVIDIA)

Power Supply Upgrade: 850 Watts Power Supplies [+59] (CoolerMaster 850watt Silent ProModular Gaming Power Supply, SLI / Crossfire ready [+25])

Hard Drive: 128 GB Crucial M4 Series SATA III Gaming MLC Solid State Disk [+130] (Single Hard Drive)
Data Hard Drive: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Hard Drive (Single Hard Drive) [+43] (Single Hard Drive)

Optical Drive: LG CH10LS20 10X BLU-RAY Reader & 16X DVD±R/±RW Drive

SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

Network: ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT -- As standard on all PCs
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional [+102] (64-bit Edition)

If there's no further comments or glaring issues, I'll go and order that baby ^_______^

Kíì · « **Reply #8 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 22:36:53 »

Haven't had a chance to check it out as I'm out, but i can say that having recently purchased an i5, its more than competent for gaming, any more money spent is probably wasted

Kí

ShiryouKattami · « **Reply #9 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 22:58:38 »

Thank you very much guys, the above PC has been ordered ^____________^

Posix · « **Reply #10 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 22:59:38 »

What size screen(s) are you using?

ShiryouKattami · « **Reply #11 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 23:22:56 »

I have a 22/24 (can't remember) Samsung widescreen.

maky · « **Reply #12 on:** Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 23:31:01 »

+1 vouch for i5 as well, huge upgrade for me

Krumm · « **Reply #13 on:** Tuesday, 30 Aug 2011, 14:25:17 »

Hi-jacking this thread to ask a question regarding a gaming mouse.

I currently use a fairly standard 5 button mouse, but its buttons are beginning to stick and I have been considering a gaming mouse for a while now. However, the cost seems to be around £60 which to me seems a fair bit for a mouse.

So, what are your views on them - are they worthwhile and if so which make/model would be the one to go for - what are the key features to look for?

Any info on the best place to order as well would be helpful (delivery in the UK needed).

Thank you.

Posix · « **Reply #14 on:** Tuesday, 30 Aug 2011, 14:26:36 »

I use the Logitech G5 and I think the G500 is the newer model of that. Never had any issues with it.

Shoutbox

Author Topic: Need PC help! (Read 793 times)