59 replies to this topic

[xKratosx]

My girlfriend's parents have helped her out with so many things lately, and her dad really wants a gaming PC but is holding off due to uncertainty with his job, so I figured it'd be a nice gesture if we bought/built him one so he doesn't have to worry about it - the problem is I had a figure of £500 in my head and I'm struggling to keep the costs down!

Here's my build so far with Ebuyer:



On top of that, I need to add memory (I'm buying myself 3x4GB sticks, and will put my 4x2GB 1333mhz DDR3 sticks into his machine) and a copy of Windows 7 or 8 which costs around £68.

Just a few things I'm unsure of, I'd be very grateful for any help/advice:

1) Is there anyway to get a cheaper copy of Windows 7/Windows 8? It was part of their pre-order deal but I swear I only paid ~£40 for my copy of Windows 7.

2) Do the specs look good enough to run Skyrim nicely? Are there any parts I should improve, or any parts I can save on?

3) Is the monitor okay? It's quite tough to find a fully adjustable monitor with decent specs

4) I've previously seen a site that you put the computer build on, and it searches sites for the cheapest price, but can't find it now... does anyone know it please?

Thanks

[+Chicane-UK]

Maybe drop to a 21"/22" monitor.. that would shave a little bit off...

[Luc2k]

You can't fit 3 memory modules in that motherboard.

2) You need to change the ratio between CPU and GPU. Maybe a Phenom II 965 with a 7850. The GPU is more important when it comes to games.

[xKratosx]

Many thanks Luc2k - great spot on the motherboard memory modules! The 3 would be for my machine (Dell Vostro 430) and I'd be giving him my 4x2GB modules, so ideally I need a motherboard with 4 slots.

Good shout on the CPU/GPU balance... unfortunately the only thing he's mentioned to me that he definitely would like is an i5 processor

[Athlonite]

Luc2k, on 07 March 2013 - 12:34, said:

2) You need to change the ratio between CPU and GPU. Maybe a Phenom II 965 with a 7850. The GPU is more important when it comes to games.

That's exactly what I run and it's butter smooth with 4x aa and 16x Aniso at 1080p on an Sapphire HD7850 2GB card and PII 965BE with 8GB DDR3-1600 corsair vengence LP

[Luc2k]

xKratosx, on 07 March 2013 - 12:39, said:

Many thanks Luc2k - great spot on the motherboard memory modules! The 3 would be for my machine (Dell Vostro 430) and I'd be giving him my 4x2GB modules, so ideally I need a motherboard with 4 slots.

Good shout on the CPU/GPU balance... unfortunately the only thing he's mentioned to me that he definitely would like is an i5 processor

Any particular reason why he wants the i5? I guess he can always buy a better GPU after, but until then, the performance in games will be A LOT worse. In current form that would be a very bad gaming build and you should tell him.

[threetonesun]

xKratosx, on 07 March 2013 - 12:39, said:

Good shout on the CPU/GPU balance... unfortunately the only thing he's mentioned to me that he definitely would like is an i5 processor

But why. An i3 would be a better choice. Also you're going to want at least a 7770 (preferably a 7850 or 650 Ti) for gaming.

[xKratosx]

Thanks all I've just noticed the 7850 is quite a bit more expensive (like, £130ish) but I guess if you think it'll definitely be okay to drop the CPU? I have no idea why he wants an i5 btw, I think he's keen on learning Visual Basic and other programming languages on the machine as well as gaming... TBH I've always been told the Core i processors are a lot better than Intel too, but I don't know if that's necessarily the case for a build like this?

[+djdanster]

Quite a nice breakdown between the two CPU's here:

http://cpuboss.com/c...henom-II-X4-965

[Blackhearted]

Luc2k, on 07 March 2013 - 12:34, said:

You can't fit 3 memory modules in that motherboard.

2) You need to change the ratio between CPU and GPU. Maybe a Phenom II 965 with a 7850. The GPU is more important when it comes to games.

Actually, they both need to be in decent balance. A powerful GPU wont matter much with a weak cpu. And in the case of what you said, it's a bit off balance. Not to mention instantly very out of date.

threetonesun, on 07 March 2013 - 12:50, said:

But why. An i3 would be a better choice. Also you're going to want at least a 7770 (preferably a 7850 or 650 Ti) for gaming.

A dual core(which an i3 is) is never a good choice for playing any kind of modern game on.

[Arceles]

Go AMD, newer games like many cores.

[xKratosx]

Managed to shave some more off, and add a better graphics card (but a worse CPU and monitor)



What is better, the AMD Phenom or the i3? Like I said it'll be used mostly for gaming, but also some VB etc coding/development stuff

[threetonesun]

Blackhearted, on 07 March 2013 - 13:00, said:

A dual core(which an i3 is) is never a good choice for playing any kind of modern game on.

Find out which games today require a quad-core CPU, and then get back to us with that list.

Mind you, the high end i3s can do hyper-threading as well. And recent gaming tests have shown them running circles around quad and hexa core AMD CPUs. Not to mention, we're talking about a PC built around a 7750 at the moment, so please consider how that will have an effect on the total FPS when comparing CPUs.

[xKratosx]

Thanks three, I've actually switched out the 7750 now for a 7850

[threetonesun]

xKratosx, on 07 March 2013 - 13:03, said:

What is better, the AMD Phenom or the i3? Like I said it'll be used mostly for gaming, but also some VB etc coding/development stuff

Which i3? That Phenom is quite old, although not a bad processor, but for the most part they're still on the market because overclockers like them as a cheap option.