The PC Building Thread

Doubt it, DX11 is still rubbish in AC even after the patch. And DX9 still looks great anyway.
 
Hi guys I would like to get back into PC gaming, I have been out of the loop for around 10 years now so I have no idea about hardware anymore. I have a Asus P5N7A-VM with a Pentium Dual Core E5200 and 4gd of ram hooked up to my TV to watch football and films. I am using the onboard Nvidia graphics at the moment but if I was to buy a proper graphics card would I be able to play newer games? I seen Rfactor 2 on youtube earlier and if my Logitech GT works with the PC I would like to play it. I would of also rather played things like Skyrim on the PC than the PS3. So could someone please tell me if what I have along with a new graphics card is capable or would I need to buy a whole new setup?
 
As little as possible really. Would it be cheaper to build my own? I guess my only requirements would be that it is able to run rfactor 2 and pes or fifa for the next few years. I dont see myself playing anything else, well maybe fallout 4 if its planned or thief 4 if it ever comes out. Would a setup that can play blu ray and output hd audio be alot more expensive than just the gaming rig? I would sell my ps3 and put that money towards it if that would cover the cost of that. Thanks for the help.
 
Ern Dog said:
As little as possible really. Would it be cheaper to build my own? I guess my only requirements would be that it is able to run rfactor 2 and pes or fifa for the next few years. I dont see myself playing anything else, well maybe fallout 4 if its planned or thief 4 if it ever comes out. Would a setup that can play blu ray and output hd audio be alot more expensive than just the gaming rig? I would sell my ps3 and put that money towards it if that would cover the cost of that. Thanks for the help.
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You need to give me a budget mate to start things off. you willing to around the £700 ball park?

And yes its cheaper to build. Do you already have a monitor?
 
I will be using my TV as a monitor, I would like the PC to replace my PS3. Hopefully only running games in 1080p will bring the cost down a bit, £700 is more than I expected to spend. This will be instead of getting the next, next gen console so I would of expected to spend around 400 on that plus an extra hundred or so from selling the PS3, so I guess I would like to spend around 500. But would that amount future proof me for the stuff that will be coming out on those consoles that I will want to play on my PC? I doubt it. Okay lets say 6 - 700, if that will keep me playing games for a few years to come with high settings at 1080p(has to look at least as good as what the consoles will produce, I would hate regretting that I spent 700 on a PC instead of 400 on a console).
 
I'll be following this thread with interest as I'm considering getting back into PC gaming rather than buying the next-gen consoles. £700 would be my budget. No monitor required as I want to hook it up to my TV through my surround amp via HDMI.

I'm open to building it myself but I'm so far out of the loop with PC gear that buying a ready built rig is probably a good idea. The £699 Dell Alienware X51 is tempting me right now due to its compact size.
 
I like the look of that Dell Jamez, but if I can get equal performance for less or better performance for the same price by building my own I would go that route. Its not hard from what I remember, the most difficult part is choosing the equipment. One thing I would not want to get involved with though is liquid cooling, that looks like a headache.
 
At some point in the weekend I will spec one for u 2. I'm.in my phone ATM but yea 700 will easily last u 2-3 years playing 9/10 games in Max detail.

Don't forget..if in 3 years time your PC can't play some game in Max details. Just update your gpu only and your laughing again.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
 
Ern Dog said:
I like the look of that Dell Jamez, but if I can get equal performance for less or better performance for the same price by building my own I would go that route. Its not hard from what I remember, the most difficult part is choosing the equipment. One thing I would not want to get involved with though is liquid cooling, that looks like a headache.
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Sounds like your in the exact same position as me. Yes, I agree about the Dell. Price-wise you can probably get more bang for your buck, but I think with the X51 you are paying for the compact design and console-gamer-friendly nature of the machine. Plus it has reviewed very well in its own right.

In my case I need something that's fairly inconspicuous looking that can blend into the background as it will be sat next to the TV stand in the living room. It has to have the 'female acceptance factor' if you will. :)) The Dell would most likely pass the test.

I'm still open to building, though, but I've never done it before and would need a crash course in which components to look out for.
 
Have you seen http://www.iracing.com/ Jamez? I was watching Rfactor 2 vids on youtube and in the comments some guy said that the latest iracing build blows it out the water. Having never heard of it before I googled it and it sounds pretty great, a bit expensive but if you are into your racing games it might be worth it.
 
Ern Dog said:
Have you seen http://www.iracing.com/ Jamez? I was watching Rfactor 2 vids on youtube and in the comments some guy said that the latest iracing build blows it out the water. Having never heard of it before I googled it and it sounds pretty great, a bit expensive but if you are into your racing games it might be worth it.
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Yeah, I'd like to give it a try but I'm not sure the subscription model is for me. It's supposed to be pretty hardcore as well.

2012 looks to be a golden year for racing sims. You've got rFactor 2, GTR3, Project C.A.R.S. and Auto Club Revolution all on the horizon. Hence why I've become very interested in PC gaming. :))
 
Just looked at Project C.A.R.S as its new to me and WOW! The graphics are incredible, I guess PCs are delivering now what the next gen consoles will in a couple of years.
 
I am shocked at you Jamezinho that it has taken you this long to consider pc gaming. im not trying to be a fanbou but you are a MASSIVE racing fan yet its only now you considering pc gaming?

Trust me Jamezinho, All of the best racing games are mainly PC exclusive that makes gt5 and forza looks like childs play.

I will try and spec both of you guys a pc that you can build for £700 that can play racing sims and be hooked up on your TV's and AV recievers. Stay tune.

Speccing up a pc is not a 1min job lol. Any other pc gamers here can also chip in with some spec ideas.

O and about WC. it is not a pain at all. It is however a long LONG process to do it and to do it "right"

It took me a good month jusyt to do A LOT of research and speccing up mate. And about a whole weekend to install it.

We will leave that for another thread/time lol but for now you guys need to conentrate on building pc's

If you dont know how to build pc's, start googling and shoot any questions.

Once all is done and dusted, you two will ave next gen machines in a few weeks time instead of a few years waiting on sony/MS :)

Check this out

YouTube - pC.A.R.S - Formula A@Bologna - Build 144
 
After watching a load of Project C.A.R.S vids I went and checked out GT5, it looks very bland in comparison, I had no idea that PCs were that far ahead graphically. Hopefully the AI matches the leap in graphics, I havnt been impressed with AI since the original Half Life on the PC.

Starting to get excited about PC gaming now, the fantastic graphics help with immersion but what I am mainly excited about are mods.
 
I think it's a pretty good time really, The consoles are so far behind and the next generation will do well catch up so you don't expect much upgrading for a while (which I doubt they will ) its just the exclusives which are a shame really but I still have my PS3 (not touched in months!)
 
I never have been into PC gaming just the Sony console offerings the past 15 years. For someone who will only be playing football,golf and tennis games and the occasional Uncharted or Grand Theft blockbuster type of game is it worth the 500-800 Dollars to do it?
 
I guess if you mainly play sports games and the occasional exclusive or massive AAA title then the cost of a gaming PC is a tough decision.

The thing is, while consoles appear cheap, they can work out just as expensive as a PC over a few years. Things like Xbox Live subscriptions and the need for new controllers and peripherals (knowing MS the current 360 gear will not work on the '720') all adds to the cost. Then there is the DLC, which can be expensive, whereas the PC is open to more free mods for games than you'll ever need.

Personally I'm a big fan of racing sims, flight sims and strategy games, so going back to the PC is a no-brainer for me. I've become disinterested and disillusioned with the consoles and the increasing focus on shallow, casual gaming experiences. I'm finding there is very little on the consoles that interests me these days, whereas I'm excited about a number of PC titles.
 
If the next gen of consoles are anywhere near as dodgy hardware wise as this gen then spending 700 on a PC is a good deal. I have bought 2 360s which broke, so I switched to the PS3 which has lasted me nearly 4 years(with very little use). I probably spent close to 1000 on that lot including controllers, chargers and cables. A PC may be a large initial outlay but in the long run it will probably even out. Thats how I'm justifying it anyway.

And I totally agree with Jamez about consoles and shallow, casual games. I have bought very few games that arent called PES or FIFA and most of them have been very dissapointing. The only games I can recall really enjoying this gen are Uncharted 2, Fallout 3 & Skyrim.
The past 4 or 5 years I have been spending less and less time gaming, currently I do not play anything! I was thinking its my advancing years that were the cause of my disinterest in gaming but its the quality of the games, this was proved to me by Skyrim which I was glued to. I am hoping that the PC will provide me with something to do when I am at a loose end.
 
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If you go PC you will also finally check out what all the hype is about arma 2 and soon to be arma 3. Placebo works for them or is heavily teamed up with them

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Jonney, which online stores do you recommend for buying pc components? Not just best price but service.

I'm looking forward to reading your suggested build. My budget is £600 ideally but I can go to £700 if it's really worth it.
 
Go for Scan and eBuyer mainly.

My current build with some prices off Scan:

CPU - Intel i5 2500k - £163 but I bought for £130 on AVF
Heatsink - Coolermaster 212+ - £19
Motherboard - MSI P67A-GD55 - £118 on Scan but I paid £55 for a used GD53 on AVForums Classifieds
RAM - 8GB but can't remember who makes it, cost £38 I think.
Graphics Card - ATI Radeon 6950 2GB - Around £200 on Scan, I paid £180 on AVF
Soundcard - Xonar DG 5.1 - £20
Case - Fractal Design R3 White - £86 on Scan but I think I paid £60 on AVF.
HDD - 64GB Crucial M4 - Around £65 on Scan. I already had spare 500GB SATA drives.
Monitor - Dell 24" monitor given by a friend
Mouse - Roccat Kova+ - £40 but I paid £30 on AVF
Keyboard - Microsoft Sidewinder X4 - £25 on Currys I think? Christmas present
Power Supply - Corsair 600w - £54

Total cost there is £828 surprisingly, and that's with the monitor not included.

My advice would be to scan the classifieds for a lot of parts. Obviously things like keyboard and mouse you can just get away with £3 jobbies that'll do a job.

Hard drive prices are currently stupidly high due to a flood in Thailand that meant prices got hiked. I'd leave buying a HDD until as late as possible to see if the price drops.

The 2500k is expected to last a good few years before you need to upgrade it again so that's a no-brainer. That should be an easy purchase.

4GB of RAM is fine, 8GB is more than enough and I wouldn't go higher if you're just gaming.

Graphics card is the most annoying bit. Like mobile phones, these get updated every week it seems like. Depending on how good you want your graphics to look in some games, you can buy a cheaper card if you're playing games like FIFA & PES which don't need much power. If you want to play Skyrim and Crysis 2, you might want to spend a bit more. If you're pushed for money, you can always get something like an Nvidia GTX 460 for £110 and that'll do a fine job where graphics will run in good detail at 1080p and you can always upgrade your card later.

I wouldn't get a cheap case. You want as much space and airflow as you can get otherwise your system will just overheat, the fans will be louder, it'll be pretty rubbish. Try to get a good case if you can, and a good case will last years.

Power supply ... go for 600w minimum, a little more if you can afford it.

Monitor is a personal thing.

You don't really need a soundcard, that's a luxury as motherboards have onboard sound. But I bought a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770's and they need a good soundcard to make the most of them so I had to get one really.

You could get a decent system for a LOT less than mine if you just stuck to the classifieds and sometimes eBay.
 
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Just spec'd one up at Scan:

Intel i5 2500k - £163.38
Gigabyte Z68 motherboard - £71.62
Nvidia GTX 460 1GB - £110.95
Coolermaster CM690 II case - £63.58
Coolermaster Hyper 212+ CPU cooler - £19.16
8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM - £38.59
500GB Hitachi HDD - £69
600w Corsair PSU - £61.92

Total is £614.98

Add on a mouse, keyboard and a monitor (unless you use a TV you already have). If you buy a monitor without speaker, you'll need a set of speakers too.

You can also use a 360 or PS3 controller too.
 
Thanks for the info dags. :TU:

I'm pretty much set on an i5 2500k and 8gb of RAM. I'm not so sure on the motherboard, graphics card etc. As for the case, it doesn't have to be slim, just something plain black that will blend in with my av gear in the front room.

I don't need a monitor as it want to hook it up to my lcd tv through my amp VIA hdmi. So all I want to do is run an hdmi from the pc to my amp.

I was aware of the hdd shortage but hopefully the situation will resolve itself soon enough as I won't be building for a while yet.
 
Jamezinho said:
Thanks for the info dags. :TU:

I'm pretty much set on an i5 2500k and 8gb of RAM. I'm not so sure on the motherboard, graphics card etc. As for the case, it doesn't have to be slim, just something plain black that will blend in with my av gear in the front room.

I don't need a monitor as it want to hook it up to my lcd tv through my amp VIA hdmi. So all I want to do is run an hdmi from the pc to my amp.

I was aware of the hdd shortage but hopefully the situation will resolve itself soon enough as I won't be building for a while yet.
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Go for a Z68 motherboard if you're getting an 2500k then.

What specific games do you want it to run?
 
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