Thinking about buying a gaming PC.

[Akaoni21]

Im a big console gamer and ive been watching a few commentaries on a little game called ARMA II (DayZ mod) and im absolutely fascinated by it so ive decided to look into the possibility of investing in a gaming PC.

Unfortunately im practically a PC noob and I really do need some advice on what kind of spec id need to build a good computer. Obviously id want it to be as affordable as possible but I dont want to scrimp on parts and have to take another big bite out of my bank account. I want to buy something good that will last me a decent amount of time and put in some really good service. It must also be capable of being easily improved upon so that in the long run I wont be left high and dry.

Ive been looking up various threads on this site trying to get to grips with what my needs are and what sort of budget I should go with but its still confusing so id love some advice from you guys:~

Case COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

I think that this PCs pretty nice and should be more than up to the task im giving it, What do y'all think?

 

[keynes]

That is a good spec, the motherboard and PSU would allow you to add another GTX 670 if required.

 

[marwoo578]

Nicely balanced spec and as rubensolo points out plenty of scope to add another 670 a while down the line to extend the life

 

[bigben]

Looks really good, however if it is just going to be for gaming I would drop the processor to an I5 3550, will be cheaper and you won't be able to tell the difference.

 

[chrcar59]

Yeah I agree, If your only going to use it for gaming, drop it down to the I5 but if your budget allows then keep it for the future.

I had an extremely similar set up to you with the idea of getting another 670 in the future but I spent a long time researching over the web and came to the conclusion that a single more powerful GPU is better than a SLI. (My opinion, this is not factual :tt2 So i dropped down the mobo to a V LX and dropped down the PSU. If however, you plan on getting multiple screens, i would go for the SLI.

I also prefer the HAF 912 PLUS case but I'm biased

I was a complete newbie to this about 3 days ago and still am but hopefully this advice is somewhat helpful!?

 

[Akaoni21]

Thanks for the input but I think that my budget allows for the i7-3770, Might as well get that processor as the price difference in downgrading to the i5 is negligable and you never know when you'll need a more powerfull CPU.

One thing about the ivy bridge class of processor I read in one thread that there might be overheating issues with them. (Should I be concerned about this?)

And two other things ive noticed about other peoples specs:
1) What is the actual difference between the ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E and the ASUS® P8Z77-V: PRO?

2) The choices in network facilities is a bit confusing for me too, I just selected the standard option but is this right for me? Theres the DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N or seeing as im going to be gaming the KILLER 2100 GAMING CARD but then again the HomePlug 200 Mbps AV looks pretty nifty. (?)

 

[keynes]

Thanks for the input but I think that my budget allows for the i7-3770, Might as well get that processor as the price difference in downgrading to the i5 is negligable and you never know when you'll need a more powerfull CPU.

One thing about the ivy bridge class of processor I read in one thread that there might be overheating issues with them. (Should I be concerned about this?)

And two other things ive noticed about other peoples specs:
1) What is the actual difference between the ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E and the ASUS® P8Z77-V: PRO?

2) The choices in network facilities is a bit confusing for me too, I just selected the standard option but is this right for me? Theres the DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N or seeing as im going to be gaming the KILLER 2100 GAMING CARD but then again the HomePlug 200 Mbps AV looks pretty nifty. (?)

I wouldn't worry about the temps on the ivy bridge since you have the titan + you are not overclocking. Corfate is running an overclocked ivy bridge with air cooling and temps on Prime 95 are around 60'C.
1) Difference in usb ports and expansion slots, I'd stick with the standard P8Z77-V
2) From other threads homeplugs are very reliable and a good choice unless you are able to use an ethernet cable directly from the router.

 

[lady0sheep]

2) The choices in network facilities is a bit confusing for me too, I just selected the standard option but is this right for me? Theres the DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N or seeing as im going to be gaming the KILLER 2100 GAMING CARD but then again the HomePlug 200 Mbps AV looks pretty nifty. (?)

The duel band wireless is useful if you have a router that does this, for example my bf's router has two networks, one on the faster band which you can only pick up if your wifi card can cope with it, or the standard one.

Ditto ruben, people say homeplugs are good. Only thing is that you need a spare wall socket near your router and another near your pc as they lsoe signal through adapters.

 

[tom_gr7]

nice spec, If you plan to go sli i'd get a 850w psu, just so you have extra juice left over, for extra fans/lights/hard drives/ anything you may fancy adding.

 

[Akaoni21]

nice spec, If you plan to go sli i'd get a 850w psu, just so you have extra juice left over, for extra fans/lights/hard drives/ anything you may fancy adding.

Ive calculated that with the 750W PSU I can still add another 8GB of RAM and another GTX - 670 graphics card without falling short on power (Comes to 730W used all told with upgrades) but just how much backup 'juice' should I have anyway? Am I pushing my luck with just the 750W?

 

[tom_gr7]

Ive calculated that with the 750W PSU I can still add another 8GB of RAM and another GTX - 670 graphics card without falling short on power (Comes to 730W used all told with upgrades) but just how much backup 'juice' should I have anyway? Am I pushing my luck with just the 750W?

I think the configuratron says the 730w will be with a 20% allowance, so you should be fine mate. Although If you want to add lots of fans, lights, fan controller, other drives etc, I would bump to the 850w psu, just to make sure you have enough. I wouldnt want to run the psu at 750'watts max if you get me.

 

[Akaoni21]

I think the configuratron says the 730w will be with a 20% allowance, so you should be fine mate. Although If you want to add lots of fans, lights, fan controller, other drives etc, I would bump to the 850w psu, just to make sure you have enough. I wouldnt want to run the psu at 750'watts max if you get me.

Good point, Its only an extra 13 quid to get the 850W psu after all! (A pizza and a pint)

I honestly dont know how much i'll improve my computer, Getting a fan controller and all that malarkey but its like my momma always used to tell me... Its better to be safe than sorry. (Thanks for the advice mate!)

 

[tom_gr7]

ooohhh fan controllers, there's loads n loads to choose from! then all the fun of connecting the fans up and cable management for the best airflow.

 

[Akaoni21]

Think im pretty close to ordering:~

Case COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE (Seen so many people going with the 912 plus case but I like this... Its freaking cavernous)

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N 450Mbps PCI-E CARD (£35)
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Surge Protection 6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Thought about spending money on getting the 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1822MHz RAM instead of the 1600Mhz version but meh~ The things ive bolded are the things that ive changed over my original quote... Think i'll pull the trigger on this build!

 

[keynes]

Think im pretty close to ordering:~

Case COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE (Seen so many people going with the 912 plus case but I like this... Its freaking cavernous)

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N 450Mbps PCI-E CARD (£35)
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Surge Protection 6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Thought about spending money on getting the 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1822MHz RAM instead of the 1600Mhz version but meh~ The things ive bolded are the things that ive changed over my original quote... Think i'll pull the trigger on this build!

Looks pretty good to me

 

[Akaoni21]

Well there we have it! Ordered and paid for~

Thank you all very much for your help and advice, I think im going to be very happy with this rig. :3
(Feeling very strange and subdued at the moment but also feel like bouncing all over my sofa and squealing like a Bieber fanboy, Its not very often that I treat myself like this)

 

[Grinder]

I would swap the i7 for the i5 3570 and use the money on a 680 which will give you better fps during games

 

[keynes]

I would swap the i7 for the i5 3570 and use the money on a 680 which will give you better fps during games

But the gains in fps would be very minimal in 1 screen gaming and it is around £100 more expensive.

 

[Grinder]

I think the i7 is £120 more than the i5 so I would use that for a better card because the CPUs are identical for games and the 680 is slightly better than the 670 which is like a 680 with some parts made redundant.
Either way It's an awesome rig

 

[Akaoni21]

I think i'll stick with the i7 as the difference between the i5 3570K and the i7 3770 is £53.

The difference for an upgrade to the 680 is £145! (Cant really justify making the change) Id rather eventually use that money to add another 670 to be honest. :2guns: