Coming back to PC gaming

Slinkie

Slinkie

Slinkie

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Joined
21 Oct 2002
Posts
1,680
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UK
Hi Folks,

I am considering coming back to PC gaming having got rid of my xbox360, it's been a long time since I have built a PC and so have totally lost touch with the market. What should I look for for an above average PC. It will used to play games on a 22in widescreen that I used for the xbox.

I don't know whether I should get 2gig of ram of 4, whether I need vista to get the best performance or will my copy of windows xp home be ok? GFX cards I was looking at the 8800 gts and maybe a dual core processor. What psu will I need to power it? I have an old 450W supply (I think EDIT: I think it was an OCZ PSU, hada blue led in it a black wrapped wires rather than the exposed red, yellow, blue, it was either 400w or 450w) that was used to power my last build (back when the 6800 had just come out). I will probably over clock it on air cooling but not to any extreme levels, just to get a bit more performance out of it. I am looking to play games I have missed out on (like DOW and halflife episode 1 + 2) and new games like TF2, unreal tournament 3, maybe crysis, etc

If the PSU is ok can you spec me the following components for a pc for around £500, if not, add the PSU on top.

motherboard
processor
ram
graphics card
HDD (sata? doesn't need to be larger than 80gb really, I don't keep a lot of media on my PC)
Vista if necessary.

I have a case, monitor, PSU (maybe), DVD rewriter, sound card and wireless NIC from my old build.

Is there anything I have forgotten?

Many thanks

Matt
 
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Windows XP is fine, However Vista 64 is recommended if you want to play DX10 games as XP only supports DX9... If you do get Vista 64 then I'd say go with 4GB of RAM since Vista is quite RAM hungry, other 2GB will still suit meanwhile. The 8800GTS isn't worth it the 8800GT is less price & much better performance, however it is rumoured that next month or so a new version of GTS will be released which is better but at the moment it's pure out rumour & to be honest looks a little unlikely, since there are no benchmarks appearing out & about... Usually places start getting test samples & benchmarks start being released by about now, but never say never! ;) If you don't wish to wait at the moment 8800GT is best value but difficult to get hold of at the moment, worth the wait though! ;) Dual Core is fine however with the 8800 graphics cards 500W minimum in PSU, 600W recommended.

I would spec for you at the moment however I don't have the time, so I'm just replying with what opinion/info I can! :)
 
Windows XP is fine, However Vista 64 is recommended if you want to play DX10 games as XP only supports DX9
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Although its a good thing to point out theres no true DX10 games out yet, and that on average vista can cause a frame rate drop of ~10fps.

500W minimum in PSU, 600W recommended.
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Unfortunately its not quite that simple, has a lot to do with voltage/ampage on the rails. A 420w corsair PSU would run any single 8800 card fine for example, and indeed, most in SLI.
Try be more specific about the PSU , can you possibly find a model number so we can see if its ok ? Though i have a feeling it is.

(like DOW and halflife episode 1 + 2) and new games like TF2, unreal tournament 3, maybe crysis, et
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Add all those games + and operating system and youre getting pretty damn close to that 80gb ! Id suggest buying no less than 250gb tbh, you fill it fast, and youd regret a smaller amount (its also better value per GB).

What resolution does that screen run at ? Could make a lot of difference to your requirements.

Depending on what you want to do with it id suggest either overclocking a low level dual core processor(such as an E2180) or going all the way and buying a quad(Q6600).
Future games/application will be taylored better to quad core useage so you might see a fair advantage from that.
 
I think a new psu would be the best idea really. As for vista and the extra ram they can probably wait.

Just a quick look into brought me the following spec:
Corsair 2gb ram
OCZ 600w supply
leadtek GF 8800 GT extreme
WD 160gb sata
Asus motherboard P5K SE
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550

Total + vat and delivery is 498.07

Would something like this keep me happy for UT3 and newer games?
This isn't a finalised spec or anywhere near, it's just used to see what I can get for my money.

Screen resolution is 1680*1050
 
Admiral Huddy said:
You still need to add an OS to that ;)

Be quick if you intend buying XP. OEM copies will no longer be availble for purchase in the new year iirc.
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I have a copy of xp home already. I am going to stick with that and get vista and some extra ram when the games come out that need it.
 
If you can spend a bit more;

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail

£527.45 INC.
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550
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If you are into overclocking I'd recommend switching that with a E2180, good overclockers and saves you some money you might wanna spend on other equipment!
 
Vir said:
If you are into overclocking I'd recommend switching that with a E2180, good overclockers and saves you some money you might wanna spend on other equipment!
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Yeah, you can then get a better gfx card too. I included E6750 instead, for a higher stock speed.
 
No don't get me wrong .. It's amazing the amount of people that forget the cost of an OS when upgrading or they think can use an exisiting OEM copy.. so was just checking :)
 
Vir said:
If you are into overclocking I'd recommend switching that with a E2180, good overclockers and saves you some money you might wanna spend on other equipment!
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Please bear in mind that I am only going to use the cooler that comes with the retail cpu. Will I get as much gains out of it without a decent HSF?
 
lol Admiral Huddy, atm I'm at work and I was looking at your post and some colleague was like "oooooh who's that chick on that picture, nice rack" and the whole department looked at me :P
 
syke said:
If you get the E2180 + Tuniq, you can get upto 3.2ghz iirc.
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This will then be around the same price as the Intel Core 2 Duo E6550, would this not clock on the stock HS?

E2180 = £55
Tuniq = £45

E6550 = £110

Also what effect would the 1333mhz have vs the 800mhz fsb?
 
Slinkie said:
This will then be around the same price as the Intel Core 2 Duo E6550, would this not clock on the stock HS?

E2180 = £55
Tuniq = £45

E6550 = £110

Also what effect would the 1333mhz have vs the 800mhz fsb?
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You can clock on the standard too.

Or get a different HSF.
 
Example with a better Graphics Card ;):

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GT Extreme 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI

£503.93inc.
 
I got my E2160 stable with stock intel HSF @ 3.2Ghz, was just a bit high temps. Replaced it for a Scythe Mugen, and no problems at all (apart from it being so big and heavy that it almost breaks my motherboard :D )

It's the Mrs!

#whistles#
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Nice :D
 
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