New gaming build - advice/recommendations

Errol · 9 Jul 2011 at 11:38

I'm preparing a build to play BF3. First new PC for 5 years so not completely up-to-date with modern stuff. Have researched a bit though and got the following:

Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz Quad Core Processor
Akasa Venom CPU Cooler

Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION**

Corsair XMS3 8GB 1600MHz CAS9 Memory Kit

Will add GFX card as appropriate (probably 580), and SSD etc.

Question:

(1) Are the OcUk Geforce GTX 580 cards good? Will 1 be enough for BF3?

(2) If I want to let OcUk overclock my machine for me during the build, what is a 'safe' percentage overclock to go for - 10%, 15%, 20%?

Budget is probably around £1500. Thanks.

KiiYzOo · 9 Jul 2011 at 11:39

1 - yes
2 - if you know how to overclock then there is no point

what is your budget

hybrid572 · 9 Jul 2011 at 12:16

Overclocking SB is easy peasy. Don't pay for it. The GTX 580 is massive overkill and you can downgrade quite a bit without losing anything. Make sure you get a decent SSD to go with your build.

Errol · 9 Jul 2011 at 13:28

hybrid572 said:
Overclocking SB is easy peasy. Don't pay for it. The GTX 580 is massive overkill

Even for BF3? How do you know that when no sys specs or benchmarkings have been released?

I gather that recent PC footage of BF3 has been running on 580s.

hybrid572 · 9 Jul 2011 at 13:46

Because no games manufacturer would be stupid enough to make a game that is impossible to run except on super-duper £400 graphics cards. Previews will be running on 580s to make absolutely sure it doesn't dip at all on FPS because the people doing previews have big enough budgets to blow on these awesome graphics cards, but realistically you can run a game like that on very sexy settings with playable FPS on a GTX 460. A 560Ti would likely push you further towards max settings, and a 580 might clinch the last few FPS.

If you've got to have 60fps on BF3 on max settings, feel free to go for the 580, but I doubt you'll need it.