[Help!] New PC qs (what would you change to my build?)

LaurenceW

LaurenceW

LaurenceW

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Joined
5 May 2012
Posts
12
Hey guys, used to play BF3, Crysis 2 and DayZ on my old laptop and stopped playing about 4 months ago. Laptops are simply terrible for gaming (imo) and I just couldn't bear the 22ish fps I was getting any longer. So I am going to get a decent PC prior to the release of the Day Z standalone. Below is the spec of the PC (my first build) I think is best for the games I am looking to play; BF3+4, Day Z, Crysis 3, etc.

Gigabyte Z77-D3H Motherboard Technology
Intel Ivy Bridge I5 3570K Unlocked CPU
1tb Sata Hard Drive
16gb DDR3 1600mhz Memory
Nvidia Geforce GTX 680 2gb GDDR5 with HDMI
Zalman Z11+ Blue LED Gaming Case
24x Dual Layer Sata DVD Writer
750 Watt Branded Power Supply

Monitor: S23B300H
Keyboard: SideWinder X4
Mat: Razer Sphex
Mouse: Sharkoon FireGlider
Headset: Plantronics Gamecom 780 7.1 Surround

Anything I'm missing here? One I know I don't need that much RAM, but it's very cheap. Would spend more on the accessories, but don't want lower my budget on the rig. Don't really mind not having an SSD either as no performance boost (I think). Planning to upgrade my motherboard to one which allows for SLI and getting a second GTX 680 in a year or so. Also I don't want to spend money on an OS if I don't need to. Can I use the Windows 7 from my laptop on my PC?

Thanks in advance.
 
What is your budget for the build, a 680 in my opinion is very overkill! You could settle for a 7950 and save many many pounds & pennys!

And SSD's give amazing performance boosts to loading games & windows, you'll see that definately across all the games you play, DayZ & BF3 online especially, mine loads within 5-6 seconds compared to 30-40 seconds on my [old] HDD!

I'll spec you something up in a sec, just got in my office! XD
 
Budget for the actual tower is £950. Found this rig for a ridiculously discounted price: Only £888. Tempted by the SSD now. Should I just buy and install an SSD to this rig?
 
drop the 680 and get a 670, drop the 750W PSU for a 650W, drop the Z77-D3H and get a Z77X-D3H, add an SSD.

Add an aftermarket CPU cooler further down the line.
 
acme15 said:
drop the 680 and get a 670, drop the 750W PSU for a 650W, drop the Z77-D3H and get a Z77X-D3H, add an SSD.

Add an aftermarket CPU cooler further down the line.
Click to expand...

Why would you get a crossfire/sli capable board and then change the psu from a 750W to a 650W ? :confused:
 
lee32uk said:
Why would you get a crossfire/sli capable board and then change the psu from a 750W to a 650W ? :confused:
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Because a good 650W PSU would be plenty enough for GTX670 SLI.

An XFX or Seasonic 650W (for example) would have no trouble at all providing that they have the appropriate connectors, a good proportion of the wattage on the 12v rails, and plenty of amps.

Conversely, my '700W' OCZ could potentially choke because it can only provide around 550W on the 12v rails (I know, it's shocking) and only has 1x 6 pin and 1x 8pin connector anyway. (OCZ have stepped up their game and sorted out the quality of their PSU's now so don't worry)

I have encountered someone powering a pair of 680's in SLI and an OC'd 3770K on a good 550W PSU in the past. I wouldn't recommend that personally, but it was working with no stability issues. Whether or not it would be stable while stress testing is another matter.

So 650W would be fine, but 750W would give you a huge amount of headroom for other devices and overclocks if you wish to add/do such things.

It's not like it used to be with a pair of high end fermi's needing a 1KW+ PSU while generating heat similar to the core of the sun :p

I only used the radiator next to my PC once I had sold my self-overclocked GTX480 and bought a GTX660 OC. (very similar performance, but I was sick and tired of the heat and noise)
 
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LaurenceW said:
Budget for the actual tower is £950. Found this rig for a ridiculously discounted price: Only £888. Tempted by the SSD now. Should I just buy and install an SSD to this rig?
Click to expand...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Silverstone Strider Plus 750W Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply (ST75F-P) £104.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £35.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £957.80 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I'd be looking at something like that then, a lot of kit for the price. The 7950 should bag you Crysis 3 and Bioshock infinite for free too :)
 
Oh, and almost definitely a no on using the OS licence from your laptop. If it is a retail licence which you bought separately to the laptop then you should be able to if you no longer use your laptop, but if it is an OEM licence, or using the activation key on the bottom of your laptop, then no.
 
Bacon? said:
Plus I think most laptop OS's are 32 bit.
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I don't believe this is the case. Most modern laptops come with more than 3.5GB of RAM, so having a 32bit OS would be ridiculous.

My AMD 64 - AMD II crossover era laptop came with a 64bit OS and 4GB of DDR2.
 
acme15 said:
I don't believe this is the case. Most modern laptops come with more than 3.5GB of RAM, so having a 32bit OS would be ridiculous.

My AMD 64 - AMD II crossover era laptop came with a 64bit OS and 4GB of DDR2.
Click to expand...

It's a 64 bit. Could I use the CD for Win 7 (which I got with my laptop) and upgrade to premium whenever?
 
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