Need Some Help Regarding Gaming PC

BeadyRoller · 24 Apr 2013 at 15:00

Hi, I'm thinking about getting in to PC gaming but I only have around £400 to spend, I have been recommended this set up:

1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor **FREE SIMCITY PC GAME** (AD580KWOHJBOX) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x Adata XPG Xtreme v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C10 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U2133XC4G10-2X) £59.99
1 x BeQuiet Efficient Power F1 400W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £54.98
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM £45.00
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £391.39 (includes shipping : £11.25)

I don't really know what to look out for on the specs side of things you see so I need some help on if this is a good rig for my money?

I can always upgrade the graphics card further down the line etc.

What sort of performance could I expect to get out of this PC?

Any help would be much appreciated, cheers!

Doomedspeed · 24 Apr 2013 at 15:26

That's a great build for the money, though it depends on what your playing and at what resolution?

The A10, will easily play Skyrim (for example) on high settings at 1080p and will handle BF3 at Medium. This is how good the igpu is on this chip.

That spec looks a few weeks old so the prices may have changed and the b grade HDD is probably gone.. Though someone will spec you something near enough the same.

BeadyRoller · 24 Apr 2013 at 16:04

Thanks for the fast reply! I'm planning on playing a wide variety of games really mate, mostly DayZ/Battlefield/GTA for example, think this system will handle them games ok?

I will be playing on a 20" monitor if that helps?

It seems pretty good for the price!

Cheers.

DaleTheWhale · 24 Apr 2013 at 16:17

All the items above are in stock and will handle the games you want. The A10 is great for performance. Even the A6 can play games nicely however it is only a dual-core.

BeadyRoller · 24 Apr 2013 at 16:49

Thanks for the reply, ok brilliant! What sort of settings would I be looking at? Medium/High?

Think I should definitely go for this build then? Looks the best I can get for my budget.

Cheers!

Idleman · 24 Apr 2013 at 17:08

Slightly over your budget but a better gaming system. No optical drive.
Also, you have not mentioned an OS, do you have one?
To save money and spend it improving other components, have you any family or friends who can donate any parts.

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £129.95
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £43.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Asus P8H61-MX USB 3.0 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - OEM ** £39.95
1 x Zalman T2 ATX Mini Tower Case - Black £19.99
Total : £424.45 (includes shipping : £10.50).

BeadyRoller · 24 Apr 2013 at 17:27

Thanks for the reply.

How does this compare to the build I posted, what is better about it exactly? I'm pretty clueless with specs you see, that's why I need your help

I need to buy Windows 7 it looks like unless I can borrow it off a friend.

Cheers.

Idleman · 24 Apr 2013 at 17:39

BeadyRoller said:
Thanks for the reply.

How does this compare to the build I posted, what is better about it exactly? I'm pretty clueless with specs you see, that's why I need your help

I need to buy Windows 7 it looks like unless I can borrow it off a friend.

Cheers.

Gaming wise the 7850, is significantly better than the Trinity build. The nearest card I can compare it to is the 6670. The link below shows a comparison between the 6670 and the 7850.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/613?vs=549

You could try using the Windows 8 Developers Evaluation9if it is still available) until you can afford an OS. Or if someone you know has an old OS like XP or Vista, then you could just use the Windows 8 upgrade for £40+.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx

I take it you don`t have a PC at all.

BeadyRoller · 24 Apr 2013 at 17:51

That looks a whole lot better yes! Will it run the games I want to play on high settings or we talking more medium?

I do have a PC with Windows 7 but it already came installed so I have no disc to use for this new gaming PC I'm going to get unfortunately.

Thanks for the help mate, appreciate it.

Idleman · 24 Apr 2013 at 18:17

BeadyRoller said:
That looks a whole lot better yes! Will it run the games I want to play on high settings or we talking more medium?

I do have a PC with Windows 7 but it already came installed so I have no disc to use for this new gaming PC I'm going to get unfortunately.

Thanks for the help mate, appreciate it.

Can you post the specs for your PC and we can see what can be salvaged.
But please don`t link to any competitors, as it is against forum rules.

almoststew1990 · 24 Apr 2013 at 18:51

Is this computer going to replace your existing windows 7 PC? If so you csn use the license code on that pc on your new pc. I'm pretty sure you can download the windows 7 files legally, and when you install it just use the license code off your existing computer. I would not recommend using the existing pc anymore if you do do this though.

BeadyRoller · 24 Apr 2013 at 19:40

Idleman said:
Can you post the specs for your PC and we can see what can be salvaged.
But please don`t link to any competitors, as it is against forum rules.

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 215 Processor
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
RAM: 4gb

Not very good I know, it was just bought as a family PC just to use the internet etc.

So you the PC set up you posted is definitely the best for my budget in terms of gaming? Looks great.

BeadyRoller · 24 Apr 2013 at 19:41

almoststew1990 said:
Is this computer going to replace your existing windows 7 PC? If so you csn use the license code on that pc on your new pc. I'm pretty sure you can download the windows 7 files legally, and when you install it just use the license code off your existing computer. I would not recommend using the existing pc anymore if you do do this though.

Yeah it's going to replace my existing PC, the PC I'm using now wont be used any more once I get this new one.

Oh that's great, would definitely save me some money, how would I go about doing that?

Cheers.

Idleman · 24 Apr 2013 at 20:21

BeadyRoller said:
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 215 Processor
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
RAM: 4gb

Not very good I know, it was just bought as a family PC just to use the internet etc.

So you the PC set up you posted is definitely the best for my budget in terms of gaming? Looks great.

Is that ram ddr2 or 3?
What make and model PSU do you have?
Are your hdd and dvd(optical drive) sata?
What case do you have?
When you say your OS came installed, is the PC a prebuilt like Dell or HP?

BeadyRoller · 24 Apr 2013 at 22:16

Yeah it is a pre built but it's made by Compaq. The case is just a standard Compaq one and to be perfectly honest mate I don't think anything can be saved from it as it's all so outdated.

I really don't mind paying for a whole new rig

Is that one you posted earlier still what you suggest?

Thanks so much for your help.

Idleman · 24 Apr 2013 at 22:30

BeadyRoller said:
Yeah it is a pre built but it's made by Compaq. The case is just a standard Compaq one and to be perfectly honest mate I don't think anything can be saved from it as it's all so outdated.

I really don't mind paying for a whole new rig

Is that one you posted earlier still what you suggest?

Thanks so much for your help.

If you have a sata hdd and ddr3 ram(memory) you could save money, which in turn could be used to get a Z77 mobo. Which, would then enable you to upgrade to an i5 Cpu in the future. Just trying to get you better long term value and invest for your money.

BeadyRoller · 24 Apr 2013 at 23:04

Ok mate I understand, thanks.

How do I find out if I have both of those? Not very good with this sort of stuff you see.

Cheers.

Idleman · 24 Apr 2013 at 23:23

BeadyRoller said:
Ok mate I understand, thanks.

How do I find out if I have both of those? Not very good with this sort of stuff you see.

Cheers.

Download and install Cpuz. This will tell you what motherboard you have and also the type of ram installed.

http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.64-setup-en.exe

Go into device manager in the control panel in windows.
Click on disk drives(hdd) and post what is says.
Click on DVD/CD Rom and post what it says.

BeadyRoller · 24 Apr 2013 at 23:37

Done that:

Disk drive:
Multi Flash Reader USB Device
ST332041 8AS SCSI Disk Device

DVD/CD Rom:
hp CDDVDW TS-H653R SCSI CdRom Device
LGTSR Z01QVC1F SCSI CdRom Device

Idleman · 25 Apr 2013 at 00:03

You can reuse the memory and the LG dvd/rw. You can also use the hdd(320gb 16gb cache) for the time being, if it is big enough for your storage needs and is in good health. Although you only have 4gb of ddr3, it will see you through until you can afford to upgrade to 8gb.

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £129.95
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £370.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Or with the "B" grade 1gb hdd.

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £129.95
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £415.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).

The "B" grade mobo may have data cables or mobo backplate missing. So you can use the data cables from your PC and if the backplate is missing, a nice email to Gigabyte should get you a replacement.