I need a new gaming PC - It's been some time!

Carl

Carl

Carl

Soldato
Joined
1 Nov 2003
Posts
3,517
Hi all,

Many years ago when I still at school working part time I built my first gaming PC mainly to play the original Unreal Tournament, I played this for quite a few years, and loved it!

The spec was

Intel Pentium 4 "Northwood" 3.0GHz
Shuttle Spacewalker XPC SB75G2
TwinMOS 1GB Installed with Akasa Copper RAM Heatsinks
ATI Built Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
Hercules Digifire 7.1 Sound Card - 5.1 Speakers
Logitech Cordless Desktop MX
Viewsonic VP171B Pro Series 17" TFT
Enermax Fan Controller
CD-RW - Coolermaster Black Bezel
30GB Samsung IDE Harddrive
Eyetoy Webcam
Wireless + Gaming headphones

Make's me laugh look back at it now!

Moving on, I've been enjoying the new Unreal Tournament that's being developed at the moment on my MacBook Pro (GT 750M 2GB), it's running it okay but nothing special.

I want to build a dedicated PC to basically play this game which runs on the Unreal 4 engine, really well!

What sort of spec should I be looking at? I need the whole lot! The only thing I have is a Razor DeathAdder mouse and mat!

Cheers
Carl

Edit: I forgot to mention a budget, there isn't one really. I just require a sensible spec for my needs, including monitor and case, I need a keyboard and headset too! Also I've noticed 4k gaming, is this something I should look at?
 
For gaming i would look in to Ryzen 5 1600 cpu, 16gig ddr4 3000mhz and at least a gtx1060 gfx card..

The case... well you can be there for literally days looking at reviews at "what people recommend" but its all in your own taste, if you want something that lights up like a christmas tree or something thats more contemporary that will fit in with living room furniture (keeping the wife happy).
 
Spankme said:
For gaming i would look in to Ryzen 5 1600 cpu, 16gig ddr4 3000mhz and at least a gtx1060 gfx card..

The case... well you can be there for literally days looking at reviews at "what people recommend" but its all in your own taste, if you want something that lights up like a christmas tree or something thats more contemporary that will fit in with living room furniture (keeping the wife happy).
Click to expand...

Thanks! All those items look reasonable priced which is nice! What motherboard should I be looking at? Is a 3GB GTX1060 enough? Also I only need a small SSD, are there any favourites at the moment?
 
 
I wouldn't bother with the 3gb 1060 - pay a bit more and get the 6gb version OR an AMD RX 580 8gb card (about the same price)

Don't forget you'll need to add a copy of windows as well

The spec you've got above looks a good start point, the 1600 ryzen is a very capable chip
 
Yeh definitely go for the 6GB 1060 or the 8GB RX580. Also the get the S340 Elite case, it looks better :D

I assume you're gaming at 1080p at which the 1060 and 580 will perform well.
 
Carl said:
Thank you for all the advice

I will update my shopping basket tonight and see what you all think
Click to expand...

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £695.62
(includes shipping: £11.70)



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memory will save you £10 and works with the board- wont notice a different between the two speeds to be honest- not with gaming as their both at the sweet spot

Powercolor 8GB 580 is a damn good deal but stock at end of the month =/

also check out Phanteks P300 case for some sex glass - damn good price!

and worth the pump to 6GB version- not for ram amount but increased Core count!
 
Solid looking list there.

As you mentioned 4K, monitors are on offer too from 1080p to 4K, is it worth it? It’s nice but it comes down to money the cost of a Gpu that can run games on decent settings are well above the £600 mark then you have monitor on top so obviously budget takes a hit.
 
As mentioned above, if you go AMD gpu, you can get a freesync 144Hz 1080p monitor for half the price!!!! of a G-sync one for Nvidia GPU or 1440p 144hz for £100 less ... 1440p 144hz vs 1080p 144hz for cheaper... no brainer :D

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £823.67
(includes shipping: £14.70)




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1440p would also have a lot longer shelf life too :D
 
Great, thanks for all the advice

Few questions!

When looking at the AM4 motherboards I noticed there was an Gigabyte AB350 Gaming and Gigabyte AB350 Gaming 3, are there any advantages of one over the other?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ocket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-558-gi.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ocket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-557-gi.html

Also I really like the look of this one, would this be a better purchase? Or are the Gigabyte ones a solid purchase?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ocket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-69v-as.html

Will the corsair 600w PSU be juicy enough for the spec?

Are there any disadvanates of going Mini / Micro ITX? I quite like the idea of it all fitting in something smaller like this

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...ow-pc-case-black-cc-9011070-ww-ca-179-cs.html

Am I better going the AMD route apposed to NVIDIA for the Unreal 4 engine?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,343.72
(includes shipping: £15.90)



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@Carl its just the smaller version of it - ATX is most common size boards - with most cases etc etc , looks a solid build !

swap the ram, honestly the Team Group sticks work with less issues then corsair ones
And with that price your almost at 8 Packs 3200Hz kit with will work 100%

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £167.69
(includes shipping: £8.70)



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few users have rated the stock cooler from ryzen chips, wraith i think its called- didnt use myself but seems it gets 3.7GHz with ok temps and sound, plus has RGB i think
 
orbitalwalsh said:
@Carl its just the smaller version of it - ATX is most common size boards - with most cases etc etc , looks a solid build !

few users have rated the stock cooler from ryzen chips, wraith i think its called- didnt use myself but seems it gets 3.7GHz with ok temps and sound, plus has RGB i think
Click to expand...

Thank you, I didn't realise it came with a cooler!
 
Carl said:
Thank you, I didn't realise it came with a cooler!
Click to expand...

sorry, added to my comment- about the ram


its a good solid unit, and will get you to 3.9Ghz :) might need to add AM4 bracket if it doesnt come with it :D and paste- thermal Grizzlie non liquid metal paste :D only a small unit

Also forgot , will need to change PSU

Believe others have stated that PSU is office based and not ideal for Gaming PCs

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £307.47
(includes shipping: £10.50)



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Last edited:
Brilliant, thanks guys. I've taken all the advice on board!

How we looking? My friend has some thermal paste he's just bought :)

The only change I will possible make is the motherboard and case, as I like the idea of a more compact PC, as I may be transporting it around - I like this case if I was to go with that option

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...ow-pc-case-black-cc-9011070-ww-ca-179-cs.html

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,317.77
(includes shipping: £15.90)



​
 
Looks good to me - my only other comment is, it might be worth spending a bit more and getting an m.2 ssd drive for the better performance
 
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