A PC for Bioshock

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I need a new PC for Bioshock. My current computer is a 'desktop replacement' laptop that has hardly ever left my desk, so it's everything but a mouse I need to buy.

I've put something together on overclockers, but I'd like some advice as to whether I'm doing anything stupid like getting components that won't work together, whether there's any reasons against buying any of these components I should be aware of, or if there's any money I can save.

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Current total is at £916. My initial aim was for an £800 PC, so I'm past that. I think that's down to the silly monitor, mainly. I don't really want to go beyond £1000.

I know nothing about overclocking, but from the sounds of it, it might be something I should be looking at at some point.
 
on a £1000 PC that is going to be used to play Bioshock I would most certainly want at least an 8800 GTS in there, more likely an 8800 GTX seeing as they are now under £300!

I would sacrifice a 22" monitor down to a 20.1" for that alone.

Thats just me though ;)

I would probably also change the 320GB HD for a 500 seeing as they are only about £10 more. I have a 320GB HD and it just isnt enough in my opinion.
 
This would be a better set up. For the extra £20 you may as well get the 8800GTS as its far better than the 8600GTS.

The Dell 22" Screens have excellent picture quality and the reviews say there is no ghosting at all with these.

Its a good set also in case you want to do a little overclocking. However, if you do then purchase a 3rd party CPU cooler also.

The E6550 is faster than the E6600 at stock and you also save a few quid :)

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Wiggins said:
The E6550 is faster than the E6600 at stock and you also save a few quid :)

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Surely the extra fsb wont make that CPU that much faster? maybe on par with the E6600 since the E6550 has a slightly lower clock speed.
 
I would go for a Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-120-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=940

But have gone up in price as low stock!

Also upgrade the sound card to a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-043-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=

And the case to a Li-Lian PC7 PLus II
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-054-LL&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=
 
willhub said:
Surely the extra fsb wont make that CPU that much faster? maybe on par with the E6600 since the E6550 has a slightly lower clock speed.

There is not much difference between the 2 on stock. You will probably only see the difference if benchmarking, but if you want to Overclock it then there will be a noticible difference between them.

Plus the E6550 is cheaper :)
 
Personally, if you have a £1000 budget, i would seriosely consider maxxing it out. Your buying a "nearly" top end pc as it is, why scrimp on the 8800GTX? :)

Ok its a few quid over, plus two of those items are this week only so the price would go up by about £40 next thursday.

Perhaps you could not buy the KB or a cheaper set of headphones or something? Could buy the cheaper case etc if you wanted. I'd stick with the Lian-Li though myself!

Anyway, this is how id go with that budget:

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Thanks for those suggestions for processor etc, Wiggins. I've made all those changes apart from the monitor.

Also thanks for your comments manic_man and Kalpsn2000.

I'm not really bothered about disk space. I've been using a 60GB laptop drive for the past 4 or 5 years. It's been tight lately, but I've managed. I've got an external drive for storing stuff that doesn't need accessing regularly, so my internal drive is just for installations, really. I don't download music or films or anything that uses a lot of disk space.

I've been adding and removing soundcards from my list since I started this. Different people reccomend me to get a good sound card, get any sound card, or stick with onboard sound. I don't use my PC for music or films, so sound is just for gaming, which is likely to be done with headphones where the sound is important. Do I really need an expensive soundcard for that?

What advantage does the case you linked have over the cheaper one I have at the moment, Kalpsn2000?
 
The soundcard thing is an interesting one.

Supposedly the PCi-E one doesnt support EAX. But all reports so far have been that it does with no problems.

Personally id save the £20 and also hopefully all the problems PCI SB X-Fi users have had and go for the PCi-E one.

At those prices though i really wouldnt scrimp on the graphics card. Go to a GTS 680MB if you want but that 8800GTX at £290 really is quite cheap this week...

Also re: the case, technically no "real" advantages probably, better cooling is likely. But the real difference is the quality! Its an all aluminium (i.e. light and no plastic) Lian-Li compared to a steel Gigabyte with plastic ahoy :p A decent case is always worth a little bit extra imo.
 
mp260767 said:
thats the best bet for a reasonable price.

Why though?

I have one myself and am getting sick and tired of the popping and crackling personally!

Presuming the PCi-E one doesnt loose EAX, as it certainly doesnt seem to, why is that one for £20 more the best one?
 
Well the 2 main reasons are:

-The brushed aluminum looks very nice :p

-But on a more important point if you go for the 8800 GTX i'm pretty sure it wont fit in the gigabyte case.
 
Kalpsn2000 said:
-But on a more important point if you go for the 8800 GTX i'm pretty sure it wont fit in the gigabyte case.

Very good point! In fact do we know for sure it'll fit into the Lian-Li? It only just fits into my Antec P182!

With re: to the X-Fi, im almost positive its a mixture of PCI latency and bad shielding on the part of Creative. There have been reports of success using tin foil etc to create an EMI shield... i for one wont be doing that :p

All im saying is that presuming the PCi-E one hasnt lost EAX, which it has been reported in the Sound forum that it doesnt appear to, then for £30 its cheaper than the rest and also uses one of those pesky PCI-E 1x slots! And hopefully the popping may be all but gone given its not on the PCI bus. Not guaranteed oc, it could be an inherant flaw but at least it isnt going to be any worse.
 
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about another inch or so. Its quite a pronounced difference!

I dont have one myself, I have a 7900GTO which is the same size almost exactly as the 8800GTS range but my friend has the 8800GTX and i can say that although it would fit in my case, it would require me to not install any HD's in the bay parallel with the PCI-E slot.
 
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