Advice - First time PC build (Gaming)

DCJonah

DCJonah

DCJonah

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22 Feb 2014
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10
Evening all

After an 8 year break from PC gaming, I'm ready to jump back in. I've recently been having an urge to finally build my own PC, but with no experience, I'm looking to yourselves for some advice!

1. I guess my first question is whether it's worth it? My budget is £800 and I'd obviously like to run all the latest games with good graphics. Is that possible? What resolution, texture quality would I expect to use for a game like BF4?

NOTE: BUDGET IS ONLY FOR THE PC. I DON'T NEED WINDOWS, A KEYBOARD, MOUSE, OR MONITOR.

2. Does the motherboard directly effect performance? I know it obviously determines what hardware I can use, but if I had a cheap 1155 motherboard compared to a mid-range one. Would the same CPU run better on the mid-range motherboard? - Hopefully that makes sense! :D

3. Intel v AMD? I know this will no doubt start a bit of a war, but I've heard you get more bang for your buck with AMD, but Intel is much better for gaming.

4. SATA v SSD? I reguarly see people suggesting to buy a small SSD to compliment a SATA HD. You then install the OS and common games on the SSD to improve boot times. Although the games will load quicker, does it actually improve the performance?

SSD is still quite expensive, and as I'm on a budget, I think this might be where I save some money by only buying a SATA HD.

5. Memory? I often see people saying that you only need a maximum of 8GB of RAM for gaming. Is this true? Would having 16GB not make any difference?

I think that's all the questions I have for the moment.

Thanks in advance for any help you provide! :cool:
 
I'll offer my layman opinion.

Go with AMD. Intel could arguably be 'better' in games but you will not notice a difference. And this is coming from a guy that could buy THE best Intel CPU if I wanted. I went with the FX 8320. Play ANY game out there without breaking a sweat. The GPU on the other hand, BIG difference. However for your budget without peripherals an Intel is on the cards.

I'll get a SSD and use it purely for gaming whilst pawing off any large files or media to a external HD. I can't really say that I've seen a massive difference in my games whilst running my SSD but everything loads so much quicker and snappier. I think you'll probably always be limited by your GPU.

Memory, go 8GB. Don't think about going less. Some nice AMD memory for sale today. I can't remember which game it was now, but I've seen my RAM going up to 6GB used.

Motherboards I don't know much about
 
 
DCJonah said:
My budget is £800 and I'd obviously like to run all the latest games with good graphics. Is that possible? What resolution, texture quality would I expect to use for a game like BF4?

NOTE: BUDGET IS ONLY FOR THE PC. I DON'T NEED WINDOWS, A KEYBOARD, MOUSE, OR MONITOR.
Click to expand...

What monitor do you have?
 
DCJonah said:
[questions]
Click to expand...

1. For £800 for the tower you'll be able to max out BF4 and most other games available today at 1080p. (See Doomed's build above)

2. The quality of the motherboard will affect overclocking performance a bit. Other than that, look for expansion slots, SATA ports, onboard sound, and other features you might be interested in.

3. You heard correct. AMD CPUs have more cores, but most games don't utilise them. Intel has the superior performance per core.

4. SSDs are awesome, but they don't improve gaming performance. Considering your budget, it is probably best to leave that for a future upgrade.

5. 8gb RAM is plenty for gaming.
 
 
Managed to put this together (including an SSD and an Obsidian case) going AMD.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £245.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 350D Windowed Micro ATX Case - Black (CC-9011029-WW) £94.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £59.99
1 x ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x Raijintek EreBoss High Performance CPU Cooler £26.99
Total : £812.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Wow! I didn't expect this many replies so quickly. Thanks - especially to the guys who have done me a build! :D

Please forgive me, as I am very new to this, but in Doomedspeed and Shivy011's quotes, they both suggest TeamVulcan RAM. They look absolutely identical in spec, the only difference appears to be the colour. Why the £10 difference?

regulus said:
The GPU on the other hand, BIG difference.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by BIG difference?

Danny75 said:
What monitor do you have?
Click to expand...

I actually don't have the monitor yet. I just wanted to have a clear set price to spend on the tower. :)
 
hawkhench said:
Managed to put this together (including an SSD and an Obsidian case) going AMD.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £245.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 350D Windowed Micro ATX Case - Black (CC-9011029-WW) £94.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £59.99
1 x ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x Raijintek EreBoss High Performance CPU Cooler £26.99
Total : £812.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

ATX board + mATX case = no worky

Also, spending £90 on a case is pretty unjustifiable at a smaller budget like this, a decent £40 of that could be spent on better components :)
 
DCJonah said:
Wow! I didn't expect this many replies so quickly. Thanks - especially to the guys who have done me a build! :D

Please forgive me, as I am very new to this, but in Doomedspeed and Shivy011's quotes, they both suggest TeamVulcan RAM. They look absolutely identical in spec, the only difference appears to be the colour. Why the £10 difference?
Click to expand...

Apart from the Colour there is no difference. The cheaper stuff doesn't stay in stock long though, so you need to be quick :D
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £245.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-SLI Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £98.99
1 x Corsair CS550M 550W Semi-Modular 80+ GOLD Certified Power Supply (CP-9020076-UK) £61.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Phanteks PH-TC12DX CPU Cooler - Blue £44.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x BitFenix Comrade Midi-Tower - White £29.99
Total : £764.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Some money to spare so could go with a better case. You could go with a SSD if you want by going with a cheaper cooler and PSU.
 
 
Thanks again guys!

Are AMD cards noticebly better than Nvidia then? You all seem to be suggesting the same card.

Although I've found my way onto the Overclockers site, I don't really have any intention of Overclocking. Does buying an OC GPU come with any worries I should be aware of?

Is a CPU cooler a must? I thought you got one bundled in the box? or is it a case of it not being reliable enough?
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £245.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x MSI Z87-G43 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £92.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2133HC11ADC01) £65.99
1 x Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/120G) £59.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £55.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.95
1 x Raijintek EreBoss High Performance CPU Cooler £26.99
Total : £808.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).



My take - SSD, 1TB HDD, good quiet PSU, very good heatsink.
 
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