Buying a new pre-built PC

Sansom · 15 Jul 2012 at 10:47

Hi, first of all I hope this is the right section.

I want to buy a new PC as I want to get into PC gaming more, I think I've found 3 suitable ones on this website but I'm not sure which one is better and I'm not really sure about the graphics cards etc. so would anyone be able to help me out?

Ultima 9100a Annihilator: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-204-OE&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat=1270

Titan 8100i Triceratop: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-179-OE

Titan 8800i Photon: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-248-OE

I have noticed two of them only had a 500gb HDD, how hard is it to put in a new HDD? Thank you.

hughesy627 · 15 Jul 2012 at 11:18

On the hard drive front just make a post in the customer service forum they can change the hard drive to whatever you request and will let you know the cost, I am doing the same at the moment with changes to my 9700i blade system I have ordered, 5UB has been really helpful on that.

For your system depends on what games you are playing and screen resolution, the guys here will point you in the right direction if you give that information.

Sansom · 15 Jul 2012 at 11:22

Would like to play games like Battlefield 3 and The Witcher 2 and thanks for the information on changing the hard drive.

Hicks · 15 Jul 2012 at 11:45

What is your budget?

Have you already got a monitor, mouse, speakers and keyboard or will they need to be bought within the budget?

Sansom · 15 Jul 2012 at 11:54

I dont really want to go over £1200 but I am willing to as long as its not a lot more than that. I have a monitor, keyboard and mouse already so those are sorted.

Hicks · 15 Jul 2012 at 13:05

If it were me I would spend the extra on the 670 GPU but this pushes your budget a little.

YOUR BASKET
1 x "Titan 8800i Photon" Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40GHz @ 4.50GHz DDR3 Ivybridge System £700
1 x Intel 330 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £95.99
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £299.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black £59.99
1 x No Sound Card Upgrade £0
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x System 12 Months Standard Warranty £0
1 x FREE PANDA 180 Day Trial Anti Virus £0
Total : £1,260.95 (includes shipping : £17.50).

The above will come with 1TB storage and I added an SSD for your OS and a few games etc.

You can keep it under budget by going AMD with the GPU. It will still perform well but the 670 will remain a little more 'future proof' and is the better card.

YOUR BASKET
1 x "Titan 8800i Photon" Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40GHz @ 4.50GHz DDR3 Ivybridge System £700
1 x FREE PANDA 180 Day Trial Anti Virus £0
1 x System 12 Months Standard Warranty £0
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x No Sound Card Upgrade £0
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black £59.99
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £191.99
1 x Intel 330 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £95.99
Total : £1,152.95 (includes shipping : £17.50).

Better performance going Intel over AMD and Ivybridge over Sandybridge.
I'm off out to the pub but there are plenty of others around to offer different advice. You may get more response on general hardware questions in 'General Hardware' rather than here

I would also advise having a go at building it yourself as you will get more for your money and a great deal of satisfaction. Plenty of help on these forums for building tips and tricks.
Only just noticed that this rig comes with 16gb of Ram which you won't really need. Not sure if you could ask in CS to adjust it to 8Gb which is all you will need for gaming.

Sansom · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:28

I take it the "Titan 8800i Photon" Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40GHz @ 4.50GHz DDR3 Ivybridge System is better than the other two then? You said about getting the 670 GPU, do I need to talk to customer service to sort that out or does it come with the Titan 8800i Photon?

Hicks · 15 Jul 2012 at 18:37

The photon is better than the other two yes.
One is an AMD equivalent(Annihilator) which is outperformed by the Intel equivalent.
The other is Intel but the previous chip series (Sandybridge - Triceratops) which is very good but not as good as ivybridge.

The graphics cards are options you can choose on the dropdown fields for each section.( Choose your Graphics Card: ) along with the SSD etc.

Sansom · 15 Jul 2012 at 19:50

Thanks for the help, now I have the problem of getting the remaining money which hopefully shouldnt be too long.