Clueless Noob wants to get Gaming PC with budget of £800, please help !

Blurgh · 8 Jun 2009 at 19:50

Hi

First of all im not sure if this is the correct sub forum to post this on but it seemed the most relevant.

I am a long time mac user who is very out of touch with PC's nowadays. The Last PC i owned was some Pentium 4 machine with a Radeon 9800 card. When i see all the names of today's processors i have literally no idea what it all means. I would like to take the time to get to understand all this but im a working man with 2 young kids and i just don't have time to do all the research.

So... I thought i would post on this forum to see if anyone here could help recommend either a pre-built pc from overclockers or help me choose the parts to build a pc from scratch.

My budget is about £800 and id like to get the best possible gaming machine for that, with the best possible graphics. The machine will be used for Gaming and nothing else.

I have been told by some people to get a quad core machine and others have said it's not worth it as no games really utilise multiple cores properly (i can't argue against this as i have no idea what it all means). Iv also been told that i should go with Intel instead of AMD.

So i was looking on the overclockers shop and found two intel based pcs.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-042-OE

and

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-170-OK

Now i realise the first one must have better cpu specs (quad core processor etc) due to the price. What i was thinking though was i could take the second computer and upgrade the graphics card to a 4870x2 and it would come to roughly the same price as the first computer. However because im clueless about pc's i don't know if i would actually get better performance and graphics, would having a better graphics card be pointless as the processor in the second computer is clearly inferior to the first one ?

I also notice the AMD systems are cheaper, are they cheaper for a reason or do they just offer better value for money ?

Basically id like suggestions on what some of you think would be best for me ? I just want a computer which can play games such as Crysis and Arma 2 at the highest settings and at high resolitions whilst maintaining an acceptable frame rate.

Also...

Im more than willing to put a pc together myself if it will come out cheaper than the ones i posted but as i said i don't have time to research what parts are compatible with each other and i might end up getting components which could result in bottlenecking etc. So if anyone has the time it would be great if you could suggest a good setup/components within my budget, or perhaps just another custom pre-built pc.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, any help and advice would really be appreciated.

Clueless Noob

Audigex · 8 Jun 2009 at 20:02

Intel > AMD is out of date again, unless you're looking at top end, it was very true with Core2 vs Phenom, but Phenom II has closed the gap.

I'd really recommend building it yourself, it's MUCH cheaper (in the region of 1/3 cheaper) and compatability is really very straightforward now. There are very few cases where you'll go wrong if you make sure you have the right socket processor and CPU :-)

£800 you can just about touch on i7, but you'll likely be better off with a core2quad or phenom II x4 for gaming - gives you extra cash for the GPU since i7 doesn't really make much difference in gaming.

Q6700/Q8x00/Q9650, any P35/P45 board that fits the budget (p45 gives better overclocking and option for crossfire) and the best GPU that you can grab.

AMD route go for a 955 and AM3 motherboard, DDR3 RAM and again, best GPU with what's left over.

Blurgh · 8 Jun 2009 at 20:16

Hi

Thanks for the quick response.

So for example if i was to build the exact same pc as one of the ones i posted... it would come out a fair bit cheaper than buying it pre-built from here or some other shop ?

Im a bit confused with a few things you mentioned.

are Q6700/Q8x00/Q9650 all Intel processors ? and are P35/P45 motherboards specifically for Intel based machines ?

Is crossfire where you link two ATI graphics cards together ? can you do that with an AMD motherboard or is it strictly limited to Intel compatible motherboards ?

Finally, where is the best/cheapest place online to buy all this parts ?

Sorry if this all sounds hideously noobish but well... i am an absolute noob to this !

Slashiem · 8 Jun 2009 at 20:23

Your basket

Product Name Qty Price Line Total

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Inc. Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X £159.99
(£139.12) £159.99
(£139.12)

Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £107.99
(£93.90) £107.99
(£93.90)

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)

Seasonic Silverpower 500W Power Supply £57.99
(£50.43) £57.99
(£50.43)

OCZ Platinum AMD Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel (OCZ3P1600LVAM4GK) £54.99
(£47.82) £54.99
(£47.82)

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £44.99
(£39.12) £44.99
(£39.12)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £38.99
(£33.90) £38.99
(£33.90)

Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/LGA775) £28.99
(£25.21) £28.99
(£25.21)

Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.77) £16.99
(£14.77) Sub Total : £513.83 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £79.14 Total : £606.72
Pretty good for 600 notes.

wbc1 · 8 Jun 2009 at 20:37

Slashiem said:
Your basket

Product Name Qty Price Line Total

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Inc. Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X £159.99
(£139.12) £159.99
(£139.12)

Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £107.99
(£93.90) £107.99
(£93.90)

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)

Seasonic Silverpower 500W Power Supply £57.99
(£50.43) £57.99
(£50.43)

OCZ Platinum AMD Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel (OCZ3P1600LVAM4GK) £54.99
(£47.82) £54.99
(£47.82)

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £44.99
(£39.12) £44.99
(£39.12)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £38.99
(£33.90) £38.99
(£33.90)

Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/LGA775) £28.99
(£25.21) £28.99
(£25.21)

Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.77) £16.99
(£14.77) Sub Total : £513.83 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £79.14 Total : £606.72
Pretty good for 600 notes.

Perfect. If it is just for gaming, not that much more point spending the £200 left as it will be more than fast enough for most (if not all) games.

RJC · 8 Jun 2009 at 20:41

Blurgh said:
are Q6700/Q8x00/Q9650 all Intel processors ? and are P35/P45 motherboards specifically for Intel based machines ?

Yes they are all Intel CPU'S and the motherboards can only take the Intel range of cpu's.

Blurgh said:
Is crossfire where you link two ATI graphics cards together ? can you do that with an AMD motherboard or is it strictly limited to Intel compatible motherboards ?

Crossfire is 2 ATI gpu's linked together, you can run this on AMD or Intel compatable motherboards.

Blurgh said:
Finally, where is the best/cheapest place online to buy all this parts ?

Overclockers any were else would be a competitor

evil-onion · 8 Jun 2009 at 20:57

tbh i shopped around, and yes, you will find the odd item here and there cheaper, however, for a total build it wworked out about £30 cheaper getting parts from all over the place, but then you have 2 probs..1, shipping costs from each vendor... 2, if you have problems you have to deal with more than one company.

The other great advantage of buying eveerything from overclockers is the support, its fantastic, and the forum is extremely helpful.

So yes, you may save a few pennies shopping about, but for the sake of 20 or 30 quid its really not worth it.

The above pc build would be a great spec, and plenty of advice on these forums to help you build it... the most awkward bit is fitting the cpu and cpu cooler correctly, and even thats easy when you take your time, everything else litteraly just clips together.

and you can clip anything i the wrong place as each item has a different colour or shape to it.

ie, the square fits on the square plug, the circle on the circle etc.

Blurgh · 8 Jun 2009 at 21:05

Slashiem said:
Your basket

Product Name Qty Price Line Total

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Inc. Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X £159.99
(£139.12) £159.99
(£139.12)

Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £107.99
(£93.90) £107.99
(£93.90)

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)

Seasonic Silverpower 500W Power Supply £57.99
(£50.43) £57.99
(£50.43)

OCZ Platinum AMD Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel (OCZ3P1600LVAM4GK) £54.99
(£47.82) £54.99
(£47.82)

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £44.99
(£39.12) £44.99
(£39.12)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £38.99
(£33.90) £38.99
(£33.90)

Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/LGA775) £28.99
(£25.21) £28.99
(£25.21)

Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.77) £16.99
(£14.77) Sub Total : £513.83 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £79.14 Total : £606.72
Pretty good for 600 notes.

Hey, thanks very much for taking the time to put that together. It looks good, especially if it's only £600. Would it perhaps be worth my while changing the processor to one of these

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-239-AM ?

Would i notice a performance increase and be able to run games at higher settings than with the dual core one you posted ? i don't mind spending the extra £60+ if it does allow me to run games at higher settings. Also i i was to get the quad core one would i need to get a different cpu cooler to the one you posted ? also would i need a more powerful power supply ? in-fact would any of the other parts you listed need to be changed ?

evil-onion said:
the most awkward bit is fitting the cpu and cpu cooler correctly, and even thats easy when you take your time, everything else litteraly just clips together.

and you can clip anything i the wrong place as each item has a different colour or shape to it.

ie, the square fits on the square plug, the circle on the circle etc.

that sounds good although i am a bit clumsy so im a little nervous at the thought of attaching a cpu cooler !!!

RJC said:
Yes they are all Intel CPU'S and the motherboards can only take the Intel range of cpu's.

Crossfire is 2 ATI gpu's linked together, you can run this on AMD or Intel compatable motherboards.

Overclockers any were else would be a competitor

Thanks for the info !

Blurgh · 9 Jun 2009 at 00:47

Hi a few more things.

How does this Intel based machine look ? better than the AMD one posted above ?

Also, what is the best resolution i will be able to run games like crysis at ? Im assuming i need to take this into consideration when purchasing a monitor. what kind of native monitor resolution should i be looking at ? i guess i shouldn't get a 1900x1200 monitor if im not going to be able to run games at that res.

mollymoo · 9 Jun 2009 at 08:40

Blurgh said:
Hey, thanks very much for taking the time to put that together. It looks good, especially if it's only £600. Would it perhaps be worth my while changing the processor to one of these

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-239-AM ?

Would i notice a performance increase and be able to run games at higher settings than with the dual core one you posted ? i don't mind spending the extra £60+ if it does allow me to run games at higher settings. Also i i was to get the quad core one would i need to get a different cpu cooler to the one you posted ? also would i need a more powerful power supply ? in-fact would any of the other parts you listed need to be changed ?

I wouldn't bother I'd save the money and buy a quad core when games start to demand them ..... the processor they specced for you looks like its going to be a good processor ....... wish i'd hung on and waited for one

Blurgh · 9 Jun 2009 at 18:22

Anyone able to look at that Intel system i posted ? Is it better than the AMD system ? Is everything compatible ? any chance of bottleknecking etc ?

mollymoo said:
I wouldn't bother I'd save the money and buy a quad core when games start to demand them ..... the processor they specced for you looks like its going to be a good processor ....... wish i'd hung on and waited for one

cool

wbc1 · 9 Jun 2009 at 18:45

The AMD tricore system is faster than the intel set up and the AMD quad in most games (not all, but most). As most games only ultilise 2 cores at the moment, and the 720 tricore can OC to around 3.8Ghz.

Audigex · 9 Jun 2009 at 19:42

720BE is about as fast as a Q8400 - the 955 is quicker. (Edit: Note, in gaming) Naturally depending to some extent on clock speeds and the specific game.

Slashiem's suggestion will give you a superb gaming rig on that budget. The 720BE is very overclockable - I'm on 3.6 with no real effort to push the voltage or temperatures (1.45v and 40c, with max of about 1.55v and 65c). Only thing you may want to do is get a Titan Fenrir (or Noctua, if noise matters) and a couple of case fans for the front.

The 720BE gives a nice balance of cost, clock and # of cores. It's cheap enough, clocks to 3.6gHz easy and has that third core for a little extra grunt over a dual core.

Blurgh · 9 Jun 2009 at 20:08

ok cool thanks for the info. the problem is that i have no literally idea how to overclock and the whole process sounds kinda daunting... thats why i thought the pre-overlocked intel bundle i posted might be good. It would save me having to deal with something i know nothing about !

wbc1 · 9 Jun 2009 at 20:19

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-002-OB&groupid=701&catid=339&subcat=1334

Problem solved!

Blurgh · 9 Jun 2009 at 20:25

wbc1 said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-002-OB&groupid=701&catid=339&subcat=1334

Problem solved!

nice ! and you are certain this will be more powerful than the intel system i posted ? only reason i ask is that on another forum people have all told me to go intel, whereas this forum everyone seems to be telling me to go with the AMD processors.

will the extra .3ghz on the tricore amd system really out perform the intel 3.2ghz quad core system ?

wbc1 · 9 Jun 2009 at 20:39

Well, for MOST games the AMD set up will be faster, but for some (GTA 4 for example) the intel quad will be faster. Also if you encode videos or do CAD work then the quad is faster as well.

Blurgh · 9 Jun 2009 at 20:46

ok cheers, i won't be playing GTA though (already have it on 360). my main concern is that maybe a tri-core cpu isn't as future proof as a quad core cpu...

elmuzzy66. · 9 Jun 2009 at 20:50

Do you need os?

Blurgh · 9 Jun 2009 at 20:56

I have Windows XP 32bit and also Vista 32bit

but one thing i was wondering...

Should i go with a 32bit OS or a 64bit OS ? are most games compatible with 64 bit OS's ?

Should i go with Vista or XP ?