Gaming PC - £800 - BF3

[philmo]

A tall task I know, but am coming to the conclusion my laptop will no longer kick it.

Have budget of only £800, do not need mouse, keyboard or monitor.

For gaming, mostly BF3 (also figuring as this seem resource hungry should suit some other games). Would like to play at high settings+ in perfect work.

Do not have knowledge or confidence for self build - so will have to be complete unit.

Tall ask I know - but any help greatly appreciated.

 

[RJC]

Hello, been looking at Overclockers range and the unit below should be fine for BF3 and future games. This also comes with windows operating system.


Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Battlefield War Rush Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.40GHz DDR3 Limited Edition Quad Core System £480.00
(£400.00) £480.00
(£400.00)
Options applied to the above product:
HIS HD 6950 IceQ X PLUS Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Deus Ex PC Game £229.99
(£191.66) £229.99
(£191.66)
Options applied to the above product:
No Hard Drive Upgrade £0.00
(£0.00) £0.00
(£0.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £71.99
(£59.99) £71.99
(£59.99)
Options applied to the above product:
System 12 Months Standard Warranty £0.00
(£0.00) £0.00
(£0.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/4GX) £19.99
(£16.66) £19.99
(£16.66)
Options applied to the above product:
FREE PANDA 180 Day Trial Anti Virus £0.00
(£0.00) £0.00
(£0.00)
* Sub Total : £668.31
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £15.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £136.76
* Total : £820.57

 

[philmo]

Thanks for the feedback, all other feedback appreciated. Some I can come to a decision quickly.

 

[beejjacobs]

The above looks good. Try and get 8GB of RAM though as BF3 is meant to run better with it and its not expensive

 

[up2nogooduk]

The above looks good. Try and get 8GB of RAM though as BF3 is meant to run better with it and its not expensive

Sorry to highjack! i'm looking for ram also.. so would 8GB dual be better on bf3 then having say this trippl channel? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-293-CS

Cheers

 

[Idleman]

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Titanium Grey £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £71.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Kingston HyperX RED Limited Edition 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3B1RK2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - Retail £19.99
Total : £799.39 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Another alternative. If you don`t feel confident enough building it yourself, just select the components and OCUK will do it for you.
Good luck.

 

[philmo]

Thanks RJC - apart from the suggestion of getting another 4mb of ram do you think a small SSD would also help performance ?. Or just bootng ?

 

[RJC]

Thanks RJC - apart from the suggestion of getting another 4mb of ram do you think a small SSD would also help performance ?. Or just bootng ?

Your welcome

After using SSD in my system I would not use a mechanical drive for the operating system again.
You probably only see the real benefit during the boot process, If you do fancy one look at the Crucial M4 64gb version.

8gb ram is good

 

[philmo]

Looks like I am going to with 8mb, ref SSD - although if the main use of this is the boot time and I will not see a benefit elsewhere SSD is a bit of a luxury. Unless there is something I am missing.

tks again.

 

[Phage]

If you cabn get BF3 onto the SSD you'll see a masive difference in the amount of time you're waiting for the game to load.
A Crucial M4 would be money well spent.

 

[philmo]

Thats interesting, I think BF3 needs around 20GB - plus theres Windows as well.
How much space would I need in total for the SSD, not factored in related Windows software. Is the crucial M4 128GB ?.

Thanks.

 

[Geeman1979]

Thats interesting, I think BF3 needs around 20GB - plus theres Windows as well.
How much space would I need in total for the SSD, not factored in related Windows software. Is the crucial M4 128GB ?.

Thanks.

Im in the same boat and have been looking at the M4 128GB. It will be big enough for your operating system and BF3 and you should have plenty of space left for other bits and bats.

 

[beejjacobs]

Sorry to highjack! i'm looking for ram also.. so would 8GB dual be better on bf3 then having say this trippl channel? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-293-CS

Cheers

Depending on the platform, only really X58 uses triple channel.

You most likely want a dual channel 2x4GB kit. Such as this.

 

[PB94941]

Idleman's setup is good

 

[philmo]

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Titanium Grey £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £71.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Kingston HyperX RED Limited Edition 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3B1RK2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - Retail £19.99
Total : £799.39 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Another alternative. If you don`t feel confident enough building it yourself, just select the components and OCUK will do it for you.
Good luck.

I think I will go for this build and have O/C build it for me (thanks for help), and will consider SSD M4 128GB (so ok for Windows 7 and BF3 in terms of space?).

If I have to push my budget a little I will do to ensure good cooling is good - as experience in the past of crazy noisey FANS (at moment have nuclear heated Envy 17 laptop!). Any feedback appreciated of likely noise/heat of the quoted Gelid Tranquillo - or with not too much outlay what might improve this.
Desktop will be in an open base of desk - but fairly enclosed with open back.

I am focused on getting BF3 to run well (at 60fps), so lastly any feedback on what settings I might be able to use in this to guarantee this.

Sorry for all the questions, but feel I am close now (exciting stuff).

Thanks

 

[philmo]

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Titanium Grey £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £71.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Kingston HyperX RED Limited Edition 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3B1RK2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - Retail £19.99
Total : £799.39 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Another alternative. If you don`t feel confident enough building it yourself, just select the components and OCUK will do it for you.
Good luck.

Hi - just noted you did not include a Hard drive, any ideas what would be a good suggestion. I know now the build will not reach my £800 - so guess I will have to stretch a bit. Main aim as in other posts is to play BF3 with good resolution and high as possible settings to run consistantly at 60fps....tks

 

[beejjacobs]

Perhaps this?

A newer Z77 board, a 570 which compares well with the 7850 [I think BF3 plays slightly better on Nvidia cards, will have to check]


YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £214.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £86.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £58.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £39.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £806.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Comparison of the GPUs:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=518

Obviously you'll have to pay for them to make it if you go for this rather than RJCs option of a pre-built one - but you do get a better PC.

 

[Joshct]

Something like this?

May well be a better suggestion come along as i'm not a hardware expert, working on it.

Stay away from green/eco drives though, not designed for the purpose of being a boot drive, don't let the large storage sway you.

 

[philmo]

Perhaps this?

A newer Z77 board, a 570 which compares well with the 7850 [I think BF3 plays slightly better on Nvidia cards, will have to check]


YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £214.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £86.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £58.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £39.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £806.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Comparison of the GPUs:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=518

Obviously you'll have to pay for them to make it if you go for this rather than RJCs option of a pre-built one - but you do get a better PC.

Thanks for the list, have some more thinking to do - any pointers as to how I can get an idea of FPS I can with this machine ?. Will compare to last quote and make some decision...

 

[beejjacobs]

What resolution do you play at?