gaming pc to play diablo 3.

Soldato
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now i normally stick to the 360 these days but diablo 3 is only weeks away and with me putting most of my high school years into diablo 2 i cant miss this.

my current pc hasnt seen an upgrade for a few years so i think i need fresh bar monitor, keyboard and mouse.

now i happened to receive a nice cheque from the tax man a few days ago for £370.

i can put a bit to this but not much as im saving for a wedding.

so can i get a gaming pc for £400 to absolute max £500?

my monitor is a 20" dell ultrasharp so res is 1680x1050.

it would be good if i can get something that will still cope if i upgrade to say a 24" monitor.

my old pc i would want to keep running as a media streamer but if anything can be used it has

q9400
4gb ram
i think a 5850
corsair 600w psu

the 5850 was the last thing to go in as it replaced my 8800gtx that eventually died.

if i cant use any bits from the old pc, would i be able to put in a lower watt psu to help save on running costs?

ive been out of the loop of pc components for 5 years so i have no clue what is good right now.

it will be used purely for gaming as i have a macbook for general use.

spec away please and thanks :)
 
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Soldato
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7 Jul 2010
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Are your drives SATA?

Replacing the PSU will have very little effect on the wattage the machines uses. Only upgrading to a 80+ platinum will make a diffrence and even then it will only save about 8%.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD Superclocked 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (012-P3-1573-KR) £215.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £84.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £33.59
Total : £515.95 (includes shipping : £9.50).

 
Soldato
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1 Apr 2009
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I would stick with your current hardware until Diablo is out. Your hardware isn't too shabby, especially for Diablo 3.

The 5850 is slightly better than the 6850, which is about the same as the GTX 460, if you need a comparison. If it struggles graphically, upgrading the card to say, a 7850 2GB would be a good investment.
 
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Soldato
OP
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I would stick with your current hardware until Diablo is out. Your hardware isn't too shabby, especially for Diablo 3.

The 5850 is slightly better than the 6850, which is about the same as the GTX 460, if you need a comparison. If it struggles graphically, upgrading the card to say, a 7850 2GB would be a good investment.

i really would like a 2nd pc so i can make my current one a dedicated media machine.

what if i take the cpu and gpu out of it and replace then with cheaper stuff to just run as a streamer and build a new gaming pc around them?
 
Soldato
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Old PC should be fine it's above the recommended spec.

Just get a decent 24" Screen.

Maybe upgrade the OS to Windows 7?
Get a new HDD?
 
Soldato
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I'm running win 7 currently. Wouldn't mind a ssd.

SSDs are great. Load times will be cut massively (even on SATA2 bottleneck), and your PC will feel rejuvenated. M4 128GB, £120, should work with your motherboard, but worth double checking. 4GB should also be enough.

As for turning your rig into a HTPC and getting some replacement components, personally, I would just not bother, use it for both, and save the money towards a treat, holiday, weekend, or something else (how about a track day? :)).
 
Soldato
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I am not getting paid by OcUK, I am not their pusher.

I'm just saying, it seems like a waste of money to me. At least check how the beta plays on your kind of hardware.

+1

Also ivybridge is due this month (the sequel to intels sandybridge CPUs). So it's silly to commit to buying now, might as well wait a couple of weeks.

I'm a lil confused as to what you are asking though. You definately want to keep your old machine or break it for parts?

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked *** 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (01G-P3-1363-KR) £119.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £97.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £57.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £46.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £46.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £33.59
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £507.48 (includes shipping : FREE).



That's a pretty good budget gaming build if you were to buy now for £500. In truth it's not a massive improvement over what you have already though.

If you want to upgrade your monitor you will be making life harder on your GPU. Myself I would do something like this.

YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x BenQ G2420HDBL 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £125.99
Total : £305.98 (includes shipping : FREE).



It's cheaper than the 570, uses less "juice" to run and is cooler as well, along with more VRAM.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=518

I still think Olivers hit the nail on the head. Best to wait and see how your machine copes when diablo 3 is released. You get free delivery, so you can buy a monitor as an upgrade first. If you think your GPU is struggling with it, then you can add a GPU (after seeing the D3 benchmarks) and not worry about paying extra in P&P.

I know this is a long post but it's more to show that we think things through before recommending what to do......in this case I say wait :)
 
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Soldato
OP
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Location
Wigan
I'm a lil confused as to what you are asking though. You definately want to keep your old machine or break it for parts?

the end result of what i want is 2 pcs.

1 for games and 1 for media storage/stream

i have 1 pc right now with the above parts.

but want 2 in the end, i have about £400-£450 with a max of 500 if worth it.

i would like an ssd in the gaming pc. the only things on this will be win7 and games.

i dont need monitor,keyboard, mouse.
 
Soldato
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12 Jun 2007
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Ireland
on 1680x1050 you don't need good pc to run diablo 3 ,

on my second pc i run diablo 3 beta on all high settings q6600 @ 3.6 ghz 4 gig ram and 4870. resolution 1680x1050
 
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