hello im new,need some help

[Scotty2]

hey there not too sure where to put this as it about everything so here goes,

I am looking to build a gaming pc for around £600-700
i will be mainly playing WoW,and when its out The Old Republic,other possiblities will be games like skyrim and battlefield
but mainly just the mmos.id like to be able run on mid to high settings.
could somebody suggest a build as i really dont know what to choose as i ve never built a pc before and there are so many options.thanks.

 

[Scotty2]

i willing to up to £750 but would prefere to keep it between £600-£700.and its just the tower not the Peripherals.

 

[Akagi]

a few questions first

do you want the capacity of being able to add a second graphics card at some point in the future?

are you interested in USB 3.0?

Are you an audiophile?

What is your acceptable minimum frame rate on high? (30fps is the 'line in the sand' which we do not want to drop below, but personally i like having at least 40fps)

do you want a full size computer, a medium sized computer, or a small computer?

do you want blu-ray?

what matters more to you; overall performance? or quality of gameplay?

i'll sub to the thread and help out where i can

 

[Scotty2]

a few questions first

do you want the capacity of being able to add a second graphics card at some point in the future?
not really no,unless you think it would needed.

are you interested in USB 3.0?
if it protects me against having to upgrade a year or 2 down the line then yes

Are you an audiophile?
if you mean do i download a lot of music then no.

What is your acceptable minimum frame rate on high? (30fps is the 'line in the sand' which we do not want to drop below, but personally i like having at least 40fps)

not too sure really id like to have it as high as poss(my pc at the moment which was given to me wil lplay WoW on the lowest minimum settings.so even 30fps is a massive improvement.

do you want a full size computer, a medium sized computer, or a small computer?
interesting question, i thought they were all the same size lol.to answer this
question ill say full,but if buget says meduim is better then medium.

do you want blu-ray?
no have a ps3 for that..(is this a nooby answer?)

what matters more to you; overall performance? or quality of gameplay?
does it have to be one or the other? if i have tio choose ill say quality of gameplay.


i'll sub to the thread and help out where i can

thanks helping my friend.

 

[ExecutorKevin]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Deus Ex PC Game £127.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £73.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £30.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £45.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £23.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £753.79 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Included a 500GB hdd win 7 bundle and 64GB SSD.
That is a powerful system and it should be able to handle bf3 and COD with ease.
If you are a little patient and don't mind boot times then I suggest you drop the SSD and get a cheap motherboard if you are not overclocking and stick 2 460's in SLI which should handle all the games at maximum settings, but I would go with my above build for all round responsiveness.

 

[Akagi]

ok, i will give it some deep thought tonight and get back to you then

in the mean time you could start looking at cases (ATX for full size, M-ATX for medium size)
cos cases are just personal preference

as far as the second graphics card goes, having the capacity to install another one in the future is a good idea because if you have one graphics card socket and a couple of years down the line you want faster gaming graphics, you would need to buy a brand new graphics card and sell the older one, instead of just buying another identical one and linking them together (which would be cheaper in the long run)

and yes you can have both good gameplay performance, and good overall performance, but what i meant was, if you would rather have better fps in games, you could get a more powerful graphics card, and cut costs on other components.

As a rough guide, my system cost me £900 and i get 500fps on games like minecraft and old games like the elder scrolls, 300fps on games like dead space, 100fps on games like mafia 2 and fallout new vegas, and 30 - 40 fps on games like metro 2033 and crysis. (all on maximum settings)

So for £700, you could end up with a very very nice pc.

 

[Akagi]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Deus Ex PC Game £127.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £73.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £30.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £45.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £23.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £753.79 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Included a 500GB hdd win 7 bundle and 64GB SSD.
That is a powerful system and it should be able to handle bf3 and COD with ease.
If you are a little patient and don't mind boot times then I suggest you drop the SSD and get a cheap motherboard if you are not overclocking and stick 2 460's in SLI which should handle all the games at maximum settings, but I would go with my above build for all round responsiveness.

dont forget that if you go with the gtx460 sli option, it would be a good idea to get a minimum of 650w psu (i recommend 750w)

To clarify on this a little bit more, the ssd will improve boot times and overall responsiveness of the system, however it will not affect graphical performance a great deal. so if you would rather have higher frame rates in games then drop the ssd and use the extra money to get an hd6950 1gb (or a 2gb if you see it on offer)

Cheaper motherboards tend to have overclocking capability anyway, but if you intend on overclocking you would need a better cpu cooler.

to have a play around with different components to see how they affect performance, go here:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2

play around with comparisons between graphics cards, processors, and ssd's

also remember that the case doesent matter, so if you don't like the look of that zalman, then choose your own

*edit* also note that if this is your first build, it isnt gonna be as easy as you may think the forums will help a lot they certainly helped me

 

[Scotty2]

thanks ExecutorKevin and acme15,ill check back on monday then acme15 to see what you
suggest as well.for the case if the one above is ok then that one will do.

 

[Akagi]

As above but with:

Asus P8Z68-V (instead of the gigabyte)

Kingston Hyper-X Genesis Blue 1600mhz (instead of the ocz ram because it has a higher clock speed)

OCZ ZS 650w Psu (instead of the 530w because the 650w will give you overclocking headroom and sufficient power for a second graphics card in the future)

Xigmatek Asgard case (because it is still a solid case, but a tad cheaper, making up for the extra costs of buying the aforementioned parts)

Also it is worth noting that the ssd will only improve loading times of windows, and any applications which you install on it, not anything stored on the hdd. so if you are more interested in game grraphhics, the extra £74 would go a long way towards a better card. You could infact get a 6950 2gb instead if you wanted.

But from what I can gather, the 6870 will be plenty for what you want to do with it, if you want to run games like crysis or metro 2033, let us know, and we can make alternative suggestions.

It is also worth shopping around. I'm sure that ocuk have good prices, but you never know what crazy deals you might see on other sites, so its worth searching elsewhere as well.

I bought some parts from overclockers, but because I found some 'one day only' deals and stuff from other sites, I must have saved £60 to £80.

 

[Buchanan0204]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Deus Ex PC Game £127.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £73.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £30.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £45.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £23.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £753.79 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Included a 500GB hdd win 7 bundle and 64GB SSD.
That is a powerful system and it should be able to handle bf3 and COD with ease.
If you are a little patient and don't mind boot times then I suggest you drop the SSD and get a cheap motherboard if you are not overclocking and stick 2 460's in SLI which should handle all the games at maximum settings, but I would go with my above build for all round responsiveness.

No aftermarket cooler? Overclocking on the stock cooler isn't the best of choices.

 

[Buchanan0204]

See what you think of this.

I have included:

4GB of Corsair RAM (The company still make memory, OCZ don't)
A quality motherboard which gets rave reviews.
A PSU with a 5 year warranty and enough juice for Xfire.
A case with a blue led fan
An aftermarket cooler to allow you to push the 2500K to around 4.5Ghz (What it's designed for)

Click here for a comparison between the 6870 and 6950.

You of course lose the SSD. (however this is quite a controversial topic with me)

It is slightly over budget... however it would be easy enough to cut back. Let me know if this is required and I'll see what I can do.

 

[Akagi]

See what you think of this.

I have included:

4GB of Corsair RAM (The company still make memory, OCZ don't)
A quality motherboard which gets rave reviews.
A PSU with a 5 year warranty and enough juice for Xfire.
A case with a blue led fan
An aftermarket cooler to allow you to push the 2500K to around 4.5Ghz (What it's designed for)

Click here for a comparison between the 6870 and 6950.

You of course lose the SSD. (however this is quite a controversial topic with me)

It is slightly over budget... however it would be easy enough to cut back. Let me know if this is required and I'll see what I can do.

No SSD D:

 

[mp260767]

If you are a little patient and don't mind boot times then I suggest you drop the SSD.

depending on how much WOW is played i've seen recent posts that recommend an ssd for gameplay.

don't bother going for 2 graphics cards, just buy the best one you can at the time, in my experience by the time you need the 2nd card its either difficult to get one or new/faster cards are just as cheap.

 

[Akagi]

depending on how much WOW is played i've seen recent posts that recommend an ssd for gameplay.

don't bother going for 2 graphics cards, just buy the best one you can at the time, in my experience by the time you need the 2nd card its either difficult to get one or new/faster cards are just as cheap.

Yeah. In a couple of years I will have to chose between gtx 480 sli + new psu, or a gtx6/7/8-80

 

[Buchanan0204]

An SSD will only improve the loading times of WOW... It is played perfectly fine throughout the world by millions of people who don't own one. Not the end of the world to stick the kettle on while something loads. What happened to "good things come to those who wait." "Patience is a virtue," and all that...

 

[mp260767]

An SSD will only improve the loading times of WOW...

fair enough just thought that i'd seen mention of it helping in game as well (can't remember the exact details of why sry), rather than just the loading of the game .

 

[Buchanan0204]

fair enough just thought that i'd seen mention of it helping in game as well (can't remember the exact details of why sry), rather than just the loading of the game .

I've not seen this personally and a couple of my friends are heavily into it (I don't play it) they don't appear to get any performance lag at all using a 6950 at 1080p... seems to max it out all the time.

 

[Akagi]

An SSD will only improve the loading times of WOW... It is played perfectly fine throughout the world by millions of people who don't own one. Not the end of the world to stick the kettle on while something loads. What happened to "good things come to those who wait." "Patience is a virtue," and all that...

If we don't have to wait, why should we?

 

[Scotty2]

first of all thanks to all the replies..the prices for those specs you all have given me are fine btw.
also i should add that ill be buying parts week by week(really sorry should have posted this earlier!!)

im going with these as you three have all posted em(execpt the PSU and case)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-090-LG

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-000-OP

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-056-OC

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-037-ZA

the above has been bookmarked for when the rest is ready.

these are all different----- motherboard,Ram, graphics card also a cooler(would i need this?)
ill probly drop the other ssd(unless you really reccomend i have the 2nd one) and spend a bit more on the graphics card,so could you 3 agree on the motherboard,GPU and cooler(if needed) because i dont really see the difference between them apart from price.

 

[Akagi]

My vote is for the asus p8z68-v because it has super uefi bios features, in my opinion it looks great, it has won many awards, and asus have a really good reputation, whereas gigabyte are widely disliked (particularly on the overclockers forum)

You might think I'm biased in saying that the Kingston Hyper-X Genesis Blue is better because I chose it, but that is not the case. It is better because it runs at 1600mhz instead of 1333mhz.

Any of the cards are fine, obviously the 6950 2gb is better than the 6870, but I think that the 6870 would be just fine for your needs. Compare the two on anandtech.
Also it is better to go with a non-reference graphics card (one pre fitted with an aftermarket cooler) because they are generally cooler running, quieter and sometimes look better (although do not hesitate to buy a reference card if you see one on offer, they are still great)

The Crucial SSD is the best value for money and most reliable ssd at the moment, ocz drives are well known for early faliure. You will be amazed by how much faster an ssd will make your computer, I have my relatively 'old' vertex 2 in smart response mode (google it, its a clever idea smart response )
And my computer takes under 15 seconds to get from 'windows starting' to the desktop with msn, skype, and about 10 other programs including coreteemp to open.
Without an ssd, this would take a while. An ssd eliminates 'start up lag'

Also an aftermarket cooler is not necessary unless you want to overclock your cpu. If you do not wish to overclock, you could save a few pennies by going with the i5 2500 or 2400 instead of the 2500k, however having superior overclocking capability for the future if nothing else is a good idea.
It is also worth noting that an aftermarket cooler will almost certainly be quieter and drop temperatures even without an overclock, but it would be non-essential.