Help speccing a new PC

Camarilla

Camarilla

Camarilla

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Joined
26 Jul 2010
Posts
900
Location
Hull/Bridlington
Hey guys,

At the moment I’m looking to replace my now 3 year old PC, which has a propensity to break down and is no longer under warranty, and was looking for some advice, though you’ll have to excuse me if I sound a bit dim as I’m new to speccing PCs. I’m looking to hopefully get something that should last at least 3 years, hopefully longer if I start tweaking things further down the line. Because of my inexperience, I've tried to find some sort of target to try and aim for, so I’ve been looking at the Mafia 2 PhysX/APEX requirements, which are as follows:

PHYSX/APEX ENHANCEMENTS SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later) / Windows Vista / Windows 7 Minimum Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
Recommended Processor: 2.66 GHz Core i7-920 RAM: 2 GB

Video Cards and resolution: APEX High settings
Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 (or better) and a dedicated NVIDIA 9800GTX (or better) for PhysX
Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 for Graphics and a dedicated NVIDIA GTX 285 (or better) for PhysX NVIDIA GPU driver: 197.13 or later.
NVIDIA PhysX driver: 10.04.02_9.10.0522. Included and automatically installed with the game.
Click to expand...

I don't need a sound system, keyboard/mouse, monitor or OS, and at the moment I have a tentative budget of around £1500, though I may go a bit higher depending on what comes up, so I guess my first question would have to be: Is it possible to get a PC along those sorts of specs under my kind of budget, or am I aiming far too high?

I do have more questions, but I guess I should probably see what the answer is to that first question so I don’t get ahead of myself.

I’d really appreciate any help you can give (I must admit, I feel rather guilty asking so soon after joining the forums).

Thanks in advance,
Cam
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Zotac GeForce GTX 470 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £246.74
(£209.99) £246.74
(£209.99)
Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £217.36
(£184.99) £217.36
(£184.99)
Asus P6X58D-E Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £149.99
(£127.65) £149.99
(£127.65)
G.Skill Ripjaw 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Triple Channel Kit £135.11
(£114.99) £135.11
(£114.99)
Antec TruePower New Modular 750W Power Supply £96.98
(£82.54) £96.98
(£82.54)
Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £80.99
(£68.93) £80.99
(£68.93)
XFX GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £62.26
(£52.99) £62.26
(£52.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £35.24
(£29.99) £35.24
(£29.99)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.91) £13.99
(£11.91)
Sub Total : £883.98
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 17.50% VAT : £157.10
Total : £1,054.83
 
Wow, thanks for the fast reply, and especially with such good news :)

Seeing as how you've very effectively answered my first question, one of my follow-up questions is how much of an improvement would including a SSD for Windows etc. be, considering the price of them? I have no real experience of them so they're a real unknown to me.

Also, when you have 2 graphics cards that are not in SLI, how easy is it to set up one as the primary card and the other as the PhysX card?

Thanks for the reply,
Cam
 
i use a GTX470 and a 8800GT physx card.

DSCF2411.jpg


when windows and all the drivers are installed, just go into the nvidia driver control panel, and there is a physx tab to select, I am then presented with a image of two graphics cards and the one monitor, there is a drop down box that allows me to select which card or cards will do the physx. its simple.

SSD's are great, so much faster than a mechanical drive at everything, making the pc feel snappier in use, and reducing load times.

I dont have one, but will soon, not all SSD are good, and its posible to buy a rubbish one, and many vary in performance.
 
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Thanks for the reply stulid.

Good to hear that setting up the 2 cards is as simple as that, I was expecting it to be more awkward.

In regards to SSDs, would you think it would be best to buy one now, or do without for now and then possibly fit one later on when prices drop, as they do seem quite a lot for the space you get?

Thanks,
Cam
 
I can only really provide you with a bunch of review links from reputable sites to look at and make your mind up.

64gb which will easily hold the operating system and about 5 large games is around £110-£160 for good ones.
 
Ouch, Mafia2 requirements look horrible.
Bar 'needing' phyX, the recommended processor isn't exactly low end.
I have such, but I'd think most of the marketplace won't have.
Wonder how many cores/threads the game will be optimised for, or will it be a case of an OCed dual core will beat a lower clocked quadcore as with many other games.
 
Thanks stulid, I'll give it some thought, now I'm leaning towards getting one, especially as the actual build itself is less than I anticipated.

Thanks for the help,
Cam

e:
Hikari Kisugi said:
Ouch, Mafia2 requirements look horrible.
Bar 'needing' phyX, the recommended processor isn't exactly low end.
I have such, but I'd think most of the marketplace won't have.
Wonder how many cores/threads the game will be optimised for, or will it be a case of an OCed dual core will beat a lower clocked quadcore as with many other games.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my current PC is let down by it's processor, and I daren't overclock it considering the trouble the thing's given me without me tinkering with it.
 
Last edited:
 
Stulid recommends quality builds time after time, and especially with the given budget, it'd be crazy not get an SSD as a boot drive :)
 
Again, thanks for the help stulid, I've read through the links you provided, and I've decided I will go with a SSD boot drive. So, taking that into account, and having applied a few small changes out of my own personal preference (hopefully those changes don't cause any conflicts
icon_redface.gif
), my updated build is now this:

Spec1.jpg


Which is looking really good to me. Again, can't thank you enough stulid.

One of my last questions, is there anything else that you would recommend me buying, as a first time builder? I don't want to be without a specific tool or something when it comes to trying to build it.

Also, having read the 'System build guide' thread, it says I need a CPU cooler; would one come with the CPU, or would I need to buy one seperately?

Thanks,
Cam
 
the cpu being a retail model will come with the stock Intel heatsink and some thermal paste pre-applied.

sata cables come in the motherboard box.

and a review of that case i just read, says "with five tool-less 3.5in bays (one of these has a 2.5in mount for SSDs)" so you don't need a caddie for the SSD

just a screwdriver needed.
 
Ah, thanks again stulid, I had thoughts of myself trying to put the PC together only to find out I was missing some necessary tool or something :o

Again, thanks for all your help stulid, I really appreciate it. With any luck, I'll get it all ordered tomorrow :D

Cam
 
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