New computer...a conundrum..

Teloriun

Teloriun

Teloriun

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18 Jan 2015
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26
Location
Atherton
Hi. I've got a bit of a conundrum and hoping you fine people can advise.

I'm currently running a couple of different PCs in the house - a nettop and a laptop. The nettop is primarily used for FTP, sometimes torrents and the kids use it for web browsing, facebook games and youtube (although it is left on 24/7). The laptop...well, its now my gaming device since it replaced my aging Athlon XP 2700+ desktop :)

What i'm wondering is..... would it be possible to build a machine to combine the two - packing enough punch to play games such as Rome 2 Total War at fairly high settings (if not the highest) on a fairly poor budget (£500-£600 :/ )?

I'm realistic enough to know that I wont be able to match the Laptops i7 CPU, but would an i5 (or AMD equivlanet) with a decent graphics card pump out enough FPS? As it'll be on 24/7 I'd also prefer it to also not cost an absolute fortune when non-gaming.

I've seen some recent posts for similar budgets (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18650570 / http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18650692 ) but no idea whether they're good enough?

If I'm delusional (highly likely), then I'll have to replace the nettop anyway with something cheap 'n cheerful as it barely copes with browsing / facebook games (so any spec ideas for this would be welcomed).

No monitor, mouse or keyboard would be needed.
I do have Windows 8.1 installed on the nettop (it originally came with Win7), could I re-use that key (to put more money into build spec)?
Preference would be a 'smaller' case, not a monster tower (MicroATX?) so it doesn't take up too much space (overheating potential?).
Possibly an SSD for OS / 1TB (or less) secondary drive for 'Steam' games (could always get the SSD now, storage later as i've an external drive).
I think it must have been last century I built the Athlon, but I suppose I could build this myself :D

Sorry for the war n peace :rolleyes:
 
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Those builds look ok,

Some sort of i5 seem best for that game - http://cdn.overclock.net/4/44/4409e0d6_rome1.jpeg

Combined with a R9 280 (a 7950 in a new frock) or greater - http://cdn.overclock.net/3/38/38eac61f_rome2.jpeg

Thats if you game at 1080P?


YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81M-K Intel Core i5 DIY Micro ATX Motherboard, CPU & RAM Bundle £224.98
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X Rev2.0 WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Battlefie (GX-122-GI) £109.99
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £84.98
1 x Antec TruePower Classic 550w '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £55.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
1 x Xigmatek Echo Midi-Tower - Black £19.99
Total : £555.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
Thats great. thanks.

My laptop is currently running at 1920x1080, but the monitor I have is only 1440x900..hmm..so maybe i'd need to look at a new monitor (outside this pc budget price).

So going down the i5 route, it's looking favourable versus my laptop? I'm not sure where the i5 4440 / 280X sit on these jpegs? if you wouldnt mind giving me a few clues?

Would I be able to change the case to something a bit smaller? I've no intention of 'doubling up' hard drives or graphics card for power consumption reasons. Would an Antec ISK600M mATX Cube Case - Black http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-227-AN&groupid=2362&catid=2278 be a suitable replacement, or a BitFenix Collosus http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-161-BX&tool=3 be ok?
 
Yowzers. That sounds like it's a fairly decent gaming machine for a fairly low budget. I'm impressed!

Is there a 120GB SSD that you would recommend (so I can spend the price difference on the case instead, lol). Looks like I might need a fan for the CPU as well, the 'package' doesn't mention one..
 
The same make and model SSD, just the 128Gb version.

But I will warn you that with games getting larger and larger a 128GB SSD will fill quickly.

The bundle will have the stock intel heatsink with thermal paste already applied underneath.
 
Wasn't planning on having much on the SSD after the OS, Filezilla and uTorrent, most games (apart from Rome2 TW) will be played from the 1TB Seagate you've spec'd. I've also got an external drive which I use for backups so should be good for a few years I reckon :)

Doh. Thanks for the clarification regarding the heatsink :rolleyes:

Any recommendations for a 1440x1080 monitor? doesn't have to have bells n whistles.. (may hold off for now if its too expensive...lucky to save 600quid with the kids & wife!!)
 
Really appreciate your input stulid.

I'll wait for the monitor...for now ;)
I've noticed the speed difference with Rome 2 TW on my laptop's SSD...the other games I don't play as often, so don't really mind waiting a few extra seconds.

I do have an extra £50quid (im excluding postage costs from my budget)...could this make any build difference to squeeze some more juice...might as well spend it before the wife n kids do?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81M-K Intel Core i5 DIY Micro ATX Motherboard, CPU & RAM Bundle £224.98
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X Rev2.0 WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Battlefie (GX-122-GI) £109.99
1 x Antec ISK600M mATX Cube Case - Black £56.99
1 x Antec TruePower Classic 550w '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £55.99
1 x SK Hynix 128GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS128G32MNB-2201A) £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
Total : £557.93 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
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Fair enough. Seems like I'm pretty much set then...apart from a rethink with the case. I've just just gone through the specs (I was trying to find out whether I needed some extra stuff for the SSD) and noticed it only has 2 usb ports..

I know you can get a multi-USB adapter, but I'm not sure how reliable these are.

What's the next size up in case from micro atx?
 
Teloriun said:
Fair enough. Seems like I'm pretty much set then...apart from a rethink with the case. I've just just gone through the specs (I was trying to find out whether I needed some extra stuff for the SSD) and noticed it only has 2 usb ports..
Click to expand...

Maybe it's the motherboard you want to change then, as the H81M-K doesn't bring USB 3 on the mid-board for the case port, so you'd just have one USB 2 available on the front, and four (2 x 3.0 and 2 x 2.0) at the back, making five in total.

If that's not enough, have a look at these two:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte B85M-DS3H Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £53.99
1 x Gigabyte H81M-D2V Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £40.99




If you stick with the same case, you'd have 8 USB ports available with either of the above. The B85 will allow you to add more RAM in case someone ever starts using it for photo/video editing and such.

Now if you absolutely need more than two ports at the front of the case, then yeah, change case too (but make sure motherboard has enough mid-board USB's for the case). Personally I think two at the front is fine. The stuff that is permanently connected normally goes into the back I/O panel anyway?
 
Ah right... I think I'm being a numpty yet again.. 5 ports is plenty - thank you both for the assist and clarifying things.

So glad I'm off for 4 days.. i deffo need to recharge the brain cells if i cant work out usb ports :/
 
Sorry to but in on your thread mate, but will that 280x handle 2 monitors ok? Main game I play is wow so it's not really gpu dependent.
 
Erm...ok.... i've decided to change case to something a bit quirky..the Aerocool Dead Silence Green Gaming M-ATX Cube Case as the USB ports will be easier to access where it'll be sat.

The only problem.... the recommended PSU won't fit. :/

So looking through a few PSUs on the site, I think I've come across a couple of contenders:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-003-SF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2463

and

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-313-SV&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2463

Obviously the second one has the added advantage of being modular, so theoretically may take a little less space with the whole 'wasted cables' bit.

I'd value your opinion on them... or if you could recommend a better one, 'I'm all ears' as Dolph would say :)
 
Ah ok. Looks like the info I was reading was incorrect...i guess google doesnt know everything afterall! I'm sure Antec know their own dimensions!!

Also, I've gone to add the lot to my basket..and the graphics card is no longer available :(
 
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