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Looking to build a new PC

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  • 23-04-2015 5:51pm
    #1
    Conza41
    Registered Users Posts: 33 ✭


    Hi,

    I'm looking for some advice on parts needed to build a new PC, one that would be primarily used for gaming, there's a lot of recently released and future titles coming up that I would be interesting in playing, but wouldn't be able to do so on my current PC. I'm mostly looking for a PC that can run games at decent settings, with a pretty good FPS hopefully.

    1. What is your budget? €700-€800

    2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming

    3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes (Unsure whether Windows 7 or 8 would be better for gaming, I'm assuming 8?)

    4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No.

    5. Do you need a monitor? Have one already, but may consider getting a new one

    6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Mouse

    7. Are you willing to try overclocking? No

    8. How can you pay? Credit card/Debit card

    9. When are you purchasing? Hopefully within the next few months

    10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Donegal


Comments

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    #2
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    Windows 8 has better performance. You should be able to salvage hard drives from old PC. I'll do up a build later if someone else doesn't first


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    #3
    Conza41
    Registered Users Posts: 33 ✭Conza41


    Digital Solitude wrote: »
    Windows 8 has better performance. You should be able to salvage hard drives from old PC. I'll do up a build later if someone else doesn't first

    Thanks very much for the reply! Unfortunately I've no real knowledge in computers, apart from using it for college work or for gaming, I actually forgot about the hard drive, but it's definitely something I should be able to keep hopefully.

    If it's not too much trouble, I'd be very grateful for a build, at the moment just trying to get a list of parts I'd need for this, then I'll hopefully find someone local to help me build it.

    Thanks in advance! :)


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    #4
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    On the mobile at the minute, doing anything that isn't Ag Science. When I eventually crave Skyrim I'll post a table.

    What res is your monitor? Right Click on your desktop and click "Screen Resolution" if you aren't sure


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    #5
    Conza41
    Registered Users Posts: 33 ✭Conza41


    Digital Solitude wrote: »
    On the mobile at the minute, doing anything that isn't Ag Science. When I eventually crave Skyrim I'll post a table.

    What res is your monitor? Right Click on your desktop and click "Screen Resolution" if you aren't sure

    The resolution of the monitor is 1280 x 1024. Fairly small I'd imagine compared to monitors mostly used today.


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    #6
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    Meh, I've a 1360x768 that does me rightly.

    Item|Price
    ASRock H97 Pro4, LGA 1150, ATX|€€ 85
    XFX Radeon R9 280X Double Dissipation Edition with MANTLE and Gaming Evolved client, 3GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, 2x Mini DisplayPort|€€ 237
    8GB Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9|€€ 56
    Intel Core i5-4460 in-a-Box|€€ 184
    Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb / s|€€ 54
    be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 450W 7 - bulk -|€€ 52
    Nanoxia Deep Silence DS 3 Dark Black, without power supply|€€ 66
    Shipping|€18.99
    Total|€751?

    Forget the exact price but it's roughly 750. No SSD, add one in whenever you get the cash, or if you reckon your old HDD will do then remove the Barracuda and add a Crucial BX100 to bring you to 800.
    Windows is like €25 here.

    Any questions, fire away. Building is easier and cheaper (more than the €5), I'd recommend it, makes upgrades and troubleshooting easier, as you know what the hell is going on. If the old one is scrap, tear it apart to get a look at a few parts.


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    #7
    Conza41
    Registered Users Posts: 33 ✭Conza41


    Thanks very much for your help Digital, I really do appreciate it. :)

    Sorry for bothering you even further, but I was wondering if any parts of my old PC would even be worth keeping besides the two 250GB hard drives I have? I tried gathering the specs for it, I've only found a few of them though:

    Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13GHz 2.13 GHz
    RAM: 2.00 GB
    Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT

    I know very little about computers besides actually using them so I've no idea where to find a full list of the parts I currently own, or whether these are worth keeping or not. Suppose I could sell them on to someone if I don't need them or keep some parts as spares in case something goes wrong?

    Thanks very much once again Digital for the build, you've been a great help and I really do appreciate it! :)


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    #8
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    Old CPU is ancient, not worth keeping. RAM is DDR or DDR2, so it won't fit in the motherboard.Your graphics card is absolutely ancient. No point in even keeping it.

    The CPU is from 2006, so I'm assuming the PC is about 7 or 8 years old. Very little of that will be useful, if any of it. The hard drives are hopefully SATA, only way to find out is open the PC. this is a sata cable against an IDE. If it's IDE, they're pretty much useless, you can get caddies and use them as external hard drives however.

    In short, motherboard is an old, dead chip, as is CPU, as is RAM, as is GPU. PSU is likely only 250 or 300W so it's too small. Case likely won't suit a new build. Hard drives are possibly recyclable.

    As I said already, using the old PC to tear down and get familiar with the parts and how they connect is probably a good idea to give you some confidence before building this. I mean for you to do it properly and safely, dismantle it and piece it back together. There are probably other uses for old PC's like media centres and servers but I don't know anything about that work so I can't even say if this is sutible or not


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    #9
    Conza41
    Registered Users Posts: 33 ✭Conza41


    I was thinking it might have been too old to even consider keeping as a backup, does no harm in making sure though. Fortunately, I have a friend from college who has quite a bit of experience in building PCs, so he'll be helping me build it, and most likely doing most of the work.

    I'll probably invest in a new hard drive rather than recycling my current one, once I have this new PC built, I'm considering selling the old PC on for a very cheap price, make back a little bit of the money I spent.

    Anyway, thank you very much for all your help, Digital, you've been a massive help and I really do appreciate it. :)


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