Gaming Computer

Headshot

Hello

Im thinking of once again going down the gaming computer route, I got broadband there a few months back and think this is the perfect opportunity to buy.

Now I have the monitor sorted so dont worry about that but I would like a computer that's able to play crysis 2 on the highest level

This is the minimum system requirements
Operating system: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7, with the latest Service Pack

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo at 2Ghz, or AMD Athlon 64 x2 2Ghz, or better

Memory: 2Gb (Vista requires 3Gb)

Hard disk space: 9Gb

Video: NVidia 8800GT with 512Mb RAM, ATI 3850HD with 512Mb RAM, or better

Sound: DirectX Compatible Sound Card

DirectX®: 9.0c

no release of the recommended requirements as of yet (afaik)

This is just to give you an idea of the requirments. I want a computer that will play crysis and other games on the highest requirement


How much money would I be looking at here? (nothing that will break the bank)

Spear

Headshot wrote: »

How much money would I be looking at here? (nothing that will break the bank)

The minimum specs quoted for Crysis 2 are fairly low, and are probably best forgotten. It'd probably be better to give an idea of what budget you're looking for.

Monotype

There's a big difference between minimum requirements and -

Headshot wrote: »

I would like a computer that's able to play crysis 2 on the highest level

If Crysis 2 is your main concern, wait a month and maybe Intel might have their new platform sorted by then. A €500 computer could run it. Until we have more info, we can only speculate on the requirements. €800 could run it well. €1200 very well? €10K maximum?

Headshot

Spear wrote: »

The minimum specs quoted for Crysis 2 are fairly low, and are probably best forgotten. It'd probably be better to give an idea of what budget you're looking for.

600-800

would that be okay?

Monotype wrote: »

If Crysis 2 is your main concern, wait a month and maybe Intel might have their new platform sorted by then. A €500 computer could run it. Until we have more info, we can only speculate on the requirements. €800 could run it well. €1200 very well? €10K maximum?

what's intel's new platform ?

Spear

Headshot wrote: »

600-800

would that be okay?



what's intel's new platform ?

The SandyBridge based processors and attendant chipsets. There's an issue with the SATA controller degrading after time, so they're in the process of recalling them and replacing them.

Headshot

Spear wrote: »

The SandyBridge based processors and attendant chipsets. There's an issue with the SATA controller degrading after time, so they're in the process of recalling them and replacing them.

thanks

do you think I should take Monotype's advice and wait for intel to sort the problems ?

Spear

Headshot wrote: »

thanks

do you think I should take Monotype's advice and wait for intel to sort the problems ?

If you buy now, it'll just mean downtime while you send the board back for replacement (though these boards shouldn't be being sold). Unless you absolutely must be up and running within the week, I'd wait and get a non-dodgy board.

The Sandy Bridges are certainly what you should be targeting, they're good value and good power.

Example of this

and there's plenty of reviews about.

You have a monitor, what about the rest, case etc?

Headshot

Spear wrote: »

If you buy now, it'll just mean downtime while you send the board back for replacement (though these boards shouldn't be being sold). Unless you absolutely must be up and running within the week, I'd wait and get a non-dodgy board.

The Sandy Bridges are certainly what you should be targeting, they're good value and good power.

Example of this

and there's plenty of reviews about.

You have a monitor, what about the rest, case etc?

ya I have this monitor http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?slg=en&scy=fr&ctn=32PFL5405H/12

No case

Jaafa

IMO you should wait a while. Once intel sorts out sandybridge their older processors will drop in price by a good bit. They are still perfectly capable processors too so you wont be at a disadvantage.

Spear

Headshot wrote: »

ya I have this monitor http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?slg=en&scy=fr&ctn=32PFL5405H/12

No case

Any preference between nVidia and AMD for video cards?

Headshot

Spear wrote: »

Any preference between nVidia and AMD for video cards?

not really Spear, what ever its better tbh


This was my last computer, hope anti doesnt mind me quoting his post

Anti wrote: »

Yep, change the board and ram.

Actually, change it all and buy it from somewhere else. Do a self build. In that build you have a crap board, generic ram of a tiny ammount, a never heard of power supply maker. A waste of money litescribe drive. Crappy onboard sound, a absolutly useless cooler and a nasty looking case.

Just go with a komplett.ie bundle for the cpu mobo and ram and pick the rest yourself.

Just remember, the power supply is the one thing you should not go with a cheap maker, Its fine for graphics cards as they will all be the reference nvidia design.


Here, ill spec you something a bit better:

Kit- 6550, mobo, 2gb ram - 370€

---

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=301189


Graphics card- 8800gts 320mb 275€

---

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=332345 -- The reason i picked this is because you most likely do not have a <22" widescreen monitor.

Case- gigabyte psioden 84€

---

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=319574

Psu- hiper 530W 60€

---

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=322198

Hard drive- Samsung spinpoint 250gb 60€

---

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=329044

Dvd+- DL RW- Nec 30€

---

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=325546

That works out at 879€ for all of that. And its a much better spec. If you don tlike the case you can always change that.

those komplett links are useless now

but I know for a fact my friend who I sold my computer to doesnt ever use it so I maybe able to get it off him for the cheap so is it worth buying the above back and then upgrading some parts ?

Monotype

You sold it and you're thinking of buying it back?

Nah, don't bother. You would be better off with a more modern platform.
Come back in a month, if you're not in a hurry and want an intel system. Otherwise, you could consider AMD. The quad cores now would be much better than your previous dual core E6550. They're a bit cheaper than Intel's Sandy Bridge if you want a build now.

Headshot

I'm not in a rush at all so ill wait, thanks folks

IrishMetalhead

im suprised that no one braught up the phenom hex cores there alot cheaper now and should handle crysis 2 without a sweat (but then again the bulldozer cpus are due to be released soon)

IrishMetalhead

heres a setup that should run crysis 2 without a shadow of a doubt

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T - €150.82
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=34042&agid=1242

Motherboard: ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 - €91.15
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=34246&agid=1232

Ram: 4GB Mushkin Silverline Stiletto PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24 - €36.71
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=33951&agid=1192

Graphics Card: Point of View GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB - €219.76
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=43101&agid=707

Case: Thermaltake V4 Black Edition - €36.82
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=37838&agid=631

PSU: Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W - €52.58
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30069&agid=1628

CPU Cooler: Corsair A70 - €39.68
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=38536&agid=669


HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - €49.34
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28152&agid=689

DVD Drive: Samsung SH-223C - €15.78
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29466&agid=699

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit - €85.20
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29181&agid=185

Shpping - €30

Total - €807.84

Headshot

What's the story with windows 7?

What I mean is I have it on my laptop which ill be selling so will I have to uninstall it from the laptop or can i have it on 2 or more systems?

marco_polo

Headshot wrote: »

What's the story with windows 7?

What I mean is I have it on my laptop which ill be selling so will I have to uninstall it from the laptop or can i have it on 2 or more systems?

If it came pre-installed on the laptop then it will be an OEM version and in that case the license is tied to the laptop hardware. Only if you have a full retail version of windows 7 can you move it freely from machine to machine.

Regardless of whether it is a Retail or OEM version of Windows it may only be installed on one machine at a time.

Headshot

Nuxxx on another thread is playing crysis 2 on these specs at the highest settings

6gbddr3, i5-760 @ 3.8ghz and a gtx460 1gb @ 875mhz

Is the budget of 600-800 still good ?

IrishMetalhead

yea take a look at the one i posted earlier in the threat again it well easily out performs that i5 system because it has a hex core rather then a quad core and 560gtx rather than a 460gtx and its only €17 over budget aswell i think

IrishMetalhead

€7 sorry not €17

Headshot

what are hardwareversand like to deal with it?

Skerries

i sent back some parts without any quibbles and refunded me
they are slow to answer emails though, otherwise the only thing is setting up the international money order

Headshot

Skerries wrote: »

otherwise the only thing is setting up the international money order

is that online bank transfer ?

Hank Scorpio

Headshot wrote: »

is that online bank transfer ?

Ye, if your a BOI customer you can set them up as an affiliate online. They send a code to your phone. The transfer is instant then

Took about a week for my pc to arrive

Headshot

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

heres a setup that should run crysis 2 without a shadow of a doubt

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T - €150.82
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=34042&agid=1242

Motherboard: ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 - €91.15
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=34246&agid=1232

Ram: 4GB Mushkin Silverline Stiletto PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24 - €36.71
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=33951&agid=1192

Graphics Card: Point of View GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB - €219.76
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=43101&agid=707

Case: Thermaltake V4 Black Edition - €36.82
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=37838&agid=631

PSU: Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W - €52.58
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30069&agid=1628

CPU Cooler: Corsair A70 - €39.68
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=38536&agid=669


HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - €49.34
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28152&agid=689

DVD Drive: Samsung SH-223C - €15.78
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29466&agid=699

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit - €85.20
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29181&agid=185

Shpping - €30

Total - €807.84

im seeing how much this is altogether in the pc configuration on their website and the prices have gone up it seems :rolleyes:

anyway

just a few questions

like do I need
Heat-conductive paste ?

have a look at this pic (apologies for the big pic)



Just want to know it that right and see the 3rd pic

do I need a sound card and a network/communications

Also should I buy the keyboard and mouse there or else where (recommendations would be handy too)

IrishMetalhead

no you don't need them at all, onboard sound is much better than it used to be plus you should only go for a dedicated soundcard if you have a budget of 1000 or over imo.
plus you get conductive paste with the cpu cooler so no worrys there.
as for keyboards and mice, you can buy your mouse off them but i wouldn't be too sure about a keyboard tho cause your gonna want to make sure it's uk or irish standard layout.
and as for network/communicationsi think they mean headsets nd dedicated network cards etc so you don't need any f them either.

IrishMetalhead

just ot point out the case seems to be out of stock =/

Headshot

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

no you don't need them at all, onboard sound is much better than it used to be plus you should only go for a dedicated soundcard if you have a budget of 1000 or over imo.
plus you get conductive paste with the cpu cooler so no worrys there.
as for keyboards and mice, you can buy your mouse off them but i wouldn't be too sure about a keyboard tho cause your gonna want to make sure it's uk or irish standard layout.
and as for network/communicationsi think they mean headsets nd dedicated network cards etc so you don't need any f them either.

oh sound man for the reply

I have proper headsets I use for gaming, Sharkoon Xtatic so ill beable to use them with my this computer, right ?

This is probably a stupid question but ill beable to put the ethernet cable in the back of this and Ill have my internet, right?

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

just ot point out the case seems to be out of stock =/

its no bother, I wont be ordering it right away

IrishMetalhead

yup plug and play with windows 7 and all
just out of curiosity where are you located?
cause I got loads of oem windows os's and i'm using them as a permotion for my computer building service atm will work out cheaper then paying them to assemble it and for the os aswell

Headshot

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

yup plug and play with windows 7 and all
just out of curiosity where are you located?
cause I got loads of oem windows os's and i'm using them as a permotion for my computer building service atm will work out cheaper then paying them to assemble it and for the os aswell

im based in tipp my friend but im willing to travel within reason or An Post could help us out

IrishMetalhead

well i'm located in co. wicklow so i am a fair distance away and i wouldn't know how much it would cost to ship a pc back and forth (plus would you trust an post handling your expensive computer?) so it all depends on that i supose

Headshot

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

well i'm located in co. wicklow so i am a fair distance away and i wouldn't know how much it would cost to ship a pc back and forth (plus would you trust an post handling your expensive computer?) so it all depends on that i supose

ah damn, pity your so far away

Before I head of

what are these options



edit also

whats wrong here



Also is it easy to install the fan myself ?

deceit

The first bit is simple, just an option if you want them to build the computer for an extra 20 euro and other services they offer and the problem is most likely you selected a cpu with a standard cooler and also selected the a70 so they want you to choose the cpu without a cooler.

Headshot

deceit wrote: »

The first bit is simple, just an option if you want them to build the computer for an extra 20 euro and other services they offer and the problem is most likely you selected a cpu with a standard cooler and also selected the a70 so they want you to choose the cpu without a cooler.

thanks for the reply

that's grand then, I probably could install the Corsair A70 myself

Headshot

Im stucking between a rock and a hard place

Im thinking of changing the CPU from the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T to the Intel Core i5-2500K

Ill have to choose a new motherboard thou but if I add a dear motherboard and the i5 its like only 79 euro over budget and I dont mind spending that if its worth it

So is it worth changing ?

IrishMetalhead

wouldn't buy a 2500k untill the sandybridge problem is fixed.
plus for gaming you'd benifit more irl with the 2 extra physical cores with the x6 altho the 2500k might be better in applications

(altho personally i have prefered amd over intel alot lately for somereason so i could be abit bias here)

Headshot

Man im confused, I just don't know which CPU to go for

anyone else have thoughts on the matter

Monotype

I presume since you have selected assembly that you don't want to swap the motherboard when the replacements come. Next, will you need to use any of the dud hard drive ports- i.e., is there much chance that you'll be adding drives?
If the answer is yes, then sandy bridge is out of the question.

The i5 would be faster in games as games usually aren't programmed to make the best use of many cores and intel has the performance advantage.

If you want to keep the budget lower, then AMD. Maybe save your money towards your next graphics card and you'd see better gains.

marco_polo

I though I told you to stop thinking about it too much and just order already . Either option will make a great gaming plaform, if you have the extra 80 for sandybridge then great, but in pure gaming terms you will be losing out on very little with the X6.

Once the GPU bottleneck starts to kick in at higher resolutions though you will rarely see a difference between any of the uppper middle - high end CPUS.

Even a single GT 580 can be fully utilized by Phenom II CPUs.

X6s (1100T not 1055T) vs i5-2500k in BFBC2 with GT 580
http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-2500k-and-core-i7-2600k-review/21

X6s (1095 and 1055T) vs i7-980 in Crysis Warhead with HD5870
http://www.guru3d.com/article/phenom-ii-x6-1055t-1090t-review/16

Multi GPU is a whole different ball game of course as the increased graphics processing power pulls the CPU back into the mix.

Headshot

marco_polo wrote: »

I though I told you to stop thinking about it too much and just order already . Either option will make a great gaming plaform, if you have the extra 80 for sandybridge then great, but in pure gaming terms you will be losing out on very little with the X6.

Once the GPU bottleneck starts to kick in at higher resolutions though you will rarely see a difference between any of the uppper middle - high end CPUS.

Even a single GT 580 can be fully utilized by Phenom II CPUs.

X6s (1100T not 1055T) vs i5-2500k in BFBC2 with GT 580
http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-2500k-and-core-i7-2600k-review/21

X6s (1095 and 1055T) vs i7-980 in Crysis Warhead with HD5870
http://www.guru3d.com/article/phenom-ii-x6-1055t-1090t-review/16

Multi GPU is a whole different ball game of course as the increased graphics processing power pulls the CPU back into the mix.

wow those links are very good

marco do you think ill beable to play most games on 1920x1080 and even crysis 2 on the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T ?

marco_polo

Headshot wrote: »

wow those links are very good

marco do you think ill beable to play most games on 1920x1080 and even crysis 2 on the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T ?

You will be able to play any game no problem whatsoever and for a good few years to come as well, it will probably even outlast your HD6950 TBH (CPUS tend to have a bit more longevity, if I had to choose give me a three year old CPU over a GPU of the same age any day).

In terms of Crysis 2, unlike most other games it supports up to 8 thread so an AMD hexacore will run it just great. Even having said that I expect graphs for Crysis 2 will be no different to any of those above,as the upper mid / high end CPUs converge onto the same fps at higher resolutions.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,768604/Crysis-2-Everything-about-DirectX-11-3D-without-perfomance-drop-and-8-core-optimization/News/

Headshot

marco_polo wrote: »

You will be able to play any game no problem whatsoever and for a good few years to come as well, it will probably even outlast your HD6950 TBH (CPUS tend to have a bit more longevity, if I had to choose give me a three year old CPU over a GPU of the same age any day).

In terms of Crysis 2, unlike most other games it supports up to 8 thread so an AMD hexacore will run it just great. Even having said that I expect graphs for Crysis 2 will be no different to any of those above,as the upper mid / high end CPUs converge onto the same fps at higher resolutions.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,768604/Crysis-2-Everything-about-DirectX-11-3D-without-perfomance-drop-and-8-core-optimization/News/

**** it, ill go for IrishMetalhead recommendation. Just have to wait till they get the stuff back in

IrishMetalhead

what's currently out of stock then?

Headshot

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

what's currently out of stock then?

PSU

Hank Scorpio

Overall the phenom is prolly the better chip in applications and what not, but for gaming the i5 is better.

I done alot of research before i bought my rig, both are good choices though, but i know what i would pick. Those i5s have faster architecture and its utilised better in gaming

Plus the sandy bridge i5`s are being overclocked to 5ghz +

My gpu scores always seem to do better from benchmarks etc online, and youtube videos. I see games where im getting almost double the fps and i put that down solely to my overclocked i5

Headshot

nuxxx wrote: »

Overall the phenom is prolly the better chip in applications and what not, but for gaming the i5 is better.

I done alot of research before i bought my rig, both are good choices though, but i know what i would pick. Those i5s have faster architecture and its utilised better in gaming

Plus the sandy bridge i5`s are being overclocked to 5ghz +

My gpu scores always seem to do better from benchmarks etc online, and youtube videos. I see games where im getting almost double the fps and i put down solely to my overclocked i5

I blame you Nuxxx for putting my in between a rock and a hard place

Personally I wouldnt know anything about overclocking so I wouldnt beable to do it

Hank Scorpio

Headshot wrote: »

I blame you Nuxxx for putting my in between a rock and a hard place

Personally I wouldnt know anything about overclocking so I wouldnt beable to do it

Overclocking your graphics card is easy. You just install a software program and move the slider up bit by bit until it crashes in a game

Overclocking the i5 was hard work for me at the start, I was pretty much in your situation, didnt really know much about it. And i only bought my pc 4 months ago

Headshot

nuxxx wrote: »

Overclocking your graphics card is easy. You just install a software program and move the slider up bit by bit until it crashes in a game

Overclocking the i5 was hard work for me at the start, I was pretty much in your situation, didnt really know much about it. And i only bought my pc 4 months ago

You probably have alot more knowledge than me when it comes to computers thou

I wouldnt be comfortable doing the over clocking, so the i5 probably wouldnt be worth it then

Hank Scorpio

Headshot wrote: »

You probably have alot more knowledge than me when it comes to computers thou

I wouldnt be comfortable doing the over clocking, so the i5 probably wouldnt be worth it then

I had a few scares at the start, blue screens, pc kept restarting and wouldnt show any video etc, all these things are normal though.

Theres hundreds of tutorials online for overclocking i5`s. I could push mine a good bit further than it is atm but it wudent be worthwhile. The ambient in the room is quiet high atm.

Basically what your doing is increasing the bus speed and multiplier of the cpu to achieve a higher clock speed, the problem with that is finding the best and lowest possible voltage to achieve it while maintaining acceptable temps

marco_polo

nuxxx wrote: »

Overall the phenom is prolly the better chip in applications and what not, but for gaming the i5 is better.

I done alot of research before i bought my rig, both are good choices though, but i know what i would pick. Those i5s have faster architecture and its utilised better in gaming

Plus the sandy bridge i5`s are being overclocked to 5ghz +

My gpu scores always seem to do better from benchmarks etc online, and youtube videos. I see games where im getting almost double the fps and i put that down solely to my overclocked i5

I just looked at those benchmarks you posted today, but because you are running them with no AA you are taking it too easy on the GPU , so it not getting a proper full workout, hence your benchmarks are substantially higher on the overclock. If you ran them again with 8/18X AA I bet you would see a near tie with the stock speed numbers. Running a graphically demanding game @1080p with full detail and AA your gpu will be runinng at 100% full load pretty well constantly and all the overclocking (or more CPUs) in the world will not improve your FPS any further.

Even the 60 odd euro Athlon II X3 is competitive with the four fold more expensive i7-920 at 1080p gaining with a single HD 5870 (I note there is no AA turned on so the test is not quite as GPU demanding as it could have been, so they are not quite fully stressing the GPU either IMO)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3-440-gaming-performance,2619-5.html

Just to illustrate what I was saying earlier about dual GPU, look at the absolute spanking the Athlon then gets by dropping in another HD5870 crossfire removing the GPU bottleneck big time.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3-440-gaming-performance,2619-7.html

Hank Scorpio

I understand what your saying, i only ran them without AA to keep it constant across all the games, not all of them were offering AA options

The 460s are special because they scale so well in sli, they even outperform 470s in sli. 2 460s in sli outperform a 580 in alot of games, and in alot of them there dead even. add to that the heat issue, and your onto a winner

I honestly think a sandy bridge i5 overclocked to 5ghz or thereabouts would CRUSH any of the amd cpus in that price range

All my games in those benchmarks have my gpu at 99% constantly btw with vsync off

Edit: Just to add, I see the point your making and agree with it, but for future proofing and sli options in the newer dx11 (dx12?) games, its important to have the best possible gaming cpu for the money, and imo thats the sandy bridge i5`s by a country mile