Gaming PC for a Noob

To save making a new thread...

I'm in the same situation, I need a new PC since my laptop crapped out, decided to get a desktop again since my last one is still going after 4 years compared to little over a year for the laptop.

Since FPS's seem to be all the rage on the PC I wouldn't mind doing that side of my gaming there and saving my PS3 for my FIFA's and that.

Unlike the OP though I'm a complete noob in terms of specs so what would I be looking at to get me through 2/3/4 years of high end gaming.

I'd have a budget around E800 or so and I'd be looking for something that will play the likes of the upcoming BF3 and Arma 2 at ease.

On advice from this posters I decided to set up my own thread and not merge with a second

Serephucus

Serephucus wrote: »

In future you're probably better off with your own thread, but:

Will you need an operating system with this computer?
Will you need a keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, etc. ?

Fair point, maybe things work different around here, but I always found it a pain on the Galway forum to see constant new threads about the same things so said i'd just merge in here.

Well I'd want the thing for general browsing as well, just since I'm getting one, I want something I can game on too.

I have a wireless keyboard and mouse I bought a while back, prob not the best for gaming but better then the standard ones.

I have good speakers already and have a HD that my current PC is hooked up to, if i can hook up the new PC by HDMI for HD picture then i wouldn't need a monitor either.

seyeM wrote: »

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155
ASRock P67 Pro3 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX
4GB-KIT Mushkin Silverline Stiletto PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24
Sapphire HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W
Cooler Master 690 II LITE Midi-Tower - PURE Black Edition
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ)
LG GH22NS50 bare schwarz
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch
Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 Heatpipe Cooler 120mm
Arctic Cooling Wärmeleitpaste MX-2 Tube 4g

Here's a decent spec, it will perform well in upcoming games. If you're not planning on overclocking for the time being you can drop the last 2 items and use the stock Intel fan to save some cash. If you can afford to spend another ~€60 to really futureproof it, I'd recommend swapping in the following for the motherboard and PSU:

ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 800W

These will allow you to use a second 6950 in crossfire should you need more power in the future.

What does overclocking refer too exactly?

Ya for the amount of time I'm on the computer I don't mind investing the proper funds to get what I'd need.
So an extra E60 to get more life out of it wouldn't be a problem.

Serephucus wrote: »

That's very similar to a build I'd speced out for him, except with an Corsair 600W PSU and Antec 300 case.

Any major difference between his two and your two?

Serephucus

Overclocking (OCing) is pushing hardware faster than it's meant to go.

Though it might sound a little risky, it's really not. That processor of yours for instance, comes at a stock speed of... 3.2, 3.4GHz? Odds are you could get it to 4.6GHz and see quite a performance jump.

To do this however you need to make sure you can get rid of the extra heat, and that's where the cooler comes in.

I see, well I wouldn't mind just getting it all sorted now and not worrying about something further down the line.

Stupid question, but does one of these parts have HDMI slots and that?
And also I taught the HD picture on the PS3 comes from the Blu-Ray drive(and HD-DVD drive on Xbox) is there something like that in there or does it just come off the graphics card through a normal disc?

Serephucus

The graphics card will have HDMI, yeah.

For HD stuff, you need a TV/monitor capable of displaying HD resolution. 1080p for example is 1920x1080. What TV/monitor do you have at the minute?
You also need HD content, so a high-def movie, or Blu-ray or whatever.

Serephucus

Serephucus wrote: »

The graphics card will have HDMI, yeah.

For HD stuff, you need a TV/monitor capable of displaying HD resolution. 1080p for example is 1920x1080. What TV/monitor do you have at the minute?
You also need HD content, so a high-def movie, or Blu-ray or whatever.

I have a 32'' HD Ready, goes to 1080i.

Sorry the ''normal disc'' thing got a bit lost in translation.

I didn't mean will a normal disc play HD, i just taught the the HD ability on consoles comes from the special discs and drives, and taught PC's just use normal discs(like the PS2 and that) so where does the HD ability come from

Serephucus

You'll be grand so.

Did you want a Blu-ray drive for your computer by the way?

Serephucus

Serephucus wrote: »

You'll be grand so.

Did you want a Blu-ray drive for your computer by the way?

I have a PS3 so if the only purpose it would serve would be for blu-ray films then I don't need one.

But the ability to play games in HD doesn't come from having a drive along the lines of a blu-ray?.... it just comes straight from the graphics card?(its just the discs confusing me as I taught they were half of the equation when getting HD picture and I taught PC games came on normal discs)

Serephucus

If all you're talking about is games, then assuming you have a TV that'll display the right resolution, then yeah, all you need to worry about is having a graphics card powerful enough.

Any graphics card will let you play games at HD resolutions, they just won't play them well. With the one you have though, you'll be fine. The disc the games come on don't matter.

If you want to play Blu-rays, then obviously you need a Blu-ray drive as well.

Serephucus

Serephucus wrote: »

If all you're talking about is games, then assuming you have a TV that'll display the right resolution, then yeah, all you need to worry about is having a graphics card powerful enough.

Any graphics card will let you play games at HD resolutions, they just won't play them well. With the one you have though, you'll be fine. The disc the games come on don't matter.

If you want to play Blu-rays, then obviously you need a Blu-ray drive as well.

Ya I get ya now thanks.

Just thinking how the PS3 works had me confused to the methods the HD picture is presented.

Nah I don't even play them on the PS3, I taught the Blu-Ray drive was also responsible for projecting the HD picture in the games.
I take it the workings of the PS3 and a PC are a bit different in that regard.

What's the story with them building it for E20, the other thread mentions they won't build in certain circumstances, will I have any problem with anything there?

Thanks for your help, just need to finish saving and then to get ordering.

Serephucus

I dunno TBH. I've never used HWVS. There's plenty of people around here that'll build one for you - and teach you in the process - for free. This thread lists where people are around the country.

Personally, I'd just save the €20 and get one of the lads here to build it. You'll learn a lot of useful info in the process.

BUMP:

Ok I've got my money together so I'm ready to order this.

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155
ASRock P67 Pro3 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX
4GB-KIT Mushkin Silverline Stiletto PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24
Sapphire HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W
Cooler Master 690 II LITE Midi-Tower - PURE Black Edition
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ)
LG GH22NS50 bare schwarz
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch
Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 Heatpipe Cooler 120mm
Arctic Cooling Wärmeleitpaste MX-2 Tube 4g
[URL=*http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=4804&basket.add_aid=4804&basket.tkt=1393*]Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical refresh[/URL]

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 171.52
ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX 129.53
4GB-KIT Mushkin Silverline Stiletto PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24 37.67
Sapphire HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 208.82
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 800W 82.30
Cooler Master 690 II LITE Midi-Tower - PURE Black Edition 65.27
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) 45.14
LG GH22NS50 bare schwarz 23.09
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch 114.74
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical refresh 24.03

Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 Heatpipe Cooler 120mm
Arctic Cooling Wärmeleitpaste MX-2 Tube 4g

Total Cost:- windows 7: E784.37)

I just found out as a student I can get Windows 7 cheaper, plus they don't have it anyway.

Also the case is out of stock, so i'll need an alternative?

I haven't a clue about overclocking so I'm thinking I won't need the last two?(at least for now anyway?).

How does that look?....
Is there anything there that's overkill(just using for Gaming and general browsing, wouldn't be running any crazy programmes) or anything that's a few euro cheaper then something that's better(see that a lot in threads here)

Serephucus

Just personal preference, but I'd look at a different CD drive. I have the same one, and it'll make your computer sound like a hoover if you're reading/burning something.

Something like this instead?

http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29466&agid=699

Something like this for your case? It's a little more, but worth it IMO.

http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=41084&agid=631

You don't have a clue about OCing, but is it something you're likely to look into? I'd say probably get the two anyway. They're not that expensive, and it'll keep your processor running a lot cooler over the Summer.

Just from personal experience, but the overclocking bug bites everyone eventually. :P

Serephucus

Serephucus wrote: »

Just personal preference, but I'd look at a different CD drive. I have the same one, and it'll make your computer sound like a hoover if you're reading/burning something.

Something like this instead?

http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29466&agid=699

Something like this for your case? It's a little more, but worth it IMO.

http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=41084&agid=631

You don't have a clue about OCing, but is it something you're likely to look into? I'd say probably get the two anyway. They're not that expensive, and it'll keep your processor running a lot cooler over the Summer.

Just from personal experience, but the overclocking bug bites everyone eventually. :P

I've changed the CD Drive.

I'm not sure, I just want to be able to play up to date games and browse.... I've added the two items, the paste was out of stock so had to add an alternative http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=6651&agid=1347

What about a case?... seems that one is out of stock for another two weeks...

Just read in another thread that for the Windows 7 student price, you need a previous version, he reckons the trial version will work(illegally or something?).... may be a stupid question but can you boot up to download the trial version without any windows installed?

The German version is E75 (and in stock) which isn't much more then the student option, any disadvantages to getting that?

Update:

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 171.52
ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX 129.53
4GB-KIT Mushkin Silverline Stiletto PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24 37.67
Sapphire HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 208.82
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 800W 82.30
Cooler Master 690 II LITE Midi-Tower - PURE Black Edition 65.27 **Out of stock
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) 45.14
Samsung SH-223C bare schwarz SATA 18.89
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical refresh 24.03
Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 Heatpipe Cooler 120mm 21.50
Xilence Silver Tim Wärmeleitpaste 2.57

Serephucus

RE: Win7 upgrade. I've never looked into it, but I know there is a way to do it. I think you install twice or something? If the full version isn't a lot more I'd just get that one to save you the hasstle. You could certainly use the German key, if you had another windows 7 install disk, but AFAIK, you need Ultimate to be able to change the language. (Or maybe that's just on the fly, I'm not sure about that)

Think I've sourced Windows 7 Ultimate on Ebay for E80 delivered.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Microsoft-Windows-7-Ultimate-Full-Version-Standard-/200606165377?pt=UK_Computing_Software_Software_SR&hash=item2eb50f2981

At any rate I won't be ordering it off there since it's out of stock and I won't chance the German copy(and the student seems like a lot of hassle)

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 171.52
ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX 129.53
4GB-KIT Mushkin Silverline Stiletto PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24 37.67
Sapphire HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 208.82
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 800W 82.30
Cooler Master HAF 912 schwarz, ohne Netzteil
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) 45.14
Samsung SH-223C bare schwarz SATA 18.89
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical refresh 24.03
Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 Heatpipe Cooler 120mm 21.50
Xilence Silver Tim Wärmeleitpaste 2.57

Total: E765 + whatever the shipping and that's going to be

So that appears to be the finished build.

If I got them to build it, would they put in the cooler and use the thermal paste or do they just send those as parts?.

I know there are locals who'll do it for free, but I wouldn't mind paying E20 to be able to use it the day I get it, and not have to wait for the boardsie to be free like a child at xmas.

Appreciate all the help.

Not sure will I make the bank today but I'll be ordering either later today or tomorrow.

marco_polo

They won't ship the PC with the cooler installed so that will have to be done afterwards. Fortunately it should be easy with that HAF case as it has an opening underneath giving access to the CPU backplate, meaning you won't have to remove the motherboard to install the cooler which might otherwise be nescessary with a cheaper case.

Very nice build BTW