Recommend PC Build?

Cravez

Hi guys

Looking for advice on a PC build. Mainly want to get a PC for Skyrim later in the year but having a decent enough PC is good in any regards. Was wondering if someone could recommend me affordable computers parts (most likely from HWVS?) so that I could play Skyrim on high settings. My budget (pending) may be €700?

I know for sure that a good Graphics card is a must (so will set aside as much money for that), Im still a newbie when it comes to hardware and PC building so I guess thats why I'm here . I already have a decent HD monitor so don't need to worry about extras, just essentially the bare bones.

Thanks!

Monotype

What about windows?

Cravez

Monotype wrote: »

What about windows?

Going to stick with XP id say. Really tired of the Vista (definitely!) and Windows 7 OS. We'll see anyway, but alot of games still have Windows XP as part of their system requirements

Leman

As much as I would say to use Windows 7 (because Skyrim will benefit HUEGELY from an SSD and W7 is much better for SSD than XP), can you give us some details regarding what components you DON'T need out of that €750? Do you have any bits that you can recycle, keyboards, mice, a case even etc?

It will make it easier for us to spec a build out for you if we know what we can leave out.

Cravez

Leman wrote: »

As much as I would say to use Windows 7 (because Skyrim will benefit HUEGELY from an SSD and W7 is much better for SSD than XP), can you give us some details regarding what components you DON'T need out of that €750? Do you have any bits that you can recycle, keyboards, mice, a case even etc?

It will make it easier for us to spec a build out for you if we know what we can leave out.

Ahh I see

Everything would be from scratch. I DID have a PC a while back but sold it off as thought I would be in different circumstances now. I would be ok for mouse,keyboard,monitor etc so it's essentially just the computer that is required. I mean if I could get the comp for less then €700 then that would be great too! I'm not looking for anything spectacular in terms of specs etc, just somthing that could possibly run Skyrim at a decent graphical level to appreciate the game a bit better.

Burgo

Total build cost: €673.71 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €175.28
MSI P67A-GD53 (B3), Intel P67, ATX, DDR3 €114.23
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-10667U CL9 €48.95
Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower - black/silver, ohne Netzteil €32.18
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W €52.04
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €17.30
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) €45.14
Club 3D Radeon 6950 1024MB, AMD Radeon HD 6950, PCI-Express €188.59

just slightly over budget.

Monotype

Total build cost: €681.02 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€175.28
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (SB-Version)|€73.47
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ)|€45.14
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€52.04
ASRock P67 Pro3 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX|€89.75
XFX RADEON HD 6870 900M 1GB DDR5 DUAL DP HDMI DUAL DVI PCI-E|€141.72
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower - black Window, ohne Netzteil|€36.80
8GB-Kit GEIL Value PC3-10667 DDR3-1333 CL9|€47.93
LiteOn iHAS124-19 schwarz SATA|€18.89

I added it Windows 7 anyway. As Leman says, it's a good idea if for upgrading with an SSD. From a games point of view, XP will be less supported and you'll miss out on DirectX 10/11 (and the few DX10/11 exclusive games).

If you already have windows 7 or can get it cheaper (e.g., if you have kids/are a student), you could upgrade your card and add a heatsink.

Cravez

Thanks for the input guys

Also just wanted to ask. Would it be not better getting a higher PSU? Was just thinking along the lines of games that are demanding graphically, would a higher PSU be better for that or would the PSU be used for somthing else?

Also would it be good to invest in cooling as well? (Liquid cooling etc)

Edit: Was thinking regarding the graphics, would getting a earlier graphics card (maybe an HD Radeon 5850?) and getting two for SLI may be a good idea?

Serephucus

Michael Cravez wrote: »

Would it be not better getting a higher PSU? Was just thinking along the lines of games that are demanding graphically, would a higher PSU be better for that or would the PSU be used for somthing else?

That PSU is fine for the spec there, though not much else, so if you're planning future upgrades, perhaps.

Michael Cravez wrote: »

Also would it be good to invest in cooling as well? (Liquid cooling etc)

Um, watercooling's probably a wee bit out of your budget. My PC is worth about 7-8 times yours, and I only added watercooling earlier this year. I mean you can, but with 2nd gen i5/i7s clocking so well on air anyway, the only reason to go WC is for GPU overclocking (and here it shines), but that ends up being pretty expensive. GPU waterblocks alone run around €120-150.

By all means, and air cooler for your GPU would keep things cooler, quieter, and you could OC a fair bit too. Something like Zalman's VF1000 would work great.

Michael Cravez wrote: »

Edit: Was thinking regarding the graphics, would getting a earlier graphics card (maybe an HD Radeon 5850?) and getting two for SLI may be a good idea?

Rule of thumb with SLI/Crossfire is to get the best single card you can, and upgrade later. With Crossfire in particular (which is what you'd be using with an AMD card) you won't get proper 2x scaling with performance, you'll get maybe 1.6-1.7x or something. That's not counting errors and driver issues and whatever else you run into with a dual GPU setup. If you were thinking of SLI/CF, I'd advise an NVIDIA card. They seems to be much better with multi GPU stuff at the moment.

Cravez

Thanks for that . Ill stick with the single graphics card, I actually remember seeing something about nVidia cards working better for SLI alright. Ill be able to get my old PSU actually which is 1000W so that should sort things out for higher PSU.

Serephucus

I should mention though, wattage alone for a PSU means next to nothing. What make and model is it? Then we can see if it's worth keeping.

Cravez

Serephucus wrote: »

I should mention though, wattage alone for a PSU means next to nothing. What make and model is it? Then we can see if it's worth keeping.

If I remember correctly it's a Thermaltake 1000w. I can't remember if there was a specific model

Serephucus

As far as I recall, Thermaltake's PSUs are so-so. Their Toughpower series is above average though. You'll be fine with it, most-likely. I'd just be weary if you ever get to a point where you actually might need 1kW of power.

Cravez

Serephucus wrote: »

As far as I recall, Thermaltake's PSUs are so-so. Their Toughpower series is above average though. You'll be fine with it, most-likely. I'd just be weary if you ever get to a point where you actually might need 1kW of power.

Yeah i think it was a toughpower 1000W. Paid a fair bit for back in the day. I just think I may as well use it since I can get my hands on it again.

Monotype

The 550W linked would be enough for overclocking and upgrades to more powerful GPUs.
Getting an older card would not be a good idea. The 5850 is a good card. Better than the 6850. But in crossfire, the 6000 series does very well - better than SLI in most situations - and two 6850s will be equivalent to two 5850s.
Using a 1KW PSU for that system is not the best idea. Your power consumption at maximum won't even hit half of that PSU's capabilities. Your average might be less than a quarter. Efficiencies are generally a lot lower at this point. However, over the sake of a couple of euro in electricity vs a new PSU, you should stick with your old one. Don't buy ridiculous PSUs in the future though!

Revised build to take into account SLI/crossfire and no PSU.

Total build cost: €665.72 + €30 shipping

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€176.60
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (SB-Version)|€73.47
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ)|€45.14
8GB-Kit GEIL Value PC3-10667 DDR3-1333 CL9|€47.91
LiteOn iHAS124-19 schwarz SATA|€18.76
MSI P67A-GD53 (B3), Intel P67, ATX, DDR3|€115.25
Club 3D Radeon 6950 1024MB, AMD Radeon HD 6950, PCI-Express|€188.59

By all means choose a different case if you see one that you like better.
I also recommend an extra €94.38 for the Crucial M4.