Scary first steps into PC gaming....

AuronsGhost

So I'm thinking it's time I took the plunge and got myself a gaming rig. Been on consoles all my life and well, I want to see what all the fuss is about. I also want to see the pretty graphics etc.

But my brain is fried from reading up on stuff like water cooling, different cases, motherboards and such.

This rig would be purely for gaming, nothing else. Namely wanting to run things like Skyrim, Rift etc on Ultra.

I'd say my budget would be €700-€1000 or so?

I've poked around www3.hardwareversand.de and other sites but to be honest still not 100% sure what I'm looking for. I'm also worried about upgrading down the line?

Any advice whatsoever is appreciated. I realise this is a pretty broad enquiry but yeah, anything at all is appreciated.

Cheers!!!

Serephucus

You're looking at:

Z68 motherboard
i5 2500 CPU
8GB DDR3 RAM
64GB SSD
6950/570 graphics card

And case, keyboard, mouse, etc. The above are broad spec components. Someone will be along in a bit to spec out a build for you I'm sure. And well done on coming to your senses! :P PC gaming FTW!

AuronsGhost

Thanks a lot for the quick reply.

I've always wanted to get into PC gaming but the thing which usually scared me off was the idea of upgrading too much, too often.

So my question would be, with what you just posted there, could I easily add another 570 a couple years down the line or what?

Serephucus

If you got a good enough power supply now, and a motherboard that'll run two graphics cards, sure. To be honest, a 570 will max out pretty much any game on the market at the moment, so you'll be fine with it for at least six months, probably a year. The CPU I mentioned is truly unholy in terms of performance, so that'll last you a long time as well.

Ah here, two minutes and I'll throw a build together...

Edit: On second thought, are you going to need Windows and a monitor with this?

AuronsGhost

Really appreciate it. Thanks a million.

AuronsGhost

Sorry, yeah, windows and a monitor yeah.

Serephucus

Here's something assuming you do need Windows and a monitor. The only things not included are a keyboard and mouse - personal preference there. Don't buy a keyboard from HWVS though; it'll be German layout.

Item|Price
Total build cost: €1,107.77 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Tray, LGA1155|€185.63
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€116.27
8GB-Kit A-DATA XPG G v2 Series PC1600 CL9 2x4GB|€53.75
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€91.00
Sapphire HD 6950 Dirt3, 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express|€232.66
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2|€93.72
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse DEFINE R3 Titanium Grey|€91.79
BenQ G2420HD|€141.78
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (SB-Version)|€78.65
LG GH22LS bare schwarz|€22.52


A little over budget, but worth it. Some of the others might be able to shave the bit off.

AuronsGhost

Awesome cheers. Question in terms of the SSD, would 64GBs not be too small really??

AuronsGhost

Also, I love the look of that monitor, might grab one for my Xbox too. Real nice price.

Serephucus

SSDs aren't really designed as all-purpose drives. On my 32GB one, I have my OS, broswers, media players and a couple of other bits. On that 64GB, you could do the same, plus a few of your most-played games, or you could split the drive into 32/32 and use one for OS, the other with SRT (Google if not sure). The reason I didn't include a big 1TB drive is because the prices on those has sky-rocketed because of factory flooding recently. (Up from €60 to €130 for a 2TB drive)

AuronsGhost

Ok cool. Thanks. And in terms of air flow etc I'd be fine? If I did opt to stick another 570 or something in down the line?

Serephucus

One isn't supplied, but there's a space for a 120mm fan on the side of the case in that build, so you'd add another €5-10 to the budget for the second 570 and you'd be sorted.