Help to spec gaming pc

galvo_clare

1. What is your budget? Flexible. Willing to pay for a decent machine

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming mainly racing sims F1 Colin McRae etc with force feedback wheels and pedals. Maybe a bit of video editing. Possibility to throw in a digital TV or satellite card. I use a laptop for web browsing/work etc so this will purely be a gaming/leisure machine.
3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes] 7 Pro 64 bit I'd imagine

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] Have a 2T and a couple of 1T SATA disks lying around. Probably put two in.

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. Space limited to 19-22" would be biggest I'd consider.

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] [Yes/No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] Keyboard/Mouse. Possibly MS comfort curve.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? No

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser] Any. Prefer CC.

9. When are you purchasing? No massive hurry. In the next month is fine.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Shouldn't need help, but Clare.

TIA

Edit:

It would help if the case wasn't beaten with an ugly stick!!

Serephucus

How's this look?

Item|Price
Total build cost: €1,118.69 + €30 shipping
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€97.91
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€193.85
8GB-Kit A-Data Value PC3-1333 CL9|€33.59
BitFenix Merc Alpha|€31.61
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€53.47
Sapphire HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 PCI-Express|€411.01
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€92.39
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA|€16.02
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€87.86
BenQ G2225HD|€100.98

daz801

Fairly similar build as before, better ssd and ram. Included a cpu cooler aswell because lets face it, with how easy it is to overclock with the i series of processors, why wouldn't you. If you really don't want to overclock you could loose the cooler, get a cheaper motherboard and drop down to a 2400 or 2500.


Item|Price
Total build cost: €1,295.53 + €30 shipping
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9|€40.99
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€193.85
Kingston HyperX SSD 120GB 6,4cm (2,5") SATA 6GB's|€190.04
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower black, ohne Netzteil|€50.99
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€53.47
MSI R7950-2PMD3GD5/OC, 3072MB DDR5, PCI-Express|€402.71
LG GH22NS50/70/90 bare schwarz|€16.42
be quiet!Dark Rock Advanced|€43.99
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€87.86
Acer S220HQLBbd|€117.30
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€97.91

galvo_clare

Thanks for those. Will examine them in detail.
I suppose overclocking would be OK as long as I don't go over the top. I'd
definitely be OK with an i5 though?

galvo_clare

Ok, just a few questions before I start to spec in earnest.

Are there any disadvantages going with Win 7 Pro? I don't like the home versions as I've often found file sharing issues with them in the past, although I haven't tried 7 Home yet.

I'm not sure how advantageous the SSD drive would be. The games would have to be installed on a conventional hard drive anyway, so is the SSD any faster in this situation? As I say, I have some disks going spare so I might go down that road.

Is there an advantage going with the Amazon 550w PSU? I've seen some cases with a built in PSU, usually about 500W. How good are these and am I better off buying the PSU separately? Is 500W enough?

I'm not sure I need a 3Gig graphics card - what advantage would that give me over 2G of memory? What about a 2G card around the €200 mark? I won't be using a twin monitor if that makes a difference.

Other than that, I think I'm close to finalising what I want. I may try using a remote keyboard/mouse I have already. It's designed for remote presentations mainly and is handheld. It's probably going to be good enough for the few times I'll need a keyboard. I might give the overclocking a whirl also, so I'll go for the extra cooling.

Haven't built a machine in nearly 10 years, so looking forward to it now.

Thanks

Serephucus

File sharing is dramatically improved in Win7, so you should be fine with Home Premium.

SSDs are far superior to regular hard drives. Your computer boots and shuts down in seconds, any applications you have on it will open instantly, and your computer will generally feel a lot snappier for it.

Do not, under any circumstances use a PSU bundled with a case. They're labelled as 500W or so, but if you can pull 200W out of it without it exploding and taking all your hardware with it, you'll be doing well. Stick with the 550W Amazon.

Video memory means very little. It's all down to the core that will determine the performance, and the 7950 is from a brand new, very powerful line of cards, that just happens to have 3GB.

Hope that helps.

galvo_clare

Serephucus wrote: »

SSDs are far superior to regular hard drives. Your computer boots and shuts down in seconds, any applications you have on it will open instantly, and your computer will generally feel a lot snappier for it.

Do not, under any circumstances use a PSU bundled with a case. They're labelled as 500W or so, but if you can pull 200W out of it without it exploding and taking all your hardware with it, you'll be doing well. Stick with the 550W Amazon.

Video memory means very little. It's all down to the core that will determine the performance, and the 7950 is from a brand new, very powerful line of cards, that just happens to have 3GB.

Ok thanks, will think seriously about SSD and definitely go for a separate PSU.
Is there a version of the 7950 with 2GB or if not, something similar.

Serephucus

Nope, 3GB minimum. Is there any reason you don't want a GPU with that much memory? It doesn't increase the cost of the card very much at all, and at worst, it'll just sit there unused. It's not like it will consume a lot of power / not reach its full potential. It's like computer memory. You can have as much as you like, but beyond a certain point it doesn't matter; the CPU is what drives performance up.

Eboggles

Serephucus wrote: »

Nope, 3GB minimum. Is there any reason you don't want a GPU with that much memory? It doesn't increase the cost of the card very much at all, and at worst, it'll just sit there unused. It's not like it will consume a lot of power / not reach its full potential. It's like computer memory. You can have as much as you like, but beyond a certain point it doesn't matter; the CPU is what drives performance up.

Isn't there supposed to be a 1.5gb version being released soon enough? It said on the roadmap anyway...

Serephucus

Oh, well maybe, I don't know really. I assumed it would follow the norm of the lowest VRAM variants being released first.

Monotype

The 7950 is a new card so there's not that many versions around yet.

A difference in networking with Windows 7 Pro is remote desktop - home version cuts off you from serving. It's a handy feature that I use quite a bit although there are third party applications for that. Looks like the backup utility which is a load of crap doesn't backup to networks but that's no loss.

Home edition is enough for most people and not as bad as previous versions like XP. BTW, you can get Pro for cheap if you're a student or have kids going to school.

Comparison chart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_versions#Comparison_chart

Edit: Re: lower RAM - Wasn't the 1GB 6950 released after the 2GB. I think it was. There's a table floating around somewhere that I saw on another forum that had some preliminary release dates of different products. The dates have probably changed now but most of the cards had two RAM sizes to be released and not usually on the same date. They want to sell the ones with more RAM first as the reviews often show that there's little difference in the lower RAM! Still it's good to prepare for the future and the price difference isn't very much anyway so it's not something that you'd wait around for.

galvo_clare

Serephucus wrote: »

Nope, 3GB minimum. Is there any reason you don't want a GPU with that much memory? It doesn't increase the cost of the card very much at all, and at worst, it'll just sit there unused. It's not like it will consume a lot of power / not reach its full potential. It's like computer memory. You can have as much as you like, but beyond a certain point it doesn't matter; the CPU is what drives performance up.

Well, it seems to increase the cost by €150 or so, or am I wrong or naive? You say that at worst, it'll sit there unused, so why spend €150 on it? I'll be running this at HD resolutions, presumably - how much video memory does that need?
What's the nearest equivalent of the card with 2GB of VRAM?

Serephucus

The 6950, but at 19x10, that's only about 65% as powerful as the 7970.