Total noob looking to leave console for PC gaming

Atomic Pineapple

It's been years since I had a gaming PC, I've been satisfied by consoles for the past few years but I am looking at both trying to build my first PC and a high spec gaming one at that with a view to getting back into gaming on the PC for the next few years.

I would be hoping to build a gaming PC that is capable of full HD gaming with the ability to max out the graphics settings on current games and for some future games and a machine that is easily up-gradable to handle full HD on games into the future.

I will be buying over the next few months starting as soon as possible so advice on what to buy first to last would be extra helpful if possible.

Here's my answers to the questions required for these kinds of threads: (bear in mind I am completely out of the loop these days)

1. What is your budget? [€1000] (Can push it out over a longer time to if there is good reason to spend more)

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Video editing] (Crysis 3, Sim City, Far Cry 3, Mech Warrior, Watch dogs etc..)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes Prefer 7 but will go for 8 if valid reasons to when it comes to gaming]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Afraid not]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Speakers]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Prefer not to initially anyway]

8. How can you pay? [Credit Card]

9. When are you purchasing? [Over a few months but plan to start purchasing immediately]

Thanks

platinums

unfortunate timing, someone asked exactly the same thing as you (albeit a tad more creatively)

Go Here:Dirty console peasant wishes to join Glorious PC Gaming Master Race , look and Learn

His budget is 100-200 more than yours, and theres always a good reason to spend more.

Atomic Pineapple

platinums wrote: »

unfortunate timing, someone asked exactly the same thing as you (albeit a tad more creatively)

Go Here:Dirty console peasant wishes to join Glorious PC Gaming Master Race , look and Learn

His budget is 100-200 more than yours, and theres always a good reason to spend more.

Indeed, when I seen the other thread I tried to change the title of mine but alas it was too late to do so.

While I agree the thread is similar to mine I think mine is valid as a standalone thread on its own, the OP in that thread seems to have a pretty good grasp as to what they want whereas I really don't.

I guess I was hoping I'd get some additional advice within my thread that isn't present on that thread as I am completely in the dark knowledge wise.

The OP in that thread also requires a few more pieces I don't like a monitor and peripherals that could mean my money will squeeze to a few better components in the machine maybe?

It would be great if people have additional information they can help with specifically to my request but if not I'll keep an eye out on the similar threads. Thanks

Monotype

Something like...

Item|Price
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Low Profile Jet Black PC3-12800 (1600MHz), Non-ECC, Unbuffered, CAS 11-11-11-30, 1.5V|£43.39
128GB Samsung 840 Pro Basic, 2.5" SSD, 3-core MDX, Toggle NAND, Read 530MB/s, Write 390MB/s, 256MB Cache, 97k IOPS Max|£108.14
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit SP1, Operating System, Single, - OEM|£71.76
550W Corsair Enthusiast Series Modular, 85% Eff', 80 PLUS Bronze, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX, PSU|£59.46
ASRock Z77 Pro 4, Intel Z77, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, D-Sub/DVI-D/HDMI, ATX|£90.92
Intel Core i5 3570K,1155, Ivy Bridge, Quad Core, 3.4GHz, 5 GT/s DMI, 650MHz GPU, 6MB Smart Cache, 34x Ratio, 77W, Retail|£183.78
Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl Mid Tower Ultra Low Noise PerformanceCase, USB 3.0, 140mm Fans|£79.68
LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Black, OEM|£13.76
2GB XFX Radeon HD 7870 Core Edition, 4800MHz GDDR5, 28nm, GPU 1000MHz, 1280 Cores, DL DVI/HDMI/mDP +Crossfire Offer|£166.54
1TB Western Digital WD10EZRX Caviar Green, 3.5" HDD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, IntelliPower, 64MB Cache, 8ms, OEM|£52.84
Shipping|£9.15
Total|£881.25

I had a 7950 and good heatsink in there, (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/thermalright-true-spirit-140mm-bw-fan-with-6x-copper-heat-pipes-for-socket-1366-1155-775-and-am2-am3), but decided to leave them out to keep closer to the budget.

Whatever you do, don't go buying bits of the PCs piece by piece; buy it all in one go. Prices and technology change rapidly.

Edit: Sorry, that's only 4GB of RAM and you'd want 8GB for that budget, so I'll correct that.
Alternatively, you could get this RAM for a fiver cheaper:
http://www.memoryc.com/computermemory/ddr3ram/8gbgeildragonrampc312800dualkit1600mhz.html
I don't have speakers in there BTW, and you might like to pick a different case. The R3 is a slightly older model and is £10 cheaper too with little difference.

Atomic Pineapple

Thanks for that, its got me on the road to sorting out what I need. A couple of questions, is there much of a saving in buying all components now rather than over a period of time?

Also is a DVD drive necessary these days even for games?

Cathalibm

Must games that you buy in store require either a steam or an origin account where you put in the serial key. It will then download the latest version of the game, thus more uptodate than the store version. If you want to install from cd, you defo need a dvd drive. Plus its nice 1 in a while to watch a dvd on the pc. I would also recomend a second monitor, i use the main 1 for the game and second 1 for teamspeak( webtool for speaking to mates while playing multiplayer games). If you are interested in joining a gaming clan, drop me a line.

Monotype

Either buy all now or all later.

There's no point in buying over time because
1) The tech is just lying there no use; it's only useful together
2) Shipping costs increase when you're buying a few items at a time
3) New tech will be likely released if you take too long - your components will depreciate and possibly become obsolete.

Intel's new CPUs are expected in about two months, just to let you know.

Yeah, a DVD is handy even if you deal mostly in digital stuff. But you could survive without it. They're not that dear though, just to have for convenience.

BloodBath

Something like this.

As said above though you would be better off getting it all in 1 go. You will be paying multiple delivery charges if ordering pieces here and there and there may be new hardware or better deals on thing's you've already bought while waiting to get other parts.

There's nothing quite like receiving all those boxes in 1 delivery as well. It's like being a kid at christmas.

Item|Price
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.39
8GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-24|€55.76
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€59.84
Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€86.99
Corsair Carbide Series 200R, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€56.15
Club 3D Radeon HD 7870 XT jokerCard, 2GB GDDR5, DVI, HDMI, 2x Mini DisplayPort|€210.37
TP-Link TL-WN781N, 150Mbps, PCIe x1|€9.90
Wavemaster MX-3+|€39.99
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€89.00
Samsung SH-118AB schwarz|€12.23
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€209.08
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€83.99
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 450W|€49.79
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1011.47

Atomic Pineapple

OK, great info guys thanks very much, already rethinking buying the whole thing in one go, so readjusting the budget, if Intel are releasing now processors should I hold off?

If not is an i5 the best to go for now or should I stretch to an i7 or are they crazy prices for what you get?

Monotype

i7 isn't worth it as the only bonus is hyperthreading. No use in games. Well there's the hexacore i7s on socket 2011, but they're not worth it, especially for games.

That's up to you if you want to wait for the new CPUs. Current CPUs are doing very well in games - the graphics card is more important for the bulk of them. The 3570K also overclocks easily so the one CPU would last you a long time. On the other hand, if you want to upgrade, there's nowhere to go and being on a dead socket is no fun. There'll probably be two generations of releases on the new socket 1150.