Max shekel/gaming build: €550-€600

Onanon

Been away from PC gaming since 2007, so I'd like something that can manage high settings at 1080p on everything from the last few years, and get a little time on recent titles with mates too.

Parts list:

If anyone is familiar with logicalincrements.com, I'm using their guide for a "Good" tier PC in UK prices. It comes out to about £420 on their links, but getting it cheaper is always welcome.

I have an address up North for UK delivery, if that helps cut costs.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC GPU
AMD Athlon X4 760k
MSI FM2-A85XMA-E35 motherboard
Stockfan/heatsink
4GB RAM
1TB hard disk
Seasonic S12II 520W PSU
HAF 912 Plus case


1. What is your budget?
€550-600, money is being saved for a wedding and such.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?
Gaming/Internet

3. Do you need a copy of Windows?
No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
Just bits from a pool of old machines: cheap keyboards, cheap mouse, a 17" Dell monitor from 2006.

5. Do you need a monitor?
Yes - Probably about 22.5", 1080p or less.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.].
Headphones, mouse.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking?
Yes, though the GPU I have in mind is overclocked out of the box.

8. How can you pay?
Visa/Paypal

9. When are you purchasing?
Throughout this month.

10. If you need help building it, where are you?
Dublin.

-

Big thing I'm looking for is a gaming monitor, where to buy for best prices, and if the build will be good value.

Cheers all, living in hope for HL3.

Kimbot

Have a look on http://www.hardwareversand.de/

miece16

get 8gb of ram - 4gb is just not enough anymore
get a gtx760, pref the msi one for an extra €40 quid

Onanon

8 gig could be worth it as it's so cheap. Is 2x4 the best configuration for it?

GTX 760 is a big step up in performance on the GTX 750 Ti. Going from 30s and 40s into 50s-60s for BF4 at high/ultra settings and AA. If I come into an extra 50 quid, I'd get the 760. If I can't medium settings still look great, definitely better than consoles.

If I went with the GTX 760, would the stock cooler/fan be alright? The 750 Ti is pretty efficient and cool, which is one of my reasons for getting it.

Wattage wise, the PSU is 520W.
The estimated wattage is 360W with the GTX 760, and 250W with the 750 Ti.
Neither of those shouldn't be a problem with the 520W PSU.

Thanks for you help guys.

One more thing: could you recommend a good value 1920x1080p monitor for gaming? I will be quite close to the screen, so 22-24 inch screens are ideal.

Onanon

Question about plug adapters and PSUs:

The 520w PSU I got has an EU plug, and a 100-120w input. The power draw of the build is about 250w. Does it need a converter,or just a plug adapter?

Kencollins

100-120v will need a voltage converter. If you plug it in you will get the magic blue smoke!

Onanon

The PSU is advertised as having "Universal Free Input: 100-240V Full Range" on the Seasonic website.

The PSU is the 520w S12II-Bronze.

I'm only going off their documentation, but is it reasonable to rely on their info and only use a plug adapter?

Luck100

Voltage requirements should be printed on the PSU itself. Pretty much all PSUs are universal (100V to 240V) these days, so a plug adapter will do the trick. Sometimes they have a little selector switch to choose 100-120V or 200-240V, so just have a quick look to make see if you have one and set it to 200-240. I think all the ones with the switch are pretty dated, so most likely you don't have one.

Luck100

You can also just use a UK kettle lead cable instead of a plug adapter. You might have one left over from a previous PC. That's assuming the power cable is the modular kind that disconnects from the PSU - again, most of the new PSUs are like that.

Onanon

Thanks for your reassurance guys, I have an adapter, and should have a kettle lead by the weekend.

Onanon

Build is done, and been enjoying quality gaming for 2 weeks now. So big thanks to everyone who helped!

One thing is standing in the way of online gaming: slow speeds with my wireless network on speed tests, and high latency when gaming, along with slow downloads from Steam and the like.


The internet is capped at 5mbps with Digiweb in our estate.
I have a 150mpbs wireless card in a PCI slot, but I'm getting a low/dropped signal at 2mbps, when my laptop has a full signal and 5mbps download at the same range. The distance is about 10m normally, with 1 intervening wall.


I have tried moving the PC to be 3m away from the router with clear line of sight. This improves the signal to full or almost full, but still only gives me 2mbps download speed and the same latency.

I've also used a network cable to link the router directly and disabled wireless, but I'm still only getting 2mbps.

Reinstalled the drivers for the wireless card and the network port, but no movement up past 5mbps.

I'm getting about 600kb/s download from steam at my current arrangement, but would like to make the most of the connection I have so I can start gaming with friends again.

Could anyone advise?