A return to PC gaming

druss

Some initial background.
I haven’t had a home desktop in almost 8 years now. (A Dell – which cost me around €1.5k. It was grand for CM 01/02, Unreal Tournament, Medal of Honour etc). I also had a few consoles on the go. Loved my Sega. Tolerated my first gen Xbox.

I didn’t get any of the last generation of consoles. I continued to buy a few pc games which always underwhelmed on my laptop(s). Pre-Christmas, I decided that I deserved a present and debated getting myself either an Xbox One or a PS4. End decision, I bought a Wii U on a whim in an Amazon lightening deal and thought I could add another console later.

As it turned out, I absolutely love the Wii U and it has reignited my interest in gaming generally. The more I thought about since though, the less sense purchasing another console seems to make. Despite myself, I have assembled 50 or so games on Steam. Other bits and pieces have been accumulated on GOG. Some of the Steam games were bought on the basis that “they sort-off work now and sure eventually I’ll have a better PC”.

E3 2014 also seemed to point me towards getting a PC or a Steam Box. Nintendo have the console exclusives that I’m interested in. Other stuff can generally be picked up on pc at some stage. I was also thinking of embracing my long abandoned tech side and going for the challenge of a self-build, such as it is.

So given all that, I’ve been reading through threads here for ideas over the last few weeks. Basically, I’d like a sort-off Steam Box type set up. So thinking small-ish, as quiet as possible, connected to the tv, but with enough grunt behind it to live comfortably over the next few years and to be upgradable into the future.

I don’t think I’m going to be at the cutting end of gaming. None of my games are currently a million miles away from being runnable on my current laptop (Except for Witcher 2, which I knew at time of purchasing was out of the question. And GTA IV is pretty unplayable). I’m presuming that I could then do a tidy up/reinstall on the laptop and also get that to run games via Steam-In-home streaming as well. I could also get the laptop an SSD to give it more of a boost. Then I’d have a configurable desktop, an improved laptop (I could keep some of the retro games on it for the road) and a 3ds XL. And be endlessly happy.

Onto the template.

1. What is your budget?
Could I get by with €700? I’ve kids to feed! I could probably get a bit more together in a few weeks, but this is my more short-term budget. Seems wrong when I recall that I spent €1.5 k on a desktop and €2k on a laptop almost 10 years ago.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/HTPC]
Mainly gaming on living room tv. As I said above, none of my current games are likely to challenge anything current gen. I’d be thinking about GTA 5, Witcher 3, No Mans Sky, South Park, Dark Souls 2, that sort of thing.
HTPC is a more ill-defined thought of mine. I could probably run Netflix via this more easily. Skype. General media files. I have a separate satellite line which I could run through it.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows?
Yes.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] (If possible state brand and model of the parts to ensure compatibility)
No. I’ve only one former elderly laptop around to cannibalise. And I’d imagine that’s useless, apart from 500GB of storage. Bloody thing cost me 2k!

5. Do you need a monitor?
No. Hoping to use the tv.

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

Card reader would be nice. I might look at putting in a Blu-ray player, as I don’t have one otherwise. ( Maybe a DVB-S2 card for freesat?)

7. Are you willing to try overclocking?
No.

8. How can you pay?
Credit card.

9. When are you purchasing?
Next month.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based?
To quote Abe Simpson, “I used to be with it, but then they changed what "it" was. Now, what I'm with isn't it, and what's "it" seems weird and scary to me.” But I’ve done this over a decade ago, I’ll give it a lash.


I was particularly intrigued by a combination of the ideas in the following threads;

(Similar request to mine, but from early 2013)

(Creating a laptop version of PS4/Xbox One, light weight gaming design,possibility of gaming on the move)

(Interactivity with laptop, using Steam)

All ideas and input gratefully received. And if i'm making idiotic assumptions, please point that out!

IrishMetalhead

If your after a wireless keyboard/mouse your better off just getting one in Argos or somewhere however wireless keyboards and mice are terrible for gaming:

Item|Price
8GB-Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9|€65.23
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€49.81
BitFenix Merc Beta|€33.05
Super Flower Amazon 80Plus Bronze Netzteil - 550 Watt|€53.25
AMD FX-8320 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€123.40
Sapphire R9 270X Dual-X OC Boost Lite Retail, AMD Radeon R9 270X, 2GB DDR5|€164.31
Gigabyte GA-970-UD3P, AMD 970, AM3+, ATX|€76.64
Edimax N300 2T2R Wireless PCI Adapter with 2x 3dBi detachable Antennas|€14.99
LiteOn iHOS104-08|€39.19
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.99
Windows 8.1 64Bit Eng Intl (SB-Version) DVD|€86.72
Shipping|€11.99
Total|€722.57

druss

Thanks for your advice. Very much appreciated!

I notice that the Sapphire Dual-X Radeon R9 270X OC 2GB dropped on Amazon to what should be circa €150, but it is also down to €157 on hardwareversand. And, after Amazon currency conversion tries to kill me, it looks like it would work out much the same.

However it seems that the package might now work out slightly cheaper when i cart it up, which is good news! If that is how it works out, and if i source Windows elsewhere, is my next best upgrade to chuck in an SSD?

I presume an SSD would have more impact than beefing up the graphics card, which would be better than beefing up the processor, which would be better than more RAM?

IrishMetalhead

Either and SSD or a graphics upgrade would be the best way to go, I'd go with a SSD since it makes everything alot quicker and responsive, here's probably the best bang for your buck SSD out there since the performance is solid and has a low € per GB:

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Solid-State-Disk/169179/Crucial+MX100+SSD+256GB+%282%2C5%2C+7mm%29.article

BTW the total might of been lower then quoted because they don't slap the shipping cost on till you go to order

druss

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

Either and SSD or a graphics upgrade would be the best way to go, I'd go with a SSD since it makes everything alot quicker and responsive, here's probably the best bang for your buck SSD out there since the performance is solid and has a low € per GB:

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Solid-State-Disk/169179/Crucial+MX100+SSD+256GB+%282%2C5%2C+7mm%29.article

BTW the total might of been lower then quoted because they don't slap the shipping cost on till you go to order

Great stuff. I'll have a look from the laptop later on. And then consult the credit card...:o

IrishMetalhead

Didn't relies you were planing on paying via credit card, hardwareversand only accept bank transfers, but the do take paypal as well but it costs an extra 3%

druss

Bank transfer can be done as well. Probably next week though.

SterlingArcher

Firstly use Geizhals.de

Run all your parts through.


Get the r9 270. Linked one below.
Forget the 270 x . The x is 20 Euro more than the 270 and the difference is fook all.


You can save a lot of money getting your windows on the cheap . Lots of treads on here about it. Think 15 euro. Legit.

That is 90 Euro saved. Now with tge savings from Geizhals you should shave 100 off that budget.


http://geizhals.de/asus-r9270-dc2oc-2gd5-directcu-ii-oc-90yv04x0-m0na00-a1031510.html

SterlingArcher

Do you really need the blue ray player. That will save 40 bucks.

Can get this WiFi USB.

http://geizhals.de/tp-link-tl-wn722n-a463865.html



Save a few more.

You can put these savings to an SSD. Can also swap out the mobo get a cheaper Intel one for 50 and put the 30 into an I5 CPU.

BloodBath

Go for the R9 280 imo. You can get the MSI Gaming version for €180 through geizhals for hwvs.

You should be able to overclock that by at least 20% as well with decent case airflow.

I'd go for a haswell i5 4460 over the FX-8320 as well. It's simply a better processor.

If you can't squeeze a dedicated ssd into the budget you should grab a seagate desktop 1TB sshd hybrid drive instead of a separate ssd + hdd combo. That saves €35.

I'd go for something like this. Still needs a keyboard, windows and a blue-ray drive if you want one. Case comes in 9 colors.

You could save another €30 going for the cheaper Cooler Master N200 case if you wanted. A further €19 if you drop the cpu cooler and stick with the stock intel one if you want.

-edit- Forgot you wanted wireless mouse + keyboard. Just grab that on Amazon.

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-4460 in-a-Box|€148.89
ASRock H81M-HDS, Sockel 1150, mATX|€39.41
MSI R9 280 GAMING 3G, AMD Radeon R9 280, 3GB DDR5|€183.16
8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1333, CL9-9-9-24|€58.60
AeroCool DS Red Edition mit Fenster, mATX, ohne Netzteil|€64.28
Corsair VS Serie VS550, Non-Modular, 80+|€40.48
Crucial M500 120GB SATA 6GB/s 6,4CM (2,5") 7mm|€56.44
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€44.77
TP-LINK TL-WN881ND Netzwerkkarte/-adapter|€11.38
Sharkoon FireGlider Optical|€15.40
Sharkoon Fire Glider Gaming Mat|€7.50
Scythe Katana 3, nur für Intel-CPUs|€18.86
Shipping|€11.99
Total|€701.16

druss

Thanks all. More things to ponder!

I applied the geizhals reductions and the availability of cheaper versions of Windows. So that brought the AMD FX version specced by IrishMetalhead in with a SSD at under €700.

I thought it was argued (elsewhere on here) that the i5s payoff tended to be less important if you were primarily gaming? I like the graphics card improvement suggested as well though Bloodbath.

Still keen to hang onto the blu-ray, as i don't have one elsewhere, but it's less than important in the overall scheme of things.

druss

Just to update on this, I'm changing jobs (and moving to mainland europe!) in the next while so I've decided to wait a bit. I don't want to be moving and still sweating on deliveries.

My budget should go up a bit but i'll probably put that into a dedicated monitor.

Anyway, thanks one and all and I may re-bump this thread in a month or so!

druss

Ok, so I moved abroad and for a few months cash was temporarily resting in other accounts and tied up in buying more practical (according to other people!) home stuff.

But I'm back to this again. Two things, budget is gone up and my new place is making me completely reconsider the "gaming on living room tv" concept I started off with. I have a desk in the living room, and the tv can do its thing elsewhere.. I do have another tv, but I may put some of the extra cash I've set aside into a a proper widescreen monitor. Open to suggestions as to what that might be, but for a combination of gaming and Netflix/media. I'd consider Qnix or the like, if anyone has any decent recommendations.

I also think i'll install a S2 satellite card into the pc it as well, so I can switch on MOTD while Disney reigns elsewhere in the room. I've also junked the idea of buying wireless keyboard and mouse and a bog standard Razer set is enroute from Uk.

If buying in Europe, I can claim tax back (which might make a difference in whether to buy a Korean monitor or not). Amazon are more straight forward about returning cash than hardwareversand, but the price factor is still pointing me down the traditional route.

If I've understood correctly points made on other threads, there isn't a huge gaming benefit in going from 970 to 980 in graphics cards, or into the 4th gen i7 range, or getting 16gb ram. That being the case, I specced the following as a new starting point. The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 is out of stock again. I did run the prices through Geizhals, but the prices reverted overnight.

I threw more at the SSD and I put in 16GB for the hell of it. That should come to around €1390, which I will have to pay up front, but will come down to closer to €1100 after the refund. And maybe another €400 or so to throw at a monitor?

LG BH16NS40 Blu-ray Brenner Retail
ready for dispatch
67,91 €



Scythe Katana 4, für alle Sockel geeignet
ready for dispatch
22,35 €

Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150
ready for dispatch
216,30 €

Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97, Sockel 1150, ATX
Delivery date unknown
138,59 €

Cooler Master CM 690 III grün mit Sichtfenster, ohne Netzteil
ready for dispatch
91,95 €

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming, 4GB GDDR5
Delivery date unknown
359,90 €

be quiet! Pure Power L8 CM 630 Watt
ready for dispatch
80,55 €

WD Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s
ready for dispatch
74,19 €

Crucial MX100 SSD 512GB (2,5", 7mm)
ready for dispatch
179,99 €

16GB-Kit Team Group Xtreem Series White, DDR3-2133, CL11
ready for dispatch (only 1 article)

Ideally i'd like to keep to around that budget, but I can spend more in other areas if there is a clear benefit. Again, all obs welcomed!