discussion Building a gaming pc

[AlanG]

Right i'm after some advice as to what components to get for a gaming pc. My pc has finally died and whilst it was ok for playing some games on it, it has become outdated and will not play the most modern games.

I have about £800 to spend and have been told not to go to a company that has pre-built ones as they are not value for money. So i'll be (hopefully) getting someone to build one for me. I have always used AMD processors so tend to lean towards compatable stuff for that.

Sort of games that i play are Counter-Strike Source, IL2 and Warbirds Online

Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

£800 good god,get yourself a reconditioned ALIENWARE pc by dell

mobear

 

[AlanG]

Thought Alienware stuff was overpriced? Or so i've been led to believe

 

[Guest]

never ever,yes you pay for name but their stuff is stuff of legend

and never breaks down

mobear

 

[Guest]

or find intel 775 Q6600 processor,then motherboard by asus and ddr3 ram one ssd say 64gig and 1 terabit hdd serial ata,any overclocked BFG GAMERS card

mobear

 

[Guest]

alienware is overpriced compared to other units that can perform the same tasks.

you can pick up fantastic deals on gumtree etc.

we just picked up a duel core 3ghz, 4gb ram, 250gb hdd. 512mb graphics for 150 quid.

for 800 you could get a cracking machine.

 

[Guest]

twin graphics if 1 goes youve had your chips,and alot of them do give way

mobear

 

[AlanG]

Wish i had some idea what you are all on about lol.

Things have changed so much since i last got a pc.

 

[Guest]

Alienware have a look at this

mobear

 

[Ian M]

Well I would suggest that you had an ask round on some of the gamer forums. If I was after a gamer PC I think I would look into an off the shelf one. These days anything new and with all the knobs and whistles can't be far off the mark.

Avoid a huge processor and loads of ram then a piddley little graphics card. Big fast processor, loads of fast ram and the biggest fastest most ram filled graphics card.

I would suggest avoiding over-clocked mother boards. First they are being over worked and will at some point fry. Second there is no real need for it these days. You can get a processor that is faster than you can shake a stick at. Another important thing is cooling. Fast powerful PC's make loads of heat and you will need to get rid of it as well and as quietly as you can.

Ian M

 

[AlanG]

ok. These are the ones i'm looking at. Can someone give me the pros and cons of them please. And do you think they are value for money?

Hex - X6 Gaming PC | AMD FX PCs | Gaming Computers, Gaming PCs & Custom PC desktop base units – UKGC

Alienware X51 Desktop

Ultra Scylla

Weekly Sales III

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/view/Fusion-650-gaming-pc/

http://uk-gaming-pcs.co.uk/6441-evo-ds02-water-cooled-gaming-pc.html

 

[Guest]

to be honest off the shelf stuff now does the trick, even modern laptops are well capable (so long as they have dedicated graphics).

But as with everything, if you want something mind blowing then be prepared to pay heavily for it

£800 will get you a decent all round machine (if you are buying new), look for a good balance of memory, processor, graphics... alot of companies boast of huge processor but then have crap graphics etc.

The new Icore processors seem canny too.

Personal experience & machine says that alot of new gear whilst being good is still somewhat over-rated... or rather not used to its potential.

I make games for a living, when working self employed last-year I was using a Dell XPS720 running 8gb ram, 500gb harddrive, 8800gtx nividia graphics, quadcore processor. I still use it at home, and to be honest it still keeps up with all modern games at a good framerate.

I wouldnt want to say one way or the other, because people have different requirements & prefs with PC's. personally im a Dell fan, although lately they have become hard to haggle with, and the 800quid would go further building your own PC

-EDIT

just saw your links above,

I would avoid AMD processors. (ive always had nothing but bad experiences with them)

aim for Nividia graphics when possible... (again, just personal pref & experience)

the Alienware one for £999 seems very tasty, but again that money could probably buy more in parts etc.

 

[geegad]

I've read these threads sorry to go off the Mark some what allyne..but I'm in the Market for a new pc and I was looking at an I mac what you're thought on you lot know what your onabout I ain't got a clue..cheers allyne we both need help aaarrrrr!!!!

 

[John]

If you want to play games what about an xbox or ps3?

I spent a couple of grand on a top notch desktop pc a few years back it's got quad core cpu, 2x 1GB Nvidia GT9600 graphics cards, 4TB of hard drives and 16GB ram, the only thing the ever get's loaded up now is firefox, but got a ps3 at xmas and love it

 

[AlanG]

Can't play most of my games that i like on the consoles John

 

[Guest]

http://uk-gaming-pcs.co.uk/6441-evo-...gaming-pc.html this one is very quiet and runs chilled all day long

mobear

 

[Andy2035]

If your after building your own check these out for parts, I've used them with no problems...

Overclockers UK - Computer components, hardware & gaming PC

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/

Everyone has their own personal favourites and hates, it'll be a case of trawling through and trying to pick out which would best suit your needs...

Sorry I could be of more help...

 

[Guest]

Allyne,

I'm not sure I believe that value for money argument, I spent years building custom/gaming PC's and I could never build one cheaper than the specialist manufacturers.

It's true some of the big boys charge a premium for mediocre pc's, but the smaller box builders offer fantastic value for money.

Have a look here:-

Gaming PCs and Gaming Computers from Novatech

Novatech have always had a decent reputation and the pricing is compettitive.

Scan have a fantastic reputation, and you can specify just about anything,

3XS - Gaming PCs & Systems

Hope that helps.

Gary.

 

[Guest]

If you have an old machine, perhaps you could use parts from that to save costs. Cast, hard disk etc.

Generally speaking i have stuck with Asus for motherboards and they have proven a good buy. You could get a decent quad core intel cpu/mobo for about £300. 8GB of ram for about £80 (depending on mobo you choose) and then its all about the GPU. Not had many issues with Nvidia myself so depends who you go through that re-brands it. I think my last one was XFX and that worked a treat. GPU could be a few hundred but you dont need the latest and greatest. I managed to run 2 instances of wow nicely with 100fps with a rig i got a couple of years ago. If you have money left over you could look to upgrade to things like SATA3 or SSD etc but you might not see as much bang for your buck. Having said that, SSD 3 is supposed to be awesome.

If you arent familiar with putting your pc together then just make sure that the technologies match. So, the pin on the cpu match the pins on the motherboard. Make sure the GPU connection is available on the motherboard and the memory speed matches the motherboard.

Prices are rough as they do tent to change a lot depending on what you want and when you want it. hope it helps is it a minefield sometimes.

 

[Guest]

When I last built a gaming rig from scratch (about 4 years ago), I based it on the then PC Gamer rig, with a couple of changes. Their current set-up still looks a reasonable place to start.

The PC Gamer Rig: New CPUs, motherboards and more | PC Gamer