Let's make a gaming PC - The Bear and Badger

vicinity_of_pie

Mod, this might be a bit obvious but I forgot to mention it earlier, do you have a dvd drive lying about? If not you'll probably wanna add one of those to the list. Perhaps even a bluray drive for maximum future proofage.

Mod74

I kinda figured I wouldn't need one. And push come to shove I think I can share a drive from another networked PC can't I?

One rather obvious thing I have missed is fan/cooling.

vicinity_of_pie

I'd put a dvd drive in at least anyway, though you might not use it much they're very cheap and handy to have especially for a gaming machine, and it will make the install much easier.

I think the case you have selected might have fans included anyway. Overheating shouldn't be too much trouble with that case anyway.

edit: it has three.

regmcfly

I'm putting a BD drive into my next PC just so if Mrs Reg or I wish to watch something while the other is gaming, there's an option.

Kow

I have a bd drive too but I discovered after that my monitor doesn't have a hdmi port.

Mod74

vicinity_of_pie wrote:

I think the case you have selected might have fans included anyway. Overheating shouldn't be too much trouble with that case anyway. edit: it has three.

I meant the one you clamp to the top of the CPU. Is the bolt on fan type OK or should I be looking at one of these liquid jobbies?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/corsair-h100-hydro-series-extreme-performance-cpu-cooler-s775-1155-1156-1366-2011-am2-am3

vicinity_of_pie

Oh right, the one the cpu comes with should be fine. I'd only bother with buying a seperate cpu cooler if you run into heating problem (you shouldn't) or if you intend to overclock (I expect you wouldn't need to).

M0stly harm13ss

Mod, as well as that Neogaf thread linked earlier, Rock, Paper, Shotgun have also been doing a few articles that might help?

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/hard-choices/

Birdorf

If anyone can point me to a site that recommends the best components for a sub Â£300 'beast' it would be much appreciated.

Mod74

Me again. I'll have a look at that Mostly.

Right, I've realised I've got a PC upstairs I bought a couple of years ago that might be able to serve as a starting point instead of buying everything brand new.

I don't know if a GTX670 will fit in it though. The mobo looks like this

And the red port is circa 90mm long.

Also the PSU only puts out 200 odd watts, so I assume that needs replacing.

The CPU is a Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 so whilst no stellar it might be OK?

6GB of DDR2 RAM

Any thoughts?

Nexx

Do not waste money by putting a Â£300 graphics card into that computer. Â That motherboard and CPU will throttle the performance of the graphics card.

Buy a good motherboard & CPU combo and an average graphics card.

Mod74

Right.

So for the sake of a case and an OS I may as well build a whole new one huh.

What would you say was an average graphics card?

Kow

I have gtx580 and it runs absolutely everything with all frills on.

Nexx

Something like aÂ GTX 560 Ti is decent and can be had for less that Â£150.

Mod74

Kow wrote:

I have gtx580 and it runs absolutely everything with all frills on.

That's a Â£300 card!

Kow

You mentioned gtx670 above, which I presume is more expensive?

Mod74

Kow wrote:

You mentioned gtx670 above, which I presume is more expensive?

Nah, not really, they start at Â£300 for a 2GB version on Scan. Not looked elsewhere.

Mod74

Couple of quick questions.

Are we definitely sure the fan/cooler that comes bolted to the CPU is adequate for the task. I'm guessing Intel don't supply it with something that isn't, so I'm wondering where the need for a different fan/cooler comes in? Scare stories and marketing bullshit?

Will all the parts come with all the cables needed to connect to each other?

Kow

I've always had to pay for the fanÂ separately. I presumed it was because the cpu doesn't actually come with a fan.

Mod74

There's two options

http://www.scan.co.uk/search.aspx?q=3570K

An OEM that doesn't have a fan, or a Retail for ten quid more that does have a fan.

Scotswahey

I don't know if this is true or not. I was told that you should only use an SSD for booting off and use a traditional HDD for storing all your films etc on. SSD's arent designed to be used in that way so will wear out quicker.

Is this bullshit?

Nexx

The stock fan and heatsink will be fine. Â After market CPU fans are used to reduce noise and/or increase cooling if you're planning to overclock. Â K series CPUs are overclockable so if you are planning to do so you will need a better fan (and you'll also need a overclocking compatible motherboard).

Scotswahey wrote:

I don't know if this is true or not. I was told that you should only use an SSD for booting off and use a traditional HDD for storing all your films etc on. SSD's arent designed to be used in that way so will wear out quicker. Is this bullshit?

This is bullshit.

Mod74

Cheers Nexx,

Here's the motherboard I have in the basket

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p8z77-v-lx-intel-z77-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-dvi-d-hdmi-d-sub-(vga)-

From what I can gather it has some overclocking capability but not as much as the dearer models.

adored

I find this thread almost as entertaining as the Builders Shed thread, despite not having a clue about anything contained within either of them.

I don't even know what overclocking is.

Curtis

Is it possible to make a decent rig for around Â£500-600 if 1080p isn't an issue?

vicinity_of_pie

Nexx wrote:

The stock fan and heatsink will be fine. Â After market CPU fans are used to reduce noise and/or increase cooling if you're planning to overclock. Â K series CPUs are overclockable so if you are planning to do so you will need a better fan (and you'll also need a overclocking compatible motherboard).

I don't know if this is true or not. I was told that you should only use an SSD for booting off and use a traditional HDD for storing all your films etc on. SSD's arent designed to be used in that way so will wear out quicker. Is this bullshit?

This is bullshit.

This isn't [strictly] bullshit, ssds have a finite life and you don't need the fast access times for stuff like movies, combined with the cost/size ratio (especially before the last few months) of ssds means you should only use it for really important stuff.

Kow

Bigger fans for the cpu only cost a couple of quid, I reckon they're worth having if you're going to be doing anything vaguely processor intensive ie gaming.

Nexx

Curtis wrote:

Is it possible to make a decent rig for around Â£500-600 if 1080p isn't an issue?

Resolution will depend on what you're planning to play/run but you can easily build a decent PC in that price range (some games will run at 1080p, others wont). Â Specs would probably be quite similar to what Mod is building:

CPU - Intel i5 3570k
MB: P8Z77-V
Gfx: GTX 560 Ti

Those would be your core and would come to around Â£450ish (Im guessing there...). Â And then you would spend whatever you have left over on RAM, case, power supply & HDD (sounds like a lot of components but none are too pricey). Â 8gigs of RAM is what, Â£40? Â Won't need more than Â£50 on a HDD. Â I'd recommend getting a decent power supply, you'll probably need around 600-650w so around Â£50-60. Â Case is just personal preference, Ebuyer do some real budget ones for like Â£20.

I'm assuming here that you already have a keyboard, monitor etc.

beano

Kow wrote:

Bigger fans for the cpu only cost a couple of quid, I reckon they're worth having if you're going to be doing anything vaguely processor intensive ie gaming.

Or simply leaving your computer on doing whatever it is you have your computer doing when you're not near it. Contributing to a botnet, things like that.

three1ne

Have you got mouse, keyboard and cables sorted @mod? I built a pc the other month and completely forgot about a keyboard.

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