Best Gaming Pc

tech

I have a friend who is looking for a decent gaming pc, I have looked at the dell Alienware pc's and these are very expensive €1100 starting with only 3 gig ram and no screen.

Where else can i get a decent spec games pc?

Thanks

Solitaire

By building it yourself?

tech

true!!

whats the best board, cpu, Video card, case, PSU, ram, Sound card so then?

Solitaire

Quantify "best"

"best" can be a couple of grand. Or several grand. Or tens of thousands if you start sticking peltier systems on multi-CPU systems with 3-4 high-end GPUs and 24GB DDR3

"best" is a statement that has to be followed by a set budget in this game!

tech

point taken, budget would be about 1200

Solitaire

From your above statement I'm guessing you need a monitor inside that? What about operating system?

tech

yes both would be required

tech

these are the games he wants to play

Age Of Empire

Special Forces Edition
Empire Total War

Dublin_Gunner

tech wrote: »

these are the games he wants to play

Age Of Empire

Special Forces Edition
Empire Total War

Well, none of those is particularly taxing for a modern GFX card.

But for a start, I'd probably go with a Phenom II x6, decent AM3 board, 4GB ram (min), and a HD5870 or maybe a GTX470/480, a decent 24" screen, good case, good strong PSU (800W+ for upgradeability).

I know I'm not being specific there on parts, I'm just about to head to bed!

I'm sure someone else will chime in and select specific parts for the machine!

In fairness, you could probably build a machine for <€600 with everything included that would run those games maxed out, so they're sort of irrelevant for a build with a budget of €1200.

Why Should I

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

I'd probably go with a Phenom II x6, decent AM3 board, 4GB ram (min), and a HD5870 or maybe a GTX470/480, a decent 24" screen, good case, good strong PSU (800W+ for upgradeability).

Don't buy a 5870. Get a 5850Vap/Toxic for less and flash Firmware/Overclock it.

Its cheaper and runs better then a stock 5870.

Also you could put a gaming rig together for as little as 500 euro that would play most if not all games in mid-Hi settings (Depending on the rez)

tech

Im looking at this pc foe him

DEll Alienware Aurora

Intel Core i1 530 2.93 $MB CAche
Win 7 64bit
1 gig ATI HD5670 Video
8 gig RAM 1333mhz ( 4x2gig)
750gig hdd 16mb databurst
21.5" Alien ware sw2210 1920x1080
Soundblaster xfi Titanium PCIe

€1657 inc VAT

Why Should I

tech wrote: »

Im looking at this pc foe him

DEll Alienware Aurora

Intel Core i1 530 2.93 $MB CAche
Win 7 64bit
1 gig ATI HD5670 Video
8 gig RAM 1333mhz ( 4x2gig)
750gig hdd 16mb databurst
21.5" Alien ware sw2210 1920x1080
Soundblaster xfi Titanium PCIe

€1657 inc VAT

Personally i wouldnt, It is overpriced and you could make a much better PC for less.

All pre-built PC are a good 30% overpriced if not more.



You need to sit down with a pen and paper. Think about what you want the system to do. Then with that information you can pick, The best

CPU ( i5 or i7 )
Mobo ( p55 or x58 )
RAM ( Duel channel or triple channel DDR3 )
GPU ( ATI 5850 is your best bet for a budget buy- get a second one down the road )
PSU ( 600wat - 750Watt for crossfire )
SDD/HDD ( get a 64GB SSD for OS+Games and a 1TB for storage )
misc etc ( sound cards, mice, keyboard, Monitor etc )

tech

i know, but the guy who want it is big into games, I dont want anything to do with a build if it starts acting up

What kinda of part would you put together if you were to do a self build case, psu , video, baord, cpu, ram ??

Thanks

Why Should I

tech wrote: »

i know, but the guy who want it is big into games, I dont want anything to do with a build if it starts acting up

What kinda of part would you put together if you were to do a self build case, psu , video, baord, cpu, ram ??

Thanks

I edited my post above!

tech

Ok I have looked at the following bits of hardware

Memory

http://www.dabs.ie/products/corsair-memory-8gb--4x2gb--ddr3-240-pin-dimm-1333mhz-unbuffered-6KBQ.html?refs=4294951128-4294953558

Board

http://www.dabs.ie/products/gigabyte-s1156-intel-p55-atx-ddr3-a-l-69H6.html

CPU

http://www.dabs.ie/products/intel-core-i5-750s-2-4ghz-8mb-socket-1156-low-voltage-7064.html

Why Should I

Personally i think you should go with a i7/x58 platform,

Maybe the i7 930
X58 mobo SATA 3 or SATA 2
Get 6Gb of DDR3(tripleChannel)

Something along them lines, Overclock it to 4ghz for 24/7 usage with one of the ACL's

Dublin_Gunner

Why Should I wrote: »

Don't buy a 5870. Get a 5850Vap/Toxic for less and flash Firmware/Overclock it.

Its cheaper and runs better then a stock 5870.

Also you could put a gaming rig together for as little as 500 euro that would play most if not all games in mid-Hi settings (Depending on the rez)

Suggesting to get a 5850 and flashing it when there is well enough room in the budget for a 5870 is ridiculous in fairness lol

And please post up a build including a decent screen and Win 7 for €500 that will play all modern games maxed out at at 1920x1080 lol

I wouldn't bother with an i5 - a Phenom is as fast if not faster for gaming, and costs less for 6 cores.

If going for an Intel build, it has to be i7 all the way, and a nice 24" screen or bigger, with a HD5870 or GTX470.

Bloody hell, that Alienware could be built for WELL under €1k (in fact you'd build a MUCH faster machine for well under a grand) - its a complete rip off.

Here's an idea of what I would build


These prices are on Komplett, but you WILL get them cheaper elsewhere (which should bring it well under the budget), just used this to show a complete build.
hardwareversand.de have great prices (generally better than komplett) - and they'll even put the machine together for you before shipping it. Plenty of lads here use them.

tech

Thanks for that Gunner, buy the time you have added a monitor to your spec there isint much in it?


he is also looking to play,
Napolean Total War and Medieval Total war

Dublin_Gunner

tech wrote: »

Thanks for that Gunner, buy the time you have added a monitor to your spec there isnt much in it?


he is also looking to play,
Napolean Total War and Medieval Total war

Bugger, I did choose a monitor, but for some reason it didn't go into the cart grr... it was about €150, 22" LG Wide screen.

Isn't much in what though?

BTW - neither of those games are tough for todays cards either. Could easily replace the HD5870 for:

Asus HD5770 €139.65

Which would give the room for the monitor, and keep it under €1200.

Its a pretty decent card, equivalent in performance to a last gen HD4870 or thereabouts, but has DX11, and uses less power.

It would be well more than enough grunt to play any of the games you've listed.

I could put together a much cheaper machine that would easily max out those games, but was trying to stick as close to the budget as possible for future proofability.

It would be MUCH faster than that alienware you linked to. Much faster.

Why Should I

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Suggesting to get a 5850 and flashing it when there is well enough room in the budget for a 5870 is ridiculous in fairness lol
.

This one statement shows you don't know wtf you are talking about! :rolleyes:

As i recommended, Go for the i7 930/x58 platform. get one of the 5850toxic or two if you have the money!

As for a monitor. Don't buy a cheap one, This is one of the most overlooked part of a gaming rig.

finding a good gaming monitor in budget is going to be the hardest part.

Anyways. Best of luck!


PS:: Think a head, There are going to be gaming coming out that you want to play, So plan for that.

Dublin_Gunner

Why Should I wrote: »

This one statement shows you don't know wtf you are talking about! :rolleyes:

As i recommended, Go for the i7 930/x58 platform. get one of the 5850toxic or two if you have the money!

As for a monitor. Don't buy a cheap one, This is one of the most overlooked part of a gaming rig.

finding a good gaming monitor in budget is going to be the hardest part.

Anyways. Best of luck!


PS:: Think a head, There are going to be gaming coming out that you want to play, So plan for that.

Yeah, 'cause I've only been building gaming rigs for about 15 years :rolleyes:

There is no sense buying a HD5850 over a HD5870 or GTX470 if the money is there. Especially if you're just going to flash it - and buy reading the OP's posts, I wouldn't be so sure that he's that proficient in that regard, and not willing to take the risk of possibly bricking his card.

1 common piece of sense I always tell people - buy the fastest single card solution you can afford, not a lower end dual card solution.

You can always add the the higher end card at a later date should funds become available.

Did you buy one of those 5850's - and that's why you're such an advocate?!


The most overlooked part of ANY gaming rig is the PSU, not the screen. IMO the screen, while important, comes WAY behind the main components of a rig, and therefore more time and money should be spent getting a good rig up and going.

For starters, and decent 22" with DVI/HDMI will suffice. Once again, you can always update the screen with little or no effort should you wish.

I would not chose an i7 930 over a Phenom II x6.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/phenom-ii-x6-1055t-1090t-review/16

I could provide many more links should you wish, but for gaming, the Phenom II x6 is as fast as the Core i7 980x.

So please, do not tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. Plus, the Phenom II platform is cheaper, and easier to keep everything well within the budget.


So please, keep your childish comments to yourself, and let those of us who know what we're doing advise the OP.

tech

now im confussed grrr

deceit

Tech, the spec by dublingunner is pretty good but for the sake of power usage I would replace the 470 with a 5870 and the nvidia cards are really power hungry. But both the Amd and intel chips 1090T/930 are really good chips, if you deal with media and compressing alot of videos etc the 1090T would be a better choice but if its soley for gaming the 930 pips it with the better overclockability and better in games at standard clocks. I have an i7930 for my gaming machine and my htpc will soon be based on a 1090T when delivered.

Dublin_Gunner

deceit wrote: »

Tech, the spec by dublingunner is pretty good but for the sake of power usage I would replace the 470 with a 5870 and the nvidia cards are really power hungry. But both the Amd and intel chips 1090T/930 are really good chips, if you deal with media and compressing alot of videos etc the 1090T would be a better choice but if its soley for gaming the 930 pips it with the better overclockability and better in games at standard clocks. I have an i7930 for my gaming machine and my htpc will soon be based on a 1090T when delivered.

I'd go with you on the HD5870 decision there alright. BUt on the CPU front, when gaming above 12x10 with modern game engines and gfx cards, there is pretty much no difference between most modern CPU's.

The Phenom II x6 is equivalent to an i7 980X in gaming at those resolutions, especially when we get up to 22" 19x10 territory and above.

Though in fairness, the i7 930 is pretty much on a par also. Comes down to price of the platform I suppose.

The i7's are fiendish overclockers though

farna_boy

tech wrote: »

now im confussed grrr

I don't blame you. To be fair though, Dublin_Gunner does know what he is talking about, and I would agree with everything he has said here.

Why Should I probably does have a point about flashing the graphics card and it would end up cheaper, provided you didn't break the graphics card.

Personally if I could afford it, I would go with the single 5870 card since you can always add a second of these which would further add to the performance.

Realistically though, for the games you listed, a 5770 would be more than enough, possibly even a 5750 but if the money is there now you are better off getting the best you can afford so you won't have to upgrade again for a longer time.

Power supplies are the most important part of the rig and is the one component that you should never cheap out on. Saying that though most people get carried away with power supplies, recommending 1200W PSU's for core i3 systems when 400W would probably do. The PSU for you is the one that was mentioned previously.

I have never been really too bothered about monitors to be honest and would struggle to find the difference between a €170 monitor and a €350 monitor. A possibly good idea would be go to a nearby electrical store and check out the monitors they have there to get an idea of what you want (and see if you can tell the difference). You will save a lot of money by buying a monitor (or any other pc component) online but sometimes its nice to see what you are getting (or similar) before you buy it.

As for the CPU, I can't really help you but people have been saying positive things about the six core AMD. How it stands up against the i7 though (especially for gaming) I don't know, but try and find some benchmarks and you will probably see fast enough.

deceit

But if you try games like wic there can be over 100fps inbetween both when overclocked (just bragging rights i suppose when over 60 though) but diff in dirt 2 would be about 25fps avg. I've just pulled out an old magazine to get these figures, a copy of pcformat. That was a 920 against it also. Can post a pic but would have to ask mods first if a pic from a mag is allowed. I prefer amd so whenever can justify getting one, will get it over intel. Looking forward to there new cpu lineup. At higher res in games like crysis its the graphics card that is the bottle neck so not really any use for comparing processors.

Jonny7

I read through these replies which are full of good advice, but might be a bit over original posters head, what with all the jargon.


If the original poster wants to build a PC for the first time, successfully install the ram, CPU, cooler, get all the cabling right, get it to boot, install an operating system, flash graphics cards, etc then fine, more than enough info here. Its great fun, good experience, but if you have no techie background then it can be a challenge.

Everyone here will tell you its simple, well I'll tell them that building up a full suspension mountain bike is simple .......... when you've done it before.

If you aren't afraid to order from Germany, then you can get a very good super fast system which will be cheap, you can even have it built for you and have an operating system installed on it for a small extra fee.

If you don't like any of the options and just want to order, then I think the best place is probably overclockers.co.uk - the exchange rate is killer now and they charge Irish VAT too, but they still work out MUCH better than ripoff dell alienware machines.

deceit

Jonny7 wrote: »

I read through these replies which are full of good advice, but might be a bit over original posters head, what with all the jargon.


If the original poster wants to build a PC for the first time, successfully install the ram, CPU, cooler, get all the cabling right, get it to boot, install an operating system, flash graphics cards, etc then fine, more than enough info here. Its great fun, good experience, but if you have no techie background then it can be a challenge.

Everyone here will tell you its simple, well I'll tell them that building up a full suspension mountain bike is simple .......... when you've done it before.

If you aren't afraid to order from Germany, then you can get a very good super fast system which will be cheap, you can even have it built for you and have an operating system installed on it for a small extra fee.

If you don't like any of the options and just want to order, then I think the best place is probably overclockers.co.uk - the exchange rate is killer now and they charge Irish VAT too, but they still work out MUCH better than ripoff dell alienware machines.

Yea hardwareversand is a good site to pick up a computer of your choice and have it built but you have to do bank transfer.
I'd never buy an alienware pc as crazy prices just for the name, much cheaper to build yourself or pay the likes of hardwareversand 30 to build up a computer in which you select parts.
You should decide what parts you want and what your budget is then look through sites like these for the best value:
www.hardwareversand.de
www.elara.ie
www.overclockers.co.uk
www.dabs.ie
www.ebuyer.co.uk
www.memoryc.ie
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/
http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODCATEGORYVIEWPAGE&USG=APPLICATION&ENT=APPLICATION&KEY=499134&utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=online&utm_content=GAMING_SERIES_DB&utm_campaign=desktop_box4
sometimes get some decent deals one on or two things in peats lately also
Its important to shop around when you figure out what you want as alot of sites/shops can have big veriances in price.
The only thing i'd use dell for is there screens which are decent.
Also if your friend happens to be a student
www.software4students.ie would be a good idea to get the software needed cheaper
Am sure theres loads of other sites you could look at also.
Heres a pc from hardwareversand, which is much more powerful than the alienware pc and a few hundred cheaper which includes win 7, 24" monitor, built and os installed, generic keyboard, mouse and speakers but they can always be altered

If you want a better card you should go with a 5850 or 5870 and switch the motherboard, cpu and ram with an amd setup but for the games you stated I think the card would be good enough.

Connavar

Sorry that this is a bit off topic but what kind of delivery time do www.hardwareversand.de have(including a custom build)?

Thanks

john111

Thought that id buy a PC fully built this time get the warranty etc. found a good site loads of options: http://www.buildyourbox.co.uk/

this is the PC i bought:

massy086

john111 wrote: »

Thought that id buy a PC fully built this time get the warranty etc. found a good site loads of options: http://www.buildyourbox.co.uk/

this is the PC i bought:

[IMG][/img]

or just have hv build you this for 800 much better build