PC for bf3

Mrdata.

1. What is your budget?
600-700 roughly and maybe 200 or so for monitor/speakers

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?
Gaming mainly, BF3 for now but would like to be able to have the option to upgrade components for newer games in a year or two if its possible at this budget.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows?
Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
Logitech wireless mouse that is all.

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes . Not sure on size. I think 22" would be fine. Would like a larger screen but price and distance from screen could be an issue.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals?
A nice keyboard and decent speakers, nothing to pricey as I have headphones already.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking?
Yes if it is not to complicated or risky.

8. How can you pay?
Laser. Do not have credit card. What options are available for hardwareversand? Is it credit card only?

9. When are you purchasing?
Next week or two hopefully so I can have it for BF3

10. If you need help building it, where are you based?
Based in Galway but I read somewhere that hardwareversand will build the pc for you? Will they install every component and windows if i chose this option?

Also looking to sell my current laptop. Any idea how much I could get for it?

http://techfreakz.com/computers/laptops/hp-pavilion-dv7-4050ea-multimedia-laptop-with-amd/

HP Pavilion dv7
Phenom II p920 quad core @ 1.6ghz
4 gb ram
500 gig harddisk
Radeon HD 5650 1 gig ddr3 ram
17.3 screen

Thanks for the help.
Data

deconduo

Can you pay by bank transfer? Thats the only way that HWVS take payment. Assuming you can then here you go:

Total build cost: €791.52 + €30 shipping
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9 €33.65
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) €47.24
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €16.22
ASUS EAH6950 DCII /2DI4S/1GD5, AMD Radeon HD 6950, 1GB, PCI- Express €221.88
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W €52.04
BenQ G2220HD €107.08
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (SB-Version) €75.54
Xigmatek Asgard, ATX, ohne Netzteil, schwarz €32.63
Intel Core i5-2400 Box, LGA1155 €158.33
ASRock H61M-VS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX €46.91

Left out the speakers and keyboard for now. You don't want a keyboard from them as it will be in a german layout and I don't know much about speakers to tell you whats good or bad.

They will put it together for you for €20 if you add this to your cart:
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=746&agid=829

You'll need to install windows yourself though. Thats the German version of windows with it, so you'll want to download and burn the English version to a DVD from here and use that. Its only the license you're paying for really.

Mrdata.

Thanks for the build. I think I will be able to sort out a bank transfer. Cant believe that price includes a monitor:)
One question regarding the processor -
Seen the 2500k listed in other builds, is there much difference between it and the 2400? I could stretch the budget more if it is worth it. Can it be overclocked or would that mean more expensive psu and case etc?

Thanks
Data

deconduo

Mrdata. wrote: »

Thanks for the build. I think I will be able to sort out a bank transfer. Cant believe that price includes a monitor:)
One question regarding the processor -
Seen the 2500k listed in other builds, is there much difference between it and the 2400? I could stretch the budget more if it is worth it. Can it be overclocked or would that mean more expensive psu and case etc?

Thanks
Data

You'd need a P67 motherboard. Overall it works out at about €70 more, and yes it is worth it. You want to swap the motherboard and CPU for these:

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €182.69
ASRock P67 Pro3 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX €87.71

Mrdata.

Just a couple of more questions lads if you dont mind. Had a quick look through dabs.ie and not sure if I am looking at the exact same components but some seem slightly cheaper/expensive. eg 6870 for 194 euro. Not sure if that is a better card than 6950?
Would dabs work out much more expensive than the German site?
If it was close to the same price I would prefer to give my money to/deal with and Irish company.
I tried to do up a build like above but I am not 100% sure if I am picking the right motherboard/is graphics card the same etc.

Thanks
Data

Mrdata.

Also could anyone tell me would the 30 for delivery also cover the monitor in this build from hardwareversand? Is 30 the only charge im looking at for all these components and monitor?

Data

Monotype

6870 is one step below the 6950.
A 6870 can be had for €150 on HWV.
Dabs can have some good prices but you won't find a good PSU lineup like the amazons for that price. Last time I looked on there, you had to spend about €70 to get the good PSUs.

Dabs in an English company, BTW. Irish VAT though. The main Irish ones would be elara (good service but expensive) and memoryc (good service and prices for RAM). Komplett.ie is semi-Irish, employing people here although I think the main owners are Dutch.

€30 is for everything.

Mrdata.

Ok I think il stick with the hardwareversand build. Thanks for all the info.
Now the wait for BF3 begins

Data

Mrdata.

Just wondering if this ready made machine is the same as the build above or am I missing something?
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49450&agid=1725

Would the their pre build machines have windows installed?

Thanks
Data

Monotype

Better CPU
Better motherboard
Slightly better case
RAM is a little faster and there's twice the amount

Worse PSU
No OS
Worse hard drive
No screen

Overall, I think you'd be worse off with that build as it doesn't include a screen or OS. Things like 16GB of RAM are really there to make it look good as it's so cheap at the moment but that much RAM is completely unnecessary.
If you get the upgrades recommended by deconduo in post #4, you'll get the best of both worlds.

MagicSean

You can pay hardwarevers by paypal. There's a 3% charge thogh. My payment was accepted within the hour.

Mrdata.

Ok thanks for the info guys. I will stick with the first build and the I5 2500k.

Mrdata.

PC arrived today. Set it up and downloaded the file from the link above. Burned it on to a dvd rw. When i start up the pc and put the disc in the drive it does nothing?. It asks me to install boot media and the drive spins up. Can anyone help?

Thanks
Data

Monotype

Did you change the boot order so that the DVD drive was higher?

Mrdata.

I set to boot from dvd drive from the options. It was the only thing available . Should the harddrive be there as an option aswell?
Reboot and select proper boot device or insert bootmedia in selected boot device is the message I receive.I press a key and the drive spins up and then the message appears again.
I burned the iso to two different dvdrw discs aswell.
Any ideas?

Skalragg

get the sapphire 6950 2gb dirt3 edt faster than one listed,flashable and same price

Mrdata.

What? Anyway i checked and the harddrive had no power cable connected. The pc now gives me the option to boot from harddrive or dvd. Dvd set to number 1 and it still gives me no boot media?

Monotype

The hard drive and DVD drives should be there as options in the BIOS menu. Did you get them to build it or did you do it yourself? It could be a loose cable to the DVD drive. It sounds like it's getting power but the SATA cable to the motherboard might be loose or dodgy.

Have you got a large USB flash drive that you could try it on?

Serephucus

Try disabling all your other boot devices. I've had something similar happen to me in the past, and that's fixed it. Don't ask me why it works.

Mrdata.

I got them to build it for me. Yes it gives me both options. The harddrive and the dvd are both listed and ive set the dvd for first boot device. I also tested the dvd drive with a disc that i got with the motherboard and that spins up and gives me other options. Could it be a case that the dvd drive just wont recongise the dvd rw discs? What do you mean disable the device? Disable the harddrive and the dvd drive and then do what?

Thanks
Data

Serephucus

I meant:

Set DVD drive as first boot device.
Set second boot device to "None".
Set third boot device to "None".
Set Nth boot device to "None".

Odds are though that if it can read other disks that's not the case. I've never tried burning Windows to a rewritable disk. I know it'll work with DVD+Rs as I used one to install Win8 the other day, but other than that I'm not sure.

Mrdata.

I will get some dvd-rs tomorrow and try them out as the dvd drive seems to be working but the it does not see the dvd rw disc. I dont have a flash drive that size. I have a portable harddrive with usb connection. Could I install the downloaded file to it and hook that up?

Serephucus

No, but you could probably use the USB HDD for the same thing as Monotype was thinking. Plug it in and see if it's detected by your BIOS first-off.

If it is, have a look here.

Mrdata.

I burned the iso for windows from the link in an earlier post on to two different discs dvdr and dvdrw and the pc will not recognize either. I also extracted the iso and put them files on to two different discs and still nothing.
I then put in the german windows 7 64bit disc that came with the pc and that works right away??
Ive put the discs back in the laptop drive after burning them and the files are on the disc. Is there certain software I need to burn the files or is there a specific way of doing it?

Thanks
Data

Serephucus

Download ImgBurn. Then select Burn ISO to Disc.

What I think has happened is that you haven't burnt a bootable disk.

Skerries

yes sounds like you didn't make it bootable alright
imgburn is very good and i also use isorecorder as i can right click on any file and make it an iso

Mrdata.

Ya that sorted it thanks lads. I did not burn the disc correctly. Only trouble is now that i forgot to get them to put in a wireless pci card. Got one cheap in maplin and it is able to connect but it just says no internet access. Would cheap pci cards have issues with windows 7 64 bit?

Serephucus

They shouldn't. If it can connect to your network, it's working. I've found with new cards though that for some reason it can take a few minutes for it to work properly the first time round. If not, try a restart or something? Wireless cards are just plain picky, in my experience.