Irrational desire for new PC

MagTuired

Lads, I'm suffering from a terrible affliction.

Lately I've been got this notion that I should buy a desktop gaming/multimedia machine - something shiny, with way more power than I actually need, fans and all sorts of do-dads I barely understand. I've even contemplated learning to build one.

Thing is...I have a fairly daycent laptop already that I've had for about a two years. It can run all the games I want to play and it's pretty shiny still - it's an Asus N56V, I7, 8GB Ram, 1TB memory and a NVIDA GeForce GT 650M graphics card. Now to be honest I'm a bit of a philistine so I really don't know how 'good' a machine it is, but it seems to do the trick.

But...lately whenever I see people's gaming builds online or pass and electronics store, I start thinking that perhaps I could get myself a machine that I can easily upgrade and which has some more 'future-proofing' potential. God knows if my laptop went suddenly I'd be fecked (I work on my laptop daily).

I thought I'd share my predicament - I'd say a few of you may know this dread curse I suffer from.

Also maybe you have some suggestions for self-build - something around the 600-1,000 euro mark. As far as specs...of course I want it to be fancier than my trusty laptop. Perhaps with a SSD - since that sounds fierce fancy. Anything that could last me a good few years (and look impressive). Think that's possible for that budget?

(I would seek out more technically minded friends to assist in building, of course)

Digital Solitude

Blow the laptop out of the water for €1000.

Do you need a monitor? What kind of games do you play?

MagTuired

I don't think I need a monitor, got one I plug into the laptop when I go home - isn't anything fancy but I'm not a snob. I also have a dacent Logitech mouse. Would get a wireless Logitech keyboard to go with it, I'd say.

Hah, blowing it out of the water, I like the sound of that! Would it be hard to do in the 500+ range?

Digital Solitude

Not so much, I forget the last €500 build I did exactly. It'd be better for gaming than the laptop, but running an i3 so other CPU intensive tasks would likely be slower.

imitation

Its a good spec laptop, but at the same time you'd be playing gta v on low-medium. Id say spend 900-1000 and get something that lasts, I think even about 500-600 would be an upgrade too

MagTuired

Ah, I see! I mainly use my computer for word-processing, admin type work. I will start dabbling in video-production this year - but nothing that I'd need a proper editing rig for.

Been getting more work lately, so I suppose the 1,000 Euro range isn't totally off limits for this year. So I would be all ears for ideas ye may have!

---
Edit:

Oh, and as far as the games I play - I have a small few games on Steam and such.

I mostly play RPGs, so I have lots of the classics, Baldurd's Gate and such. Also got myself Divinity: Original Sin. Do have games like Skyrim and Mass Effect but don't play them as much as some of the older titles. I do play MMORPGs the odd time though, so I would need something that can run newer titles - should anything interesting come out in the next few years.

Digital Solitude

Item|Price
Thermaltake Hamburg 530W|€€ 46
ASRock Z97 Pro3, Socket 1150 ATX|€€ 97
8GB Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9|€€ 53
Crucial SSD 250GB BX100|€€ 86
Nanoxia DeepSilence DS 3 Dark Black without power supply|€€ 65
WD Red RD1000M 1TB SATA 6Gb / s 64MB|€€ 66
XFX Radeon R9 280X Double Dissipation Edition with MANTLE and Gaming Evolved client, 3GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, 2x mini DisplayPort|€€ 236
Intel Xeon E3-1231v3 Box, LGA1150|€€ 253
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€920


If the laptop does you rightly, then this is way OP. Should last you several years. If you want to cut back a few euro, can save about 130 with lower spec CPU and GPU, but it's your call.

MagTuired

Jaysus. I had no idea these type of builds were that affordable. I spent years with netbooks and PCs couldn't run games - gaming PCs always seemed out of reach.

If I were to go for lower specs, could they be upgraded later? I'm not extremely tech literate, so I couldn't tell ye how much more power that CPU has than my laptop for instance.

I'm actually leaning towards a more visually impressive rig, though the sleek black look is pretty. My main criteria would probably be a robust box, nothing too flimsy or plasticy, if ya get me. Also of course something that would be handy enough to assemble with assistance.

Digital Solitude

MagTuired wrote: »

Jaysus. I had no idea these type of builds were that affordable. I spent years with netbooks and PCs couldn't run games - gaming PCs always seemed out of reach.

If I were to go for lower specs, could they be upgraded later? I'm not extremely tech literate, so I couldn't tell ye how much more power that CPU has than my laptop for instance.

I'm actually leaning towards a more visually impressive rig, though the sleek black look is pretty. My main criteria would probably be a robust box, nothing too flimsy or plasticy, if ya get me. Also of course something that would be handy enough to assemble with assistance.

The Xeon is plenty powerful. Yeah, i5 4460 or i3 4160 are adequate gaming CPUs. Can be upgraded to top level consumer CPUs in time.
The i5 is 185 and the i3 is 115

Nanoxia is aluminium, sound insulated so its quiet. Almost all cases are pre-assmebled, you screw the electronics into place and put the doors on, not and IKEA job by any means

Lu Tze

Something more visually impressive eh?

How about a train case!



Doesnt fit a graphics card unfortunately though.

Lian li do some very nice cases like the other one below, also checkout corsair, silverstone, fractal design, nzxt, bitfenix, antec etc.

MagTuired

Lu Tze wrote: »

Something more visually impressive eh?

How about a train case!

Doesnt fit a graphics card unfortunately though.

Lian li do some very nice cases like the other one below, also checkout corsair, silverstone, fractal design, nzxt, bitfenix, antec etc.

Haha! Madness.

I saw a Corsair one alright, not bad looking. Fractal Design and the rest don't look bad either! I can see it now - a rig that looks like something Umbrella Corporation would run their evil security system off. One can only dream.

Monotype

I'd probably get something else for the PSU.
Maybe:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/400+-+500+Watt/173785/EVGA+500B%2CBronze%2C3Yrs+Wnt.article
or even better would be
http://www.hardwareversand.de/400+-+500+Watt/149421/Super+Flower+Golden+Green+HX+80Plus+Gold+Netzteil+-+450+Watt.article

MagTuired

What part would it be best to start with? The motherboard I'm assuming? I've heard people recommend you leave the case till last when you know what you want inside.

Also, think the SSD is overkill or a good idea?

Very happy to see how helpful/receptive the community here is so far. Thanks lads.

Digital Solitude

Best to start with how?

SSD is not overkill, most builds we do up are centred around fitting an SSD

MagTuired

Oh, I mean start with in the sense that you nail down the first piece of kit you want to include and then build the other components around that. If you get me.

The NZXT and Nanoxia cases are looking the best to my amateur eyes. Like their design and they seem pretty solid.

Digital Solitude

Yeah I understand now, the GPU and CPU probably, as they normally run up 50-60% of a budget.

Unless you've specialised needs from a motherboard like tonnes of data slots, it's normally much of a muchness between them

Monotype

SSDs are awesome. For the sake of €90 and that much space, I would rather not do without in this era of computing. It makes a huge difference to the feel of the system.

MagTuired

How about this build?

HV20I546DE Intel Core i5-4460 in-a-Box 192,99 €
HV1138RSDE ASRock Z97 Pro3, Sockel 1150, ATX 103,99 €
HV20MI48DE 8GB-Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9 57,99 €
HV203HSDDE Nanoxia Deep Silence DS 3 Dark Anthracite, ohne Netzteil 69,99 €
HVR500EYDE EVGA 500B,Bronze,3Yrs Wnt 57,99 €
HV1034IHDE Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 OC Windforce 2x, 2GB GDDR5 212,99 €
HV13WG1ZDE WD Green 1TB, SATA 6Gb/s (WD10EZRX) 54,99 €
HV12CZSODE Crucial SSD 250GB BX100 91,99 €
HV207SX8DE Samsung SH-224DB schwarz 13,99 €
HVZPCDE Rechner - Zusammenbau 29,99 €

Total value: 886,90 €

Digital Solitude

280x is a better card IMO. Build it yourself, you already said you've got the itch. Almost identical to my build if you want to ask for performance. Is there need in a CD slot? And get a WD Blue or Seagate Barracuda, not a WD Green

Type the parts into geizhals.de and then click the hardwareversand link there, should be able to bring that down to about 820

MagTuired

Ah, yes! I didn't see that assembly section.

I saw that the GeForce GTX was their default template build card, so I figured I'd check it out. But I am willing to trust your expertise. Suppose the CD slot isn't that important these days - for gaming especially. Good call.


So this would be better?

HV20I546DE Intel Core i5-4460 in-a-Box 192,99 €
HV1138RSDE ASRock Z97 Pro3, Sockel 1150, ATX 103,99 €
HV20MI48DE 8GB-Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9 57,99 €
HV203HSDDE Nanoxia Deep Silence DS 3 Dark Anthracite, ohne Netzteil 69,99 €
HVR500EYDE EVGA 500B,Bronze,3Yrs Wnt 57,99 €
HV1034FGDE XFX Radeon R9 280 Double Dissipation Edition mit MANTLE und Gaming Evolved Client, 3GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI,2x Mini DisplayPort 207,99 €
HV13W1CBDE WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's 54,99 €
HV12CZSODE Crucial SSD 250GB BX100 91,99 €

Total value: 837,92 €

---

What's the best way to about the operation system? I see they have options to buy it together with the build, but I'm guessing there's cheaper ways. My laptop runs Windows 8 but it took me quite a lot of tweaking to get it to be anyway suitable - so I'm guessing 7 is a better bet?

Digital Solitude

That's a 280, you want 280X, they're about €240.

I can get you a link for windows from reddit whenever I'm on the PC next, its €20. I got 7 because of the effort of adapting to 8.1 because I'm lazy, but I'll be going to W10 anyways, so its really only to tide you over.

MagTuired

Digital Solitude wrote: »

That's a 280, you want 280X, they're about €240.

I can get you a link for windows from reddit whenever I'm on the PC next, its €20. I got 7 because of the effort of adapting to 8.1 because I'm lazy, but I'll be going to W10 anyways, so its really only to tide you over.

Sound! I'll switch it up to the 280X.

Now it remains to be seen how soon I can afford this beauty. Here's hoping the work keeps coming in!

Digital Solitude

http://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/comments/2zmufy/hwindows_788181_noffice_20102013all_other/

There's your windows link. I've used the seller before.


Item|Price
Crucial SSD 250GB BX100|€€ 86
Intel Core i5-4460 in-a-Box|€€ 182
Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3, Socket 1150 ATX|€€ 82
8GB Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9|€€ 53
Nanoxia DeepSilence DS 3 Dark Black without power supply|€€ 65
EVGA 500W, White, 3yrs Wnt|€€ 43
XFX Radeon R9 280X Double Dissipation Edition with MANTLE and Gaming Evolved client, 3GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, 2x mini DisplayPort|€€ 236
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€€ 53
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€820

There's your parts OP, cheaper motherboard, similar functionality.

MagTuired

Very nice! Thanks for all your help. I will be haunting here again for a while I'd say.

MagTuired

Alright - this may be my old topic, but I thought I'd just update it.

After some research, I've come up with a bit of a different, slightly snazzier (but affordable) build.


MSI GeForce GTX 960 Gaming ME Edition 2048MB Graphics Card
Intel Core i5-4570 3.20GHz
NZXT H440 Midi -Tower Special Edition- Black / Green
Crucial BX100 250GB SSD
MSI H97 PC Mate Intel H97 Motherboard
SuperFlower 550W Power Supply

I've also got somebody throwing in a 1/2T hard-drive (and 8GB ram).


I know the CPU isn't built for overclocking, but I've been told it's fairly powerful without it (plus I'm not super pushed about souping it up beyond what I need).

The H97 is a fairly decently priced motherboard, but perhaps you all might not feel its up to task. To be honest, I have next to no idea what to look for in a motherboard. What do you lads think?


These are some of the alternatives I was looking at (price wise):

Asrock-H97-Pro4
vs
ASUS-Z97-AR
vs
MSI-H97-PC-Mate

Digital Solitude

The PC mate is fine. What price is the CPU? Same frequency as the 4460

MagTuired

Digital Solitude wrote: »

What price is the CPU? Same frequency as the 4460

Well I can get the whole shebang, plus hard-drives and RAM for around €900, don't know off the top of my head the CPU's cost on its own.

On HWV it's €207,99 anyhow.

Would the motherboard allow overclocking at later stage, if I ever switched the CPU? Or would I have to get a new motherboard too?

Digital Solitude

Piss all difference. No, you need a Z97 board to overclock

MagTuired

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Piss all difference. No, you need a Z97 board to overclock

Any recommendations for a decently priced Z97 board? I think you recommended an ASRock before?

Digital Solitude

I've a Gigabyte GA Z97 D3 I think it is, don't over clock with it but it works perfect for me