Console to PC!

lDontKnow9990

Hi Folks, on the verge of switching from Console to PC however I haven't the slightest clue about PC's!

My main focus is playing Rainbow Six Siege so at least I know that much!
Any advice? Should I build one myself if so what components would I need to run R6S!?

Thanks for any replies!

Jamiekelly

lDontKnow9990 wrote: »

Hi Folks, on the verge of switching from Console to PC however I haven't the slightest clue about PC's!

My main focus is playing Rainbow Six Siege so at least I know that much!
Any advice? Should I build one myself if so what components would I need to run R6S!?

Thanks for any replies!

First thing you need to do is learn the system requirements to run the game smoothly. There are two seperate fields for this, minimum and recommended. Obviously it is always best to get as close to or bypass the recommended in order to run it smoothly at a higher Frames Per Second rate. These are the following:

Minimum:
CPU: Intel Core i3 560 @ 3.3GHz or better, AMD Phenom II X4 945 @ 3.0Ghz or better
RAM: 6 GB
OS: Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 8 64 bit, Windows 10 64 bit
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460, AMD Radeon HD 5770, And DX11 cards with 1GB VRAM

Recommended:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.3GHz or better, AMD FX-8120 Eight-Core @ 2.6Ghz or better
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 8 64 bit, Windows 10 64 bit
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 or AMD Radeon HD 7970 / R9 280x (2GB VRAM)

Seeing as you don't know anything about computers you may be best of to buy one rather than attempting to build one yourself and possibly damaging the hardware.

I bought my computer (with keyboard and mouse) for just over 750 last year and it is doing a great job at running modern games smoothly with very little hassle. I bought it from someone who builds computers professionally so I would recommend you do the same.

Can I ask what your budget is? It's a very important restriction to know before searching for the hardware you need

lDontKnow9990

Jamiekelly wrote: »

First thing you need to do is learn the system requirements to run the game smoothly. There are two seperate fields for this, minimum and recommended. Obviously it is always best to get as close to or bypass the recommended in order to run it smoothly at a higher Frames Per Second rate. These are the following:

Minimum:
CPU: Intel Core i3 560 @ 3.3GHz or better, AMD Phenom II X4 945 @ 3.0Ghz or better
RAM: 6 GB
OS: Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 8 64 bit, Windows 10 64 bit
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460, AMD Radeon HD 5770, And DX11 cards with 1GB VRAM

Recommended:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.3GHz or better, AMD FX-8120 Eight-Core @ 2.6Ghz or better
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 8 64 bit, Windows 10 64 bit
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 or AMD Radeon HD 7970 / R9 280x (2GB VRAM)

Seeing as you don't know anything about computers you may be best of to buy one rather than attempting to build one yourself and possibly damaging the hardware.

I bought my computer (with keyboard and mouse) for just over 750 last year and it is doing a great job at running modern games smoothly with very little hassle. I bought it from someone who builds computers professionally so I would recommend you do the same.

Can I ask what your budget is? It's a very important restriction to know before searching for the hardware you need

Thanks for the reply!
My budget is around the same you paid so €750!
However there's a PC on LittleWoods I can't post the link as I'm new here but if you don't mind having a look it's on the second page it's called Cyberpower Armada View it's €830 which I could stretch for!

Jamiekelly

lDontKnow9990 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply!
My budget is around the same you paid so €750!
However there's a PC on LittleWoods I can't post the link as I'm new here but if you don't mind having a look it's on the second page it's called Cyberpower Armada View it's €830 which I could stretch for!

I had a look and it does look like it will fit your needs, BUT, there is not a lot of value for money there. For 830 you only get the tower, no mouse or keyboard. Not only that but the CPU is not really up to scratch for the price you are paying. There will be a lot of what we call "bottleneck" for that CPU which means you will need more RAM and a better GPU (Graphics card) to achieve the same performance on very demanding games.

Just as an example my computer has the same GPU and RAM as the one you are looking at, GPU = Nvidia Geforce GTX1050ti RAM = 8GB but because of the CPU difference (mine being a Intel i5-4690k and yours being AMD) you won't get the same performance as mine due to the CPU not being able to run real time calculations as fast. The AMD CPU is 5 years old at this stage, which is not something you should be paying top money for. Try to get a CPU released in the last 3 years as you will be more "futureproof" with the hardware you use in the PC

Have a look at this website where I compared the two CPUs side by side (scroll down for further, more indepth details)

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-4690K-vs-AMD-FX-4300

Joshua J

lDontKnow9990 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply!
My budget is around the same you paid so €750!
However there's a PC on LittleWoods I can't post the link as I'm new here but if you don't mind having a look it's on the second page it's called Cyberpower Armada View it's €830 which I could stretch for!

If that's the one with the FX 4300 cpu and 1050ti then no. The 1050ti is a good card but the 4300 is weak enough. Would you consider 2nd hand?.

EDIT: As Jamie said above. For your budget I'd be looking for an i5 and a GTX 970.

TerrorFirmer

It's terrible, the processor is way slower than even an i3.

I'd shop around on Amazon, really.

With that budget something like an i5 + GTX1060 combination should be ideal. When you build yourself you get way more flexability and spec to suit your needs, with prebuilts you don't have that luxury but it's not the end of the world and it's a lot less hassle (for example, for me an SSD would be essential in an €800 build, but you won't really get one in a prebuilt in that price range - not a deal breaker but it makes such a big difference to day to day desktop use).

The other option is to buy 2nd hand but I think with a budget like 830 there's no real need unless you strongly want to save money.

Jamiekelly

If you would like I can give you the name of the person I bought my computer from. He uses Adverts.ie and he never does "second hand". He buys the parts in bulk direct from the manufacturer and puts the computer together himself. He has over 130 positive feedback reviews and not 1 in the negative. He even delivers if need be and will give you all the boxes for the individual parts he put into the computer.

I think he must have some discount going with them which lets him make a bit of profit. The only thing to be wary of when buying from Adverts is there is no warranty and guarantee. But judging by his record and how new everything was I very much doubt you will be ripped off or disappointed.

Would you like me to PM you his profile link so you can maybe ask or have a look? I'm looking at his profile now and I can see 3 computers very similar to the one I bought that fits perfectly in your budget.

Billy86

EDIT: changed it to come all from Amazon bar the case which you can use Parcel Motel for (note: it comes as oversized so about €14 charge)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£176.50 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B250M-K Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£62.24 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£52.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: OCZ - TRION 150 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£112.49 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte - Radeon RX 480 4GB G1 Gaming Video Card (£185.59 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair - Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£44.99 @ Amazon UK)
Other: AVP Hyperion Case (£22.99)
Total: £657.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-30 21:03 BST+0100

Link to the case - https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/avp-hyperion-ev33b-cube-mini-tower-case/avp-ev33b.html

That comes to about €775 including the case delivery, though it doesn't cover mouse/keyboard/gamepad. You can use your consoles gamepad (let us know if it is a PS controller, you need a programme to make it work correctly but it only takes 20 mins to set up) and get a basic keyboard/mouse combo for €10-20 (Amazon do some good small wireless ones at very low prices too, if you plan on playing on the couch and using the PC essentially like a console). If you plan on using the mouse/keyboard for gaming I'm not that familiar with them but think I've seen people recommend this pair before - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Master-Storm-Devastator-Keyboard/dp/B00DKXXAAQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1496174290&sr=1-2&keywords=devastator+keyboard

You can also buy a 1TB hard drive for £38, so if you put a fiver a week away you'll be able to add that on well before you've filled the SSD. An SSD is a LOT faster than a hard drive, so makes the general PC much quicker, and on games with open worlds or a lot of load screens it really shines in games (a good 2-3 times quicker, which in the likes of Fallout makes a huge difference). Or you can go for a smaller 240GB SSD and a 1TB HDD for about the same price as the 480GB SSD... but personally I just love running games off the SSD (which would fit about 12 at a time on it at that size).

Anywhere in that list that doesn't deliver to Ireland, you can use

---

PCs are surprisingly easy to put together by the way, did my first one just last year and it only took an hour or so - with youtube, any part you're stuck on or confused with will have a video tutorial and you get MUCH better value for money.

lDontKnow9990

Jamiekelly wrote: »

If you would like I can give you the name of the person I bought my computer from. He uses Adverts.ie and he never does "second hand". He buys the parts in bulk direct from the manufacturer and puts the computer together himself. He has over 130 positive feedback reviews and not 1 in the negative. He even delivers if need be and will give you all the boxes for the individual parts he put into the computer.

I think he must have some discount going with them which lets him make a bit of profit. The only thing to be wary of when buying from Adverts is there is no warranty and guarantee. But judging by his record and how new everything was I very much doubt you will be ripped off or disappointed.

Would you like me to PM you his profile link so you can maybe ask or have a look? I'm looking at his profile now and I can see 3 computers very similar to the one I bought that fits perfectly in your budget.

Sounds good, PM me! Much appreciated!

lDontKnow9990

Joshua J wrote: »

If that's the one with the FX 4300 cpu and 1050ti then no. The 1050ti is a good card but the 4300 is weak enough. Would you consider 2nd hand?.

EDIT: As Jamie said above. For your budget I'd be looking for an i5 and a GTX 970.

2nd hand wouldn't really be my thing, I'm not rushing into things so I may even have the opportunity to add to my budget!

lDontKnow9990

Billy86 wrote: »

EDIT: changed it to come all from Amazon bar the case which you can use Parcel Motel for (note: it comes as oversized so about €14 charge)
I had to delete all of the links in order to reply to you Billy, seriously appreciate the reply with all them details so basically if I went and bought everything you listed I should be sorted?

Billy86

No worries at all man.

Few pics of the case up and running just now (I got the white one off Amazon):

https://s24.postimg.org/t62b62zd1/Camera_ZOOM-20170530233522964.jpg
http://s13.postimg.org/ogt6yfauv/Camera_ZOOM-20170530233539826.jpg

*By the way if you see all those little wires don't worry, everything is very clearly marked with a corresponding marking on the motherboard e.g. 'CPU PWR +/-' 'CPU BUT' 'RST BUT' etc) and the larger cables are made in such a way that you can't actually fit the wrong ones into the wrong places or accidentally put them in backwards. It's a lot less intimidating than it might seem and like I said there are youtube tutorials for everything you will need. It's surprisingly almost like lego... just make sure you are grounded at all times (rub your hands off a doorknob helps and keep away from carpet with the parts not in the case).

EDIT: You should be though I have the same motherboard and am too lazy to look into it right now since I'm off to bed (will check tomorrow), but it appears you would need a separate wifi adapter that goes in the motherboard; they're about €20 or so I think. If that's the case then it should be just under €800 before peripherals ( mouse/keyboard/gamepad/headset).

Also if you need a headset this has done me very well for 9 months - not booming volume but decent and very nice quality sound and extremely comfortable even after prolonged wearing - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HCRH9KM/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you're using a gamepad but don't have one, I got this gamepad for the build in the pics above and it's doing very well so far, only downside is it is 2xAA batteries and the signal isn't amazing (still fine so long as nothing blocks it's path to the computer) - but it's really comfortable and has good responsiveness, as well as being wireless which I'm generally a big fan of (sadly the headset is not, wireless headsets a pretty pricey) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01KVBL4U2/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So between headset, and either gaming keyboard/mouse of standard keyboard/mouse/gamepad you should be able to get them for a little under £50 (€60). I a bit over your initial budget and I can see if there is anywhere to skimp back if you'd like but I reckon you're getting great value in that build.

lDontKnow9990

Billy86 wrote: »

No worries at all man.

Few pics of the case up and running just now (I got the white one off Amazon):

https://s24.postimg.org/t62b62zd1/Camera_ZOOM-20170530233522964.jpg
http://s13.postimg.org/ogt6yfauv/Camera_ZOOM-20170530233539826.jpg

*By the way if you see all those little wires don't worry, everything is very clearly marked with a corresponding marking on the motherboard e.g. 'CPU PWR +/-' 'CPU BUT' 'RST BUT' etc) and the larger cables are made in such a way that you can't actually fit the wrong ones into the wrong places or accidentally put them in backwards. It's a lot less intimidating than it might seem and like I said there are youtube tutorials for everything you will need. It's surprisingly almost like lego... just make sure you are grounded at all times (rub your hands off a doorknob helps and keep away from carpet with the parts not in the case).

I'll do a bit of researching and map the assault on Amazon, I've plenty of time to purchase I'd like to have it built by August this way I could possibly stretch the budget a bit! Thanks again!

Billy86

lDontKnow9990 wrote: »

I'll do a bit of researching and map the assault on Amazon, I've plenty of time to purchase I'd like to have it built by August this way I could possibly stretch the budget a bit! Thanks again!

No worries, edited the post since you responded for some cheap but good peripherals for ya that I've been using.

Digital Solitude

Pure easy to build a PC, sound for getting info and knowledge at the minute but remember to request an up to date parts list again before you order.

lDontKnow9990

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Pure easy to build a PC, sound for getting info and knowledge at the minute but remember to request an up to date parts list again before you order.

Thanks for the video, will do just that! Cheers!

Grahamer666

To the OP. I built my first Gaming PC last month and like yourself i was always a console gamer. Now admittedly, i work in IT so have some experience but i definitely wouldn't be put off about building your own PC. It's quite easy when you just take your time. The hardest part is deciding on what type of system you want to build and picking the parts. I have an i5 with a GTX 1070 and games run amazingly. Best of luck with it.

Samuel T. Cogley

Loads of us would be delighted to help you build it. Personally I'm North Dublin City. Only six people have gone missing in the area since I moved in and it's pure co-incidence.

Samuel T. Cogley

Good build and advice above, but I wouldn't go with an intel based system personally.

Using Amazon.de

CPU: Ryzen 5 1500X €192.89
MB: Asus Prime B350M €81.41
MEM: Corsair CMK8GX4M2B3000C15 Vengeance €76.89
PSU: EVGA 430W PSU €45.01
Case: CIT Hero €22.60
GPU: GIGABYTE Radeon RX 580 GAMING 8GB €261.96
Boot SSD: SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB €53.67
Games HDD: 1TB WB Blue €50.73
OS: Windows just download

€785.16

Edit sorry Amazon snuck on a 480 on me there.

Billy86

Yeah, Ryzen had crossed my mind also though I was conscious of keeping as close to budget as possible and in terms of using the game like a console an i5 might even perform a little better. An issue with Amazon DE is they typically charge €5-10 per item for delivery if I am correct (whereas Amazon UK is free to Ireland), which would bring that up to about €830 before keyboard/mouse/headset/gamepad.

EDIT: Did a check and cannot find the case on Amazon DE, while the SSD, HDD and RAM do not deliver to Ireland. The CPU, GPU, PSU and motherboard are coming to €641 from Amazon DE including delivery, etc. The RAM, SSD, HDD and case would likely add about another €200 on to that.

Digital Solitude

I'm not 100% up to speed on hardware but afaik the Pentium G and i7 7700k are the only Intel offerings worth picking up over AMD

Billy86

Digital Solitude wrote: »

I'm not 100% up to speed on hardware but afaik the Pentium G and i7 7700k are the only Intel offerings worth picking up over AMD

On a 1600 most likely yeah, but that would push the OP's budget further up again especially as higher frequency RAM would be required. A 1500 vs an i5 7500 is apparently pretty much a wash, tiny edge to the i5 for gaming and a small edge to the 1500x for versatility.

Best to check with the OP, but I get the impression they're looking to use the PC as a much stronger version of a console with all the other advantages of PC gaming, rather than for any kind of editing, rendering etc.

Actually though, this could well work:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor (£198.94 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£64.38 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston - Savage 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory (£67.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: PNY - CS1311 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£39.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.75 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus - Radeon RX 480 4GB Dual Video Card (£177.23 @ BT Shop)
Power Supply: EVGA - 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£39.99 @ Amazon UK)
Other: Assorted peripherals (£50.00)
Other: Budget case (£23.00)
Total: £702.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-31 13:47 BST+0100

£702 = €803... + potentially €12 due to Parcel Motel if the non Amazon retailers don't do Irish delivery (as best I know they all do free UK delivery, so just 3.95 per item for P.Motel) = €815. If a wifi adapter is required, that's all all-in total of roughly €835 (Amazon do some for just under £15).

Doesn't have the nice 480GB SSD but a 1600 would be an upgrade over an i5 whereas 7500 vs 1500X is essentially a wash in terms of a gaming PC. That's a really good price on an RX 480 too, comes out to €203.

EDIT: Just got priced €12 on a wifi USB in Dublin, for what it's worth.

Grahamer666

Lads, what's the story with the hate for the i5? The pc i built is only being used for gaming and the usual youtube, surfing, etc and it runs all the games i have at ultra and it doesn't drop frames at all. It wipes the floor with any console version of any game i've played so far. Is it because i have a GTX 1070 8gb card or what?

Samuel T. Cogley

Grahamer666 wrote: »

Lads, what's the story with the hate for the i5? The pc i built is only being used for gaming and the usual youtube, surfing, etc and it runs all the games i have at ultra and it doesn't drop frames at all. It wipes the floor with any console version of any game i've played so far. Is it because i have a GTX 1070 8gb card or what?

The i5 is a great CPU it's just that 6 core and 12 threads > 4 cores and 4 threads. AMD always where the better chip manufacturer they just sent thought a huge period of intel wiping the floor with them.

This time around they look to have a product that will take sometime to mature but at 90-95% there vs. intel at the moment.

Lastly it's the bloody platform shenanigan with intel. Every bloody iteration is on a new socket, AMD tend to stay on the same sockets for a while.

Grahamer666

Ah right. New to PC gaming myself and was just wondering.

Samuel T. Cogley

Grahamer666 wrote: »

Ah right. New to PC gaming myself and was just wondering.

Right now an OC'd i5 will give better FPS then Ryzen, it's just if you're building right now Ryzen is the better bet IMHO.

Mickeroo

I think Billy's build will serve you well, would be no harm spending a little bit more to get an 8GB RX480 or RX580 rather than the 4gb though.

Digital Solitude

Grahamer666 wrote: »

Lads, what's the story with the hate for the i5? The pc i built is only being used for gaming and the usual youtube, surfing, etc and it runs all the games i have at ultra and it doesn't drop frames at all. It wipes the floor with any console version of any game i've played so far. Is it because i have a GTX 1070 8gb card or what?

No i5 hate around here, had you been here 2-3 years ago you might be asking why all the AMD hate as 95% of builds we specced were Intel.

It must be said we've a very neutral community here, even those of us with bias still recommend whatever they think the best option is, personal feelings aside most of the time

Billy86

Grahamer666 wrote: »

Lads, what's the story with the hate for the i5? The pc i built is only being used for gaming and the usual youtube, surfing, etc and it runs all the games i have at ultra and it doesn't drop frames at all. It wipes the floor with any console version of any game i've played so far. Is it because i have a GTX 1070 8gb card or what?

There's also the advantage that (if I am correct here?) the AMD chips, 1600 at least, can overclock and come with their own fan whereas with Intel you either cannot overclock, or need to get a 'K' chip which do not come with fans. Now the OP might not have any plans to overclock, I wouldn't advise it since they are new to PC gaming, but down the line the urge might kick in. Also, while they are looking to use this just for gaming you never know if they might get the urge to stream or do some editing down the line - the i5 will do fine on that, but the 1600 really excels there. And the extra cores/threads should add to the longevity of the CPU quite a deal (as well as being the reason as best I know that it does better for non-gaming applications like streaming, editing, etc).

It's not that the i5 is bad by any means, I have an i5 6600K and love the thing, never had any issues and only overclock occasionally for Civ VI modded extra large maps, it's just the AMD (1600 in particular in my opinion) is exceptional value for money right now.

Sam is 100% right on the platform thing, I think the Kaby Lake ones came out less than a year ago while Coffee Lake is due out in... the end of summer-ish? basically this means if a few years down the line the OP wants a new CPU to keep up with demand they should be able to do so far more easily with AMD without needing a new motherboard and RAM on top of it. Of course I say should, because there's no certainties in that stuff!

It's actually quite a nice time to be a first time buyer, in terms of lack of confusion - under €700 = Intel G4560 chip, over €13-1400(ish) = i7 7700K chip, anything in between = Ryzen 1600/1600X/1700. It's just that €700-750 range that can be a bit tricky/grey, re i5 7500 vs Ryzen 1500X.

K.O.Kiki

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Right now an OC'd i5 will give better FPS then Ryzen, it's just if you're building right now Ryzen is the better bet IMHO.

Overclocking on Intel also means spending extra (CPU cooler not included, has to be high-end K-class CPU & Zx70 motherboard), so overall factor another €100+ into it.

Billy86

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Overclocking on Intel also means spending extra (CPU cooler not included, has to be high-end K-class CPU & Zx70 motherboard), so overall factor another €100+ into it.

Also a note to OP if they are looking around: A320 model (as opposed to B350) motherboards for Ryzen are a little cheaper but do not buy one as they do not allow overclocking, so best avoided as the difference is only about a tenner - bit like buying a car with a turbo option and disabling it for a 1% discount.