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[Akai__]

Hey PC GAF. 1 of my 2GB RAM sticks just died and so I'm planning to upgrade. I thought of these, because they get mentioned here some times: Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB Kit

Will I get compatibility problems?

Ps: Merry Christmas

 

[n0n44m]

Merry Christmas all !

Hey, turns out my config can't decode compressed audio files to get DD5.1 or DTS. So games and video files are only 2.1 (blu-rays are 5.1, though).

I'd like to get a sound card so all my games and video cards that have 5.1 play in 5.1. What's the best value card that will fit into a BitFenix Prodigy case. Since I had it built for me, hopefully it won't be hard to include a sound card...a little worried since it doesn't seem to have space for one (from the outside).

BTW, is there such a thing as a good external decoder I could use?

video files should be 5.1 as well when you select SPDIF out as decoder

you need a soundcard that supports Dolby Digital Live for gaming in 5.1 over optical ... but with only 2 PCI slots in the Prodigy (probably taken by your graphics card) your only option seems to be the Asus Xonar U1

Hey PC GAF. 1 of my 2GB RAM sticks just died and so I'm planning to upgrade. I thought of these, because they get mentioned here some times: Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB Kit

Will I get compatibility problems?



Ps: Merry Christmas

well if you're not overclocking just get the cheapest RAM with decent timings from a decent brand. The Vengeance is fine, got it as well myself, but it's nothing special

I'm not sure if using 2 new sticks with your old stick is a good idea, because memory is dual channel so you need 2/4/6/8 modules for that ... but I'm not sure what the performance loss might be to be honest

 

[kharma45]

Hey PC GAF. 1 of my 2GB RAM sticks just died and so I'm planning to upgrade. I thought of these, because they get mentioned here some times: Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB Kit

Will I get compatibility problems?



Ps: Merry Christmas

Don't mix and match them as you'll lose dual channel support.

The Corsair is good stuff but for the extra quid I'd get this http://www.cclonline.com/product/84...800C11-1600MHz-30nm-Dual-Channel-Kit/RAM0612/

 

[Akai__]

Merry Christmas all !

well if you're not overclocking just get the cheapest RAM with decent timings from a decent brand. The Vengeance is fine, got it as well myself, but it's nothing special

I'm not sure if using 2 new sticks with your old stick is a good idea, because memory is dual channel so you need 2/4/6/8 modules for that ... but I'm not sure what the performance loss might be to be honest

Don't mix and match them as you'll lose dual channel support.

The Corsair is good stuff but for the extra quid I'd get this http://www.cclonline.com/product/84...800C11-1600MHz-30nm-Dual-Channel-Kit/RAM0612/

I have only 2 slots on this shitty Motherboard. I wanted to buy those, because I plan to build my own PC in the not so distant future and these seem to be good.

I'm not very experienced, when it comes to hardware, so I'm currently watching/reading a lot of stuff. I thought the frequency would play a big role, when you want to buy/upgrade RAM, so that was why I asked about the compatibility.

 

[CharpyImpact]

1. It's not bad but I'd make a few changes.

I'd change your CPU cooler to this (will be plenty good and saves money) Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

Your SSD to a Samsung 830 if they have it, if not the M4 is still a great drive.

Your power supply I'd change to this as those Corsair ones aren't all that great - Antec BP550 Plus 550W

2. Not too sure, mkenyon will be able to better advise as I'm not too clued up on ITX boards.

3. That's fair enough, but in that case I'd go for a 670 as I can't recommend the 660Ti when the 7950 exists.

4. The PSU I've recommended will be able for a 670, or any single GPU for that matter.

On another note I'd still say get 8GB of RAM if it's just general use and gaming, it's not a hard thing to upgrade down the line as you just plug in two more 8GB sticks but it's your build at the end of the day. This stuff here is fantastic RAM and would be my choice http://www.microcenter.com/product/...nel_Desktop_Memory_Kit_Two_4GB_Memory_Modules



Agreed.

Thanks. I really appreciate it. Will make those changes.

I actually made a hasty purchase of the 128 gb Samsung 840 pro for 119 from newegg... Since it was on sale and tended to get very good reviews.

I will take a second look at the 7950 benchmarks. Are we optimistic that the drivers will overcome the draw latency issue?

Thanks again and Merry Christmas.

 

[TGMIII]

I'm a bit out of the loop with hardware right now but I'm trying to give my friend a hand in building a new PC mostly for games. His budget is £600, here's what I suggested:

CPU: i5-3570K
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G43 Z77
RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) G.SKILL RipjawsX 1600MHz CL9 1.5v
HDD: 1TB Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003
PSU:600W Corsair Builder Series 600CX
CD: Samsung 224BB 24x DVD Re-Writer
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912+

All of that is coming to around £450-£460. Only thing I'm not sure of is which mid level graphics card is considered king at the moment. Any suggestions for changes on the equipment above and suggestions on a mid level graphics card would be very much welcome.

 

[Xdrive05]

I will take a second look at the 7950 benchmarks. Are we optimistic that the drivers will overcome the draw latency issue?

Thanks again and Merry Christmas.

I would consider getting a 660 TI (especially on sale) over the 7950. Apparently the 660 TI has better frame latency in most games over the 7950, meaning a smoother experience despite the fact that 7950 has a higher FPS in half-ish of games.

http://www.techpowerup.com/177173/H...tes-but-GTX-660-Ti-Still-Smoother-Report.html

http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited/11

Full disclosure, judging by tech forums there is some question about the efficacy of the tests that show this. But it's not clear to me if there are real problems with these tests, or if it is the usual hardware fanboy syndrome of "This tests doesn't show what I want it show, therefore it must be wrong".

Either way, if you can get a 660 TI for around $250 on sale, I'd still say that's the better deal IMO.

 

[Akai__]

Speaking of game cases...

Which cases do you guys prefer, when it comes to cable managment and other things?

What are the best in "performance"/pricing?

Like I said, I'm completely new to this, because every PC, that I had, was a non custom build one.

 

[kharma45]

Thanks. I really appreciate it. Will make those changes.

I actually made a hasty purchase of the 128 gb Samsung 840 pro for 119 from newegg... Since it was on sale and tended to get very good reviews.

I will take a second look at the 7950 benchmarks. Are we optimistic that the drivers will overcome the draw latency issue?

Thanks again and Merry Christmas.

It is something AMD has said they're looking in to, and I hope they will fix it.

You're not going to go wrong with either card but for me I still prefer the 7950 as from a longevity stand-point I think it'll do better with more VRAM and a wider memory bus on it.

Speaking of game cases...

Which cases do you guys prefer, when it comes to cable managment and other things?

What are the best in "performance"/pricing?

Like I said, I'm completely new to this, because every PC, that I had, was a non custom build one.

Depends on what you want to spend.

 

[Smokey]

Merry Christmas my PC brethren

Looking forward to 2013 thread

 

[CharpyImpact]

It is something AMD has said they're looking in to, and I hope they will fix it.

You're not going to go wrong with either card but for me I still prefer the 7950 as from a longevity stand-point I think it'll do better with more VRAM and a wider memory bus on it.



Depends on what you want to spend.

Cool. I take it the same third party video companies are the same to focus on for ATI cards, Asus, gigatype, and MSI?

 

[Omega]

nvm

 

[GHG]

I'm a bit out of the loop with hardware right now but I'm trying to give my friend a hand in building a new PC mostly for games. His budget is £600, here's what I suggested:

CPU: i5-3570K
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G43 Z77
RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) G.SKILL RipjawsX 1600MHz CL9 1.5v
HDD: 1TB Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003
PSU:600W Corsair Builder Series 600CX
CD: Samsung 224BB 24x DVD Re-Writer
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912+

All of that is coming to around £450-£460. Only thing I'm not sure of is which mid level graphics card is considered king at the moment. Any suggestions for changes on the equipment above and suggestions on a mid level graphics card would be very much welcome.

You can get a gtx 480 from scan for about £150 at the moment. I think that might be the best youd be able to do whilst keeping in budget if he wont mind the heat from that card. If not look for a gtx 660 on sale or an amd 7850.

Scan have some good deals for you at the top of their today only page. One of those bundles could save you quite a bit so that you can get a better gpu: http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.aspx

Also. Look at the zalman z9 case, you might be able to save a bit there without compromising on quality.

 

[Decado]

Merry Christmas all !



video files should be 5.1 as well when you select SPDIF out as decoder

you need a soundcard that supports Dolby Digital Live for gaming in 5.1 over optical ... but with only 2 PCI slots in the Prodigy (probably taken by your graphics card) your only option seems to be the Asus Xonar U1[/

Hmmm. Availability of that product in Canada seems iffy, but I'll look around for it. Thx.

I've never gotten 5.1 playback from mkv or any other file format. Using realtek onboard audio. I select digital out. Any other setting I should be looking for? Never seen a 5.1 option in the various settings.

Merry Christmas!

 

[kharma45]

You can get a gtx 480 from scan for about £150 at the moment. I think that might be the best youd be able to do whilst keeping in budget if he wont mind the heat from that card. If not look for a gtx 660 on sale or an amd 7850.

Scan have some good deals for you at the top of their today only page. One of those bundles could save you quite a bit so that you can get a better gpu: http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.aspx

Also. Look at the zalman z9 case, you might be able to save a bit there without compromising on quality.

I'd not bother with the 480. It's marginally faster at stock but OC the 7850 and if you've a good one you can hit 580 levels. Plus it's quieter, cooler and uses less power.

This ASUS one has two free games (FC3 and Sleeping Dogs) for £150 at Overclockers https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-289-AS My brother picked it up the other day and it's a good job. Quiet cooler and he got a good OC out of it (1150/5700).

Cool. I take it the same third party video companies are the same to focus on for ATI cards, Asus, gigatype, and MSI?

Pretty much.

For AMD cards I'd stick with ASUS, Sapphire, MSI and Gigabyte.

For Nvidia ASUS, Sapphire, MSI, Gigabyte, EVGA, KFA2, Zotac and PNY.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Merry Christmas my PC brethren

Looking forward to 2013 thread

A year of potential potent upgrades

I hope the new GPU's come in PCIe configs since I'm not ready to upgrade my motherboard for at least a few years.

The plan is to get a cheap 690 or 7990 or wait and see how the new GPU's are priced.

 

[theytookourjobz]

Got some Xmas money and was thinking about a new card. My 6870 is still running everything I want to play though... Decisions.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Got some Xmas money and was thinking about a new card. My 6870 is still running everything I want to play though... Decisions.

At this point, you may be going for browny points and increase IQ by adding SSAA.

I would say upgrade for the impending next gen PC ports. A 7970 will set you up nicely for mid-high settings in the coming years.

Got an SSD? Probably the most substantial upgrade you can make for OS performance.

 

[Omega]

Should I get a Zotac 560TI or an HIS HD7850 2GB? 560 TI is $184 including shipping and 7850 is $190

 

[Nealand Liquor]

I have a couple questions if someone would be able to help answer them. My son currently has a Toshiba Satellite A660 with a NVIDIA GeForce 310M and I'm wondering if it's possible to upgrade the card?

If it is possible, does someone know what I can upgrade his card too?

Thanks.

Fyi, I did search online but I didn't find an answer.

Short answer is not really, with a laptop you're generally stuck with what you've got.

I thought as much but I do know some laptops can support graphic card upgrades and I am hoping, as unlikely as it may be, that this one can. Think my best option is to take it to a PC store and have it looked at?

 

[Ty4on]

Should I get a Zotac 560TI or an HIS HD7850 2GB? 560 TI is $184 including shipping and 7850 is $190

They have similar performance, but the 7850 is newer and should have better driver support and new games will be optimized for newer cards. It will of course also use less power (cooler and more quiet).

The 7850 also overclocks like a beast and GPU overclocking is pretty easy.

I thought as much but I do know some laptops can support graphic card upgrades and I am hoping, as unlikely as it may be, that this one can. Think my best option is to take it to a PC store and have it looked at?

Pretty sure only the very highest end laptop GPUs can be swapped. They also have their own cooling and sit inside a thick, ugly laptop.

It is possible to plug a GPU into a thunderbolt or express card slot, but performance suffers and it's expensive.

 

[theytookourjobz]

A 670 for ~350 the best bang for buck on the high end now?

 

[KungFucius]

Is it really just the UI that you and other Windows 8 detractors dislike, though, Hazaro? I remember hearing about noteworthy compatibility issues with some games and controllers.

See, if I go with Windows 8, I can rush out and buy it from a local Tigerdirect or Best Buy for sub-$100 right now. If I go with Windows 7, I'm going to have to order it from Amazon or Tigerdirect's website and receive it on the 27th at earliest. Windows 7 64-Bit Home Premium seems to be completely out of stock at all the local retailers in Miami.

I honestly don't mind waiting on Windows 7 and building my PC two days later than when I planned on if the reasons against buying Windows 8 are significant enough, though.

Windows 8 can be purchased for $15 bucks. Install windows 7 without activating, i.e. the trial mode. Google Windows 8 Promo Code to see what it is all about. Now when signing up for that say that you bought a generic PC with windows 7 and MS will give you the code. Now complete the purchase of the upgrade and you can download an iso or USB file. Make sure you chose Keep Nothing If the promo code stops working ( i did this last weekend) then you can still get it for $40 bucks as an upgrade. It's by far the cheapest option.

I think windows 8 kind of blows until you bypass metro. I was not expecting the Metro thing to be that bad. I mean I had to fucking google how to shut it off without a keyboard. ( I use it on my HTPC so a mouse is sometimes the only thing I have handy). Fortunately there are programs, Classic SHell and Poki that make it behave more like win7. Once I did that there is little difference between my Win8 and Win7 experience. Though I did have to use metro to install windows media center and that was way more complicated than it needed to be. It went like this:

1. Seach for windows media center win 8
2. Ask for download code for WMC
3. Wait 3 + days
4. Email comes with directions go back to site , enter code
5. go into metro, search manually for adding software then download
6. Then you need to find a way to launch the f'ing program ( you best install a start menu replacement)

 

[KungFucius]

A 670 for ~350 the best bang for buck on the high end now?

That's kind of a loaded question as it depends on your price range and what you currently have. This is what I ended up going with, but it was a little higher than what I typically pay for a GPU. It certainly feels a little smoother than the 6950 I replaced with it, but was it was it worth 200 bucks more? No. Is it better than a 660Ti with 3gb? Yes but marginally. Fry's doesn't sell those so I went with an open box 670 that will run me about 310 when I finally get the rebate card. Is it more friendly in an HTPC than anything AMD, yes because it has less annoying driver glitches. AMD drivers lose HDMI audio when the TV is shut off and does not recover without toggling a setting burried deep in the CCC.

The biggest bang for the buck is a used high end #2 card from the previous gen of cards, especially when there is no major DirectX upgrade between the two.

 

[Akai__]

Depends on what you want to spend.

How much should someone spend on PC cases? I see good looking PC cases from 30$ up to 250$.

But, I would say, I'm willing to spend arround 100$ for a PC case.

More than 150$ is maybe too much for a PC case, isn't it?

I really don't know, that's why I asked in 1st place.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

A 670 for ~350 the best bang for buck on the high end now?

30 more dollars gets you this bad boy

That's a 3GB card there. Right up there with a 680 if not better in quite a few games and it OC's great.

You also get....
- FarCry3
- HitMan
- Sleeping Dogs

Free with this card.

 

[Bear]

They have similar performance, but the 7850 is newer and should have better driver support and new games will be optimized for newer cards. It will of course also use less power (cooler and more quiet).

The 7850 also overclocks like a beast and GPU overclocking is pretty easy.

Pretty sure only the very highest end laptop GPUs can be swapped. They also have their own cooling and sit inside a thick, ugly laptop.

It is possible to plug a GPU into a thunderbolt or express card slot, but performance suffers and it's expensive.

Maybe a bit thick, but it's not bad considering the power. I wouldn't call it thick or ugly, especially compared to the Asus monstrosities. Mine has a 6990M and can max out (or come close) in every game I've played on it.

 

[kharma45]

Should I get a Zotac 560TI or an HIS HD7850 2GB? 560 TI is $184 including shipping and 7850 is $190

7850, but go MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte or Sapphire.

I thought as much but I do know some laptops can support graphic card upgrades and I am hoping, as unlikely as it may be, that this one can. Think my best option is to take it to a PC store and have it looked at?

On your model you can't I'm afraid.

How much should someone spend on PC cases? I see good looking PC cases from 30$ up to 250$.

But, I would say, I'm willing to spend arround 100$ for a PC case.

More than 150$ is maybe too much for a PC case, isn't it?

I really don't know, that's why I asked in 1st place.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139008&Tpk=corsair 400r

Would be my choice at that sort of money, unless you want a full tower.

30 more dollars gets you this bad boy

That's a 3GB card there. Right up there with a 680 if not better in quite a few games and it OC's great.

You also get....
- FarCry3
- HitMan
- Sleeping Dogs

Free with this card.

Yeah I'd go 7970 personally, although 7950 is also a good alternative.

At the high end 7970, 7950 and 670 are all good cards and none you'll go wrong with really.

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

Have HDD prices come back down to earth? After the steam sale I'm quickly realizing that my Samsung 500GB just isn't cutting it anymore.

 

[NoRéN]

Have HDD prices come back down to earth? After the steam sale I'm quickly realizing that my Samsung 500GB just isn't cutting it anymore.

Damn, 500gb isn't enough for you?

I can uninstall Steam games and re-install later, right? I'm getting a little worried my 256gb ssd might get filled up soon.

 

[Bread]

Have HDD prices come back down to earth? After the steam sale I'm quickly realizing that my Samsung 500GB just isn't cutting it anymore.

I'm in the same boat, but I'm trying to decide if I should go with a ~120gb SSD for a 1-2 TB HDD. I have $75 to Amazon so I'm probably going to buy through there, anyone have recommendations?

 

[NoRéN]

I'm in the same boat, but I'm trying to decide if I should go with a ~120gb SSD for a 1-2 TB HDD. I have $75 to Amazon so I'm probably going to buy through there, anyone have recommendations?

I know this one is highly recommended.
Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 128 SATA_6_0_gb Solid State Drive MZ-7PD128BW

newegg has the same deal but it also includes Assassin's Creed 3.

 

[bdrob]

Merry Christmas PC-GAF!

Having mostly received money for Christmas I am planning to put it towards a new build, mine just isn't cutting it for NS2 / heavy media use anymore. Natural Selection 2 is my main desire for the build, it's a pretty unoptimised game (CPU heavy) but I love it. Ideally I would like to be able to run at a steady 60fps without windows pestering me about low resources!

Other uses will mostly be heavy web browsing (Chrome currently open with roughly 20 tabs~) and light production work. i.e. simply editing a holiday video once a year, really not of much importance but nice to be able to do.

Currently running a Q6600@3ghz with 4 gigs of DDR2 ram, 60gig Sata 2 SSD, 1Tb Samsung Spinpoint HDD and GeForce 570, all powered by a 750w (iirc) modular Corsair PSU. I don't plan on upgrading the graphics card, it's driving my 1920x1200 24" monitor pretty well all things considered. PSU and other bits like blu-ray drive will also be carried forward.

Wondered if I could get your opinions on the following, which I have just put together on Scan:

Bundle: CPU, Memory & Motherboard - £558.46
3XS Edge - Intel Core i7 3770K - Overclocked to 4.6Ghz
Asus P8Z77-V, Intel Z77, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 3.0 (x16), DisplayPort/ DVI-D/ HDMI, ATX
2 x 8GB Corsair 3XS Only Vengeance LP Black 1600Mhz C9 Module
Corsair H80i Hydro Series CPU Cooler, LGA 115x, 1366, and 2011 & AM2, AM3, FM1 and FM2

SSD: OS & Gaming - £124.98
240GB Sandisk Extreme, 2.5" SSD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, Read 550MB/s, Write 520MB/s, 83000 IOPS Max.

HDD: Media & Storage - £71.04
2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 Barracuda 7200.14 SATA 3 6GB/s 7200rpm 64MB Cache 8ms OEM NCQ

Case - £131.98
Cooler Master ATCS 840 Classic Full Tower Aluminum Case, Silver w/o PSU

Total £906.43

Suggestion, criticism etc all welcome. Hope to be putting it together early on in the new year, don't want to wait too long as Haswell will then start playing on my mind! But obviously if sales are inbound then naturally wouldn't mind saving a few bob. £900-£1000 really is my upper limit, wouldn't even mind spend a bit less, but I don't want to skimp only to regret it (i.e. have to upgrade) later on. The basics of my current PC must have remained the same for about 4/5 years, only the graphics card has been upgraded iirc; over that sort of lifetime I don't mind spending an extra £100-£200 if something is worth it. For example, compared to the dual core E6600 I think the Q6600 in my machine has helped it through the last 12 - 18 months and was worth the extra all those years ago.

 

[CharpyImpact]

30 more dollars gets you this bad boy

That's a 3GB card there. Right up there with a 680 if not better in quite a few games and it OC's great.

You also get....
- FarCry3
- HitMan
- Sleeping Dogs

Free with this card.

Anyone had experience with this Sapphire Dual-X Card? I am only used to their Vapor-X Solution.

 

[Bread]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007R67FNA/?tag=neogaf0e-20

any opinions on this? seems like a good buy at $100

 

[NoRéN]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007R67FNA/?tag=neogaf0e-20

any opinions on this? seems like a good buy at $100

I haven't heard anything bad about those but if you can afford it why not get the Samsung I linked above. It's $20 more but 8gb more and if I recall correctly that's the one that's been most recommended.

Samsung 840 pro > 830 > 840

 

[Bread]

I haven't heard anything bad about those but if you can afford it why not get the Samsung I linked above. It's $20 more but 8gb more and if I recall correctly that's the one that's been most recommended.

Samsung 840 pro > 830 > 840

yea i guess if i'm spending the money, i might as well splurge and go for the best one available. thanks noren!

 

[kharma45]

Merry Christmas PC-GAF!

Having mostly received money for Christmas I am planning to put it towards a new build, mine just isn't cutting it for NS2 / heavy media use anymore. Natural Selection 2 is my main desire for the build, it's a pretty unoptimised game (CPU heavy) but I love it. Ideally I would like to be able to run at a steady 60fps without windows pestering me about low resources!

Other uses will mostly be heavy web browsing (Chrome currently open with roughly 20 tabs~) and light production work. i.e. simply editing a holiday video once a year, really not of much importance but nice to be able to do.

Currently running a Q6600@3ghz with 4 gigs of DDR2 ram, 60gig Sata 2 SSD, 1Tb Samsung Spinpoint HDD and GeForce 570, all powered by a 750w (iirc) modular Corsair PSU. I don't plan on upgrading the graphics card, it's driving my 1920x1200 24" monitor pretty well all things considered. PSU and other bits like blu-ray drive will also be carried forward.

Wondered if I could get your opinions on the following, which I have just put together on Scan:

Bundle: CPU, Memory & Motherboard - £558.46
3XS Edge - Intel Core i7 3770K - Overclocked to 4.6Ghz
Asus P8Z77-V, Intel Z77, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 3.0 (x16), DisplayPort/ DVI-D/ HDMI, ATX
2 x 8GB Corsair 3XS Only Vengeance LP Black 1600Mhz C9 Module
Corsair H80i Hydro Series CPU Cooler, LGA 115x, 1366, and 2011 & AM2, AM3, FM1 and FM2

SSD: OS & Gaming - £124.98
240GB Sandisk Extreme, 2.5" SSD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, Read 550MB/s, Write 520MB/s, 83000 IOPS Max.

HDD: Media & Storage - £71.04
2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 Barracuda 7200.14 SATA 3 6GB/s 7200rpm 64MB Cache 8ms OEM NCQ

Case - £131.98
Cooler Master ATCS 840 Classic Full Tower Aluminum Case, Silver w/o PSU

Total £906.43

Suggestion, criticism etc all welcome. Hope to be putting it together early on in the new year, don't want to wait too long as Haswell will then start playing on my mind! But obviously if sales are inbound then naturally wouldn't mind saving a few bob. £900-£1000 really is my upper limit, wouldn't even mind spend a bit less, but I don't want to skimp only to regret it (i.e. have to upgrade) later on. The basics of my current PC must have remained the same for about 4/5 years, only the graphics card has been upgraded iirc; over that sort of lifetime I don't mind spending an extra £100-£200 if something is worth it. For example, compared to the dual core E6600 I think the Q6600 in my machine has helped it through the last 12 - 18 months and was worth the extra all those years ago.

First thing I'd do is drop to a 3570K. Whilst the 3770K is nice if you're only editing videos once a year there's no need for it. You'd get a better value deal if you bought the components separately and OC'd yourself.

Also get this RAM too http://www.cclonline.com/product/84...800C11-1600MHz-30nm-Dual-Channel-Kit/RAM0612/

SSD wise I'd change to something like a Samsung 830, 840 Pro, Intel 330 or Crucial M4.

I'd also look again about your case, would a mid tower not suffice?

 

[CountAntonius]

Could this run Dota 2/Source games well?

Link adding an HD of course.

I don't have much money so I'm going budget and the OP mentions some of these parts. The bundle doesn't seem like a bad deal. Would this be worth buying?

 

[Ty4on]

Maybe a bit thick, but it's not bad considering the power. I wouldn't call it thick or ugly, especially compared to the Asus monstrosities. Mine has a 6990M and can max out (or come close) in every game I've played on it.

I guess it isn't ugly, just not anywhere near as sleak as other laptops.

Couldn't come up with a second adjective, just wanted to specify that gaming laptops with high end GPUs didn't look like regular laptops.

Could this run Dota 2/Source games well?

Link adding an HD of course.

I don't have much money so I'm going budget and the OP mentions some of these parts. The bundle doesn't seem like a bad deal. Would this be worth buying?

Not sure if there are better PCs for the money, but it should play those games. The weak point by far is the GPU, but that can easily be swapped over time.

 

[The English Conquistador]

Guys, is £405 for a Evga GeForce GTX 680 FTW 4GB worth it? Looking to upgrade my Evga 580 SC. Running at 1440p.

Thanks!

 

[silentcapybara]

I recently bought a pre-built PC (a decision I regretted immediately), and I would like to go about some upgrades, specifically a better graphics card and processor. I'd like to be able to play most current games at high/max specs without breaking the bank, if at all possible. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Cheers.

Current specs:

Graphics card - AMD Radeon HD 7450
Processor - AMD FX(tm)-6120 Six-Core Processor
RAM - 10.0 GB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

 

[kharma45]

Guys, is £405 for a Evga GeForce GTX 680 FTW 4GB worth it? Looking to upgrade my Evga 580 SC. Running at 1440p.

Thanks!

Going by this chart at a much higher res the 2GB 670 would be more than enough

Although that is a very good price for a 4GB 680. Usually I'd say just go for the 2GB 670 but part of me is tempted to just say if you can afford it go for it.

I recently bought a pre-built PC (a decision I regretted immediately), and I would like to go about some upgrades, specifically a better graphics card and processor. I'd like to be able to play most current games at high/max specs without breaking the bank, if at all possible. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Cheers.

Current specs:

Graphics card - AMD Radeon HD 7450
Processor - AMD FX(tm)-6120 Six-Core Processor
RAM - 10.0 GB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Do you know what your power supply is?

 

[Stubo]

Guys, is £405 for a Evga GeForce GTX 680 FTW 4GB worth it? Looking to upgrade my Evga 580 SC. Running at 1440p.

Thanks!

I expect everyone to recommend this - £305.87

 

[silentcapybara]

Do you know what your power supply is?

300 watt.

 

[mkenyon]

I recently bought a pre-built PC (a decision I regretted immediately), and I would like to go about some upgrades, specifically a better graphics card and processor. I'd like to be able to play most current games at high/max specs without breaking the bank, if at all possible. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Cheers.

Current specs:

Graphics card - AMD Radeon HD 7450
Processor - AMD FX(tm)-6120 Six-Core Processor
RAM - 10.0 GB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Not much you can do with that to be honest.

 

[The English Conquistador]

Going by this chart at a much higher res the 2GB 670 would be more than enough

Although that is a very good price for a 4GB 680. Usually I'd say just go for the 2GB 670 but part of me is tempted to just say if you can afford it go for it.

I expect everyone to recommend this - £305.87

Thanks for the replies guys. I've definitely considered the 2gb 670. Would the 4gb be noticeably better in performance over 2gb? I can afford, with Christmas here and such, but I don't wanna be silly with my money.

Though I will admit, quite a large part of me wants to get it.

 

[bdrob]

First thing I'd do is drop to a 3570K. Whilst the 3770K is nice if you're only editing videos once a year there's no need for it. You'd get a better value deal if you bought the components separately and OC'd yourself.

Also get this RAM too http://www.cclonline.com/product/84...800C11-1600MHz-30nm-Dual-Channel-Kit/RAM0612/

SSD wise I'd change to something like a Samsung 830, 840 Pro, Intel 330 or Crucial M4.

I'd also look again about your case, would a mid tower not suffice?

Cheers for the input, looks like the 3570K would save about £150~ on the build - £406 for the equivalent 3570K bundle. I went for the bundle as it only looks to be a couple of quid more per component then buying them separately (from what I can find) and I am a little bit nervous of doing the OCing myself - hence why my Q6600 is only running at 3ghz.

Samsung SSD is a fair bit pricer then the Sandisk. Can't say I know a whole lot about the current performance, but I thought Sandisk Extreme were pretty competitive all round?

Also I have gone for a full sized tower as I dislike working within a mid, just find it hard to work everything around! My current PC is squeezed in a Coolermaster Centurion and there is barely room for the power plug on the GPU, it's basically squished against the HDD. Though I get what you mean, £132 on a case does have my head spinning right about now ...

 

[Mangotron]

So I've got a question about the whole Displayport/Eyefinity function, specifically on a 6950 2GB Dirt3.

I want to have 3 monitors hooked up to it at once, it has 2 DVI, 1 HDMI and 1 Displayport slots on it. DVI+DVI+HDMI results in it telling me I have to deactivate one of the monitors to get the 3rd to work. Apparently this is because I need to hook one of them up with a displayport adapter.

Now there seems to be a big difference in the types of displayport adapters available, so I was wondering what kind I actually need. In googling around about it, the "active" variant seems to be the one people say you need, but they are about $25 more expensive than the regular ones so I wanted to make sure that's what I want.

 

[jon_dojah]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've definitely considered the 2gb 670. Would the 4gb be noticeably better in performance over 2gb? I can afford, with Christmas here and such, but I don't wanna be silly with my money.

Though I will admit, quite a large part of me wants to get it.

I picked up a couple 670 4gb FTW's because I plan to run triple monitor Nvidia 3D Surround. I've only been running one of my gpu's and it doesnt break a sweat with all the games ive thrown at it. Far Cry 3 runs pretty good on a single gpu as does Just Cause 2 completely maxed out settings in 3D Vision. i think 4gb of vram is a safe bet for any scenario.