CPU centric Gaming Rig

[mcbgun]

Hi guys,

At some point next year I'm thinking I may take the plunge and upgrade my PC. My current Dell XPS 420 has been upgraded to the hilt in all areas. It works ok for what I play which is pretty much Football Manager.

That game is pure CPU power and my Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40 GHZ handles the game ok as does the 8 GB of DDR2 ram but realistically I want a much faster gaming experience and when I do play games like skyrim, the system struggles to keep up temperature wise.

I'm not after a graphics card that plays on high settings as the main bulk of gaming is spent on football manager but I want it there as an option to be able to play things at a higher level of detail.

I've got a keyboard, mouse, speakers and two 22 inch acer monitors which are fine for my needs.

I'm interested in bang for my buck (or pound as I live in the UK!). Looks are of no concern. I just need something that can deliver massively on Football Manager and decently on any other games I decide to play.

I've got a 1TB hard disk and a couple of 300 gb hard disks that I'd be happy to use to cut costs down unless these will impact on the game's performance (SSD's are way quicker but I'm conscious of price, but again if this has to be factored in...so be it).

I get the feeling what I'm looking to build won't be cheap as I want a damn fast processor so understand the bulk of money will go on that. Maybe sub £400 is squeezing things too much but anything cheaper than that that could make Football Manager run blazingly quick.....GREAT!

I'd also consider dropping the GFX card completely if it meant improving Football Manager performance. I'd be happy to upgrade the card later.

Any help would be much appreciated guys. I have done some research and done some builds on part picker. Intel is probably my preferred choice but I'd take the plunge with AMD if people think that's a better option for what I want.

 

[aspri]

Hey there,

I'm sorry but I'll just like to confirm what you're asking, that is a CPU + motherboard + case + PSU + RAM? Right? And for under 400£
Here's one first build, very good Intel base but expensive and without GPU http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2lWuv. Total £363.08.
Here's an AMD build, not bad http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2lWzG, and it has a GPU. 15£ over your budget though.

Now the intel build can be changed since it's one of the best CPUs and it's quite expensive, maybe you can choose something like an i3...or change the CPU to a less expensive to be under the 400£.

 

[mcbgun]

Your on exactly the right lines with your answers there. The intel base would be perfect as a starting point. I have a GeForce 9800 GT at the moment I'm sure later down the line I can get something reasonable.

 

[aspri]

Your on exactly the right lines with your answers there. The intel base would be perfect as a starting point. I have a GeForce 9800 GT at the moment I'm sure later down the line I can get something reasonable.

The Intel CPU is very powerful and could last you quite another 2-3 years with its full potential unchanged. It has the Intel HD Graphics 4000 (or 3000), that can still perform well.
Anyways you could still play older games and maybe few new games at low resolution and settings with the Geforce 9800.

 

[mcbgun]

Quick question....at the moment there is an offer on G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 for £63.71. For the few quid extra is it worth getting this? Also what about a cpu cooler? I'm not an overclocker so is this required?

Final question.....I do have 3 hard drives that I'd use but would stretching to get an SSD be worth it?

 

[mcbgun]

I was thinking this (not sure if I'd get this GFX card but I did a little research and this seemed to be pretty good for the price?)

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/mcbgun/saved/3bwo

 

[aspri]

Hey sorry for the late answers. You could get faster RAM, but IMO 1600 should do the job. Now RAM in budget isn't that much considering other parts. It's up to you to have a look and figure out if you need the best RAM out there (the fastest) or save some £ and invest them in other things but for less than £10, it is not that bad of idea.
An SSD is like a deep fresh breath for a PC. If you can afford a 120 GB to install your OS and main programs and host your games, movies, etc on HDD, you'll have a very fast PC at startup and shutdown and other advantages.
Now you could go for that build, it'll be unbalanced since CPU+RAM are far more capable than GPU but you could still play some new games with that card. Or you could stick with the Geforce 9800, save the money for the GFX card, add 100£ and get something in the range of a GTX760.

 

[realchaos]

Do you plan on overclocking?

 

[mcbgun]

Thank you both for the latest answers there. Aspri that was what I was thinking. I'm in no rush for the GFX card to be honest as I don't really play many gfx intensive games....that being said, knowing me, if I did purchase the card I'd probably end up playing those sorts of games a hell of a lot more!

Realchaos....I'm not bothered about overclocking as I tend to upgrade my PC in big jumps rather than squeeze the life out of what I've got. Dunno why, probably just personal taste. Pretty sure the build above would last another 5-6 years before needing to be upgraded again.

I spent about £470 on my dell xps 420 so £500 or so is about right for my next one.

To be honest, the game I play the most in all my history is Football Manager...I've played it since 96 and it relies mostly on processing power and little on gfx. I want a machine that can crunch through seasons and a PC that isn't sluggish like my one is starting to become. I do tend to do a fair amount of encoding as well so having more grunt is always good. I think the build above caters to my need perfectly. The temptation to go for an i7 is high but from what I can see, the jump up from my Quad Core Q6600 will be so vast I wouldn't miss the difference.

Incidently, Football Manager does utilize 4 cores I believe if they are there?

Also regarding the cpu cooler question - is a cooler only really necessary for overclocking or should I invest?

 

[aspri]

A CPU cooler is a necessity if you plan to overclock since the CPU tends to overheat. I'm not the best to advice you a cooler but any of the brads out there should do fine. If air cooling is you way something like this should be good http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/scythe-cpu-cooler-scbsk2100
If you're planning to play only Football Manager, the Intel HD Graphics should do the job since it's powerful enough to handle games with much more graphics.

 

[mcbgun]

A CPU cooler is a necessity if you plan to overclock since the CPU tends to overheat. I'm not the best to advice you a cooler but any of the brads out there should do fine. If air cooling is you way something like this should be good http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/scythe-cpu-cooler-scbsk2100
If you're planning to play only Football Manager, the Intel HD Graphics should do the job since it's powerful enough to handle games with much more graphics.

Thanks again aspri.....time to start saving!!! Have a good xmas!

 

[realchaos]

You should go for this if you're not overclocking:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£132.08 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£58.90 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£60.62 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card (£123.90 @ Amazon UK)
Case: BitFenix Shinobi ATX Mid Tower Case (£46.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£47.12 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £469.61
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-20 18:27 GMT+0000)

-Cheaper processor and motherboard. They will perform the same as the ones in your build at stock speeds.
-Better quality case and psu.
-Much stronger gpu.

 

[mcbgun]

Looks pretty good! And you say the performance will be similar? I can't argue with that total price.....seems more than reasonable and will be a major upgrade on what I have!