Im building a gaming pc some advice

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yes prebuilt, i wouldn't know where to start by myself. thats why im using pcspecialist.
 
so is a 1.25 gb 570 better than 2gb 7850? how much of a difference does the memory make?
 
in the end i will either have to opt for the 560 or the 7850.
fact is that the 560 is in offer on this website so with a 560 my budget is £904, with a 7850 its £944 which is already a bit more than a i can affort.

if i opt for a 7850 can i save £19 on the cooling system?
what about windows, what is windows 7 32 bit opposed to 64 bit? which is better for gaming?
 
Yeah, definitely go for the 7850 and the 64 bit version. Even if it means dropping to an i5 3450 or not buying the extra CPU cooler. The standard one is great too, it keeps it cool and was the quietest fan in my PC build! If you want to save money and decide on getting a 3450, don't bother with the 'super quiet' cooler, the standard free one is fine too. The extra CPU coolers are for when you want to overclock (like nitrous oxide for your PC..ish), but I think that won't be something you'll be doing soon.
 
ok im almost ready to make the order. If some1 is still around, I have some queries about the monitor. For budget reason i decided ill go for a 19" monitor. Ill get one at PCworld for £69 as it has 5ms, while the one they sell on pcspecialist has 2ms. I figured I can make do this way and buy a better monitor later on. any second thoughts?
 
ok im almost ready to make the order. If some1 is still around, I have some queries about the monitor. For budget reason i decided ill go for a 19" monitor. Ill get one at PCworld for £69 as it has 5ms, while the one they sell on pcspecialist has 2ms. I figured I can make do this way and buy a better monitor later on. any second thoughts?
Click to expand...
It is actually better to have a lower ms rating on monitors, but really no-one can tell the difference between 5 or 2ms. You'd be absolutely fine with either. I'd still REALLY recommend getting the 22" 1080p monitor, removing the extra CPU cooler will make up for the price if you haven't done that already, and you'll benefit much more from it. I think with something like this you may kick yourself in the head thinking "why did I not spend the extra £20 on my monitor to get X option, now I have to spend £90 again to buy that one as well"

If you still want to go ahead with your current choice from PC world, which I'm assuming is this:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/aoc-e2050s-20-led-backlit-monitor-11925669-pdt.html then fair enough, it's better than the PCspecialist one due to the better resolution. Please bear in mind though that the PCworld one is VGA connection only, and your graphics card uses DVI, so you will need an adapter, this normally comes with most graphics cards though.

What is your current parts/options list at the moment?
 
hey jwk3 thx for the dedication to my thread:) so im not sure what u mean. On pcspecialist, when i selcted the 19 or 22 inch monitor it tells me i need a dvi-d cable. so i baught one. are you saying i need that same cable for the pcspecialist monitor (yes the one u linked)? ANd does that mean that the montior provided by PC specialist does not need an adapter?

THis also brings up another issue, you mention removing the cooling system. I really have not looked into this as getting informed on graphic cards, cpu, ram from scratch is already way to much for me.. :) BUt I have read the 7850 descritpion and reviews and it seems to use less wattage and space, which seems to reduce heating. SO my question is: is a cooling system redundant on this kind of machine, and if not how much would i benefit from having it?

thx again
 
well the reason it told you to buy a DVI cable as your graphics card (all modern graphics cards are like this) has DVI connectors, and the cable that comes bundled with the screens are with VGA connectors, so based on that they suggest buying a DVI cable. However all graphics cards that I've seen come with a DVI to VGA converter, which means you can use the VGA cable that comes with the monitor and connect it to the PC with the supplied adapter. I'm not sure if PCspecialist will give you the adapter with your PC, as I'm assuming they pick the basic 7850 (no speed difference don't worry) card, which is the same stuff as dell/alienware/acer would use in their PCs and subsequently I'm unsure if they will come with an adapter. If not however you can buy these adapters anywhere! shops like Maplins, PCworld or anywhere online should do them for under £10, it just means you won't be able to use your new PC for a few more days until you get the chance to drive to a shop/get it delivered.
I'd recommend getting the 22" from PCspecialist if you can afford it, and a DVI cable to be on the safe side.

Heat-wise, the standard cooler is fine if you are keeping the CPU at stock settings, which I think you will most probably be doing. You only need to start looking at coolers with extra cooling capabilities if you are overclocking or you find the stock one too loud (the stock one for your PC is fine!).
 
OK ive been looking at your pc site, and this is what id go with
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/view/Editing-v700-Plus-pc/

Then change the following

Change the case to the £59 The PCS Maelstrom T900 Case

Change the GPU to the RADEON™ HD7770

Change the PSU to the Corsair 650w enthusiast series

This will give you a much better balanced system with a nice 24" monitor and windows 64bit for £850
 
i have another question. with this motherboard i should be able if i wanted to to add a second graphic card correct? I've heard/read that 2 graphic cards is a decent solution, is this true? would adding another 7850 in a year or so give a decent boost to my PC or would it be worthless?
cheers
 
yep that motherboard will allow you to add in a second 7850 in the future. The downside is that the cuurent 650W power supply doesn't have the right connectors for 2 graphics cards, it only has enough connectors for 1 card. If you are thinking of adding in a second card in you would need to upgrade to the Corsair enthusiast 750W, which is £15 more.
 
is it viable to change the pwer supply later on or if i choose the 650 now im stuck with it?
 
would i be just better of keeping the 650 and one day replacing the video card with a newer better one?
 
Its viable to change anything, psu's are fiddly to change, 650 would be good enough to power a system that can run 1 monitor at max fps on highest settings, so there will be no need to update the 650W, and because it is slightly oversized it should last you for a long time. (I'm still using my 600W from 5 years ago, and i'm on my 3rd upgrade)

To reiterate others points, you can happily use the stock cooler if you are not going to be overclocking. A 'better' cooler will offer no benefits in your circumstances and so cannot be classed as better.
 
is it viable to change the pwer supply later on or if i choose the 650 now im stuck with it?
Click to expand...
it is possible to change the PSU, but if you are confident enough to change a PSU then you might as well build the whole PC! In my opinion the PSU is the most complex part to change... apart from the case, which involves rebuilding everything 😛

as with the keeping the 650W and maybe upgrading to another single card in the future, it depends on personal preference really. If you can afford the extra 15 quid for the option to add a second card then go for it, if not, well that's fine too, you would just buy a newer single card in the future.

 


not sure i explained myself. what i meants was to replace the 7850 (one day) with a newer video card. as I understand having 2 7850 rather than just 1 new card would consume more Watts? besides wouldn't I probably get more from 1 new video card (in lets say 2 years time?) than 2 older cards? frankly.. i have no idea... 🙁

btw thx to all of you, I went on and placed the order. should get it in a week, im popping out of my skin from anticipation.

anyways if your itnerested this is what i finally opted for

Case
InWIN MANA-136 BLACK GAMING CASE


Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache


Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX


Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)


Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable


Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE


1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM


Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)


Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER


Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)


Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs


USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD


Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)


Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)


Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL


Monitor
22" Widescreen TFT 1920 x1080 2MS D-Sub, DVI, 21.6" Panel (£89)


DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE (£5)


Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)


Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)


Build Time
FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH
 
i have a final question for you guys :)
do i want to look into overclocking eventaually? how complicated is it? will my machine do just fine without? would i want to overclock my machine? I assume all this would be worth doing only once I get a better monitor?

thx again
 
With regards to overclocking in the future and the performance gain:

like uther said, your CPU at stock clocks/default settings will easily be powerful enough to run games for a fair few years. I really doubt overclocking the CPU will give you much gaming performance increase over keeping it stock. It will give you a noticeable speed improvement for thinks like video conversion and rendering though. If you decide to upgrade your graphics card in the future then adding an aftermarket cooler in and overclocking the CPU (to keep up with the new graphics card speed you could say) should be sensible, but not essential.
 
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