Noob: Looking to build for Arma II Dayz Mod (which build?)

[cleveden8]

Ok so I've been tinkering with two builds to run Arma II DayZ mod well - I have never built a PC before so I would be grateful for your feedback and suggestions here - budget is less than £800 - ideally around £500-600 point.

Any suggestions to reduce my cost but keep/improve performance are needed!!

Thanks 😛

i5-3570K Build - Total: £799.59
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/cleveden8/saved/1L6n

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.10 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£105.03 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.72 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£71.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital AV 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£25.19 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card (£162.15 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£64.10 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.99 @ Dabs)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£68.35 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £799.59

AMD 8350 Build - Total: £775.48
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/cleveden8/saved/1L6N

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£147.59 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.10 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£63.98 @ Dabs)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.72 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£71.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital AV 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£25.19 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card (£187.49 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£64.10 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.99 @ Dabs)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£68.35 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £775.48

 

[hybird9012]

Nice builds! If you sent with AMD system you can probably get a AMD 7950 with what you save... but those cards will do just fine for Arma2. Check the videocard power supply requirements. I know the 7950 is at least 550W. You should be fine with either build

 

[cleveden8]

Nice builds! If you sent with AMD system you can probably get a AMD 7950 with what you save... but those cards will do just fine for Arma2. Check the videocard power supply requirements. I know the 7950 is at least 550W. You should be fine with either build

Thanks Hybird - this is my first time building I never realised how fun it is, but also a minefield!

I've heard good things about both processors - what would make you sway towards one or the other with these builds?!

 

[hybird9012]

Nice builds! If you sent with AMD system you can probably get a AMD 7950 with what you save... but those cards will do just fine for Arma2. Check the videocard power supply requirements. I know the 7950 is at least 550W. You should be fine with either build

Thanks Hybird - this is my first time building I never realised how fun it is, but also a minefield!

I've heard good things about both processors - what would make you sway towards one or the other with these builds?!

Yeah it's definitely fun to do. You may run into a few issues the first time but they will be common problems if any. It is actually easier than it looks and more of the challenging aspect may be figuring out those issues.

As for me, you can probably tell I'm an AMD user by my build. I've built over 30 computers in my life time starting with AMD Athlons/Intel Pentiums and ATI/Nvidia cards. Since, I think AMD does a great job at performance vs. price and competes with Intel on a price level if they can't fully compete with performance. I think they are a very innovative company and since PS4 and Xbox One will both have AMD APU processors in it, more applications and games will be optimized for AMD products in the near future. In fact, Adobe is just starting to optimize their products for AMD based CPU's and GPU's.

From my experience, I've only had issues with nividia Geforce cards and never any issues with AMD cards... and it wasn't issues like driver issues but more of failing to boot, shutting down my system, getting too hot, very bad graphical errors, etc.. Since then, it kind of ruined my experience with Geforce cards.

However, all this being said, Intel makes some very great processors and Nvidia has improved a lot. The question really comes down to what you want and your preference. As for CPU's, if you want to save some money and get a competitive product then I'd go with AMD. Intel's Core i7's are the fastest now and if you want the top at the moment then I'd go with Intel. However, keep in mind that once more games and apps take advantage of hyperthreading and utilize more than 4+ cores I think the AMD FX-8000 series CPU's will be extremely competitive. As for graphic cards, I think AMD wins on the price for performance vs. Nvidia. AMD's 7900 series is very good for the money and compete with Nvidia's top of the line.

I'd suggest reading reviews and see what kind of a system you want

 

[cleveden8]

Nice builds! If you sent with AMD system you can probably get a AMD 7950 with what you save... but those cards will do just fine for Arma2. Check the videocard power supply requirements. I know the 7950 is at least 550W. You should be fine with either build

Thanks Hybird - this is my first time building I never realised how fun it is, but also a minefield!

I've heard good things about both processors - what would make you sway towards one or the other with these builds?!

Yeah it's definitely fun to do. You may run into a few issues the first time but they will be common problems if any. It is actually easier than it looks and more of the challenging aspect may be figuring out those issues.

As for me, you can probably tell I'm an AMD user by my build. I've built over 30 computers in my life time starting with AMD Athlons/Intel Pentiums and ATI/Nvidia cards. Since, I think AMD does a great job at performance vs. price and competes with Intel on a price level if they can't fully compete with performance. I think they are a very innovative company and since PS4 and Xbox One will both have AMD APU processors in it, more applications and games will be optimized for AMD products in the near future. In fact, Adobe is just starting to optimize their products for AMD based CPU's and GPU's.

From my experience, I've only had issues with nividia Geforce cards and never any issues with AMD cards... and it wasn't issues like driver issues but more of failing to boot, shutting down my system, getting too hot, very bad graphical errors, etc.. Since then, it kind of ruined my experience with Geforce cards.

However, all this being said, Intel makes some very great processors and Nvidia has improved a lot. The question really comes down to what you want and your preference. As for CPU's, if you want to save some money and get a competitive product then I'd go with AMD. Intel's Core i7's are the fastest now and if you want the top at the moment then I'd go with Intel. However, keep in mind that once more games and apps take advantage of hyperthreading and utilize more than 4+ cores I think the AMD FX-8000 series CPU's will be extremely competitive. As for graphic cards, I think AMD wins on the price for performance vs. Nvidia. AMD's 7900 series is very good for the money and compete with Nvidia's top of the line.

I'd suggest reading reviews and see what kind of a system you want

Ok so this is what I am about to order...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£147.59 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.10 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£79.81 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£45.39 @ Dabs)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£71.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital AV 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£25.19 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card (£187.52 @ Amazon UK)
Case: CiT Vantage ATX Mid Tower Case (£31.96 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£85.49 @ Ebuyer)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.99 @ Dabs)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.59 @ Aria PC)
Total: £781.62
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-13 16:03 BST+0100)

what do you think?