Gaming PCs Thread...time for a sticky / running thread?

Gaming PCs Thread...time for a sticky / running thread?

Author
Discussion

Guvernator

13,104 posts

164 months

Wednesday 18th November 2015
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
^^This, I went mad for a few days trying to price up components from 10 different websites only to realise at the end that they were all within a few percentage points of each other and not really worth all the hassle.

Zod

35,295 posts

257 months

Wednesday 18th November 2015
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My only criterion is generally whether the item is in stock for next day delivery. I'm not a patient man.

Digby

8,230 posts

245 months

Wednesday 18th November 2015
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Firestrike score for sli 970's. Mild clock on cpu.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9328678

Firestrike Extreme on old mobo with the same 970's.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/4849231

Edited by Digby on Wednesday 18th November 18:10

Zod

35,295 posts

257 months

Thursday 19th November 2015
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Mannginger said:


http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9295236?

I'm assuming my CPU is the current limiting factor but defer to you lot for advice on improving this. I'ts certainly not bad at all but if there's cheap and/or easy improvements to be made I welcome your advice!
I have an i7 5820 and a 980 GTX. I get 11700 at standard speeds fro the GPU with about 13000 for physics, but a mildish GPU overclock raises the score to 13400, with the physics score at 14000, so the physics score is mostly, but not entirely about the CPU.

130R

6,807 posts

205 months

Thursday 19th November 2015
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My 3770K is stable @ 4.5Ghz with 1.24V

Art0ir

9,401 posts

169 months

Thursday 19th November 2015
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
My motherboard temps are often higher than my cpu and will trigger my fans.

krunchkin

2,209 posts

140 months

Thursday 19th November 2015
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I'm keen to try building a PC as a new hobby. Any advice for total noobs appreciated

Art0ir

9,401 posts

169 months

Thursday 19th November 2015
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Both chipset and ambient (my 980ti dumps a lot of hot air right where the sensor is).


Digby

8,230 posts

245 months

Thursday 19th November 2015
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Stuck the CPU on 4.4 and gave the cards a push.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9344608

pimpchez

897 posts

182 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Since this is the appropriate thread.


My poor old HP i3 laptop is now overdue a upgrade (battery has long broke and dropped out) after 5 years. It served me well using at uni and rendering my solidworks models for my dissertation.

So i thought get a PC , i was also jealous of the fact PC gaming seems to be better (mods ,more obscure cheaper games ) than my ps4.
This rig needs to be a great all-rounder , being fast enough to be a good gaming pc at 1080p and run CAD software like a breeze.I wanted a mini-itx as this is going in the living room as i dont have a mans cave until i stop pissing money up the wall with fast cars and move.

The main limitation for me is that im tight and a bargain hunter.I am in no big rush to build but with black-friday coming up i might have to purchase the remaining in one hit.

So far , i have/ordered the following.

Kingston 120gb SSD £26.99
Bitfenix colossus mini itx case £42.50
550W Cooler Master VS Series Hybrid Modular, 80PLUS GOLD £43
Phobya Y-Kabel 4Pin PWM 3x 4Pin PWM £2.64

What is left

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU:Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£168.45 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler:Noctua NH-C12P SE14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£38.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard:Asus H81I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£52.38 @ Amazon UK)
Memory:Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£32.84 @ Amazon UK)
Storage:Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£34.39 @ Aria PC)
Video Card:MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£262.31 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard:Gear Head KB1700U Wired Mini Keyboard (£11.50 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £600.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-20 11:24 GMT+0000

So far with the more research i have done , i have blown my initial £500 delivered budget out the water. Ultimately this needs to handle the next 5 years in my household. I am more inclined to go with a 390 8gb GPU instead to future proof. The OS will be windows 10.

I will keep this updated throughout the build with benchmarks at the end.

Edited by pimpchez on Friday 20th November 11:35

pimpchez

897 posts

182 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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I have now and it has came out with 459 watts on full load which is fine even on a cheap 600watt psu.So on mine it should be well within the parameters.Which is great as i am going with a decent cpu cooler so i can overclock as much as the mobo will allow.

The SSD was a billy bargain so i snapped it up , it should be enough for the OS, solidworks , football manager , firefox.

I think if my usage was strictly gaming , then you could easily build a i3 /athlon build for sub £500 with a less fancy case.

See the trouble is , once you read and see buzzwords like "fps" "80+ gold" "tdp" "optimization" you tend to steer to intel for cpu/gpu and blow your budget like i have.

TheExcession

11,669 posts

249 months

Saturday 21st November 2015
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Would someone in the know critique this please and let me know if it's a reasonable spec for current games and worth the money.

Gaming computer for sale 580 Euros

Many thanks.

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Sunday 22nd November 2015
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TheExcession said:
Would someone in the know critique this please and let me know if it's a reasonable spec for current games and worth the money.

Gaming computer for sale 580 Euros

Many thanks.
Just at a glance I would say you would struggle to run modern games on high settings with that setup. The FX-4300 CPU and R7 370x GPU aren't anything special- those two parts combined are worth less than £200- which is considerably less than you'd pay for a single decent GPU.

I've got the FX-8350 CPU and an R9 290 GPU which is a decent upgrade on that spec and I am probably at the lower limit of capability when it comes to running modern games on high settings at decent rates.

As for whether it's worth the money or not that is a different question, as it does appear to be pretty cheap. But if it won't do what you want then the price is irrelevant.

Personally I would look elsewhere, I'm sure you could spec a machine with an equivalent (or better) spec as mine for that kind of money if you shop around smile

Edited to add: It looks like a decent amount of the price of that system is covering the software it comes with, hence the sub-standard hardware.

Edited by Squirrelofwoe on Sunday 22 November 11:45

130R

6,807 posts

205 months

Sunday 22nd November 2015
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TheExcession said:
Would someone in the know critique this please and let me know if it's a reasonable spec for current games and worth the money.

Gaming computer for sale 580 Euros

Many thanks.
For a low cost build I'd consider something like this (prices from Scan):

Corsair DDR3L Vengeance LP Black 8GB (1x8GB) = £34.22
Intel Core i5 6500 (Skylake) = £157.38
ASROCK Intel H110M-DVS D3 Micro ATX Skylake Motherboard = £39.73
1TB Seagate ST1000DM003 Barracuda Internal Hard Drive SATA 3 6GB/s = £35.26
430W Corsair CXM Builder series, Hybrid Modular, 80 PLUS Bronze PSU = £41.99
Corsair Carbide 88R Micro ATX PC Gaming Case = £40.00
EVGA GTX 950 SC Mini ITX NVIDIA GAMING Graphics Card 2GB = £127.14

Total = £475.72

Should run most games ok on High/Medium settings at 1080p. It doesn't include a copy of windows though so you would have to add that if needed ..

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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So finally got my Steam controller and set up my old quad core next to my big TV (to stream the games through Steam from my current gaming rig). Aside from a small delay in starting the games (I'm spoilt by my SSD on the main PC) runs pretty well in full HD with no noticeable lag. thumbup
Couch gaming has now arrived at my home.

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Feels weightier and sturdier than the xbox 360 controller I previously used. I prefer the size of the palm grips as I do have big shovel like hands. A B X Y buttons could do with being a little bigger (big thumbs) and it is taking awhile to get used to the haptic pads (though I already prefer the right one than using a second stick for camera movement).
Certainly less confusing than an N64 controller when I first tried one of those......
As a £40 wireless controller it is well enough made and whilst isn't just plug and play for all games - the community will start filling in the gaps the more it gets used.

TheExcession

11,669 posts

249 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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Thanks to everyone that took the time to look and comment. It's for a friend's 13 year old boy's Christmas present.

I've stated that I'm not qualified to comment, so I will pass on these comments to my friend.

(My lad is only nine so he'll be getting a lump of coal wrapped in tin foil for Christmas and told to like it, lump it, eat it or take it home to muummy. hehe )

Thanks again
Ex


Guvernator

13,104 posts

164 months

Thursday 26th November 2015
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Looks like you might have a "Friday afternoon" CPU. Some like being OC'd, I've heard of people getting over 4.7 and some just don't. It's a bit of luck of the draw.

wolves_wanderer

12,356 posts

236 months

Thursday 26th November 2015
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Some 4770k's are just like that unfortunately. Probably about the time that intel were binning the better ones to become 4790k's. I've just bought a G3258 which will be living in a HTPC but I will have a crack at overclocking it first, see if I can get an old school 50% boost hehe

Guvernator

13,104 posts

164 months

Friday 27th November 2015
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Can anyone recommend a decent wireless gaming mouse? I'd like the freedom of having no cables but I don't want to faff around with batteries so are there any which have a charging dock or can plug in via usb? Also being wireless am I likely to suffer from lag input issues?