Opinions on new gaming computer

[CerberusRogue]

Getting a new gaming computer, but I'm a bit out of touch new with the new specs. What's the general opinion on the computer below?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freshtech-Motherboard-Per...

I'd like a computer that will run games like Forza Motorsport on it's highest settings - but also don't want to have to sell a kidney to get one.

Otherwise, what spec should I be looking for? I assume an i7 CPU is a must, along with 16GB of RAM and an SSD disk for the OS. No idea about the graphics card.

Cheers!

[CerberusRogue]

Great, thanks for the feedback. Would an i5 be plenty though for a fast game like Forza Motorsport? There is a lot going on at times.

Which graphics card should I look for then? I want to run a 1080p monitor (not sure how big but possibly ~27").

[CerberusRogue]

chris285 said:

As above i5 for gaming is fine, i'd get a 1070 rather than a 970 as will last much better than that card

For reference I have a hex core sandy bridge e i7 with 32gb of ram and a 970 and it played forza at 1080 no problems at all, but if i hadn't bought the card recently i'd be looking at at 1070 as an upgrade

OK, perfect! This is what I was after.

I'll go spec an i5, 32GB, and a 1070 - and also the same with a i7 to see what the price difference is.

cheers

[CerberusRogue]

chris285 said:

32gb is total overkill, i got it for running VM's but for gaming save your money and get 16gb

Do you have a budget you are working to?

Fair enough, i'll look at 16gb. No fixed budget, but hoping to keep it under a £1,000 if possible.

[CerberusRogue]

does this one cut the mustard?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ADMI-GTX-1070-GAMING-Pre-...

Apart from game loading, system boot up etc., would not having SSDs have much of an impact on game play/speed?

[CerberusRogue]

@ajprice - thanks, I'll look now

[CerberusRogue]

great feedback, thanks. Forza and other racing games are an absolute must, so I want to get the spec right!


What about this spec? It's an Alienware.

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-5820K (6-cores, 15MB Cache, Overclocked up to 3.8 GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
Windows 10 Home (64bit)
8 GB Dual Channel DDR4 at 2133MHz
2 TB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
8X DVD ROM Drive
AMD Radeon R9 370 with 4GB total GDDR5
Software
Intel 7260AC Dual-Band 2x2 (802.11 ac/a/b/g/n) WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0

[CerberusRogue]

ZesPak said:

No price?

Seems a bit low spec except for the cpu.

The R9 370 is very middle of the road, low end for a gaming rig.

This site is really helpful to compare GPU's:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Rade...

Ooops, forgot to mention the price. It's £800 + VAT off the Dell Outlet. I'll keep hunting then...

[CerberusRogue]

ZesPak said:

Just some guidelines:

• i5 is plenty
• 8GB should be enough, but an upgrade to 16GB is so cheap it would be silly not to do it straight away
• A modern machine should have an SSD, reduces boot times and just generally gives a much nice experience

all of the above, plus I want a 1070 graphics card as well :-)

[CerberusRogue]

ZesPak said:

CerberusRogue said:

all of the above, plus I want a 1070 graphics card as well :-)

Thing is, when you want something like that in a pre-built system, they often going to up everything. 32GB of RAM, 3TB of HDD, i7,... and the price goes up.
To me, a gaming rig, esp sub 1000, you're often better off building it yourself.

I had originally considered this road but decided against it, mostly through laziness to be fair. Might be worth pricing up all the parts and doing it myself.

[CerberusRogue]

ZesPak said:

That way you also have quality gear. I know Dell can get huge discounts on RAM because of volume, but they also won't hesitate to put in some obscure variant of a gpu that they could get from some manufacturer if it means it'll save them 10 quid.

OK, fair point. I'll look at that route. I'll also check out some local computer shops, they might have some good prices as well.

[CerberusRogue]

thanks everyone for all the help, it's been great. This *should* be my final question...!

I've customising a computer on Overclockers, to see how it comes out. When it gets to the graphics card section it's offering way too many options! Looking at either the 980 or the 1070, there seem to be lots of different types. How can I pick the right one, or do I just pick on the price alone?

Example below...

[CerberusRogue]

thanks everyone for all the help with this. Without it I would no doubt have bought a box of useful crap from PC World!

I've now bought an i5 with 16GB of RAM and the 1070 graphics card from Scan for £900. I opted not to get the SSD as the difference got be the better graphics card. Scan customer service were really helpful, giving honest advice rather than just trying to squeeze me for money. I also ended up getting a 27" monitor as they had some sale items going

It's being delivered today :-)

[CerberusRogue]

chris285 said:

Hope you are happy with your purchase, as above an SSD is a must for gaming now IMO but I am sure your new system will be bang on the money for what you want as scan and pretty good

I'm trying to not think about watercooling my rig, well custom water cool it all that is lol

I had planned on the SSD but the guy from Scan told me that the only real benefit of the SSD is for booting of the computer and loading the game - once both of these are done the value of having one is pretty low. He advised upping the graphics card instead to the 1070 as i'd see a far bigger benefit from that for the same money.

but thanks!