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

[FUBAR]

Fkin computers! I've given up. Old PSU didnt have second cable port needed for new card. New PSU that would fit my old Dell Inspiron case wasn't powerful enough and died! Grrr

Just going to buy a new PC ready built.

i7 5820 Alienware Area51 with a few choice upgrades but not Skylake and with normal SSD and R9 290 4gb and ready within 4 days http://www.dell.com/uk/p/alienware-area51-r2/pd?oc...

or a Chillblast Fusion Core Skylake PC (just random choice) i5 6600 Skylake with 256gb M.2 SSD (and 2TB HD) and GTX 980 4gb, ready in 10 days (plus any Christmas waiting etc)

Aleinware is just over £1500 and Chillblast is £1500

or am I completely mad for a work PC that I also want to run BF4 type games?

Im back to square 1 lol

[FUBAR]

And before I return it to Amazon, anybody want my 380 for a small discount? (dont bid me in the balls because Amazon will give me my money back)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ZCBDVW6?psc=...

[Mannginger]

FUBAR said:

Fkin computers! I've given up. Old PSU didnt have second cable port needed for new card. New PSU that would fit my old Dell Inspiron case wasn't powerful enough and died! Grrr

Just going to buy a new PC ready built.

i7 5820 Alienware Area51 with a few choice upgrades but not Skylake and with normal SSD and R9 290 4gb and ready within 4 days http://www.dell.com/uk/p/alienware-area51-r2/pd?oc...

or a Chillblast Fusion Core Skylake PC (just random choice) i5 6600 Skylake with 256gb M.2 SSD (and 2TB HD) and GTX 980 4gb, ready in 10 days (plus any Christmas waiting etc)

Aleinware is just over £1500 and Chillblast is £1500

or am I completely mad for a work PC that I also want to run BF4 type games?

Im back to square 1 lol

Jump onto forums at PCSpecialist (or maybe even here!) with your budget and target games / performance level. They'll recommend a pretty decent build and you can then paste it in for PCSpecialist to build and send out. Was (properly) great customer service when I did the same thing and I've not had a jot go wrong. Think you'll be paying a premium for the Alienware hardware (I speak as someone who had an Alienware gaming laptop and that was definitely at a premium)

[Mattygooner]

Similarly 3XS at Scan were very good to deal with and will build and deliver by Sat/Mon.

http://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/overclocked...

Intel Core i7 6700K Quad Core with HT professionally overclocked to 4.2GHz
8GB Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz
4GB EVGA GTX 980 SC
250GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD & 2TB HDD
Microsoft Window 10 64bit and 3 Year Premium Warranty
250 x 210 x 374 mm (WxHxD mm)
£1,478 inc Vat but you can configure whatever you like.

[pimpchez]

Mattygooner said:

Fire Strike Score - http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6797594

Spec

Coolmaster Cosmo 2 Full Tower
ASUS Rampage V Extreme USB3.1
Intel I7 5930k @4.2 (was Pre clocked to 4.4 but not pushing it yet)
Corsair H100i GTX Hydro Cooler
32GB (4x8GB) Vengeance LPX, 3000MHz
2X GeForce GTX 980 Ti EVGA Classified SC Edition
1050W Seasonic 1050XP3 PSU
ScanDisk 480GB Extreme PRO SSD (plumbed in but not doing anything yet)
Seagate 4TB/8GB Serial 3.5 inch Solid State Hybrid Drive (for Steam and games etc, plumbed in but not running yet)

Very please with it so far, might need to look at cooling again, the CPU is fine, but the top of the case gets very warm near the front out the way of the Rads for the Hydro Cooler, doesn't seem to be enough room to get a fan in there.

Firstly ,our new IT systen at work has blocked pistonheads so i am gutted ..... Secondly you have twice the score as me , i dont know what benchmarks mean but f me thats a lot of horsepower!

[Mattygooner]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It's only 6 cores...... But yeah, it is expensive kit and the board, cpu and memory were overclocked by Scan so it is putting out some power.

Monitors, what a bloody pain, it seems compromise is the only way, 4k @60hz or widescreen and IPS at 144hz. What realistically is the best for gaming whilst keeping costs reasonable? I am leaning towards the high refresh with IPS, G-Sync and 32 inches.

[Mannginger]

Mattygooner said:

It's only 6 cores...... But yeah, it is expensive kit and the board, cpu and memory were overclocked by Scan so it is putting out some power.

Monitors, what a bloody pain, it seems compromise is the only way, 4k @60hz or widescreen and IPS at 144hz. What realistically is the best for gaming whilst keeping costs reasonable? I am leaning towards the high refresh with IPS, G-Sync and 32 inches.

Having just bought a new monitor I agree. I feel it's a touch early for a 4k Monitor currently so went with a quality IPS screen in the Asus PG279Q

Not sure if they do a 32 inch version but this screen is a total beast, I love it, even down to the little joy-stick controls for the settings, good quality so far as well and a really nice warm feeling to the colours. It's top-end pricey and there was a queue but it has to be one of the best gaming monitors out there currently and will happily do me for the next 4/5 years whilst 4k tech and hardware gets up to speed

Edited by Mannginger on Wednesday 16th December 07:54

[Jinx]

FUBAR said:

And before I return it to Amazon, anybody want my 380 for a small discount? (dont bid me in the balls because Amazon will give me my money back)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ZCBDVW6?psc=...

Fubes - no good? adapter

[FUBAR]

Jinx said:

Fubes - no good? adapter

Probably, and Im guessing the IT lad didn't have one in stock. And was a frigging error putting in a lower power unit just because it had 2 power outlets. Im just pissing into the wind trying to improve on oem Dell machine. I was just being a cheapskate. Need to buy something proper for the job that is future proof.

[FUBAR]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Not really. That's what my IT guy recommend as they have a large gaming client who run them, and know that they are (in their words) good quality and the backup/support is good. I guess they use the very high end stuff? They are wary of a 'lesser' company build for fear of support I guess. Having said that, the young lad who came over yesterday hadn't even heard of Chillblast. I'm a late forties property professional and even I've heard of them! Was much easier when I always dealt with the boss at the IT firm, he knew his onions. Seems as they've expanded thay have taken on spotty yoofs out of school who probably did an IT exam because they were too stupid for anything else (no disrespect to any knowledgeable, young IT bods on here lol)

[Mattygooner]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I actually held back from getting the 8 core version.

It does seem a little early for true 4k gaming and everything I read is pushing me towards a proper high refresh gaming monitor.

Manninger, what a beast! Looks pretty much perfect but very pricey, at that bracket I might be tempted for the z35 predator from Asus.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/acer-predator-x34-3...

Edited by Mattygooner on Wednesday 16th December 11:30

[130R]

34" is fairly massive for a monitor though IMO. I'd be tempted by one of these if I were looking to move from 1440p to 4K: https://www.asus.com/uk/Monitors/ROG-SWIFT-PG27AQ/...

[FUBAR]

Surely this will do the job?

http://www.chillblast.com/pconf.php?productid=2105...

[Guvernator]

FUBAR said:

Fkin computers! I've given up. Old PSU didnt have second cable port needed for new card. New PSU that would fit my old Dell Inspiron case wasn't powerful enough and died! Grrr

Just going to buy a new PC ready built.

i7 5820 Alienware Area51 with a few choice upgrades but not Skylake and with normal SSD and R9 290 4gb and ready within 4 days http://www.dell.com/uk/p/alienware-area51-r2/pd?oc...

or a Chillblast Fusion Core Skylake PC (just random choice) i5 6600 Skylake with 256gb M.2 SSD (and 2TB HD) and GTX 980 4gb, ready in 10 days (plus any Christmas waiting etc)

Aleinware is just over £1500 and Chillblast is £1500

or am I completely mad for a work PC that I also want to run BF4 type games?

Im back to square 1 lol

Wouldn't touch the Alienware to be honest. It's overpriced for what you get and although the case looks nice, they are prone to overheating apparently. I had a look at that very Chillblast PC and it's not a bad deal. Do what I did and pick a base package from Chilllast or Overclockers and then change the bits you want. They are both pretty flexible in what you can swap and change. My OC PC was fairly custom and it still arrived within a week of me ordering and that was despite a delay on getting my chosen CPU in.

[Mattygooner]

Yep, it's a little sparse, and I would be concerned with their suppliers, they want +£299 for the Seagate 4tb hybrid drive which I bought for a £110 quid off amazon. Perhaps if it is bang for buck it might be better to let someone do the hardest part of the build in fixing and testing the mobo, CPU and cooler and then buying the other parts and case separately at the best price and put it together over the weekend. It might stretch your budget slightly.

[FUBAR]

I kinda did that...the Chillblast above is £1200...I can live with that...just wanted you guys to confirm Im not missing something!

[Guvernator]

Nope, would be pretty happy to buy a custom PC from Chillblast, Overclockers or PC Specialist. You'll get a lot more bang per buck than you would on an Alienware machine and the support is pretty much identical. With AW stuff you are paying a lot for the brandname. The specs on the CB look good .

As for monitor I was the same, thought it was a bit early for 4k, you'd need SLi'd 980's to do proper 4k anyway and most 4k monitors aren't really gaming spec but more for photo editing work so you tend not to get the better refresh rates\input lag etc. I think 4K still has a couple of years to mature, the sweet spot at the moment seems to be 1440p with 144ghz refresh. I went for the Asus ROG PG279Q, it's "only" 27" but it's the newer model of a previous ASUS monitor which was widely considered to be one of the best gaming monitors around and so far this new one isn't half bad either.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Personally I use a 24" monitor and find it perfect for me. I suspect I could get away with a 27" one but think anything larger and it could be on my desk and usable without constantly moving my eyes and head all over the shop.

[Mattygooner]

Guvernator said:

Nope, would be pretty happy to buy a custom PC from Chillblast, Overclockers or PC Specialist. You'll get a lot more bang per buck than you would on an Alienware machine and the support is pretty much identical. With AW stuff you are paying a lot for the brandname. The specs on the CB look good .

As for monitor I was the same, thought it was a bit early for 4k, you'd need SLi'd 980's to do proper 4k anyway and most 4k monitors aren't really gaming spec but more for photo editing work so you tend not to get the better refresh rates\input lag etc. I think 4K still has a couple of years to mature, the sweet spot at the moment seems to be 1440p with 144ghz refresh. I went for the Asus ROG PG279Q, it's "only" 27" but it's the newer model of a previous ASUS monitor which was widely considered to be one of the best gaming monitors around and so far this new one isn't half bad either.

I haver the Sli 980s for 4k, but everything I read just says don't bother, and I agree.

now stuck between the very same Asus ROG PG279Q and going widescreen for a lower refresh Predator X34 34" 3440x1440 IPS. Both cost a bloody fortune but I think would definitely put the cherry on the cake, I am leaning towards the Asus set for cost saving and higher refresh.

Did yours come with a displayport cable included?

[mikef]

Guvernator said:

you'd need SLi'd 980's to do proper 4k anyway

What's proper 4K? I'm replaying BF3 at 4K on high with a single GTX970, with a consistent 50+ FPS

When I take a screenshot with screenshot.render it actually takes an HD screenshot at 200FPS, so can't post the on-screen FPS (and I don't want to install FRAPS before anyone suggests that)