Pre-Built Gaming PC for Humbled Brit

[Philip Dude]

Hello all!

For the last 4-5 years I've been riding out my Reliant Robin-styled PC with extreme tolerance and dedication. I've spent all this time accustomed with a shoddy GeForce 9500GT (for the latter few years, before that I was looking at other prehistoric cards I cannot remember) and a Pentium 4 processor and I'm ready to upgrade. Whilst at first I felt keen and motivated to build my own PC, I've come to realise that I'm severely out-of-my-depth when it comes to shopping for a modern PC.

So I'm asking you with all sincerity to help me find my new computer. I've shuffled through the various links on this sub-forum and have seen a few PCs within my price-range, however I have no idea whatsoever as to what is considered a quality computer these days.

To give you some depth into it's purpose. I'm an avid Steam user and console gamer (as my PC has just become too sluggish) and so I've bought into and wish to play games such as Skyrim, BF3, Assassin's Creed, Borderlands and more.I also want to play more PC-styled games such as Arma 2 (I'm desperate to join some friends for DayZ,) Garrysmod and simpler games such as Minecraft. Whilst previously limited, I'm looking to reconvert to a full-time PC gamer, no consoles.

My general budget is £700 (emboldened for those who wanted to skip the life story!) though I'm willing to shift if the extra money pays for a significant increase in performance. Luckily, I'm not so worried about hitting 'high' quality for these games, as I'm used to the gruelling dregs of my current PC but I want to make sure I truly get my money's worth. I have no idea where to start, but have found some that seem within my price range on-line and would like opinions. I am open to any suggestions and am extremely thankful for them. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you can help me out.

Side-note: Can anyone explain to me the benefit of various generations of CPUs. I'm seeing i7 processors and i5 processors, not knowing if the pay-off is worth it for a gaming rig.

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4)

Link 4 is something I added as I noticed that it had the 570 GTX which was listed highly on your stickied thread.

 

[Philip Dude]

I'm not sure what the bumping rules are here, but I was hoping to get some feedback, if possible. I've been paying more attention to link 4, and was curious if the PSU was going to be sufficient. Any ideas?

 

[Fat.Clown]

I'm not sure what the bumping rules are here, but I was hoping to get some feedback, if possible. I've been paying more attention to link 4, and was curious if the PSU was going to be sufficient. Any ideas?

link 1 and 2 are the same.
link 4's PSU will be fine.

break down -
all "3" PCs you listed will be fine for the games you listed.

amazon pc, the seller does not list all the specs, such as the motherboard and power supply model. from a guy that builds his own PC's perspective, that is somewhat troubling. but given the positive reviews the seller has, I'd give them the benefit of doubt. I'd drop the model to a 2500K/8GB/560Ti/1TB hard drive model though. the 2600K have no advantages over the 2500K in terms of gaming performance.

wired2fire pc-
-no name power supply is bad, i'd at least upgrade to the corsair.
-4GB ram is the bare minimum these days. I'd upgrade to 8gb if budget allows.
-has AMD HD 6870 graphics card. of the few titles you mentioned (BF3, Skyrim, and boarderlands) run slightly better on NVIDIA graphics. although they are very close in terms of performance.
+has a Blu-Ray reader, which is a plus.
-you forgot to select the wire management option. it's free, get it.
+free overclocking with the cooler you selected.

computerplanet pc-
-not a K model CPU. which means no overclocking if you wanted to. it's that not big of a deal, since it is already a good CPU.
+best of the 3 you selected, the GTX 570 is the best for gaming afterall.
-also the most expensive.

 

[Philip Dude]

Thank you for the breakdown, it's been particularly helpful. Thankfully due to a relatively successful set of results from my studies at college I've come into a small addition to the budget, making PC number 4 (I had originally intended to link both the 2500k and 2600k versions, but appear to have screwed up on the pasting) a possibility. For £850, in comparison to other pre-built computers of that variety, am I getting my money's worth? I've began looking on my new budget and may well have some more links to show for it, but until then I'll be keeping what you've said in mind. Thank you very much, man!

 

[patonb]

Have you looked at overclockers.co.uk ?

They have systems that are very good and customnizable.

That'd be my choice, basically a custom system but as convieniant as a pre-built

 

[Fat.Clown]

Thank you for the breakdown, it's been particularly helpful. Thankfully due to a relatively successful set of results from my studies at college I've come into a small addition to the budget, making PC number 4 (I had originally intended to link both the 2500k and 2600k versions, but appear to have screwed up on the pasting) a possibility. For £850, in comparison to other pre-built computers of that variety, am I getting my money's worth? I've began looking on my new budget and may well have some more links to show for it, but until then I'll be keeping what you've said in mind. Thank you very much, man!

I looked around a little bit, for budget of about 850 pounds, I'd probably go for this PC here.
"Titan 8700i Pulse" Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40GHz @ 4.40GHz DDR3 Ivybridge System []


there are 2 configurations i'd go for.
Changes made from stock configuration are bolded.

1.
No SSD
No Wifi
OPT out of FREE software
KFA GTX 570 1280MB Video card
windows 7 home premium
no sound card upgrade
Antec 300 case
£820.22 inc VAT
£683.52 ex VA

2.
Intel 330 60GB SSD
No Wifi
OPT out of Free software
HIS HD 7850 IceQ 2048MB video card
Windows 7 HP
no sound card upgrade
Antec 300 case
£834.20 inc VAT
£695.17 ex VA


I left the stock case in both configurations because cases are really a personal thing (although the BitFenix Shinobi case for 4 pounds more looks VERY tempting).

first lets talk about the pros and cons of this PC of both variations above.
+has current generation Intel Core i5 3570K processor. the computers you were looking at previously has the previous generation of Intel processors (2500k, 2600k).
+good CPU cooler.
+solid power supply. some people skimp on this. but don't do it. just don't do it. bad power supplies can catch fire and take out your whole house.
+A guaranteed 4.40GHz performance for the price of 3.40GHz. I am not a professional or anything, but last I heard, faster is better. and that's 32% more performance(theoretically) for free.
-only a 500gb hard drive compared to the 1000gb ones you were looking at.
-no blu-ray


build 1.
has the gtx 570 you've been eyeing. great for gaming, probably edges out the HD 7850 (in build 2) in most cases.


build 2.
has an SSD! that SSD is going to make EVERYTHING feel more quick and responsive.
and the HD 7850 isn't all that much weaker than the GTX 570.

quick comparsion - AnandTech - Bench - GPU12
don't just look at the bars, look at the resolution and the average frames too.
the HD 7850 can push most games at 1080P at 50 frames or higher.
battlefield 3 excluded of course, but they're testing at ultra settings. drop that down to high preset and you'll be fine.



PS I opted out of free software in both builds because LibreOffice is free and just as good or BETTER than the starter edition of MS Office. and Trial Anti virus sucks, I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. It is also free and is just as good or better.

 

[Philip Dude]

Didn't expect to see so much extra information when I came back, thankful as always! The link you gave me sure looks impressive when I compare it to ones of a similar pricing. Overclocking to me has always been outside of my understanding of computers. I'm aware of what it does but am in no way adept, as you guys are proving to be. I do however appreciate what this site appears to offer for the CPU.

Has anyone here used the 570 before, or know how much longer it's shelf-life is going to last? I'm unlikely to stretch much over the £850 mark for any extra bells and whistles, but since I've set my novice eyes of the 570 it does sound like a sweet ride and I don't want to feel short-changed after purchasing it (who does, really?) Also, how beneficial will the SSD be? If it's worth getting for the extra £45 on-top of the first build, I'm more than willing to work the hours to pay for it! I always tell myself that the money saved on PC-gaming deals compared to console will ease the emptiness in my wallet, at any rate.

Again, thanks. And I'll keep you guys posted if/when (most likely a 'when') I make the purchase, should you guys be interested. Looks like a beer is in order.

 

[patonb]

I'm thinking a 570, second best readily avaliable card basially, will be useful for quite a few yrs.

I'm not sold on 60Gig SSDs. Though I am loving them. I have 120Gig's. Besides windows booting in under 30 secs, thats completely open, any program installed on it is quick. Word,office programs snap open, game map switches pop open.

But I can't justify the price of 60Gigs, I won't buy under 120Gigs.

 

[Philip Dude]

Having been busy over the last week I've only just had a chance to sit down and look at purchasing the computer. Sadly the price has been bumped up on the computer since I'd last checked, and I'm now not so sure about the deal. I've searched about for something better and am back to being out-of-my-depth yet again. Does anyone think they can find a better deal for the new price of £876.43? I'd be extremely thankful. The specs on that deal are as follows:

- Case: BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black
- Power Supply: OCZ ZS 650w PSU
- CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40GHz @ 4.40GHz Ivybridge CPU
- Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
- Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalem CPU Cooler
- RAM: Samsung Green 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Hard Drive: 500GB HDD
- Graphics Card: KFA2 GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- Sound: Realtek 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)
- Optical Drive: LG DVD+/-RW SATA Drive
- Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit OEM

I was originally intending to buy the SSD as was stated above, so if any other deals have one that'd be great. Thanks in advance for any and all help, guys.

 

[patonb]

The best thing is SSDs can be added in quite easily after.

I think you probably won't find a better deal unless you source all your parts on sale, and assemble yourself.