tiesieman
True Bro
mental lagger
Posts: 1,401
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Post by tiesieman on Feb 25, 2012 17:27:36 GMT -5
Dear bros, I think it's time for me to upgrade to an entire new desktop I've been playing on this laptop I originally bought for school but while BF3 (and other games) are playable, I have to play them with everything on low and with a very low resolutions and even then, I can't play some lightning-heavy bits in all sorts of games without it becoming 5-10 fps. And that sucks.
So I want to go bigger, slightly. But I'm clueless as far as what's good stuff for a good price, or wether you buy a premade desktop (i hear these are oftenly overpriced) or to build it yourseld (how hard is it?)
I don't have a huge budget (1000ish euros) but I don't want to have everything set on 1080p with everything on ultra @ 60 fps. I'll live with something worse, but a better more stable FPS and a better resolution are the key things i really want
So, any of you bro's know where I could start and/or what I should be looking for? I'm clueless.
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Den
He's That Guy
Posts: 4,294,967,295
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Post by Den on Feb 25, 2012 17:40:30 GMT -5
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Post by psijaka on Feb 28, 2012 2:51:41 GMT -5
^ this I bought what I would describe as a half decent home PC with gaming capability recently - at least that is what I tell my wife! This setup runs BFBC2 just fine on top quality setting. Perhaps the only thing that I wished I had done is go for the next step up in Motherboards; would make it somewhat easier to upgrade in future, But budget was an issue. There is a 3rd option to buying off the shelf and home build, and that is to get the PC custom made. I bought my PC from www.pcspecialist.co.uk/pcs/ and added my own Wifi card + DVD. Not much use to American Bros I know, but worth a look as the site is well designed and they do a compatibility check. My screenshot is from their site. You must have similar sites in the US.
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Post by volgon on Feb 28, 2012 7:21:19 GMT -5
You usually end up paying way more for a company to put together a custom PC than if you just put it together yourself. There are plenty of sites like that one but everytime I'd try and price one on this comp it would come out $300-500 more than building it on my own. Of course I can't fault you if you don't know what you're doing, it can be intimidating to build your own.
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Post by rudybojangles on Feb 28, 2012 9:49:36 GMT -5
This is my rig, from memory/shopping history @ newegg (don't know the euro equivalent) COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 PlusArctic Silver Arctic Silver 5ASUS 24X DVD Burner SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TBSeagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPMCrucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB (x2)G.SKILL Sniper Low Voltage Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) Intel Core i5-2500K ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3 HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB COOLER MASTER Black/Grey 8 Buttons Storm Sentinel Z3RO G Mouse + COOLER MASTER Storm Sniper (Combo) CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 ASUS VS Series VS247H-P The monitor is okay, but the alpha is permanently jacked way up (nothing that can't be fixed with color software, but no alpha adjust on the actual monitor), the mouse is just meh (okay but not an amazing experience), the tower is nice, but it was a splurge. The SSD has BF3 and Windows 7 on it. Hmmm, the DVD drive is to taste, Arctic Silver 5/Arctic Cleaner is very nice to really get the best contact point from your aftermarket heatsink/fan to your CPU. No processor beyond the i5 2500K will have noticeable effects on gaming performance, so don't splurge on the i7. These parts were purchased months ago, and there are newer and better parts out there, do some research Places you should never skimp on: CPU cooling POWER SUPPLY! Case with a lot of cooling, Cooler Master/Antec cases are pretty good.
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tiesieman
True Bro
mental lagger
Posts: 1,401
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Post by tiesieman on Feb 28, 2012 10:41:15 GMT -5
it's a dutch site, but you guys'll get the idea This is what I'm most likely getting: tweakers.net/reviews/2263/4/tweakers-punt-net-best-buy-guide-editie-september-2011-high-endgamesysteem.htmlWith 1 (not 2) HD6950 and without the SSD, cause according to a friend I don't need it. Price should be around 900-950 building included (I know I would break nearly everything if I tried to build it myself). Everything else; monitor, boxes etc has aleady been taken care off @ Rudy, does saving your games on the SSD improve performance in a significant way? Maybe i don't need to skimp on it.. What do you think bros? Any improvements/alternatives you can recommend?
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Post by rudybojangles on Feb 28, 2012 12:16:34 GMT -5
it's a dutch site, but you guys'll get the idea This is what I'm most likely getting: tweakers.net/reviews/2263/4/tweakers-punt-net-best-buy-guide-editie-september-2011-high-endgamesysteem.htmlWith 1 (not 2) HD6950 and without the SSD, cause according to a friend I don't need it. Price should be around 900-950 building included (I know I would break nearly everything if I tried to build it myself). Everything else; monitor, boxes etc has aleady been taken care off @ Rudy, does saving your games on the SSD improve performance in a significant way? Maybe i don't need to skimp on it.. What do you think bros? Any improvements/alternatives you can recommend? I think Toms Hardware did a few tests. Having games installed on SSD vs HDD made noticeable, though small, improvements to FPS, but helped loading times. Having the OS (and thus a lot of the high use files) on the SDD sped up frame rate on every game, made for amazingly fast boot times (without worrying about Raid 0 configurations, though you could certainly raid SDDs), etc. Early SDDs were prone to pretty rapid failure, but new firmware (easily updated once in the system) has lead to a lot less data corruption. Don't forget to buy an OS! I did and had to shell out cash at a local store b/c I didn't want to wait for another internet shipment. As a follow-up to the article: Looks like an overall solid system. I ended up going with that exact same motherboard, but check this one out: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157264I think the Z68 has Sandy Bridge support and SDD caching, nice features, and more future proof. Also, on the cooler, it's not a bad choice. www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018 For an expensive choice, and my cooler that I linked for a cheaper choice. The ram, Corsair in America does everything that G.Skill does, for a more expensive price (usually $5-10), so I suggest shopping around, and if you can find a good priced G.Skill set (8GB is all you realistically need under gaming) then go for it. The low voltage series should give you more overclock room, but mine didn't. What they do do is run at the advertised 1.25V, which puts less stress on some of the PSUs rails (by a little bit), and runs nice and cool, plus they are low profile, which is a MUST if you have a big, gaudy HSF combo (like your Mugen). Besides that, I think the build is VERY solid. You won't be disappointed! (Just recheck the clearance on those ram modules, as they tend to be super close to the HSF. I can take a pic in my system if you want to see clearance on the P67 ASRock board. One last edit: 64GB will be enough to install OS+1-2 modern games. 128GB will let you install all of your most used games, anything more is a bit overkill, as you can just go for traditional spinning storage for media/documents/other games.
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Post by duckcall00 on Feb 28, 2012 17:24:55 GMT -5
I have only owned Macs my entire life. But when the PS4 and XBox 720 (or whatever the next generation consoles are called), I plan on getting a gaming PC instead. I have never built a computer in my life. I have looked at some tutorials online, and it doesn't seem too complicated to build. How would the bro's rate the ease of construction of a nice gaming PC?
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tiesieman
True Bro
mental lagger
Posts: 1,401
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Post by tiesieman on Feb 28, 2012 17:34:40 GMT -5
I mailed some different companies if they can build exactly that setup yesterday, but haven't got any replies yet. Gonna wait for those, and maybe then alter some stuff. And yeah, I didn't forget the OS thanks for the help everyone!
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Post by SheWolf on Feb 29, 2012 4:36:26 GMT -5
duckcall00: i did it without internet or a tutorial, right the first time, with some basic knowledge (i knew what a graphic card did, and a cpu, and so on). the only thing i wasn't sure about was the CPU and the cooling paste that goes in between it and the cooling unit. also, don't be greedy when it comes to the powersource. bigger is better, and you don't want your precious new rig getting fried because you got a noname thing with not enough watts.
the thing about connecting the mainboard to everything (on/off switch, reset button, fans) is that nowadays most mainboards come with this little plastic bricks (called "solutions") that you can directly click onto the mainboard, and all the sockets on them are labled in a foolproof way ("cpu-fan", "power switch", and so on), as well as color coded for your convinience (red thingie goes into red hole), so there really isn't much you can do wrong.
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Post by psijaka on Feb 29, 2012 7:47:04 GMT -5
You usually end up paying way more for a company to put together a custom PC than if you just put it together yourself. There are plenty of sites like that one but everytime I'd try and price one on this comp it would come out $300-500 more than building it on my own. Of course I can't fault you if you don't know what you're doing, it can be intimidating to build your own. The thing is, I did price up the separate bits, and there really wasn't that much difference in price - I get stung for shipping charges as I live on an offshore island. I have only owned Macs my entire life. But when the PS4 and XBox 720 (or whatever the next generation consoles are called), I plan on getting a gaming PC instead. I have never built a computer in my life. I have looked at some tutorials online, and it doesn't seem too complicated to build. How would the bro's rate the ease of construction of a nice gaming PC? I built PC's by the dozen with little trouble back in the '90s, and, after changing the PSU and adding a Wifi card and DVD to my new PC, I would say that it looks even simpler now. The only fiddly bit would be installing the CPU and it's heatsink (be aware that static electricity can cause damage, and use proper heatsink compound). All the connections to the MB are very simple, and the motherboard came with excellent documentation. Don't scrimp on the power supply if you are getting a decent graphics card, though; they can be hungry beasts. ... premade desktop (i hear these are oftenly overpriced) I found that premades were often overpriced, as you say, or they used a really crappy grapics card. Beware!
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Post by rudybojangles on Feb 29, 2012 9:36:19 GMT -5
Newegg, my pimped-out, go-to US electronics online store, has very simple, clear-cut How-To vids in three parts. I used these on my first try.
Things that I know now that I didn't get in the how-to videos (general tips): 1.) Aftermarket HSFs have SHARP blades. VERY SHARP BLADES! Be careful or have lots of papercut-like cuts on your hands! 2.) Cable management. It's hard to picture on your first go, but the more clear space you have over your components, the better the airflow. Plan and pay attention to order and cable placement, and use LOTS of zipties where necessary. When shopping around for towers, bigger means easier in a lot of cases, but even small cases can have some amazing cable maangement solutions. NOT TO BE DISCOUNTED BEFORE PURCHASE! 3.) When you screw in your HSF, it can easily go off-center, making it look ugly and potentially mess with contact with CPU. Have a friend hold it straight down, firmly pressed, and square to the board, before screwing in the fasteners. 4.) High-profile heat spreaders on RAM sticks are HSF's worst nightmare. 5.) Consult your mobo's manual when installing all of the little cables, like the LED switch, the USB front pannel cables, etc. CAREFUL CAREFUL, you don't want to short out anything.
Most of the other stuff I had known or was explained clearly in how-to vids.
Good luck!
(And if you are waiting, may want to get an Ivy Bridge CPU, whenever Intel gets some real competition from AMD and decides to release them).
Also, it's better to get a nice standalone card now than to get two cards to SLI/XFire, as it leaves you with more upgrade paths in the future! If your MOBO supports it, you can go 3 (or maybe 4??) discrete cards in X-Fire/SLI.
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