The PC Building Thread

stuartyd said:
Apologies if I'm asking this in the wrong thread but it's kinda along the same lines.
A desktop PC is out of the question at home so I am looking to get a new laptop. I want to get a good gaming system with a view to running games like PES and BF3 via HDMI onto my HD TV but I'm unsure what kinda spec to be looking at.
Ideally I don't want to be spending more than £500

What should I be looking at Processor wise (should I be looking at dual or quad core?), RAM (I'm thinking 8gb), graphics card etc to play these kind of games?


At the moment I'm looking at:

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5755G_1204252.html

1. Is the graphics card good enough on this laptop or should I be looking at 2gb?
2. Only dual core! Is this enough?

Hope you guys can help
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You wouldn't be able to play hardly anything on a laptop gaming wise without spending at least £800. Especially in HD resolutions.
 
stuartyd said:
So what kinda spec should I be looking for?
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Notebook, the most recent one is i5 3210m or i7 3610m + gt 650m 1GB/2GB.

I have this asus n56vz, i5 + gt 650m 2GB version but 1366x768 (HD) display. PES and FIFA is smooth as hell in maximum setting. BF3 in medium setting only 35-50 fps which is surprisingly plays smooth enough for an fps game :))

They are still capable for fifa max. setting at FHD (1080p) and i am sure PES too.. BF3, the witcher 2, hardware demanding game.. you'll likely end up with low or lowest setting to get decent frame rate for smooth experience. Note that in a case like dirt 3 game, 60 fps is a must at least for me.

However, HD screen in notebook is very common to have average quality in terms of colour, contrast, etc. Many also shares this at notebookreview.com forum

For desktop, can see this 300 pound sterling build article :
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-introducing-the-digital-foundry-pc

However, for good 1080p experience I suggest minimum i3 2100 (2 core/4thread) sandy bridge + AMD HD 6850/7770 or Nvidia gtx 460 as a start. But better to get fast cpu first i.e i5 2500k if it can meet your budget, easier for very high end graphic card upgrade later.. Note that you can also upgrade cpu to i5 2500k if you start with i3 2100.
 
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Thespeedster84 said:
Notebook, the most recent one is i5 3210m or i7 3610m + gt 650m 1GB/2GB.

I have this asus n56vz, i5 + gt 650m 2GB version but 1366x768 (HD) display. PES and FIFA is smooth as hell in maximum setting. BF3 in medium setting only 35-50 fps which is surprisingly plays smooth enough for an fps game :))

They are still capable for fifa max. setting at FHD (1080p) and i am sure PES too.. BF3, the witcher 2, hardware demanding game.. you'll likely end up with low or lowest setting to get decent frame rate for smooth experience. Note that in a case like dirt 3 game, 60 fps is a must at least for me.

However, HD screen in notebook is very common to have average quality in terms of colour, contrast, etc. Many also shares this at notebookreview.com forum

For desktop, can see this 300 pound sterling build article :
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-introducing-the-digital-foundry-pc

However, for good 1080p experience I suggest minimum i3 2100 (2 core/4thread) sandy bridge + AMD HD 6850/7770 or Nvidia gtx 460 as a start. But better to get fast cpu first i.e i5 2500k if it can meet your budget, easier for very high end graphic card upgrade later.. Note that you can also upgrade cpu to i5 2500k if you start with i3 2100.
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Brilliant, thanks.
If I got the nod to increase the budget, what would I need to play BF3 at max?
 
Hi looking to get a decent pc for gaming. I only really play Pes and MW so don't need anything amazing.

Can someone tell me what to look at.i love a gadget but don't really no about gaming on pcs.

I don't want to spend a fortune and don't need a monitor.

Thanks.
 
stuartyd said:
Brilliant, thanks.
If I got the nod to increase the budget, what would I need to play BF3 at max?
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ultra setting with all those full-dx11 feature ? :SHOCK:

As far as i know gaming at 1080p actually tends to need more power from graphic card..

#CPU

According to :

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,review-32368-4.html

http://www.techspot.com/review/458-battlefield-3-performance/page7.html

intel sandy bridge i3 2100/2120 (2 core 4 thread) has similiar result as i5 2500k (4 core 4 thread) with high end graphic card a.k.a nvidia gtx 580 or amd HD7970.

But people tends to prefer i5 since many report to have smoother experience (the minimum frame rate) in online muliplayer with quad core. Note that i5 2500k will also faster in some multi-core supported productivity task/program (compressed/decompressed, render, etc)

# GPU
For 1080p ? as high as you can :P . Seriously though, techspot make it easier http://www.techspot.com/review/550-best-gaming-graphics-cards/page2.html

I'd prefer gtx 670 though.. note that nvidia may release gtx 660ti in august which is expected to be best price/performance in their current lines.

For my casual eyes, setting between ultra and high does not show significant visual look to the game.. even to medium setting this game still looks beautiful. Hence, at this medium-high setting amd 6850/6870/7770 or nvidia gtx 560/560ti will be sufficient.

LOL, talking about gaming pc will end up overbudget as usual :P
 
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SteelHorse75 said:
Hi looking to get a decent pc for gaming. I only really play Pes and MW so don't need anything amazing.

Can someone tell me what to look at.i love a gadget but don't really no about gaming on pcs.

I don't want to spend a fortune and don't need a monitor.

Thanks.
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What's your budget?
 
SteelHorse75 said:
£400-500
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You can certainly build a decent rig in that price range, although £500 will give you more headroom. There is a good thread on AVForums which has recommended new builds for both £400 and £500 price points. Have a look and see what you think:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/pc-g...best-builds-most-common-low-price-points.html

Also, you can save money by picking up second hand components or buying a whole rig second hand. Look back a couple of pages where Kevano picked up a nice gaming PC for £455 off ebay.

Don't rule out building yourself though. It's pretty straightforward if you do a little research.
 
Ok cheers.

Also will the PC be better than the Xbox 720/PS4 when it comes out purely games wise?

Don't want to buy a pc then in just over a year it's not as good as the new consoles. Thanks
 
SteelHorse75 said:
Ok cheers.

Also will the PC be better than the Xbox 720/PS4 when it comes out purely games wise?

Don't want to buy a pc then in just over a year it's not as good as the new consoles. Thanks
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Depends how good you think the new consoles will be. I'm not convinced they will be as powerful as some people think. Anyway, a modest gaming PC can already outstrip the current consoles for performance so if anything it's the next gen consoles playing catch up.
 
Jamezinho said:
You can certainly build a decent rig in that price range, although £500 will give you more headroom. There is a good thread on AVForums which has recommended new builds for both £400 and £500 price points. Have a look and see what you think:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/pc-g...best-builds-most-common-low-price-points.html

Also, you can save money by picking up second hand components or buying a whole rig second hand. Look back a couple of pages where Kevano picked up a nice gaming PC for £455 off ebay.

Don't rule out building yourself though. It's pretty straightforward if you do a little research.
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Yeah that link jamez give, is a very good recommendation starting from i3 2100 build :)) i'll put the link in my sig, in case someone came here again asking.. :P
 
I personally wouldn't recommend any of those PC's on avforums.

If your looking at a gaming PC, I certainly wouldn't get an i3 either, they are for budget systems and people who just want to browse the net.
Getting an i5 will massively improve your system performance in general.

Also with regards to next gen consoles if they are to be believed to be the specs that are currently going around they aren't going to be as powerful as modern gaming PC's.

Here is the one I told Kevano to purchase about 2-3 weeks ago.
Here you go, not £500 though.



There is some stuff though you could miss out and get elsewhere as could be cheaper.
I would get a 2nd hand graphics card like a 5870 or maybe even a 6870 that is instantly £80 off that, other 2nd hand components could also be used.
You could buy a motherboard and processor bundle of ebay with a 2500K, that would then easily get the budget below £500.
 
Yep, as bsmaff says, if you can afford it swap out an i3 for an i5. The former is dual core, the latter quad core, which will help with gaming. Depends on the game though. Most are mainly graphics card dependant, some lean on the CPU more. Some good deals to be had on the i5 2500k if you shop around.

Regarding the graphics card, if buying new I'd go for the 7850 over the 560 Ti based on performance at that price point. Probably better to go for an older card if on a budget though.

Otherwise, the AVF builds give an idea of where to spend the money and what to focus on at certain price points. As always, prices are constantly evolving.
 
When buying graphics cards though do not be put off by getting older ones of eBay when going on a budget the ATI 5870 was an absolute amazing card and still is. On benchmarks it outperforms the 560TI and is on par with the 7850, but the best bit is you can pick one up on ebay for £80 over half the price of the 560TI.

Plus at a later date you could crossfire a 5870 and have better gaming performance than a 580GTX.

+ If you do get a gaming PC you can play Slender.(I dare anyone to play that in the dark with headphones on without needing clean underwear)
 
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bsmaff said:
When buying graphics cards though do not be put off by getting older ones of eBay when going on a budget the ATI 5870 was an absolute amazing card and still is. On benchmarks it outperforms the 560TI and is on par with the 7850, but the best bit is you can pick one up on ebay for £80 over half the price of the 560TI.

Plus at a later date you could crossfire a 5870 and have better gaming performance than a 580GTX.

+ If you do get a gaming PC you can play Slender.(I dare anyone to play that in the dark with headphones on without needing clean underwear)
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thats not you is it?
YouTube - My Sisters Boyfriend SCARED SH*TLESS Playing SLENDER
 
stuartyd said:
What about the NVIDIA GT 650M 2GB Graphics Card?
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Be able to play most games in medium settings, but the problem with laptops if you really want to play games on them in full HD on medium to high settings you have to have a budget of £1000.
Unfortunetly there isn't a mass market for gaming laptops, so when they are made by MSI and Alenware you have to pay an absolute premium.
 
Bitter Rivals said:
thats not you is it?
YouTube - My Sisters Boyfriend SCARED SH*TLESS Playing SLENDER
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No that's not me but I did crap myself first time I played it and got about 5 pages then walked into a building and when I went to leave he was standing at the entrance.

Got used to it now but is prob the only game I have played that actually scared me, great atmosphere, sound is great and is incredibly basic and you can play it in 10 mins.

Sorry for being off topic.
 
bsmaff said:
Be able to play most games in medium settings, but the problem with laptops if you really want to play games on them in full HD on medium to high settings you have to have a budget of £1000.
Unfortunetly there isn't a mass market for gaming laptops, so when they are made by MSI and Alenware you have to pay an absolute premium.
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OK, thanks. So how do you think PES would look in comparison to the Xbox on this system?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/novatecheliten1510.html
 
stuartyd said:
Bugger it! Getting too expensive looking at laptops that could cope with BF3. I'm just gonna get one that can run PES2013 maxed out so I can mod it.
Any suggestions on laptops which would be up to this?

What about this
http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/novatecheliten1510.html
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stuartyd said:
What about the NVIDIA GT 650M 2GB Graphics Card?
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That's with 768p resolution.. same as my 56vz but mine uses i5 3210m..

PES of course easy at max. setting, BF3 within 30-60 at medium setting.. which in general playable for me. i am sure at 1080p external monitor you need to turn graphic setting to low setting and/or turn off another graphic option in order to have reach result for BF3 in 768p :JAY:
 
jonneymendoza said:
without a monitor, keyboard and OS its easily doable for playing fm2012.

i spent just shy over that on a linux server that could easily play fm2012(4gb dual core intel sandy bridge, and a case).
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he has a IDE hdd, dvd rw, OS, Monitor, keyboard and mouse so any recommendations for a £200 build jonneymendoza
 
Someone has told me if I order all these pieces I will have to put the machine together? Wouldnt have a clue where to start on that.

Any decent sites where they make them for you?

thanks
 
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