The PC Building Thread

DagsJT said:
Looking forward to your thoughts. If you have a good GPU capable of still getting good graphics in 3D and keeping a nice framerate then some stuff looks excellent. Trine was pretty remarkable.

As it is now, I've got a 120hz monitor with no 3D and my single 7950 not able to hit 120fps on most major games anyway so kinda wasted at the moment. Hopefully I'll get a GTX 780 in the winter and that might get closer to the 120fps.
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My GPU is the 680GTX, and like you when the 780GTX comes out I will be selling my 680GTX and upgrading to that.
 
Some advice/recommendations please, chaps....

I'm most likely going to be upgrading my GPU within the next couple of months. At present I have a 7850 which to be fair has been a great card for the money, especially given it's overclock potential.

A 7970 seems to be the frontrunner at the moment on price and performance. Just wondering what are the best ones to go for? I know that the Gigabyte cards are voltage locked which is no good to me as I would like to overclock at some point.

Is there any benefit in paying a little more for a GHz edition? Or should I just get a cheaper model and overclock the difference?

I'm looking to spend about £350 so what would be my best option?

Also, I have a 650W PSU and as far as I'm aware that's good enough for a single 7970 unless anyone knows any different?
 
Jamezinho said:
Some advice/recommendations please, chaps....

I'm most likely going to be upgrading my GPU within the next couple of months. At present I have a 7850 which to be fair has been a great card for the money, especially given it's overclock potential.

A 7970 seems to be the frontrunner at the moment on price and performance. Just wondering what are the best ones to go for? I know that the Gigabyte cards are voltage locked which is no good to me as I would like to overclock at some point.

Is there any benefit in paying a little more for a GHz edition? Or should I just get a cheaper model and overclock the difference?

I'm looking to spend about £350 so what would be my best option?

Also 650W should be adequate, just use a PSU calculator and also the most important thing is how many AMPS it has along the 12V rail(with which your using a decent GPU now so will be perfectly fine).

Also, I have a 650W PSU and as far as I'm aware that's good enough for a single 7970 unless anyone knows any different?
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Tbh Jamez I would hold off, your GPU is more than adequate at present and I would wait till the next round of GPU's to arrive. (Me and Dags are both waiting for the 780GTX)
The next gen consoles are just around the corner and people are just guessing the specs, and you have to make sure you 'FUTURE PROOF' your PC for the next gen.

£350 would get you a 680GTX now but in 6 months £350 would get you the 780GTX, with the current high end PC cards now nearly 12 months old they are due a new generation.
 
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That's a good point and is something I have been thinking about. I guess it depends how much of an improvement the new gen cards offer over what we have now. PC hardware seems to have stagnated a little. The fact that both AMD's 8000 series and Nvidia's 700 series cards have been put back doesn't help.

I'm in no rush to change as my current card does a good job and only falls down in the more demanding games. I'm just not one for waiting for something better to come along when I could be enjoying a top end card now.
 
New NVIDIA TITAN RELEASED >

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/02/21/nvidia_geforce_gtx_titan_video_card_review

geforcegtx_titan.jpg
 
Well got my new 3D monitor set up, and the monitor is pretty good.

I have tested a few games at present just a quick 5 mins here and there, and so far not over impressed with 3D, but I will have a massive game of something later and let you know after playing something for more than 30 mins on whether or not it actually adds anything to the experience.
 
They work in extension sockets but may degrade the signal, it's very hit and miss and there's no way to find out how well your home does (or doesn't) work with homeplugs (with or without extension leads) until you try, if you have a friend with a pair it might be worth trying to borrow them first, or maybe find a store that has a really good no quibble returns policy?
 
I haven't got a free wall socket near my pc, that's why I asked. If I free one up it means running a hell of a lot of gear through one surge protected socket bar.
 
I would suggest you only need to run a network cable long enough to your PC location from the home hub(wall socket) while leaving everything as it is.
 
I have a couple of Windows 8 Pro update codes if anyone wants them.

They allow you to use the upgrade assistant and then get the upgrade for £14.99, has to be used though by end of day tomorrow.
 
I will edit the post and do machines up to £1000 in value.
I will also redo the problems from the £300 and £400 builds, but will update after a few people like Dags, Jonney and Jamez give their input, that way we will have some really good builds.
 
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Nice work bsmaff. Just goes to show how a decent gaming PC can be put together on a budget.

I particularly like the £600 build. That would be my preferred starting point as with the 7950 you're getting a card that will make light work of all games at 1080p. It's worth spending that little extra.

Speaking from experience the 7850 is a great mid-range graphics card with low power draw. I would recommend the 2gb version for another £40 if budget allows as I've found some games pushing past 1gb VRAM.

Are those Aria power supplies any good? Again if budget allows, a branded PSU from the likes of Corsair can be found for around £50 which will be a very safe bet.
 
Good stuff, BSMaff.

Jamezinho said:
Nice work bsmaff. Just goes to show how a decent gaming PC can be put together on a budget.

I particularly like the £600 build. That would be my preferred starting point as with the 7950 you're getting a card that will make light work of all games at 1080p. It's worth spending that little extra.

Speaking from experience the 7850 is a great mid-range graphics card with low power draw. I would recommend the 2gb version for another £40 if budget allows as I've found some games pushing past 1gb VRAM.

Are those Aria power supplies any good? Again if budget allows, a branded PSU from the likes of Corsair can be found for around £50 which will be a very safe bet.
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I wouldn't say the 7950 makes light work of all games at 1080p if you want the highest details. The vast majority of games are fine at max settings but there's some like Sleeping Dogs and Crysis that still require SLI/Crossfire really. An excellent card though.
 
Here is some updated specs:

Comment away and hopefully can get them tweaked abit.
There is no £300 spec this time sorry.

£350:
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£400:
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£500:
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£600:
600u.png


£700:
700pr.png


£800:
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£900:
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£1000:
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Dream Machine:
johnnyv.png
 
Cheers for that, bsmaff, been looking around for a decent build around the £500-600 range. Not too keen on putting it together myself though, it's been a while since I did any of that.
 
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