First Gaming Rig

J

Jack1994

New Member
I basically have decided to move away from consoles ( hopefully at some point this year ) just because I find the releases and variety the PC platform offers more appealing in comparison ( Diablo 3 in particular ).
I'm posting as I've no real experience with gaming computers and little knowledge about the spec's one would require to fulfill the machines purpose. I'm also a student and will be going to university come September and as a result my budget won't be stretching into the thousands of pounds. Baring this in mind I was wondering if this set-up (posted in the below thread) would be viable to run games such as Diablo and subsequently other popular titles on high quality. If not your suggestions would be great.
 
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Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6870 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
 
Which site are you using to buy these components?

1. CPU Perfect for gaming
2. Motherboard get ATX not Micro-ATX. AsRock Extreme6 will be good, if Asus then P8Z77-V.
3. What is your budget for video card? Could be better off going with 6950 or 7850.
4. Which Power supply are you getting? Looks a bit CM, to me.
5. Which case?
6. CPU cooler get a better one for future overclocking.

Please tell me the site you are using so that I will help out better.
 
Thanks a lot! I'm using pcspecialist as I'm from the UK. I believe this quote was for around 750 pounds. I was unsure about which case as I wasn't sure if it was important for the desktop itself so some help with regards to that would be much appreciated.
 
Additional info; these computers are ready made and I have shown the components my budget (video card for example) really depends on what would be required to run games in high etc, I would rather save a little longer for a computer that could do these tasks with some element of ease rather than just adequately.
 
OK here's my view.

Build it and buy the components from Aria or Dabs, Overclockers or Novatech. They're my favourite retailers.

If you are on a tight budget ditch the 3570K and go for the older 2500K. I have a 2500K and it is an epic processor! :) There's is very little difference between a 2500K and a 3570K, the 2500K is a great overclocker too. I've got mine at 4.3GHz on air and it can goi further than that. Save yourself 20 quid right there! The 2500K will work with the Z77 boards too.

Don't get the P8Z77-M. Either go for a P8Z77-V or even better a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H. That's an awesome board and I prefer Gigabyte's Z77 boards to ASUS'. If the UD3H is too expensive, Gigabyte make some cheaper ATX Z77 boards too. Just make sure you get ATX and not mATX.

Exactly which hard drive are you going for? Seagate, Samsung and Western Digital are the only brands I'd buy from. You want 7200 RPM and either 32MB or 64MB cache buffer, and preferably 500GB+ in size. So long as the one you've got is from any of those three brands, it's a good drive. :)

Exactly what power supply have you got there as well? Go for a Corsair CX 600 or a 550-650W unit from Seasonic, XFX, Antec, OCZ or Corsair.

The GPU is fine. The 6950s are pretty rare here in the UK, as are the 7850s. The only place I've seen stock them is Overclockers.co.uk. None of the other retailers have them, or if they do, they're very expensive. The 6870 is fine for a budget rig.

Finally, which case do you want? The Carbide 300R from Corsair is my recommendation. Awesome case, and Overclockers sell it for like £50. For the price, you cannot beat it.
 
Thanks for the advice! I have little experience with computers and wouldn't be able to build one unfortunately , would you recommend buying the components and
then paying someone to build it for me? The most confusing part for me personally is what graphics card to buy ( to be able to play high settings etc) what would you recommend?
 
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I try to advise people away from the CX 600 since I hear many complaints of whine, even when it's off. Mine is perfectly fine and I love it but I think if you put more demand on it it may start whining, or there just flaky and some batches are better. Not sure. Regardless, I'd advise something different. The Corsair 650watt model would probably be best.
 
Jack1994 said:
Additional info; these computers are ready made and I have shown the components my budget (video card for example) really depends on what would be required to run games in high etc, I would rather save a little longer for a computer that could do these tasks with some element of ease rather than just adequately.
Click to expand...

Just get the components that we will post here and build the computer on your own
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or to be on a safer site, you can take help of some local computer store, they will charge a bit though.

Does PCspecialist allow purchasing just components? I couldn't find them.
Any video card 7850, 6950, 560 Ti would run Diablo 3 perfectly.
 
Jack1994 said:
Thanks for the advice! I have little experience with computers and wouldn't be able to build one unfortunately , would you recommend buying the components and
then paying someone to build it for me? The most confusing part for me personally is what graphics card to buy ( to be able to play high settings etc) what would you recommend?
Click to expand...
It's pretty easy to build the machine, just read some of the guides on the internet and watch some of the videos on YouTube. Just make sure you are grounded whilst you are doing it so you don't ruin any of the components. You can get somebody to build one for you, that's usually what my friends do - they get me and pay me to build their machines. Just make sure you get somebody knowledgeable to build the computer.

You could always purchase all of the components and then take them all to a computer shop and get them to build it for you.

As for the graphics card there are many options. I'd say a Radeon HD 7850 would be a good one to go for, or a GeForce GTX 570, but I've heard that right now the drivers for the 7850 are unstable. NVIDIA should be releasing the GTX 660 sooner or later, so I'd get that when it comes out. It should be faster or around the same speed as the 7850.

Denther said:
I try to advise people away from the CX 600 since I hear many complaints of whine, even when it's off. Mine is perfectly fine and I love it but I think if you put more demand on it it may start whining, or there just flaky and some batches are better. Not sure. Regardless, I'd advise something different. The Corsair 650watt model would probably be best.
Click to expand...
Yeah for a 570 or a 7850 I'd say a TX650 (Corsair) would be good. I'm powering a Radeon HD 5870 on my OCZ ZS 650W and it's perfectly fine, and I'd imagine a 7850 is a lot less power hungry than my old 5870.
 
Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 932 FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V PRO: PCI-E 3.0 READY,WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7870 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W PRO SERIES™ HX750-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£114)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO II C240 DUAL RADIATOR LIQUID CPU COOLER (£99)
 
From all the advice (greatly appreciated!) I will most probably decide to go with a build like this above (based on feedback) - not skimping on PSU or cooling! Although this would cost be £1300, if it would provide more longevity I would consider waiting a little longer.

N.B PCSpecialist don't - to my knowledge allow for purchase of separate parts. As I'm somewhat reluctant to build myself , would this allow for the same sort of process as buying parts then paying for build? This would appear more convenient and offset possible minimal savings.
 
All good stuff, just a few things though.

You may wanna consider the GA-Z77X-UD3H or the UD5H, they're both good boards (just make sure you update the BIOS on both before you install Windows).

Why are you going for 16GB of RAM? I'd probably save the money and go for 8GB via 2x4GB DIMMs if this is exclusively for gaming.

Are you going to overclock the 3570K? Even if you are, you can likely save money on the cooler. The Corsair H50 and H70 are both liquid coolers and are cheaper than that Coolit one. The H50 is around £50-60 usually and the H70 around £60-70. You could even get away with air cooling such as the CM Hyper 212+ or the Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 (which is what I have).

EDIT: just seen the response above. See if you can buy the parts from Overclockers or Dabs or Aria or Novatech and get somebody else to build it. It honestly isn't that hard to build it yourself you know... you'll get much better value for money in the long run too. :)

As for 'skimping on cooling', the H50 or H70 would be more than adequate.
 
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It seems like a really interesting thing to do - build a computer - may give it a shot! In terms of savings what would I be looking at?
 
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