Just another first build thread (gaming)

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davidmartin21

New Member
Alright so the only computer I have ever owned is a Dell laptop which has just about died. I was planning on getting a new computer and a friend suggested I build my own about a month ago. I was also interested in PC gaming so... Since then I have been doing a little research.

I want to play CoD4, TF2 and portal 2. I'll probably start by just buying CoD and the valve pack on steam however I also would like to get into BF3 when that comes out, obviously this will be a game that requires a more powerful system than the other games I wish to play.

My dilemma is whether to get something that can just play the games I want to play right now (CoD4, TF2 and portal 2) or spend extra to get one for BF3. I am also on a pretty tight budget of £500 (800 USD), this does not need to include a monitor. After looking around, this is what I came up with and it comes to exactly £500. Would it do a decent job of running BF3 or is it just not worth it? Also I am a bit of a noob so I don't really want to try overclocking yet...

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H 880G Socket AM3 8 Channel Audio mATX Motherboard
£60 - $100

Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz
£90 - $150

GPU - Asus GeForce GTX 560 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£150 - $247

Power supplyCooler Master GX 750W Power Supply Changed into
Antec High Current Gamer 620W Power Supply
£50 - $80

RAM - Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
£43 - $70

Case - Cooler Master Elite 335 Case - Black
£30 - $50

HDD - Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache
£44 - $72

CD drive - Samsung SH-D163C/BEBE SATA 16x DVD-ROM
£15 - $25


Now some questions:
Anything immediately wrong with these components? Like incompatibility or generally bad products?

Am I getting a good deal on all of the stuff? I provided prices in GBP and USD

Will this build run BF3 well on at least medium if not higher? I know it is difficult to predict how the game will perform but looking at BFBC2 and some newer games?


Thanks for your time.
 
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Thanks for the power supply suggestion, as long as 620W is enough that sounds good.

Not sure on the AM3+ motherboard though, they are a lot more expensive and apart from future-proofing, it doesn't seem necessary with the CPU that I have suggested. It also doesn't fit within my budget meaning other components would have to be downgraded.
 
Ok then I'll edit in the PSU to the OP

About the motherboard: Well to me the numbers don't really mean much, I could probably spend that kind of money on one of those though. I only went for the mATX one cause it was a bit cheaper but if the other ones are actually better then thanks, I will look at them now.

Thanks again
 
No I have a Windows 7 disc

Also quick question, there is a deal for this weekend only on Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit, almost half price.
http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-298-CS Are these all that much better than the ones I suggested as they are stilla bit more and buying now instead of waiting a few weeks as I was planning to is a little inconvenient but if there is a large difference in performance I am prepared to buy?
 
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The RAM will not have a huge performance difference. I would stay with the XMS3 and either run it at stock settings or oc it to get higher performance.
 
Another question as the answers seems to be a lot clearer form here than google. If I wanted to look into Overclocking, maybe when I need a performance boost, Would a different CPU cooler be necessary? What in all can you overclock? I didn't know you even could overclock RAM until just now.

I would only really want to overclock if I could then leave it at those settings, I am not really an experimental person, is there much of a performance upgrade if I just overclock to a stable enough level to be like it all of the time?
 
A lot of members here have stable 24/7 overclocks. I have had that same CPU (955) at 3.8 for over a year now.

The general rule with coolers and overclocking is that if you are going to OC at all, it is in your best interest to get an aftermarket cooler. With that being said it realy depends on how high you want to go. The stock cooler would be fine for going up to 3.4 and a bit over. But anything that needs a voltage adjustment for higher clock speeds woulg probably give off too much heat for the stock cooler.

The most common things to overclock are the CPU GPU and RAM. You can also change the settings on your chipsets but there is not a whole lot of need for that unless you are looking to max out the chip for benchmarking purposes.

OCing with the 955 is pretty strait forward because you can use the multiplier. You do not need to change the FSB at all.
 
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