Competent Machine for Student

[Bvenged]

Hi,

Can someone please let me know if this is a solid, cost-effective gaming build? Thanks.

My current PC isn't cutting it any more. It's an 8 year old Packard Bell iMedia, running XP Home 32bit on a Pentium 4 2.6Ghz processor, with a 128MB AGP card and 2x1GB 1333MHz DDR2 RAM, all sat on an old gigabyte mobo which has a bios that simply refuses to allow overclocking...

So I believe it's time for an upgrade, considering I've had the CMOS die on me, a partial HDD failure, an optical drive failure and, lets face it, it's a good week when nothing goes wrong with it. I'm simply doesn't replacing parts and I haven't played a modern PC game on it since 2006.

Since I'm a student on a budget of ~£500 (+£50), and I love to play videogames and tinker around with software and hardware, I'm trying to assemble a cost-effective gaming PC that will last a fair few years. I would love if it could run all the latest and upcoming games (such as Guild Wars 2) at near-maximum quality hitting around 90+fps, and I'll probably duel-boot or Virtualbox Linux onto it too (if not onto an external HDD). It needs to last at least 2 years at that high level of performance before needing upgrades, except for a boost up to 8GB 1600MHz RAM in a few months.​

In a nut shell, I'm trying to design a cost effective gaming machine which will last at least 2 years with needing any primary hardware upgrades, with a plausible lifespan of 5-8 years after that. I doubt I will ever crossfire it, but overclocking is possible in distant future. I've got my own Sapphire HD 7770 1GB GHz EDITION lined up ready to put in this build myself, and I will likely slap another 4GB 1600MHz RAM stick in the machine after a few months making it 8GB 1600MHz total.

---

Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 430 BLACK CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX

Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(2 x 2GB KIT) (upgrade to 8GB after a few months)

Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU) (Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 1GB - self-installed)

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE (Future use of USB 3.0 and External HDD)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER

Extra Case Fans
1 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£5)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days

Quantity
1

Price: £537.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/YyyX8ED7x4/

---

Thanks for any assistance in advanced,

Bvenged.

 

[keynes]

Morning,
You could consider an AMD spec instead, the spec below has a caviar black as the main drive, T900 Maelstrom case and the triple copper heatpipe CPU cooler. I'd also suggest silver warranty for £5.
Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-4170 Quad Core CPU (4.20GHz/4MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A97 R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s, Windows 8 Ready!)
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (1 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5003AZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st 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
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe AMD CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £510.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/8YVbVcwVJ9/

 

[Bvenged]

Oh right, okay.
Nice! It's certainly cheaper, but it leaves me curious:

Is the AMD CPU just as powerful/price? I'm pretty much going for the i5 Ivy because it's as powerful as you need for PC gaming at the moment, whilst being power-efficient and cooler, and if anything goes wrong I know how Intel's work. Is the AMD processor just as competent?

Also, I didn't see a need for any fancy CPU cooling as I'm not overclocking (and if I ever do, I'll install better cooling myself) - would it be required for the AMD CPU? For the default clock of the Ivy Bridge's, I believe a Standard LGA1155 CPU cooler would be adequate enough with an on-case fan to keep the air inside the case cooler as well, but like I said: I know very little indeed about AMD CPU's. Also, if I got an AMD, wouldn't I have to swap out the mobo too if I wanted to put an Intel in the PC after a few years?

I'll certainly take up the silver warranty though, cheers.

I wasn't too bothered about the original build's price, and another £5 for silver warranty's not going to break the banks, but if I stayed with it instead of the AMD build, would the 450W PSU handle the higher-end tech? I'm aware manufacturers are pushing for power-efficiency, and that the Ivy Bridges and PCIe 3.0's work well in conjunction, but when I calculated peak performance the entire machine came up to 430W. Is that fine?

I know if there's going to be any bottleneck in this system it's going to be the 1GB GFX (albeit as powerful but cheaper than the popular Radeon HD 6850 2GB) and the 4GB RAM at 1600MHz.

 

[keynes]

For most games yes both AMD and Intel should offer similar performance when using the same gpu, some games like Skyrim the i5-3570 will perform better and considering your budget I'd suggest for a more balance build in terms of a better case and/or hard drive. If you are planning to run more CPU intensive applications then you could just go with the i5. The triple copper heatpipe is not really for overclocking but it could help lower the temperature of your CPU when gaming compare to the standard cooler.

 

[Bvenged]

Ah right, cooler hardware offers better performance and longer lifespan, right?

How does improving the case change much, and what would you recommend for both AMD and Intel builds? I'm quite ignorant when it comes to cases. I know some have USB slots in more viable places, and others can have additional card brackets - but I find it hard to justify how, what is essentially a perforated metal box that holds the actual computer together, can cost upwards of £50.

Also with the HDD, does the 64MB cache make much difference over the 16MB? I was hoping the i5 and faster clocked RAM would compensate.

Edit: I did my own research on the subject.

Right, I've got a new built, not too much different from the last but I'm trying to balance it a bit more. It needs to last so I'm trying to avoid downgrading, and I'll likely run more CPU-intensive hardware than GPU.

Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 430 BLACK CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX

Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(2 x 2GB KIT)

Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5003AZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm) - 4 partitions: 40GB OS; 260GB gaming software; 120GB non-gaming software; and 80GB documents, video and music)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER

Extra Case Fans
1 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£5)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days

Price: £559.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/_YBehy69sx/

 

[keynes]

How does improving the case change much, and what would you recommend for both AMD and Intel builds? I'm quite ignorant when it comes to cases. I know some have USB slots in more viable places, and others can have additional card brackets - but I find it hard to justify how, what is essentially a perforated metal box that holds the actual computer together, can cost upwards of £50.

A better case should offer better cooling/airflow for your system and better cable management. Some cases come with more chassis fans included and USB 3.0 and eSATA ports at the front. You could consider the T900 or coolermaster 690 II but it depends on how much you are willing to spend.

 

[Bvenged]

Somehow my previous post (the one you quoted) disappeared and I didn't delete it, but nevertheless...

I've swapped out the HDD to the 500GB 64mb cache HDD and added the silver warranty to the order, as you recommended, bringing the price up to ~£550. Was that the best changes I could've made to the Intel spec whilst keeping the price moderately the same? Or should I upgrade the case instead? I'd prefer not to go above the price I'm at now.

Thanks for your help so far, by the way.

Last question: If nobody's around to collect my order (IE, missed delivery) Do I collect the PC from the courier or is an attempted delivery made the next day?

 

[keynes]

Yu could get a different/cheaper motherboard with the intel spec, for less than £550 you could go with the spec below but if you want the i5-3570 instead of the i5-3470 it goes to around £560 but you still have the caviar black, a different case and the triple copper heatpipe CPU cooler.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3470 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H77-M: M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (1 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5003AZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £544.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-home-office-pc/MutIxxQety/

 

[keynes]

Last question: If nobody's around to collect my order (IE, missed delivery) Do I collect the PC from the courier or is an attempted delivery made the next day

I think a 2nd delivery will be attempted and you also have the choice to collect it from your local depot.

 

[Bvenged]

Yu could get a different/cheaper motherboard with the intel spec, for less than £550 you could go with the spec below but if you want the i5-3570 instead of the i5-3470 it goes to around £560 but you still have the caviar black, a different case and the triple copper heatpipe CPU cooler.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3470 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H77-M: M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (1 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5003AZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £544.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-home-office-pc/MutIxxQety/

So this is a more balanced computer spec that cools better and loads faster? Thanks.

Does it leave much room for later hardware upgrades (CPU, GFX, RAM) without being bottlenecked by the mobo?

 

[Rakk]

Somehow my previous post (the one you quoted) disappeared and I didn't delete it, but nevertheless...

It was just the fact that you edited it, and it therefore got put back in the moderation queue, and it was waiting for approval when I got back from lunch, so it has now returned since I approved it

 

[Bvenged]

It was just the fact that you edited it, and it therefore got put back in the moderation queue, and it was waiting for approval when I got back from lunch, so it has now returned since I approved it

Haha! Okay, cool. Cheers.