Desktop for gaming

[adator]

Hi,

I am thinking of buying a gaming desktop soon but I don't know much about them so I was wondering if you could tell me if this would be a good build.

I will be playing games like tekkit/minecraft running servers through hamachi, Rome total war 2, Battlefield 3 , Gta 5 and more. I'd like it to be able to run then on high to ultra graphics and for the pc to be able to play the latest games for a years to come. If there is any upgardes I should make please say or if I have chosen something that I could downgrade to save a little money. One of my main concerns is if the power supply will be big enough.

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
SSD CACHE DRIVE
20GB INTEL® SSD 313 SERIES - SLC CACHE DRIVE FOR SYSTEM / 1st HDD
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£9)
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
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Cable Tidy
3 x JML 1.5M Zip Cable Tidy - Professional Cable Management (£10)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
2 DAY DELIVERY TO CHANNEL ISLANDS (VAT EXCLUSIVE) (£19)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,104.17 including VAT and delivery.

 

[Frank100]

Hi,

Unless you plan to overclock the PC you could get a non k chip. In fact the i5 3570 would be perfectly fine for gaming.

For gaming you wouldn't need 16GB of memory, 8GB would be plenty.

If you fancied adding a second GTX670 in the future then maybe upping the PSU to 750W would be prudent.

I've yet to use a PC with one of these SSD caches, so I can't comment on how effective they are. Maybe someone else can comment on how it compares to just getting an SSD as the first disk and a regular disk for data.

 

[adator]

Thanks for the reply, I think I will change to the I5 3570k although I most likely will not overclock it as I don't know much about that it will always give me the possibility if I decide to in a few years. I'm still deciding if I should go 8gb or 16gb ram I know I will probably never use that much but its only £29 more, Then again when it puts the price into 3 digits it looks a lot nicer Also I think I will change the SSD Cache to 128gb Kingston SSD with the 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK as I think it will be better but im not sure.

 

[keynes]

If you are planning to OC the CPU you would need to upgrade your CPU cooler. I'd also consider Frank's advice regarding the PSU and memory.

 

[adator]

Thanks for the reply keynes, I just replied before you above with a few changes. Do you think I will need to add a second GPU just using one monitor? I may change to 750 anyway just to be safe as 650 does seem a little bit small compared to what some others are using. , I don't intend on overclocking anytime soon but if I ever did I guess it wouldn't be too hard to change the fan at a later date?

 

[keynes]

A single gtx 670 should max all the games you mentioned at high settings in 1 monitor. Having the option to add a 2nd gpu could be a cheaper way of improving gaming performance in the future. An OC is not really needed for most games but replacing the CPU cooler shouldn't be a problem.

 

[adator]

Ok thanks for the advice so this will be my new configuration, also is it worth getting a fan controller or will the one in the motherboard be fine.



Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
128GB KINGSTON V200 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (300MB/R, 190MB/W) (Special Offer)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£9)
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
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Cable Tidy
3 x JML 1.5M Zip Cable Tidy - Professional Cable Management (£10)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
2 DAY DELIVERY TO CHANNEL ISLANDS (VAT EXCLUSIVE) (£19)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £997.50 including VAT and delivery.

 

[keynes]

also is it worth getting a fan controller or will the one in the motherboard be fine.

A fan controller is not essential, I'd consider getting a faster SSD instead like the intel 330.

 

[adator]

I will go for the intel 520 series then as its only 5pound more then the 330. Also what OS would you recommend for gaming windows 7 or 8 I'm leaning more towards 7 at the moment as I have used it for a few years and like it a lot I suppose I could always upgrade at a later point anyway.

Thanks

 

[keynes]

I'd go with Windows 7 for now, you still have the option to upgrade to Windows 8 for £14.99 by January 31st 2013.

 

[adator]

Ok thanks a lot for the help, I won't need this until around Christmas would there be anything new out before then or is it worth just buying it now while I still have the quote up, not sure it they would up their prices close to Christmas or not. Oh and one more thing is it worth getting homeplug not sure how it works or even if it would work where im from.

Thanks

 

[Rakk]

I won't need this until around Christmas would there be anything new out before then or is it worth just buying it now while I still have the quote up, not sure it they would up their prices close to Christmas or not.

Well new stuff tends to come out all the time, though I suspect there won't be much before Christmas now at all.
PCS don't put their prices up at Christmas specifically cos it's Christmas, if their prices go up its because their suppliers have put their prices up or fluctuations in the UK Pound-US Dollar conversion rate. Though they do tend to get a lot of orders around Christmas so tend to be busier.

Oh and one more thing is it worth getting homeplug not sure how it works or even if it would work where im from.

Were you thinking about a wireless connection or were you just going to have a wired connection, if you were just going to have it wired then you wouldn't need homeplugs anyway, if you were going to use wireless then homeplugs are often recommended cos it means you basically have a wired connection instead but without most of the wires cos they use the electrical wiring in your house as the network cables.
As to whether they work in the Channel Islands, I do not know at all, I would assume they would, but that is just guesswork on my part

 

[keynes]

I find homeplugs more reliable than a wireless card, you will need a pair.

 

[steaky360]

I find homeplugs more reliable than a wireless card, you will need a pair.

Wow that is an old pic - 'original' Xbox haha

 

[adator]

Ok thanks for the info I think I will buy it tonight, As for the homeplugs would the 2x homplugs be all i need for it?

 

[Rakk]

Ok thanks for the info I think I will buy it tonight, As for the homeplugs would the 2x homplugs be all i need for it?

Yep, two would be all you needed - one for the router and one for the PC (and if you wanted to add more to your network later on just one extra per additional thing you want to connect)

 

[adator]

Ok so it is something I could buy at a later date if the Wifi wasn't very good.

Thanks for all the help I think I will order the computer tonight

 

[Rakk]

Ok so it is something I could buy at a later date if the Wifi wasn't very good.

Yes

Thanks for all the help I think I will order the computer tonight

And the waiting will begin