Gaming PC for Skyrim and Future

Z

Zelios

Active member
Hi all, just wanted to make sure this is a good spec.

I'm mainly buying it to play Skyrim (mainly use the PS3 for games but want the better graphics and mods), but also a bit of future proof. Won't be going to LAN parties, but was thinking of hooking it up to my 40" TV in the front room, with a wireless keyboard/mous so the case is one of those box things.

At the moment, been umming and ahhing between a Overclocked i5 and a i7

Case
THERMALTAKE ARMOUR A30 M-ATX GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600 Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7870 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
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 (£29)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
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 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,248.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
Last edited:
Z

Zelios

Active member
What about the SSD? I wanted to cut the loading times between instances since that was a bit of a pain on the PS3, is there much difference between a SSD and a CAVIAR?

Looking at other posts I can drop the RAM to 1333 if Im not overclocking?
 
Last edited:
Z

Zelios

Active member
So am fairly happy with the spec now - the only thing I cant decide on is whether to go A) SSD + 2 TB SATA-III OR B) 2GB CAVIAR

Is a SSD a huge difference? Are they likely to come down soon? How good is the CAVIAR? I notice the 2TB Green Caviar is on offer but is the only one with a 3 Gb/S Interface (all the others have 6) - does this make any difference?
 
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
SSD's can make a large difference when booting and loading, and plenty of people say that once they've used SSD's they can't possibly return to normal hard drives.
Personally as long as I stay with the normal hard drives, I won't know the difference, so I'm staying with the cheaper option :) - cos SSD's although their prices are dropping, they are still not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Basically it's up to you as to whether its worth it or not.

As for the Caviars, the Green drives are good for storage, but less good for boot/often-used drives since they will never spin as fast as the Blacks cos they are more energy efficient. The Caviar Black is faster and nicer than the bog-standard Sata III drives.
 
Z

Zelios

Active member
Cheers for the info Rakk.

Will be going ahead and ordering the following today - if anyone can see any improvements, faults please let me know.


Case
THERMALTAKE ARMOUR A30 M-ATX GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core (3.50GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7870 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, 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
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
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 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK520 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£39)
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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,381.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/
 
Wolvo7

Wolvo7

Bright Spark
Have you had a look at the new generation chips (Ivy Bridge)? You could look at a few benchmarks online before making a decision, since it's the same price, and the i7-3770k replaces the 2700k :walkman:
 
baron75mk2

baron75mk2

Banned
Zelios said:
Cheers for the info Rakk.

Will be going ahead and ordering the following today - if anyone can see any improvements, faults please let me know.


Case
THERMALTAKE ARMOUR A30 M-ATX GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core (3.50GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7870 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, 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
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
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 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK520 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£39)
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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,381.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/
Click to expand...

If this system if for gaming mainly , you could save yourself some cash by dropping the i7 2700k & going with an i5 2500 or an i5 2500k , when i was putting my build together i listened to a lot of others on the forums & droppped the hyperthreaded processor , as for games its of little to no use at all as most games cant take advantage of the virtual cores ( most of them don`t even use the 4 physical cores completely yet) , this was very good advice indeed as 4 games i had wouldnt run correctly on the i7 i had previously & two other games wouldnt even launch , but with the standard quad core (i5 2500k) all of them launch & run perfectly. & another piece of advice i followed was to not bother with overclocking as games dont need it at all , it just produces more heat & uses more energy (i personally have found it to be more stable all round than my last overclocked processor)

I play skyrim ( fully updated through steam ) my self a lot & can assure you that on the i5 2500k it plays at 60fps (ultra settings - 1080p) at all times , i have different GPUs than yours , but im not farmiliar with that GPU so i cant comment on that . (it plays perfectly on a single GTX 580 3gb model - im using two of them in SLI so it stomps all over it anyway)

I only went with the "k" version so later on when it starts getting tired i have the option to overclock if i want to ( i just asked PCS not to overclock it )

Even battlefield 3 that does in fact use all of the cores of an i7 does not need any more than an i5 2500 / ("k") , i run it maxed out in ultra at 60 fps at all times ( 1080p ) (you do need a two card set up to achieve this though , exept for maybe a radeon hd 7970 possibly , a GTX 680 wont do it though on its own so im not sure even the radeon hd7970 would as i think the 680 is the fastest single GPU out there at the moment - i could be wrong though , have not really researched them much)

Its something to think about as i followed these peoples advice & it was very sound advice indeed :yes:
 
Last edited:
Z

Zelios

Active member
Cheers guys, food for thought.

Ironically, the site crashed when I tried to put my order in, so selecting it all again from scratch I did have the Ivy Bridge without realising it.

Will look into how the i5 instead effects things however.

Currently it has:

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache

and only changed the price to £1384.00

Although changing that to a
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
knocks £81 off
 
Last edited:
Z

Zelios

Active member
(it plays perfectly on a single GTX 580 3gb model - im using two of them in SLI so it stomps all over it anyway)
Click to expand...

I am again wondering if its worth dropping the SSD and just going with a 2TB CAVIAR and upping the Graphics Card to the 680. I dont see the 580 available?

EDIT:

So yeah, version III :)


Case
THERMALTAKE ARMOUR A30 M-ATX GAMING CASE
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 KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, 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
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
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 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK520 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£39)
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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,244.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
Last edited:
mev

mev

Bronze Level Poster
Don't drop the SSD you'll love it once you've used a good one and the INTEL® 520 SERIES are very good. Also I agree opt for the i5 if for gaming.
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
I'd go for something like this,

SSD's are great, but to be honest, I think its more important to have awesome pc with great base components than lowering another to fit in a SSD. You can always add one later down the line.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB 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
3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7950 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, 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
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
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 - 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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,207.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/
 
Z

Zelios

Active member
Thanks for the suggestions. Am currently liking the Ivy Bridge i5, as people say, games dont take much more advantage of the i7.

It seems the main thing for games is the GPU.
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 VS 3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7950?

Currently have the 680 selected, but I have gone for a Cube case with a Mirco-ATX Mobo, gimmicky but I like the look of it since this will be going in my front room. Am just concerned a few have said the 680 is power hungry and were there any danger of it overheating?

I did like the idea of just having a RADEON 7870 which had good reviews and I could add a 2nd at a later date if I needed to upgrade, but I did want to run stuff in high resolutions no problem now ... like Witcher 2 etc.
 
baron75mk2

baron75mk2

Banned
Zelios said:
Thanks for the suggestions. Am currently liking the Ivy Bridge i5, as people say, games dont take much more advantage of the i7.

It seems the main thing for games is the GPU.
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 VS 3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7950?

Currently have the 680 selected, but I have gone for a Cube case with a Mirco-ATX Mobo, gimmicky but I like the look of it since this will be going in my front room. Am just concerned a few have said the 680 is power hungry and were there any danger of it overheating?

I did like the idea of just having a RADEON 7870 which had good reviews and I could add a 2nd at a later date if I needed to upgrade, but I did want to run stuff in high resolutions no problem now ... like Witcher 2 etc.
Click to expand...

Cube case ? - what case is this exactly ? . could you give the make & model please ? , a 680 is cooler than a 580 , but if its inside a real small enclosure with not much airflow this could potentially be an issue
 
Z

Zelios

Active member
Its in the Specs on the previous page - THERMALTAKE ARMOUR A30 M-ATX GAMING CASE

It only seems to be an option on the i5's - its the £75 one
 
Last edited:
baron75mk2

baron75mk2

Banned
Zelios said:
Its in the Specs on the previous page - THERMALTAKE ARMOUR A30 M-ATX GAMING CASE

It only seems to be an option on the i5's - its the £75 one
Click to expand...

Well it seems to have plenty of airlow & fans to cool things down - possibly the reason for the only option for the i5s is do do with the small mobo & the processor cooling solution ? - maybe someone who has experience with these smaller setups could advise better , as i said it does seem to be well ventilated , but i personally wouldnt be comfortable with all that gear in such a small enclosure.

But that does not mean it wont be ok - its just that i like massive rigs as they offer the best cooling / upgrade solutions fo the future & sure they can start to dominate the room & may not be to everyones tastes but some of even the bigger cases can be very beautifull.

(beautifull ??? I NEED TO GET OUT MORE ! )[rollinglaugh]
 
Z

Zelios

Active member
Just had another thought ...

If I wanted to use a Wireless xBox Controller do I need a Motherboard that has WIFI, as currently I have to choose the ATX mobo and it doesn't.
 
baron75mk2

baron75mk2

Banned
Zelios said:
I didnt like the idea of a wire, it will be in my front room and id be always tripping over it :)

Is this not the same thing but wireless?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Xbox-Wireless-Controller-Windows/dp/B004JU0JSA/ref=pd_cp_vg_h__1
Click to expand...

That in fact is a wireless controller but you do also need the wireless adapter for pc , but most places sell the packs with both the controller & the pc adapter , i have one & they work perfectly ( apart from some very old games that were pre- xbox controller games & 1 game called dead rising 2 , but believe me your not missing a good game there )

So yes just go to a store & buy one with the adapter (unless PCS sells them , wouldnt know but they might) , they dont connect via wireless lan or blue tooth - they must have the proper usb adapter & drivers.

You can connect up to 4 regular xbox 360 controllers to it as well , but not all games support pads , like mass effect & bioshock 2 , not really a failing of the xbox controller , just some games makers just refuse to support pads - the old kb/m vs pad argument , but to me reguardless of what is better it does not matter , the player should have the chioce of how to play.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top