Gaming PC Help!

I have decided to take the path into PC Gaming. So I set upon you a challenge: Gaming PC that can theoretically run rFactor 2, ArmA 3 & other simulators of the like. (any aerial dogfighting games...?). what software do I need & gpu & all that s***.

Budget: around £700 is what I was hoping to spend (£1000 MAX). I don't need a full racing rig or anything just a reasonably priced computer that can run the games listed.

I don't trust the internetz forums. I feel like I'd get ripped off

They've just announced the Crysis 3 system requirements and you can pretty much guarantee that if you can run Crysis 3 you can run anything:

Thanks Hainsey. Now to translate the words to English...

Overclockers Got my base unit over 1k runs everything on max

This is where i need to be, PC, rig, three screens, oh, and the lottery win of course!

I spent I think 70 squid on a 2nd hand G25 got a old BMW car seat from the local garage which was going cheep and I have my self a rig. lol.

GTR2 with full graphics and res is such a fun game.

Duncan, Hainsey or anyone else, will these specs be capable of the likes of ArmA, or rFactor:


Processor
Intel Core i3-2120 Processor (3.30GHz, 3MB L3 Cache, 2C)
Intel Core i5-3450 (6M Cache, up to 3.5GHz)
Intel Core i7-3770 (3.40GHz, 8MB L3 Cache, 4C)
Intel Core i5-3330 (6M Cache, up to 3.2GHz)
Operating System
English Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
Windows 8 64bit, English
Memory
Up to 8GB* Dual Channel at 1333Mhz - 2 DIMMS
Up to 16GB* Dual Channel at 1600Mhz - 2 DIMMS
Hard Drive
Up to 2000GB* SATA hard drive (7200RPM)
Up to 256GB* Solid State hard drive
Optical Drive
Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) (Standard)
Video Card
1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GT 640
1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
Wireless
Integrated 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Wireless LAN
Sound Card
Internal High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio with WAVES MAXX Audio (Standard)
Ports
Front I/O Ports
(2x) Hi-Speed USB 2.0
(1x) Microphone In
(1x) Headphone/Speaker Out
Rear I/O Ports
(1x) On-board HDMI 1.4 Output
(1x) RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet
(4x) Hi-Speed USB 2.0
(2x) SuperSpeed USB 3.0
(1x) Front Left/Right Speakers
(1x) Center Speaker
(1x) Rear Left/Right Speakers
(1x) Side Left/Right Speakers
(1x) SPDIF Digital Output (TOSLINK)
(1x) SPDIF Digital Output (Coax)
Chassis
Physical System Dimensions
Height:
Front-Height: 13.504"  (343mm)
Rear-Height: 12.54" (318.5mm)
Depth: 12.52" (318mm)
Width: 3.74" (95mm)
Starting Weight: 12.1 lbs (5.49 Kg)
Color
Matte Stealth Black with Dark Chrome Accents
Processor and Core Architecture
Processor Cooling
Alienware High-Performance Air Cooling
Chipset Architecture
Intel H61 Express Chipset
Motherboard Class
Mini-ITX Motherboard
Software
Alienware Command Center
AlienAdrenaline
AlienFX
AlienFusion
Software Personalization Options
AlienFX System Colors
Personal Avatar

Link: http://m.dell.com/mt/www.dell.com/uk/p/alienware-x51/pd?un_jtt_v_page=TechSpec&#un_details

Furthermore, would a gaming laptop be worth the money over a desktop? It's more than likely I'll get an Alienware computer

From what experience i have, Alienware is hugely overpriced, and a laptop will never out perform a regular desktop when it comes to gaming.

Its very overpriced, I went for this http://www.arbico.co.uk/Arbico-Elite-3757-Pro--Overclocked-Custom-PC-p-.html

Thanks Chaddy, but over £1000! That will cripple me financially I had no idea Alienware were that 'overpriced'.

EDIT: Graphics student at school said for my demanding requirements, this would be quite good: http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/chaos-gaming-computer-p-131.html

Arma 2 is really badly optimised so kills performance and is almost never seen as a benchmak game in comparison tests. On the other hand, rFactor will almost run on anything.

If you need the portability of a laptop then you can get some very good (albeit very pricey) stuff these days.

Would you know what you're doing if you build it yourself? There are a lot of guides online that make it really simple.

Will you be needing a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc? Operating System would be about £80 for Windows 7 or 8. Do you know what resolution you'll want to play the games at - Single 1080P monitor, larger or multiscreen?

The >>Overclockers.co.uk Forums<< are good for offering advice about builds although they can only give prices from the Overclockers site. By doing some shopping around and comparing prices and delivery costs from other sites you can normally save quite a bit.

>>Here's a quick build I put together on Ebuyer and saved as a list<<. These parts would cost over £800 at Overclockers.

Right chaps. More of 'Kilroy's home-cooked noob questions': If one was to purchase >>This<< & select the options underneath to my liking, then would the desktop arrive with everything installed on to it or would I still have to 'build' it?

It'll come built up for you. I would stay away from a gaming laptop unless your seriously needed to have a portable computer to take away with you. They are very expensive to be capable of running games well. I'm not the best at speccing a PC, my one cost me a cool £2k, and I struggle to find a good balance. I would suggest at least an i5 processor, 6-8GB of RAM and a card that is less than a year and a half old. I'm an nVidia fan rather than ATi, so I would suggest a card along the lines of a GTX 650Ti. These are the new cars, but are quite cheap and will be capable of running games well. The benefit nowadays is you can link 2 cards together to greatly improve performance, so if you buy a 650Ti for example and in a year or so you find a game that your struggling to run like you want then you can ebay an old card that is the same as yours and give your performance a needed boost. By then they will be much cheaper.

Don't get an AMD processor - they are on the back foot with this generation of CPUs.

Intel's i5 series should be plenty for gaming at the highest levels. The 'K' series chips such as 3570K indicates that it comes with an unlocked multiplier and can be overclocked for additional performance if wanted. If you don't know how to/don't want to overclock then you can save a bit of money by going for a non-'K' version.

If going with an Intel 'K' processor you'll want a Z77 motherboard to take full advantage of the overclocking features. If not, a B75 or H77 motherboard will suffice although given the small price difference (~£5) between the H77 and Z77 options a little extra for the Z77 is pretty sensible choice.

8GB of RAM is plenty for most things. Only really memory intesive applications such as video/photo editing and software development could do with more.

Since ArmA 3 will use PhysX for some effects you'd want an Nvidia card to take advantage of that as it is not available on ATi/AMD cards. the GTX 650Ti is a bit on the low side. With your budget you should be looking at a GTX 660 as a minimum. The GTX 660Ti is at an odd price:performance point when you consider AMD's offerings but is the only thing in the £170 to £300 gap between the GTX 660 and GTX 670.

Power Supplies are one of the most overlooked but important pieces of equipment in the case. Go for a good quality one from a branded company such as Corsair, Antec, Seasonic etc.

For an Operating System I assume you'll be wanting Windows? 7 and 8 are priced about the same so take your pick.

Case, Hard Drive etc. are all down to how much space you want and what cases you like.

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk is a good site to use while >>Their Vortex 750 build<< is a great starting point, just change the HD 7850 graphics card to the GTX 660.
Using that site, this build came to £750-ish without a screen, keyboard and mouse - do you need those too?


Alternatively, Ebuyer have >>This Gaming PC<< available which is £670 for roughly the same specification.

Damn Luke, you know your stuff!

Also, i added you to the team by the way.

I did a lot of research before putting my new PC together recently.

Thanks a lot Luke I should realistically be looking to actually buy this by end of february, end of March latest.

I've added a keyboard, mouse & monitor to get a rough idea would it would be like 'all-in-one'.

The monitor is a 23" Widescreen AOC i2352VH IPS that has 1920 x 1080 resolution with a response time of 5MS. It has speakers, is HDCP compliant, IPS Panel, but Isn't Nvidia 3D Vision Ready (I'm not bothered about 3D, so does this matter?) = £135

The Keyboard is the 'Microsoft Sidewinder X4' = £39

The mouse is a 'ROCCAT Kova[+] - Max Performance Gaming Mouse' = £35

Complete Price = £1025 (including VAT & Delivery)

This if for your first link. The PC Specialist one.

Big bump. Hows this? ::


Case
InWIN MANA-136 BLACK GAMING 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
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
Free Item
FREE METRO: LAST LIGHT GAME with GTX 660 & UPWARDS GPUs!

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

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

Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)

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
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

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)

PRICE: £1,123 inc. VAT & Delivery.

think my PC cost about £550-£600 all in. Which reminds me, need to start paying up for it before it defaults to interest payments! gulp!

It might not be able to run Arma 2 on max everything, and haven't tried on other games yet, but its pretty f'ing good!

Kilroy thats a beast very good buy

Im looking to upragde my nivida to a new Gigabyte GeForce GTX 690 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £700!!

£700?

You MAD!??!

sbiggs wrote:£700?

You MAD!??!

yep

4gig of power looked at titans there £900!!!!!!!

Kilroy - the AMD graphics cards are at a better value point right now. A 7950 would be plenty but if you want the best, the 7970 is what you want.

Likewise, the i7 is overkill for the majority of gaming where an i5 3570K will be more than enough. If you're going to be doing media editing or playing CPU intensive games like MMORPGs etc. then the i7 is worth it but otherwise the advantages are minimal. Also, the normal i7 3770 is not unlocked - if you're going with the i7 then the 3770K is the one you want.


Duncan - 7970CF > GTX 690

maybe i have had huge issues with amd graphics cards in past...but still specs very good