PC Gaming

Ok, I am narrowing down my options gradually & believe I am down to the final 2 or 3.

1) http://www.ebuyer.com/410613-cyberpower-gaming-squadron-elite-pc-ecc01144 Reasonable & cheaper than most others, however, is a little less good performance-wise & that doesn't include a monitor or keyboard & mouse.

2) CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3470 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: 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™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 3 Capable

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE

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

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)

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 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365

Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

Monitor
AOC 21.5" WIDESCREEN LED TFT - 1920 x 1080, 5MS, D-Sub, DVI-D (£89)

Keyboard & Mouse
ROCCAT™ Arvo – Compact Gaming Keyboard (£43)

Mouse
ROCCAT™ Lua – Tri-Button Gaming Mouse (£25)

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 8 to 10 working days

Price: £924.00

Any recommendations? I don't want to buy it all only to have to update it in 3 months. And it doesn't need to be ultra uber awesomistic either. I just wanna play Battlefield & ArmA...

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/thrustmaster-ferrari-f458-italia-gaming-wheel-18515684-pdt.html My new toy hopefully!

Kilroy8 wrote:Ok, I am narrowing down my options gradually & believe I am down to the final 2 or 3.

1) http://www.ebuyer.com/410613-cyberpower-gaming-squadron-elite-pc-ecc01144 Reasonable & cheaper than most others, however, is a little less good performance-wise & that doesn't include a monitor or keyboard & mouse.

2) CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3470 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: 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™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 3 Capable

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE

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

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)

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 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365

Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

Monitor
AOC 21.5" WIDESCREEN LED TFT - 1920 x 1080, 5MS, D-Sub, DVI-D (£89)

Keyboard & Mouse
ROCCAT™ Arvo – Compact Gaming Keyboard (£43)

Mouse
ROCCAT™ Lua – Tri-Button Gaming Mouse (£25)

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 8 to 10 working days

Price: £924.00

Any recommendations? I don't want to buy it all only to have to update it in 3 months. And it doesn't need to be ultra uber awesomistic either. I just wanna play Battlefield & ArmA...

Try and get some USB 3.0 ports. Upgrade to 16Gb of RAM. Maybe see if they will clock the processor for you as well.

T

Thats pretty much the same specs as I have Kilroy. Although I would get Windows 7 over 8.

Kilroy8 wrote:Ok, I am narrowing down my options gradually & believe I am down to the final 2 or 3.

1) http://www.ebuyer.com/410613-cyberpower-gaming-squadron-elite-pc-ecc01144 Reasonable & cheaper than most others, however, is a little less good performance-wise & that doesn't include a monitor or keyboard & mouse.

...

Do yourself a favor and Buy as much "matching" (triple channel ecc) ram (especially if that motherboard has 4 slots) also, buy as big of a SSD as you can afford (or two). Any modern-ish graphics card is going to be fine for [s]Nascar 2003[/s] errr... iracing, after all, if you want more graphics processing power, you can just buy another graphics card that is sli-compatable and toss it in an empty slot in the back. RAM and an SSD drive or three will boost your performance more than just about anything else you can buy, plus, you can buy additional ssds of the same size and kind and stripe them or stripe and mirrior them in a raid configuration. You will need windows 8 x64 (or fancy shmacy raid hardware if you want to take full advantage of the gains in performance you will see with RAID 1,5,0 etc. oh and win7 wont boot from a RAID volume without a hack as well so there is that) in order to future proof and sustain compatibility hardware as well as future proof your machine. This may sound like latin to you but really, you don't need anything too exotic hardware-wise if you are buying from them (they are a good company), they may even be able to help you out with some of this if you ask about it. Just 1 ssd and matching pairs if ram, even if its only to replace the ram the machine comes with, provides the best bang for your buck.
Most Windows games can be played with an Xbox360 controller quite well. You can always just race with your xbox controller (which I recomend til you figure out how much time/effort/money you want to [s] get blackmailed for[/s] exert on IRacing), no need to make the leap to a wheel if you don't have one already. Lastly, get the absolute least about of software you can get included in the package without extra cost. A lot of times the retailers will offer "specials" or "bundles" of software with hardware. Even if it sounds like a great deal, you can almost always find the same stuff cheaper elsewhere. Often times people buy software *cough* Adobe *cough* with a new PC thinking, "I'll totally learn *fill in the blank* with this new hotrod hardware I just bought... It'll be perfect for *fill in the name of a project involving some sort of media*! I say buy it when you need it, not cause its there.
Ok rant over.
Oh, whoever mentioned those asus routers... They are excellent. Good hardware, good firmware, and if you dont like either of them, you can mod the crap outta those bad boys and use vanilla DD-wrt builds which is awesome if you are in to that sort of thing. ciao, good luck on IRacing

Headsets now my fluffy friends! which one to buy...

So far this one is leading:


Dolby Headphone and Pro Logic llx technology provide ultimate 7.1 surround sound experience.

Studio-quality audio for clear game chat (and rich stereo sound for PC calls, music, videos and more).

40mm speakers pound out deep bass and immersive stereo sound
Noise cancelling microphone kills background noise so your team or opponents can hear you clearly.

USB connection.


Price is £42.

I bought a (far too expensive) set of Logitech G930s or whatever they are called with the intention of getting surround sound gaming and voice chat. I've used them once in the year that I've had them...

New accessory: Steering Wheel.

I didn't think choosing to buy a wheel would be this difficult. I've narrowed it down to 2 companies; Logitech, with their G27, or Fanatec.

Fanatecs are damn expensive and I don't really want a FM4 Badge in the middle or a replica of a 911 or BMW GT2 rim (call me picky). However, I expect that Fanatec are more likely to be compatible with the Xbox One than Logitech, although PC is my primary function.

Dilemma.

Fanatec isnt compatible with Xbox ONE. Me and Richy and many others will now cry in a corner and load shotguns to go pay a 'trip' to Fanatec.

I have a G25 for GTR2 awesome wheel just saying...

I have a G27 and it works amazingly with the PC. I have the Fanatec CSR Elite and it doesn't work very well with the PC, so I have actually found myself switching to the Logitech when racing on PC. The Elite is sublime on the Xbox though.

I have heard that the Fanatec wheels won't be compatible with the X1 however it isn't confirmed and I have even asked T10 directly and they haven't been able to confirm it. Thomas the Fanatec CEO stated that if it isn't compatible they will be working on an adapter to allow it to work, no doubt something that will plug into the USB and will connect to the wheel through that. Logitech no longer makes Steering Wheels, so any new stock is whatever remains in their warehouse. G27s and G25s are now starting to increase in price a bit I think.

Kilroy, are you still looking at headsets?
There were a few reviewed in this months Maximum PC (cheap subscription and gives me something to read at work on the tablet).
They're a bit on the expensive side but I've taken screenshots of them and uploaded them HERE, HERE and HERE.

I require a new monitor as I gave my old one to my parents so they had a PC to use. I had a Samsung for about 10 years and it was amazing, so I wouldn't mind another one. I think 24" is the maximum I can fit on my new desk, so anyone got any suggestions?

Richy I would just use TV

look for under 20ms response times ; http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=17

What would be better, an i5 at 3.4ghz or an i3 at 3.6ghz?

In a desktop - i5 all the way.

What would this be like for games such as iRacing, rFactor and a few other games? I have no idea about any of this so any help would be great.

Case
I have no idea what kind of case to choose.
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z87M-PLUS: m-ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6.0, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 3 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£109)

All of that seems pretty powerful except the Power Supply. With that system you're looking at at least 600W if not more   

- Are you planning to overclock? (doesn't look like it with a 4670 (non-K) version. Maybe a H87 motherboard would be a better choice (Asus H87-Plus or Gigabyte GA-H87-HD3). If you do want to overclock you need the 4670k, but I would then advise the following motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3. (I would also like to ask why you chose a micro-ATX board in the first place?)
- 16 Gb memory is way overkill for a game PC. There is not one single game that will use that. 8 Gb is more than enough.
- You are better off spending extra money on a faster graphics card. A R9 280x or R9 290 (wait for the versions with an aftermarket cooler, which are just starting to appear now) will do an excellent job for triple screen sim racing games.
- I feel a 350W power supply is a little weak for this system. I'd advise minimum 500W.
- For a case I like the Corsair Carbide 300R. Affordable, good cooling and spaceous enough for everything.
- I'd also get a good aftermarket CPU cooler, like the Scythe Mugen 4 PCGH Edition. (although not an absolutely necessary item if you are not planning to overclock, but will still help keeping the CPU colder)

Just my opinion and observations...

Erm ok...
There's steam coming out of my ears now

JRacer NL wrote:- Are you planning to overclock? (doesn't look like it with a 4670 (non-K) version. Maybe a H87 motherboard would be a better choice (Asus H87-Plus or Gigabyte GA-H87-HD3). If you do want to overclock you need the 4670k, but I would then advise the following motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3. (I would also like to ask why you chose a micro-ATX board in the first place?)
- 16 Gb memory is way overkill for a game PC. There is not one single game that will use that. 8 Gb is more than enough.
- You are better off spending extra money on a faster graphics card. A R9 280x or R9 290 (wait for the versions with an aftermarket cooler, which are just starting to appear now) will do an excellent job for triple screen sim racing games.
- I feel a 350W power supply is a little weak for this system. I'd advise minimum 500W.
- For a case I like the Corsair Carbide 300R. Affordable, good cooling and spaceous enough for everything.
- I'd also get a good aftermarket CPU cooler, like the Scythe Mugen 4 PCGH Edition. (although not an absolutely necessary item if you are not planning to overclock, but will still help keeping the CPU colder)

Just my opinion and observations...

Thanks for the help.

JRacer NL wrote:(I would also like to ask why you chose a micro-ATX board in the first place?)

Because I know absolutely nothing about any of this.

I am so confused right now 

Take a look at NewEggs "How to build a computer" Series. They're extremely helpful and have a lot of info.

Is there anywhere that you would recommend where I could choose parts and then have it build up and sent out?