PC reccommendation - will this do?

[nosscar]

This would be better and cheaper. £449 on ebay, free post, it has the same CPU i use and an r9 270 x GPU, i use the r9 280, which i find is more than enough for this game, i get between 70-120 fps in game.
8gb is enough for this game.
And i can see the onboard gpu being the weak link in that system you posted.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMD-FX630...123?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c8eef7673


Item Features:


FX6300 Six Core 3.5Ghz Processor
8GB DDR3 1600Mhz RAM
AMD R9 270X 2GB DDR5 Graphics Card
1TB SATA Hard Drive
DVD-RW Dual Layer Optical Disc Drive
MSI 760GMA-P34 uATX Motherboard (Full specifications of this board can be found here)
XFX Pro Series 550W 80+ Bronze 120mm Fan Power Supply Unit
High Quality Vanquish RED Desktop PC Gaming Case
Gigabit 10 / 100 / 1000 Ethernet Port
2 X ULTRA High Speed USB 3.0 Ports
4 X High Speed USB 2.0 Ports
8 Channel HD Audio
2 X SATA III 6GB/s Ports
6 X SATA II 3GB/s Ports
1 X PCI Express X16 Slot
1 X PCI Express X1 Slot
1 X PCI Slot
2 X PS/2 Port (For Keyboard / Mouse)
2 X DVI Port
1 X HDMI Port (With Audio Over HDMI Support)
1 X Display Port
This PC Supports a Maximum Of 3 Monitors.
Supplied With UK Mains Power Cable
Supplied With All Relevant Driver Discs for Motherboard etc

 

[Majinvash]

Hi

For £500 I would save up a little more and go for something like this

http://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/cheap-amd-gaming-pc-next-day-delivery-uk-g30a

If you really are stuck at £500 you can get an ok system, but as has been previously stated you wont get the full benefit of pc gaming.

Or look second hand.

Get a second hand I5 with 8GB ram and a decent card . Even a socket 1155 would be fine.
Get a new hard drive and reinstall the operating system and I honestly doubt you will have any issues.

I build these things as my job and the performance difference if you are on a budget from 2nd to latest gen I5's is minimal on the whole. ( Yes its faster but not going to blow you away if you are stuck at a £500 budget )

Majinvash

 

[Gemat]

It might be that's the think. It also might not and it's better to educate people on false economy than it is to stick to a strict budget.



As I mentioned before, the price of the mobo wasn't due to being a cheap and cheerful brand it was because of the lack of features on the mobo. It has a single gfx slot, 2 ram slots, micro atx, only 2 sata 6gb, has a serial port as it's old tech and no hdmi. It retailed for a lot more when it first came out and has good ratings on most sites.

http://us.msi.com/product/mb/H81MP33.html#hero-overview

Whilst I don't own a pc shop I've been building pc's since 2000 and been paid to build a lot of gaming rigs and full on video/audio pcs over the last few years so I do know what I'm talking about.

I agree with your concerns about cheap and cheerful parts but in this case I did my homework. I personally would recommend a decent mobo around the 80 quid range but that would bring the cost up to around 700. 700 is still a good build for the price though and would last a good few years.

So, if I wanted a hi spec PC, but I would never use more than 6 drives, 2 ram chips, no OC etc..... you would build me a PC based on a 50 euro board with an i7 and a 980 Gtx ???

 

[adoredtv]

This makes for good reading on failure rates - http://linustechtips.com/main/topic...ts-french-but-i-translated-nearly-everything/

This site has been running this for years now and the same scores keep turning up. High failure rates for high end gear is commonplace.

Corsair's memory quality is awful though you wouldn't think it going by what you read. That's the power of marketing of course - no need to have good quality gear when you can just convince everybody it's good instead, right?

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So, if I wanted a hi spec PC, but I would never use more than 6 drives, 2 ram chips, no OC etc..... you would build me a PC based on a 50 euro board with an i7 and a 980 Gtx ???

You wouldn't build a high-end spec PC with a cheap mobo, but the mobo is the last thing you should be overspending on for a cheap to midrange PC. If you spend 100 euros on a mobo you'll have to give up on the graphics card or CPU - something more important has to go to make the cost.

 

[Verz]

Just to go back to the OPs first post. Yes it will do. I am running Win7 with an A10 quad core, R7 Graphics (1gb dedicated ram) and 8gb of system ram. I'm running the game on medium to high settings with no faults. I basically have the same computer setup as was posted in the first post and ED looks great.

 

[Verz]

The PC above will run ED with a 1360x768 res monitor at mid settings.

Those AMD APUs have a decent VGA on chip. You can always buy a better add-on VGA whenever you can. Just ask for a 500W + power supply unit so it will suffice when you buy the add on VGA.

It will run medium/high settings at 1680x1050. That's what I'm running mine at with the same build. No problems.

 

[Distance]

So, if I wanted a hi spec PC, but I would never use more than 6 drives, 2 ram chips, no OC etc..... you would build me a PC based on a 50 euro board with an i7 and a 980 Gtx ???

You wouldn't build a high-end spec PC with a cheap mobo, but the mobo is the last thing you should be overspending on for a cheap to midrange PC. If you spend 100 euros on a mobo you'll have to give up on the graphics card or CPU - something more important has to go to make the cost.

It's all a trade off. cpu and gpu are more important.

 

[YoBuck]

I paid £348 for mine new. Runs ED everything on high no drama. Pm me for details if you want the link.

 

[Gemat]

It's all a trade off. cpu and gpu are more important.

In my opinion your suggestion is like a Fiat Punto with a 3000cc turbo engine and 305/40/21 tyres.....A poor substitute of a sports car.

 

[Kiblams]

In my opinion your suggestion is like a Fiat Punto with a 3000cc turbo engine and 305/40/21 tyres.....A poor substitute of a sports car.

I've been building gaming PCs for over 12 years and your opinion of cheap motherboards is ludicrous!

 

[Gemat]

I've been building gaming PCs for over 12 years and your opinion of cheap motherboards is ludicrous!

--------

 

[Kiblams]

I will just leave this here...

http://youtu.be/yeuJAOVRoA0

I simply can't abide people with tight budgets being told to throw money at motherboards that won't benefit them.

 

[gr4474]

Sorry for the late response, but I missed your post yesterday....

Cheap motherboards are designed under the specs required but marginally. Capacitors and cirquits are adequate for a low end cpu. It will post and work for a while with a big cpu and vga, but after some time it will become unstable. Meaning that there will be BSODs and random crashes.

The majority of the PCs that reach our service are megacomputerstore's "OFFERS" that are made exactly like this. With big specs and the cheapest "non-advertisable" parts. They work for some time and depending on how heavily they are used, they start sooner or later to fall apart....

I am not a fan of High End mobos/ parts either. I believe that every part is design for a specific demand and for that it should be used.

As a guideline, I recommend for entry gaming, a computer like our friend who started this thread suggested. For average gaming, an i5 with a 100 euro motherboard and a 200 euro VGA will do nicely and even for a good gaming PC I would suggest a limit of 1000 euro for the whole Unit. A unit more expensive, although desirable, is not a good investment....

He's exactly right, but to simplify, DON'T buy a store brand like HP ect. The way I learned this was when I had a Dell way back, my power supply went out. I knew nothing about parts at the time, but my friend told me to pay maybe $60 on a good one. When it came in, to prove his point, he had me hold the cheap bad part, and the new one in each hand. The cheap part was feather light, and the new one was like a brick. You can buy prebuilt, but for quality, only if they have parts that you can search and find for sale online. My next lesson was heat. I built a quality computer, but still would have a part go out every now and then. I realized heat must be killing them. I later bought a Haf X case with huge fans everywhere, and had no problem since. Now that case would be way to much for you, but my point is...consider how hot parts get. I would be a slightly less powered part if it is way cooler.

 

[gr4474]

If you do want a budget PC bundle there is stuff like this out there:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fierce-PC-C...UTF8&qid=1425055847&sr=8-2&keywords=computers

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fierce-PC-C...d=1425055972&sr=8-7&keywords=gaming+computers

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fierce-Bull...425056208&sr=1-6105&keywords=gaming+computers

Won't break the bank and it will play top end games, but it is not the best you can get by any means.

I wouldn't buy anything that didn't list every part. It's a mystery box.

 

[adoredtv]

I wouldn't buy anything that didn't list every part. It's a mystery box.

That guy has been selling on eBay for a long time - he was one of my main competitors in HTPC's actually.

This is the point here - it depends on your situation (both you as a system builder and your customer). If you go to eBay and try to compete at the low/entry level while selling even mid-range mobo's, you're not gonna make a single sale.

Many people just want the FASTEST PC for the LEAST MONEY. They couldn't care less about mobos or anything else, even PSUs. If you try to compete vs that with a high-end mobo, you've simply got zero chance whatsoever. It's all about getting the best CPU and Graphics card for the money.

Now you can go to shops or places like PC World where they can sell you basically anything - but to be frank you're mostly selling to people who have no actual clue about what they are buying. So you can give them a better mobo, cheaper and slower graphics card and sure it'll be fine, but they could have had a faster PC for the same money - and would have taken it had they known what they were buying - had they known the mobos basically add zero to the actual performance of the PC.

 

[Hellcat3105]

Agree with those saying buying used is a good idea. This is my setup and it was all bought used

i5 760 - £40, Asrock p55 extreme - £40, 2x4gb Samsung ddr3 1600 RAM - £30, Zotac GTX770 - £110, Antec 550w 80+ psu - £15, Samsung Evo 128gb SSD - £40, Hitachi sataII 500gb HDD - £10, NZXT Phantom 410 case - £30. Total - £325

Add a fair cpu cooler for £30 (like the 212) and you're there. Or a reconditioned water cooler from Scan or something for a touch more. My 760 is clocked to 4ghz (watercooled) and for those that worry its not up to much these days, check out this link.

http://techbuyersguru.com/i5CPUshootout.php

Plays ED on ultra no problem at 1080. For a few quid saving maybe look at a HD7950 instead. Gumtree/ebay/local ads are your friends.

 

[gr4474]

That guy has been selling on eBay for a long time - he was one of my main competitors in HTPC's actually.

This is the point here - it depends on your situation (both you as a system builder and your customer). If you go to eBay and try to compete at the low/entry level while selling even mid-range mobo's, you're not gonna make a single sale.

Many people just want the FASTEST PC for the LEAST MONEY. They couldn't care less about mobos or anything else, even PSUs. If you try to compete vs that with a high-end mobo, you've simply got zero chance whatsoever. It's all about getting the best CPU and Graphics card for the money.

Now you can go to shops or places like PC World where they can sell you basically anything - but to be frank you're mostly selling to people who have no actual clue about what they are buying. So you can give them a better mobo, cheaper and slower graphics card and sure it'll be fine, but they could have had a faster PC for the same money - and would have taken it had they known what they were buying - had they known the mobos basically add zero to the actual performance of the PC.

There are people who have listed the parts needed for his price, so it can be done. Maybe not while having someone building it for profit, but it does matter what parts you use. What socket for future proofing? What capacitors for longer lasting? What kind of RAM for speed and quality? Power supply? Oh sure the general public is clueless...and they get what their ignorance gives them.

 

[adoredtv]

There are people who have listed the parts needed for his price, so it can be done. Maybe not while having someone building it for profit, but it does matter what parts you use. What socket for future proofing? What capacitors for longer lasting? What kind of RAM for speed and quality? Power supply? Oh sure the general public is clueless...and they get what their ignorance gives them.

It doesn't matter what price range you are buying at, the point is to get the most "bang for buck".

Overspecced PSUs, mobos that have features that aren't being used (4x DIMM slots, Crossfire/Sli etc) and after-market coolers on low-end systems simply add cost for zero performance benefit.

If you're not willing to cut costs you've got no chance at the entry level of the market. £500 is entry-level. Go ahead and build a PC at that price to your spec, including highest quality RAM, PSU and mobo - You'll be surprised at just how little you have left over for the stuff that actually matters, ie the CPU and GPU.

 

[Honecker]

OP here - been recommended the following box in my price range - thoughts?

OP here.

I've spoken to a smaller independent PC builder here in the UK and they've recommended the following (in my £500 budget):

AMD Bulldozer FX-6100 @ 3.3Ghz (Six Core)
ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
CRUCIAL BALLISTIX 8GB 1600Mhz
SEAGATE 1TB HDD SATA3, 6Gb/s
SAMSUNG 24X DVD+/-RW
nVIDIA GTX750 2GB

Link: http://www.palicomp.co.uk/gaming-pcs/amd-quad-bulldozer-gamer.html


I will buy the monitor and keyboard etc separately.

In their opinion this will run the game smoothly.

I'd love to build my own rig but it's not going to happen, I'll have to buy something off the shelf.

I'll be adding wifi to the above as well. There is currently not SSD but they tell me the existing drive is fast enough if I'm not looking for really quick boot times.

Thoughts? Just to confirm my budget is £500 for the box (excl. monitor etc).

 

[adoredtv]

No that's awful. The first gen Bulldozer CPUs are terrible and the 750 isn't exactly blazing fast considering what you can get. Don't buy those PCs from their shops - Palicomp is another eBayer (at least they used to be) and they'll likely be selling the same system much cheaper there, or a faster one for less. At least £125 is going to them on that PC, the parts aren't even worth £400.

Something like this is far superior for a tiny bit more - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/INTEL-i5-...NVIDIA-GTX760-Gaming-PC-Desktop-/321355745011

Check the eBayers ebay shops, not their own.