Hardware & Technical Predicted Machine Specs for E4?

KING5TON

KING5TON
cassius5000 said:
I was eyeing up those gaming rigs from Aria, with the intention of stumping up some serious cash come end of next year. Nice to hear it has favourable reviews. So long as it doesn't come with Win8 on it :p

Have you (or anyone you know) bought a full system from them before? Any opinions?
Click to expand...

I've not bought their gaming rigs but I've bought components from them and built my own machines for friends and family (not bought myself a machine for a couple of years as I migrated to Console gaming and a crap PC for surfing).

I've not had any issues with them or any comeback from the people I built machines for. Ever (which is a miracle if you ask me)

I'm planning to save up for a new Gaming PC after Xmas and a skiing holiday I've got planned with the GF and I will probably build my own again as A it's very easy, B I can have it exactly the way I want.

Although It's still an internal debate and I might say fark it and buy one of the premade rigs as Aria overclock them for you to give it a boost. Not done it for years but overclocking was a pain in the ****, might be easier now though
 
Last edited:

Capt. Hook

Capt. Hook
I got the MBO/RAM and CPU from Amazon.co.uk and installed myself. Doing quite a good combo atm, £480 for the lot.

Graphics Card and OPSystem I had already.


EDIT: I don't know much about the stores you mention but in my experience any high street chain will struggle to compete with an independent IT specialist store for real feedback/advice etc.
 
Last edited:

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
When I was in the UK I'd tend to use either Overclockers or Dabs but mostly Overclockers. The only components that I didn't really buy new were video cards. I usually get those from eBay. Usually I'd only upgrade one or two parts at a time except for the last upgrade which was Mobo, Processor and RAM. I've found Overclockers to often have the better pricing but that was more because I was a frequent user of their forums and if you've got over 100 posts you get free postage which really offset the cost for many things. When it comes to SSD HDDs though you should really shop around OcUK has historically not had the best prices although looking now they seem to be pretty cheap!

But yeah what KING5TON said, DO NOT buy from PC World unless you are a total luddite and scared by the insides of a computer. You'll be far better served buying a gaming rig from a more reputable supplier that has a good name in performance hardware and don't get hooked on brand name computers. I've worked with Dell for years in an enterprise context and for office machines I would struggle to go past them but for a gaming machine I'd tend more toward building my own or getting someone like Aria or OcUK to sort you out with a custom build.

Rules of thumb when buying a gaming rig:

Processor: Intel > AMD
Memory: 8GB RAM+
Hard Drive: SSD (128GB+ - 256GB is better because the space disappears quickly) as a primary HDD with a nice big beefy drive (1-2TB) for storage (two if you can afford it)
Video card: brands are much of a muchness. Nvidia tend to have a better driver set whereas the AMD cards you tend to get a little more bang for your buck but have to deal with some annoying driver issues (at times, like jaggy shadows). I run a pair of AMD HD5850s and they push pretty much any game at full and have done for over a year but any higher end single card solution will poop on that now.

All up expect to pay somewhere in the £700 - £1K range for a good gaming rig.
 

Steve

Steve
Ok, thanks for the advice everyone! :smilie:

I know my way around the inside of a PC to a certain degree. I've changed PSUs, DVD drives, HDDs, installed gfx cards and extra memory etc. but the computer I'm running right now will really need to be replaced in its entirety by the time ED (hopefully) comes along. It's definitely getting a bit creaky.

It's the process of building a gaming PC from scratch that's a bit scary, though I appreciate there are people out there to guide me :cool:
 

MaW

M
Hope my HD7750 will be able to pull it off without going minimum settings... :p
Don't think I'll be buying any new hardware before 2015
 
Last edited:

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
It's not a bad card and I'd think that the game would be playable with some detail turned on, at least a little over minimum. I don't think that the demands of games is going to take another huge leap for a bit because Microsoft have stupidly made the next DirectX update dependent on installing Windows 8 which is an utter waste of hard drive space. Of course if it goes the way of Vista and W7 then their next OS could be a stunner but I'm not holding my breath. MS seem to be in the beginning throws of a minor self destruction.

I don't think that they're going to be pushing the limits on DX11 capable cards for a little while yet. The 7750 is 11.1 capable but the trade off is Windows 8, which I refuse to update to unless MS fix it. I think you'll be fine for a bit :D
 

KING5TON

KING5TON
Steve said:
Ok, thanks for the advice everyone! :smilie:

I know my way around the inside of a PC to a certain degree. I've changed PSUs, DVD drives, HDDs, installed gfx cards and extra memory etc. but the computer I'm running right now will really need to be replaced in its entirety by the time ED (hopefully) comes along. It's definitely getting a bit creaky.

It's the process of building a gaming PC from scratch that's a bit scary, though I appreciate there are people out there to guide me :cool:
Click to expand...

It's really not once you have a bash. You've already done 90% of what's required to build a PC.
Hardest part I'd say is the CPU, it can be a bit finicky getting it onto the MOBO and then applying thermal paste (or whatever) and attaching the heatsink. You have to be careful not to break the CPU when doing this but as long as you're not totally cack handed you should be ok.

If you're worried about building a rig just buy a gaming PC from a website, they're not much more expensive that building yourself.

Building yourself just means to can select exactly what components you want. So for example you can skimp one thing and spend extra on another.
E.g. I don't need an OS for my new machine so when I build one myself that is not part of the cost and I can upgrade the GFX card a notch for the same overall price.
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
Well - Intel CPUs don't even have pins anymore, it's tough to damage them. You're more likely to drop it edge on to the pins in the socket and bend those suckers. Now that would not be fun!
 

KING5TON

KING5TON
Steve O B Have said:
Well - Intel CPUs don't even have pins anymore, it's tough to damage them. You're more likely to drop it edge on to the pins in the socket and bend those suckers. Now that would not be fun!
Click to expand...

I think the riskiest part for me was attaching the heatsink and not cracking the CPU. I have the strength of ten men* thou so it's easy for me to DESTROY! things.




*who each posses the strength of ten men
 

Bikky

Bikky
I think SILENT computer in order ;) :D

This will consist of a 12v submersible pump capable of 600lh on a 1.5-1.8m head height (ie 600lh waterflow pumped from the floor to above pc height, or about 1200-1500lh at roughly level) sitting in a large floor reservoir.

This will pump into a normal radiator, as you'd have in a small room on your central heating :eek:. From there upto the PC case, all on 1/2 inch pipe. Then into a manifold of 4 x 8mm connections, 1 for the CPU, 1 for the GPU, 1 for Chipset and Mosfets, and one for the PSU, then back through a manifold into 3/4 inch pipe to the res. This will ensure low forward pressure allowing ease of pumping action, and the unit won't need to be fully sealed as it won't rely on internal pressure to flow from the res. Also the pump being submerged will be quietened down too.

All that will be heard will be the faitest whirring of the pump. As the circuit won't be sealed it may need a small sealed res on the case to ensure that pump-rad-pc will maintain water to stop any delay in coolant reaching the chipsets. Also the Rad will need high flow/return entry points so water doesn't drain to the res.

:cool:
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
KING5TON said:
I think the riskiest part for me was attaching the heatsink and not cracking the CPU. I have the strength of ten men* thou so it's easy for me to DESTROY! things.




*who each posses the strength of ten men
Click to expand...

LOL cripes :D remind me not to let you near my PC assembly! I do remember those annoying pushpin mounts that came with the old 775 sockets. It always made me nervous. I think my current heatsink is held in my sprung thumb screws. Titan Fenrir - does a pretty good job too. Good enough for me to not have been tempted by water cooling although with it likely reaching 35C - 40C here this summer I might have to re-asses that one.

@Bikky - yeah my mate does that with his machine, puts coloured crap in his water too. It does run a bit cooler and gives him overclocking room but at the end of it all it's cost him an arm and a leg and mine plays games just as well as his.
 

Kipper

K
Ugh, heatsink mounts are a pain in the backside, I always think I'm going to break the board trying to get them to click in place.

Really, what would have been so wrong some sort of screw mount that you could just tighten up without having to try and fiddle around with components in small space, with big hands, where everything is expensive (and sharp).
 

Bikky

Bikky
Steve O B Have said:
LOL cripes :D remind me not to let you near my PC assembly! I do remember those annoying pushpin mounts that came with the old 775 sockets. It always made me nervous. I think my current heatsink is held in my sprung thumb screws. Titan Fenrir - does a pretty good job too. Good enough for me to not have been tempted by water cooling although with it likely reaching 35C - 40C here this summer I might have to re-asses that one.

@Bikky - yeah my mate does that with his machine, puts coloured crap in his water too. It does run a bit cooler and gives him overclocking room but at the end of it all it's cost him an arm and a leg and mine plays games just as well as his.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had red dye in mine years ago, then it was for the visual appeal more than anything else, and to say I've done it. Now watercooling is all for the quietness or visual appearance of the case rather than anything else. If you've got good heatsinks and fans you don't need it.

Don't forget watercooling won't cool any lower than room temperature, unless you refridgerate the coolant. The problem if you do refridgerate is you'll get condensation on the pipes and heatsinks, and thats a way to make you go bang :eek:
 

MaW

M
That's cool. It's nice the HD7xxxs are still getting performance boosts with new drivers every now and then.

I'm not really a hardcore gamer so this card is pretty much all I need for anything I feel like playing right now :p So as long as it's just a bit above minimum, it's fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom