according to windows 10 task manager games are more cpu intensive than ram intensive. intel makes better processors than amd. some amd multi core processors may do better in gaming departments intel i5 i7 cpus perform better per core efficiency than amd.
What computer should I buy?
- Thread starter oprylandusa
- Start date
Let me correct you, MADE*
That is the past. They don't anymore. If you don't know any better don't stick with the old. AMD is just as good and even cheaper
Let me correct you, MADE*
That is the past. They don't anymore. If you don't know any better don't stick with the old. AMD is just as good and even cheaper
Sorry, but current Intel CPU's are better in pretty much every way when compared with AMDs. The advantage will be even greater in games like this that are CPU intensive.
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even intels 5th gen i5 5200 has some better test results in some areas compared to one of amds 6th gen quad core cpus. in new zealand retail stores there are more pcs with intel cpus than there are amd.
Okay guys and girls, thanks everyone for the great advice, I have narrowed it down to a component list, again, I am more than happy for people to chime in with feedback. I am focusing on trying to build a system which is both up to date and will serve me for a good few years, but at the same time can be enhanced further down the track if necessary.
I have planned the build into phases so that I can wait as long as possible to get the graphics card and possibly SSD as it seems those two areas are seeming to see the largest price drops.
Please keep in mind that simplicity has been considered as I am by no means an expert, so I have tried to find components which are both reliable and easy to fit. Again, opinions and feedback welcomed. All prices are GBP delivered.
Phase 0 - where I am now...
Case - I have purchased a Corsair 200R which was £52.99, several reasons, I want a fairly plain looking mid tower, nothing too flashy, would rather save money here and put it towards components. It looks as if it is getting good reviews for a lower priced unit.
PSU - Have gone for a Corsair RM 650x. £80.66. Several reasons here. Very good reviews, cables which are all removable from both ends, a good selection of quality cables included. 650watts is plenty of power and I think even in the future it will meet my needs. The brand seems well respected and the reviews are favourable. Very energy efficient and the PC may end up running on low level tasks as it may act as a server in the future.
Phase 1 - what I plan to get next...
Asus Z170 Deluxe ATX LGA1151 Motherboard. £230.27
Several reasons. It supports the chip I want, has a great range of features, includes Bluetooth and WLAN as well as NFC all built in. This is where simplicity is built in as many of the features I would want are simply included on the board. I realise that this may be a slightly more expensive way of adding these features but my logic is that it is all designed to work well with the board and I am less likely to run into irritating driver or compatibility issues down the line. For me simplicity in use is important. I very nearly went to a MAC but I felt a better quality PC would maybe offer more.
CPU Cooling - Cryorig H7 Heatsink £26.49 I don't intend on over locking at this point and the motherboard allows for plenty of additional fans which can all be automatically profiled and adjusted depending on use. I guess down the line I could switch out this if needed?
Phase 2 -
CPU Intel i7 6700k 4.0GHz processor - seems to get fantastic reviews and I hope will offer me a sweet spot between paying too much for technology that is new to market and getting something decent enough that it will be good for 5 years plus without needing upgrading. I guess it could be over clocked later if I needed more performance. £272 for unlocked. Hoping this may drop but with the new processors not out till the end of the year I'm not holding out too much hope.
I intend to stick in a spare 120GB HDD which I have already just to use in the interim and I have a couple of 1GB RAMs which I can add just to get the thing off the ground.
The HDMI out will be linked to my existing AV receiver and then to the Plasma screen.
Fans - going to head to quantity over quality here, the motherboard will support at least 5 120mm fans all running at separate speeds so hopefully I can pick some up cheap and cheerful. Anything that is quiet and fairly effective should be sufficient. I don't tend to use the computer really intensively for long periods of time, I tend to use it for a few hours and then take a break which makes a big difference in the whole rig cooling back down in those little gaps of idleness. The case is supplied with two so I will see how it fairs and add more as needed.
Phase 3
SSD - I am looking out for decent prices on Samsung SSD which is extremely well rated and seems to be very reliable. I know Apple use these drives in all the MACs. So far I am looking at using approx 512GB to install Windows and my mainly used programs and of course Planet Coaster. So far price is £179 for 512GB with a read/write speed of 6GB a second which will hopefully really boost my startup time and overall speed.
RAM - I intend to use two DDRM4 8GB to give me a total of 16GB again I can hang on for prices and offers. At the moment 16GB is coming in at £70. I may go for a slightly cheaper make here as I am less worried about reliability as I would imagine prices per GB will continue to fall as we march into the future. Anyone have any strong opinions on this?
Phase 4
GPU - Waiting for a possible price drop on Nvidia GeForce GTX 970. I'm thinking this will be the point at which price vs performance is optimal for me. As the Alpha goes on and optimisation and water, AI is refined I would expect people to have more of an idea of how the game performs in real world conditions. At present this card is around £280 in the UK so even a 10-15% saving on this price would reduce the cost a fair bit.
Large HDD - Again I am happy to wait here as SSD seems to drop in price I would expect conventional HDD to drop consistently as well. I am looking to add a large 6TB drive to act as a media storage and backup for other devices, such as iPADs, phones, kid's devices etc. I was thinking of getting a NAS so that it could be possible to access away from home without leaving the PC running all the time. Thoughts anyone? I can wait to add this once I research a little more, I have a few existing external drives which are taking the strain for my antique laptop at the moment.
Bluray - DVD/RW will eventually throw one of these on as my existing DVD player is on the blink and only works reliably when propped up on empty cases, for £42 it would be rude not to!
Hoping to achieve this for around £1200 total. This obviously depends a bit on what I can find in the way of SSD and how much the graphics cards potentially drop...
What does everyone think? Have I gone wildly wrong anywhere?
Thanks again for the wonderful advice and information so far, has really given me lots to think about.
I have planned the build into phases so that I can wait as long as possible to get the graphics card and possibly SSD as it seems those two areas are seeming to see the largest price drops.
Please keep in mind that simplicity has been considered as I am by no means an expert, so I have tried to find components which are both reliable and easy to fit. Again, opinions and feedback welcomed. All prices are GBP delivered.
Phase 0 - where I am now...
Case - I have purchased a Corsair 200R which was £52.99, several reasons, I want a fairly plain looking mid tower, nothing too flashy, would rather save money here and put it towards components. It looks as if it is getting good reviews for a lower priced unit.
PSU - Have gone for a Corsair RM 650x. £80.66. Several reasons here. Very good reviews, cables which are all removable from both ends, a good selection of quality cables included. 650watts is plenty of power and I think even in the future it will meet my needs. The brand seems well respected and the reviews are favourable. Very energy efficient and the PC may end up running on low level tasks as it may act as a server in the future.
Phase 1 - what I plan to get next...
Asus Z170 Deluxe ATX LGA1151 Motherboard. £230.27
Several reasons. It supports the chip I want, has a great range of features, includes Bluetooth and WLAN as well as NFC all built in. This is where simplicity is built in as many of the features I would want are simply included on the board. I realise that this may be a slightly more expensive way of adding these features but my logic is that it is all designed to work well with the board and I am less likely to run into irritating driver or compatibility issues down the line. For me simplicity in use is important. I very nearly went to a MAC but I felt a better quality PC would maybe offer more.
CPU Cooling - Cryorig H7 Heatsink £26.49 I don't intend on over locking at this point and the motherboard allows for plenty of additional fans which can all be automatically profiled and adjusted depending on use. I guess down the line I could switch out this if needed?
Phase 2 -
CPU Intel i7 6700k 4.0GHz processor - seems to get fantastic reviews and I hope will offer me a sweet spot between paying too much for technology that is new to market and getting something decent enough that it will be good for 5 years plus without needing upgrading. I guess it could be over clocked later if I needed more performance. £272 for unlocked. Hoping this may drop but with the new processors not out till the end of the year I'm not holding out too much hope.
I intend to stick in a spare 120GB HDD which I have already just to use in the interim and I have a couple of 1GB RAMs which I can add just to get the thing off the ground.
The HDMI out will be linked to my existing AV receiver and then to the Plasma screen.
Fans - going to head to quantity over quality here, the motherboard will support at least 5 120mm fans all running at separate speeds so hopefully I can pick some up cheap and cheerful. Anything that is quiet and fairly effective should be sufficient. I don't tend to use the computer really intensively for long periods of time, I tend to use it for a few hours and then take a break which makes a big difference in the whole rig cooling back down in those little gaps of idleness. The case is supplied with two so I will see how it fairs and add more as needed.
Phase 3
SSD - I am looking out for decent prices on Samsung SSD which is extremely well rated and seems to be very reliable. I know Apple use these drives in all the MACs. So far I am looking at using approx 512GB to install Windows and my mainly used programs and of course Planet Coaster. So far price is £179 for 512GB with a read/write speed of 6GB a second which will hopefully really boost my startup time and overall speed.
RAM - I intend to use two DDRM4 8GB to give me a total of 16GB again I can hang on for prices and offers. At the moment 16GB is coming in at £70. I may go for a slightly cheaper make here as I am less worried about reliability as I would imagine prices per GB will continue to fall as we march into the future. Anyone have any strong opinions on this?
Phase 4
GPU - Waiting for a possible price drop on Nvidia GeForce GTX 970. I'm thinking this will be the point at which price vs performance is optimal for me. As the Alpha goes on and optimisation and water, AI is refined I would expect people to have more of an idea of how the game performs in real world conditions. At present this card is around £280 in the UK so even a 10-15% saving on this price would reduce the cost a fair bit.
Large HDD - Again I am happy to wait here as SSD seems to drop in price I would expect conventional HDD to drop consistently as well. I am looking to add a large 6TB drive to act as a media storage and backup for other devices, such as iPADs, phones, kid's devices etc. I was thinking of getting a NAS so that it could be possible to access away from home without leaving the PC running all the time. Thoughts anyone? I can wait to add this once I research a little more, I have a few existing external drives which are taking the strain for my antique laptop at the moment.
Bluray - DVD/RW will eventually throw one of these on as my existing DVD player is on the blink and only works reliably when propped up on empty cases, for £42 it would be rude not to!
Hoping to achieve this for around £1200 total. This obviously depends a bit on what I can find in the way of SSD and how much the graphics cards potentially drop...
What does everyone think? Have I gone wildly wrong anywhere?
Thanks again for the wonderful advice and information so far, has really given me lots to think about.
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Don't worry! My first question is, what Mac do you have? I currently have an iMac with bootcamp running the game and it works beautifully. My mac is a 2014 model with a quad core i5. The current minimum requirement is posted, but an i5 broad well or newer would be just fine for you. Make sure that what ever computer you decide to purchase for gaming has its own graphics card, not an integrated card. It doesn't have to be any thing fancy, nearly any thing you buy with a graphics card (not Intel HD graphics, that's integrated) will do great for most games. I would check your specs on your mac and compare it to the minimum requirements, you may be able to just boot camp it, which will save you plenty of money.
Don't let some one over sell you with the top of the line things if your on a budget! If you are looking to just get a pre-made computer an i3 will get most of what you want done, but does not perform well with gaming. an i5 is generally suitable for the vast majority and will play nearly every game currently on the market well, and i7 is the best you can buy before leaving personal computing class processors. For this game, go with an i5. Any manufacturer does really well, but pay attention to the warranty. Also, pay attention to the news, when chip makers come unveil a new chip, the old ones generally drop in price one month after the new chip comes out. You don't need the best computer you can possibly buy to play a game.
I also need to make a disclaimer that I am an Intel employee and every thing I say is solely my own opinions and thoughts and do not reflect Intel's views. Other wise, good luck!
Intel is always working on new chips. As for a timeline, I can't say. The 6700k i7 processor is an absolute beast though and I recommend it. (disclaimer, I work for Intel)
Sorry for not replying, hadn't noticed your post!
Looking at your plan I cannot see any major problems there! I wouldn't cheap out on the RAM too much, Skylake chips seem to appreciate fast DDR4 so get some high clocked decent RAM; sure, you don't need to go nuts with the absolute best stuff for timings but try and stay within the better known brands of RAM. PSU, SSD and everything else is looking good. Not used that CPU cooler myself so no idea what it's like, looks similar to the well know Cooler Master 212 so I'm sure it will be fine. As for case fans, you'll probably find the two you have with the case will be enough! Have one blow into the case and another venting outwards and you'll be golden! I would make sure you get the unlocked i7, honestly overclocking is so easy nowadays it's almost mad not to do it.
I've seen the GTX970 dip as low as £220 in recent times and I managed to get mine for 180. Don't pay £280 in other words! [big grin]
The Cryorig H7 is a bargain at £26 and all reviews seem to say it is both quiet and effective.
The RAM has got to be DDR4 I think to fit in the Mobo.
As for the GTX 970 it appears that next gen are currently in production, with an announcement from Nvidia in late May and worldwide release in July. I will therefore hold out for the lower prices.
My guess is the system will be useable even without the dedicated graphics, maybe not so much gaming, but at least I could start getting files transferred across and media organised.
I picked up 5 really cheap £4 each fans - all are 4 pin so should be variable control straight from Mobo. I'm hoping that I can run all at a lower RPM rather than a few that are absolutely flying. Hopefully will make it quieter as i hate headphones.
How much does mild-mid overclocking have in terms of the life of the processor, I realise it is a trade off between speed vs longevity but to what extent? I don't want a £300+ processor going bang in a few years. The Mobo has overclocking features built into the Bios but I'm new to the whole idea. I guess the processor would happily run at 4.2 GHz as opposed to 4GHz. I just don't want to massively shorten the processor's life.
The RAM has got to be DDR4 I think to fit in the Mobo.
As for the GTX 970 it appears that next gen are currently in production, with an announcement from Nvidia in late May and worldwide release in July. I will therefore hold out for the lower prices.
My guess is the system will be useable even without the dedicated graphics, maybe not so much gaming, but at least I could start getting files transferred across and media organised.
I picked up 5 really cheap £4 each fans - all are 4 pin so should be variable control straight from Mobo. I'm hoping that I can run all at a lower RPM rather than a few that are absolutely flying. Hopefully will make it quieter as i hate headphones.
How much does mild-mid overclocking have in terms of the life of the processor, I realise it is a trade off between speed vs longevity but to what extent? I don't want a £300+ processor going bang in a few years. The Mobo has overclocking features built into the Bios but I'm new to the whole idea. I guess the processor would happily run at 4.2 GHz as opposed to 4GHz. I just don't want to massively shorten the processor's life.
As long as you don't excessively over volt the CPU you wont have problems, it will probably outlast you and me! What typically fails on hardware like this isn't the processor, but the supporting components around it, more specifically the capacitors on the motherboard. When these die the switching regulators that regulate the voltage to the processor are no longer able to filter the large periodic voltage spikes from the switching waveforms which in turn kills the CPU off. Modern boards use polymer type capacitors which are far better performing and longer lived than the aluminium electrolytic caps found on older hardware! As long as nothing is overheating and kept reasonably cool they'll last for years. (I have an old Core2Quad Q9550 that has run 24/7 for 5+ years running a high overclock and it had never skipped a beat. Runs perfectly!)
Obviously don't overclock your computer if you're not comfortable doing so, the 6700K will be fast enough for a good few years of rapid computation so really there will be little need to anyway. It's one of those things you can look up as the months go by and then try once you know what you're doing. Remember, the two things that kill hardware are excessive voltage and heat. Keep both under control and you're golden!
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Thanks, I have got 5 cheap fans and the case is very well ventilated, I'm hoping to have all fans running on a low speed but the motherboard has the ability to control all fans to keep the system cool.
I am thinking a mild over clock a few years down the line - I am hoping with this build it should be good initially at least for the next few years. I can always add more RAM down the line if necessary but I think 16 should be plenty for now.
I am thinking a mild over clock a few years down the line - I am hoping with this build it should be good initially at least for the next few years. I can always add more RAM down the line if necessary but I think 16 should be plenty for now.