[OT] Serious computer issue

[Cursed Shadow]

Including OS, case, PSU, HDD, sata and monitor?

What I have currently is a heap of drom poopoo. I need to start from the ground up.

Nothing will be salvaged.

The PC will be awesome, but modest. It will run most/all games on high to ultra, and it will be possible to upgrade it (for teh future)
The trick is: buy the tried and tested, the stuff with the better drivers.
My general rule of thumb: never buy something that has just come out, usually hardware takes 1-2 months to bloom with drivers and compatibility anyway.

Might be like 850-900 if we have to worry about OS too, and it depends which OS

Here's what we can do:
Take this to another thread, or to PM.
We can work together to figure out different builds for different budgets, but overall, we can definitely get something for a 500-700, 700-900 range and a 900-1100 range.

Personally, I built a cracking machine 6 months ago and it came to around 900 incl. Monitor, Keyboard, SSD, HDD, OS, RAM, Case etc.
I cannot fault the thing, it handles everything I throw at it.

[Dribble Joy]

Fair enough. There is an existing thread from a while, but it will still be ~2 months before I have enough to buy it (if I save £200 this month and get about £100 towards it for crimbo, then that's about £700), so I won't revive it just yet.
I'll see how the situation is in the new year, but it could be the beginning of Feb.

My general rule of thumb: never buy something that has just come out, usually hardware takes 1-2 months to bloom with drivers and compatibility anyway.

I wasn't planning on going for the latest stuff (especially regarding mobo and GFX). I spotted a Xeon 1230 X3 for £185 a while ago and was thinking about a GTX 770 (worth dropping down to one of the 600 series?).

Might be like 850-900 if we have to worry about OS too, and it depends which OS

I spotted Win7 pro for about £100 a while ago, or is Win7 Home Premium enough?

[Cursed Shadow]

I spotted Win7 pro for about £100 a while ago, or is Win7 Home Premium enough?

Windows 8 Pro is about £100 and you can downgrade it to Windows 7.

I'd get a i5 3570K for gaming/video editing, or a i7 3770K That processor packs a serious punch, I'd have to compare the 3XXX series versus the 4XXX pricing now though, as they've probably dropped.

[Agent L]

The case can be salvaged : ) There is no real point in paying anything for the sheet metal if you already have one.

DJ, if you're having trouble with getting all the cash at once, you can upgrade in stages. Hunt for a decent PSU first. Then get the most important mobo+cpu+ram combo and limp on the built in graphics and old HDD for a while (still better than what you have now). Then add a video card and/or new HDD in whatever order.
Some of the stuff might be bought used from ebay for best bang for a buck, like PSU and GPU.

@CS why 3570K? 4670K is same price with better performance and newer platform.

[William Antrim]

Please post here what you intend to buy - prices and retailers if you can be bothered? I am shopping around currently and am facing similar conundrums in what to buy.

[Agent L]

This is setup I have just ordered for work, about £600 total, including monitor, the only thing missing is Windows (site in Polish. £1 = 4,96zł). It's a computer for work - so it'd need to be rebalanced for gaming:
- There is no dedicated GPU while the 1920x1200 monitor (£200) is very demanding because of so many pixels. A bit saner monitor (1600x900) and second-hand HD6850 (£50-60) would make it playable at 40FPS (BF4, Crysis3 on mid-detals, BF3 on max).
- 16GB of memory is too much, 8 should do - ram is expensive nowadays (£50 saved).
- The processor might be reconsidered: dual core G3420 (£55) packs amazing punch for 1/3 of the price of corresponding quad i5-4570 (£155), but certain deliberately f**ed up programs (like newer nVidia drivers) simply require moar cores for no valid reason. Hence the Radeon - if you want a GeForce you'll need i3 at least.
- There is no HDD except the 120GB SSD. It'll do for few games, but primary PC would need extra storage sooner or later.
- Intel box cooler can manage, but Thermalright Macho (£40 - the full size original, ignore the "120" shrunk version!) can do it better while staying dead silent. The Zalman case was chosen only because it's wide enough to be closed with Macho inside. Not many cases can do that.

[Hodo]

This is setup I have just ordered for work, about £600 total, including monitor, the only thing missing is Windows (site in Polish. £1 = 4,96zł). It's a computer for work - so it'd need to be rebalanced for gaming:
- There is no dedicated GPU while the 1920x1200 monitor (£200) is very demanding because of so many pixels. A bit saner monitor (1600x900) and second-hand HD6850 (£50-60) would make it playable at 40FPS (BF4, Crysis3 on mid-detals, BF3 on max).
- 16GB of memory is too much, 8 should do - ram is expensive nowadays (£50 saved).
- The processor might be reconsidered: dual core G3420 (£55) packs amazing punch for 1/3 of the price of corresponding quad i5-4570 (£155), but certain deliberately f**ed up programs (like newer nVidia drivers) simply require moar cores for no valid reason. Hence the Radeon - if you want a GeForce you'll need i3 at least.
- There is no HDD except the 120GB SSD. It'll do for few games, but primary PC would need extra storage sooner or later.
- Intel box cooler can manage, but Thermalright Macho (£40 - the full size original, ignore the "120" shrunk version!) can do it better while staying dead silent. The Zalman case was chosen only because it's wide enough to be closed with Macho inside. Not many cases can do that.

I have never heard 16GB of RAM is too much. I can tell you now, I always get as much RAM as I can when it is cheap, it is best to have the most your system can handle so you never have to worry about any 64bit programs running out of memory. I know I play MUCH more than just Neocron, so I like having the extra RAM just for those programs.

[Dropout]

I have never heard 16GB of RAM is too much. I can tell you now, I always get as much RAM as I can when it is cheap, it is best to have the most your system can handle so you never have to worry about any 64bit programs running out of memory. I know I play MUCH more than just Neocron, so I like having the extra RAM just for those programs.

More than 8 GB RAM is not needed at all (for gaming), it is a waste of money as Agent L said.
Granted, more RAM doesnt HURT, its just not needed - for gaming

[Cursed Shadow]

@CS why 3570K? 4670K is same price with better performance and newer platform.

As I stated, it would depend what they're priced at now.
4670K has minor performance over the 3570K to my knowledge. I believed them to be very similar upon initial release.
Perhaps some hardware has begun to capitalize on the 4670K now though?

[Dribble Joy]

As I stated, it would depend what they're priced at now.
4670K has minor performance over the 3570K to my knowledge. I believed them to be very similar upon initial release.
Perhaps some hardware has begun to capitalize on the 4670K now though?

1150 is probably going to be around longer than 1155, so future upgrades without replacing mobo are more likely.

Difference between a 3570k and a 4670k is about £10-15 (roughly 10% of price) at the moment, so I dunno if it's worth it or not.

[Cursed Shadow]

For a CPU which is between 2-6% better depending on the application.
Actually to my knowledge the 4670K is less energy efficient too.

http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smart...=0&itemid=1087

[Agent L]

I always get as much RAM as I can when it is cheap

The problem is, ram isn't cheap today.

I know I play MUCH more than just Neocron, so I like having the extra RAM just for those programs.

Well, Crysis3 recommends 8GB for "Hi-Performance" configuration, that's why I suggested setting with that. Neocron runs great on 512MB. If I'd were asked about Neocron machine, I'd say Core2Duo + 2GB + gf9600, no more.

upgrades without replacing mobo

I think this is a rare scenario, especially with i5k which is and will probably remain top cpu for the platform.

Difference between a 3570k and a 4670k is about £10-15 (roughly 10% of price) at the moment, so I dunno if it's worth it or not.

Well, then I'd recommend decision based on the prices and features of corresponding mobos.

For a CPU which is between 2-6% better depending on the application.
Actually to my knowledge the 4670K is less energy efficient too.

http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smart...=0&itemid=1087

That's interesting, thnx.

[Dribble Joy]

New thread.