Gaming PC again

[Fooz]

hello guys, i know this asking a lot but i was wondering if maybe one of you could help me out here, im just wondering if this PC that im going to get will actually work and perform well.

im kind of new to this so please go easy on me

OK so i have built one that i believe should work and has all the parts (im hoping) please tell me if you notice i am forgeting something or if something will not work.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Quad Core CPU (AM3 Socket)

Motherboard: MSI 870A-G54 Socket Socket AM3 Motherboard

RAM: Kingston 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Non-ECC 240pin DIMM Memory Module

Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB (not very good apparently)- changing to the GTX 460 after all the praise in this thread

Hard Drive: 2TB Seagate Barracuda XT SATA3 ( people keep saying drop down but i found this one reasonably cheap)

Case - CCL Advantage Excel Barebone (will this case house this stuff?)

EDIT:

PSU: 900W Evo Labs 80+ ATX Power Supply (found this for £60, looking at other that are less Watts but more expensive so im sticking with this one)

Can you recommend any good Graphics cards and Hard Drives?

also someone mentioned having an external hard drive for backing stuff up, thought i should mention i have one already with 1 TB of space so im set there

also i am english so bear in mind some stuff may not be available here that may be available in the USA

Edit: the monitor I will be getting is a 21.5 inch 1080p monitor

 

[Vhite]

2TB hard drive is little too much, Ive got my new PC half a year ago and since then I havent deleted single game or a movie and I still have only about 500gb filled.

 

[Signa]

Can you do better with the video card? I have a Mobility 5470 in my laptop, and while it's not fully apples-to-apples, it technically is a better card just by looking at the product number. It's a very functional card, but it really under performs if you want to run at more than the lower medium range for settings.

And while Vhite is transposing his PC data storage habits on you, a 2 TB drive is where I'd start first in shaving off costs if you can't afford a better GPU flat.

 

[Tethalaki]

forgeting something

Remember an optical drive (CD/DVD/Bluray drive). Also don't forget a good power supply.

 

[number2301]

On that system I'd be looking to replace the 2Tb drive with an SSD and get an external drive for backup/data storage purposes. Although looking at CCL it would appear that SSDs are still a bit prohibitively priced.

Maybe just save the £100 on the drive, go for a 500Gb SATA drive and put the extra £100 into the GPU. I believe the GTX 460s are meant to be good.

You want more than 1GB on that GPU. Preferably more than 2, even.

Erm, do they even do graphics cards with more than 2Gb RAM? And even if they do that would be massively overkill wouldn't it?

EDIT - This is the base system OP is looking at, with the GPU and HDD added - http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=39526&category_id=742&manufacturer_id=0&tid=

Don't you need a 500w PSU for modern gaming rigs? Also, why have you listed a different mother board to the site?

 

[Danceofmasks]

Erm, do they even do graphics cards with more than 2Gb RAM? And even if they do that would be massively overkill wouldn't it?

Yes and no, it wouldn't.

Check out some of the recommended specs on a lot of the newer, more GPU intensive games. 2GB is the standard on some of them.

Recommended specs talk about system RAM, not video RAM.
>$500 video cards won't come with more than 1.5GB.

 

[number2301]

Erm, do they even do graphics cards with more than 2Gb RAM? And even if they do that would be massively overkill wouldn't it?

Yes and no, it wouldn't.

Check out some of the recommended specs on a lot of the newer, more GPU intensive games. 2GB is the standard on some of them.

Where are these >2Gb RAM GPUs? I've never seen one and just had a quick look at the most expensive one I could find (http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=60589&category_id=1252&manufacturer_id=0&tid=zt-50101-10p , £430 no less) and that only has 1.5Gb RAM

As for games, Just Cause - 512Mb, New Vegas asks for GeForce 6 series and Metro 2033 asks for a 460 or 470 both with ~1Gb RAM.

 

[Signa]

I've got 1.2GB on my GTX470. Trust me when I say that card is enough, 2GB of ram or not.

 

[number2301]

Recommended specs talk about system RAM, not video RAM.
>$500 video cards won't come with more than 1.5GB.

Please don't butt into conversations you don't understand.

GPU is always mentioned in system specs.

Example: [Minimum specs for Crysis]
"OS - Windows XP or Windows Vista
Processor - 2.8 GHz or faster (XP) or 3.2 GHz or faster* (Vista)
Memory - 1.0 GB RAM (XP) or 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
Video Card -256 MB**
Hard Drive - 12GB
Sound Card - DirectX 9.0c compatibler"

People in glass houses and all that. Where are these games which specify a GPU with more than 2Gb RAM? Where are these GPUs with more than 2Gb RAM?

 

[Danceofmasks]

Recommended specs talk about system RAM, not video RAM.
>$500 video cards won't come with more than 1.5GB.

Please don't butt into conversations you don't understand.

GPU is always mentioned in system specs.

Example: [Minimum specs for Crysis]
"OS - Windows XP or Windows Vista
Processor - 2.8 GHz or faster (XP) or 3.2 GHz or faster* (Vista)
Memory - 1.0 GB RAM (XP) or 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
Video Card -256 MB**
Hard Drive - 12GB
Sound Card - DirectX 9.0c compatibler"

Show me a spec that says 2GB video, then.

JUST ONE

 

[number2301]

OP, firstly sorry for polluting your thread but I wouldn't want people to take what Pirate Kitty says seriously.

Secondly, I've about hit the limit of my knowledge so will let someone else recommend a specific GPU and PSU. I will say however that I've got an Athlon 64X2 5000, with 2Gb RAM and a 4850 card and was told that I may have to turn the settings down on some newer games and won't be able to run the absolutely bleeding edge stuff, so basically don't worry about it too much. Check out the wattage PSU you'll need, find a good value card (check the Tom's Hardware performance charts) and you're away.

 

[Danceofmasks]

If I had to make a recommendation, it's for a Radeon 6870.
Sure, the number looks intimidatingly high, but it's actually slower than the 5870 and MUCH cheaper.
Not sure what the prices are like right now, but a friend got one for <$300.

Pretty scary, since I got my 4850 a little over a year ago for >$400.

 

[MercurySteam]

You want more than 1GB on that GPU. Preferably more than 2, even.

He's hardly spending $200 on his CPU and you want him to spend around $500 on his GPU? Are you trying to break his wallet? The fact that he's buying AMD tells me he wants to keep the cost down.

OP: Considering that the GPU will be the first to go out-of-date make sure your first one is a good one. I personally suggest the ASUS GeForce GTX 460 Direct CU TOP Edition 1GB [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_687&products_id=16068]. If you want to keep things under $200 however, then the Gigabyte GeForce GTS 450 1GB Overclocked [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1149&products_id=15526] will do nicely. Bear in mind though, that there is a significant gap in performance between the GTS 450 and the GTX 460.

 

[Signa]

^^^^^

Yes, I can personally say that the 460 is one of the better deals out there today. I would have gotten it if I didn't feel the need to future-proof myself with the 470.


I helped my friend build a PC with a 460 in it, and it is no slouch. I seem to remember them in the $150 region.

 

[MercurySteam]

PSU: 900W Evo Labs 80+ ATX Power Supply (is 900W a bit excessive?)

Can you recommend any good .... Hard Drives?

900W is a bit overkill. The CoolerMaster GX 750W PSU [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_220&products_id=13525] will do a fine job running at 85% efficiency (it saves a fair amount of power). Hell, even a CoolerMaster GX 650W PSU [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_220&products_id=13526] will do the job, though you may have to upgrade later if you plan to SLI or Crossfire two powerful GPUs. As for a hard drive, Hitachi, Seagate and Western Digital are all great brands. 1TB to start off is good, but if you need 2TB then go for it.

 

[MercurySteam]

Recommended specs talk about system RAM, not video RAM.
>$500 video cards won't come with more than 1.5GB.

Please don't butt into conversations you don't understand.

GPU is always mentioned in system specs.

Example: [Minimum specs for Crysis]
"OS - Windows XP or Windows Vista
Processor - 2.8 GHz or faster (XP) or 3.2 GHz or faster* (Vista)
Memory - 1.0 GB RAM (XP) or 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
Video Card -256 MB**
Hard Drive - 12GB
Sound Card - DirectX 9.0c compatibler"

Show me a spec that says 2GB video, then.

JUST ONE

She simply won't.

The specs for Dragon Age 2, which comes out March next year show the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB as the minimum requirement. I doubt that even buy the end of 2011 that games will require at least 1GB of GDDR.

 

[Danceofmasks]

She simply won't.

The specs for Dragon Age 2, which comes out March next year show the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB as the minimum requirement. I doubt that even buy the end of 2011 that games will require at least 1GB of GDDR.

Psst .. I sorta know what I'm talking about ...
*looks over at the wall shelf containing over 1500 games*

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Graphics card is fine it is good even I have that exact card and there are no problems with it that I know about. Only get a better one if you have money to splash although personally if I had extra money I would get a Solid State Drive or external hard drive.