Gaming PC again
- Thread starter Fooz
- Start date
Recommended Videos
[/quote]Graphics card is weak for gaming, never trusted seagate, make sure you read the reviews of any hard drive before you buy it, could not find much information on your case, didnt find it in amazon or newegg so i dont trust it, 900W is a bit to much for that graphics card
Look at Western Digital or Samsung for your HDD, they are usually very good
GTX 460 (1G version) is very nice, if thats too powerful iv heard the 5770 isnt too bad, and if you have money to spare, the GTX480 and radeon 5970 are very good
ur proc is fine for video games, but you may want someting more powerful for other processor intensive tasks (intel has better stepping which means they can preform more calculations for the same frequency processor)
For the case, if your looking for a cheap small case, the Azza Helios is very nice with a bunch of fans and looks cool, for a full tower, the Azza solano is also good
if you dont mind paying more, Cooler Master makes good cases, and Lian-Li makes the best cases
Motherboard is one of my personal favorites
Ram should be fine[/quote]
this is very helpful, thank you, but i just looked at the GTX 460 and i found the 1 GB for £181 and the 2GB one for £185??? is there something wrong here?
i fail at cutting down the quote as you can see
Look at Western Digital or Samsung for your HDD, they are usually very good
GTX 460 (1G version) is very nice, if thats too powerful iv heard the 5770 isnt too bad, and if you have money to spare, the GTX480 and radeon 5970 are very good
ur proc is fine for video games, but you may want someting more powerful for other processor intensive tasks (intel has better stepping which means they can preform more calculations for the same frequency processor)
For the case, if your looking for a cheap small case, the Azza Helios is very nice with a bunch of fans and looks cool, for a full tower, the Azza solano is also good
if you dont mind paying more, Cooler Master makes good cases, and Lian-Li makes the best cases
Motherboard is one of my personal favorites
Ram should be fine[/quote]
this is very helpful, thank you, but i just looked at the GTX 460 and i found the 1 GB for £181 and the 2GB one for £185??? is there something wrong here?
i fail at cutting down the quote as you can see
They're supposed to be targeting everyone with this release, so he'd be pretty much looking at the same price for newer gen. I'm not entirely sure when bulldozer is supposed to come out, but I do know that sandy bridge is just a couple of weeks away, so unless he absolutely needs a computer right now or has an incredible deal somewhere it would be wise to wait, if anything to see if there's a price drop on everything else when this gets released.MercurySteam said:
This link might helpMaster Steeds said:
http://benchmarkextreme.com/Articles/GTX%20460%20ANALYSIS/P1.html
Just as I thought. The performance increase is fairly minimal and by the time you need to even go near 2GB you may as well move onto a higher series of cards. If you really want 2GB then by all means, go ahead.Danceofmasks said:
The only problem with getting 2GB if the price is $5 apart is using a 32 bit operating system.
'cos the 4GB limit on memory addresses includes both system and video RAM ...
'cos the 4GB limit on memory addresses includes both system and video RAM ...
I guess lower capacity SSD don't exist for the budget PC gamer.MercurySteam said:
here i thought i was speaking to filthy rich european whose looking to upgrade an already good gaming PC.
I always thought that since dedicated GPU's had their own dedicated RAM, they aren't affected by the limitations of 32-Bit Operating Systems.Danceofmasks said:
Here are my suggestions:
I don't know your budget here, so I'm just going to suggest things that aren't too insanely more expensive.
GPU: That card is going to be alright for maybe medium graphics or so on any games that are new today, but you're dropping nearly (what equates to) $200USD on a badass CPU while the GPU is entry-level at best. If gaming is really your main focus here, you'll want to step up to a better card. I'd even cut back on that CPU if I needed the extra cash for a better GPU.
PSU: The watts aren't what you want to base your decision on. Consider the +12V rail amperage first. The one you chose has a dual rail with no amps listed while the two that MercurySteam suggested both have a single rail with over 50A. Those will power nearly anything you throw at it. You don't have to, but you need to consider possible power hungry upgrades between now and your next full build a few years from now.
HDD: 2GB will cover everything you'll need for years. Just make sure you partition it. People have been suggesting SSDs and I'll tell you from my experience that a small one (40-64GB) would be worth it as a system drive if you can afford the extra expense.
I don't know your budget here, so I'm just going to suggest things that aren't too insanely more expensive.
GPU: That card is going to be alright for maybe medium graphics or so on any games that are new today, but you're dropping nearly (what equates to) $200USD on a badass CPU while the GPU is entry-level at best. If gaming is really your main focus here, you'll want to step up to a better card. I'd even cut back on that CPU if I needed the extra cash for a better GPU.
PSU: The watts aren't what you want to base your decision on. Consider the +12V rail amperage first. The one you chose has a dual rail with no amps listed while the two that MercurySteam suggested both have a single rail with over 50A. Those will power nearly anything you throw at it. You don't have to, but you need to consider possible power hungry upgrades between now and your next full build a few years from now.
HDD: 2GB will cover everything you'll need for years. Just make sure you partition it. People have been suggesting SSDs and I'll tell you from my experience that a small one (40-64GB) would be worth it as a system drive if you can afford the extra expense.
MercurySteam said:
Note that Physical Address Extension allowed more RAM to be accessible, at the cost of performance. Not recommended.
From Microsoft's site:
How graphics cards and other devices affect memory limits
Devices have to map their memory below 4 GB for compatibility with non-PAE-aware Windows releases. Therefore, if the system has 4GB of RAM, some of it is either disabled or is remapped above 4GB by the BIOS. If the memory is remapped, X64 Windows can use this memory. X86 client versions of Windows don?t support physical memory above the 4GB mark, so they can?t access these remapped regions. Any X64 Windows or X86 Server release can.
X86 client versions with PAE enabled do have a usable 37-bit (128 GB) physical address space. The limit that these versions impose is the highest permitted physical RAM address, not the size of the IO space. That means PAE-aware drivers can actually use physical space above 4 GB if they want. For example, drivers could map the ?lost? memory regions located above 4 GB and expose this memory as a RAM disk.
SSD's start at 60GB for $150. This is good if you want to load your OS and a few programs onto it and then buy a 1TB SATA drive for everything else. SSD's aren't at a point where any gamer can store their all their games for a good price. I see SSDs as good products for people with issues with mechanical HDDs (mainly me). The speeds are good but the storage is incredibly small for unreasonable prices, though they maintain unrivaled reliability with a lack of moving parts.DTWolfwood said:
It's 3 AM here and I'm not really getting this. I always thought DDR2/3 operated separately to GDDR3/4/5.Danceofmasks said:
Yeah, from my understanding, that extra unaddressed system RAM in a 32-bit system was used by the GPU. Not sure if that only applies to an integrated GPU or to dedicated as well. Even so, that's still effectively a 3.2GB limit on GPU memory and I think the amount needed has already been covered in this thread. lolMercurySteam said:
Either way, I was assuming that the OP was getting 64-bit Windows 7 and wouldn't have to worry about memory limits. If not, then I highly recommend that he does.
The most fitting analogy is, it's like RAM have to have phone numbers so programs can call them.MercurySteam said:
And the 32-bit part is how many digits of phone numbers you get.
The actual RAM works separately, yes ... but the address limit is just the switchboard being full.
Still worth it if he is serious about a gaming PC. just having it run the OS and the one game he plays all the time is well worth the performance boost.MercurySteam said:
I actually have the same processor and motherboard model. Same amount of RAM and VRAM evenMaster Steeds said: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) plCPUease 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)
Hard Drive: 2TB Seagate Barracuda XT SATA3 ( too big apparently)
Case - CCL Advantage Excel Barebone (will this case house this stuff?)
EDIT:
PSU: 900W Evo Labs 80+ ATX Power Supply (is 900W a bit excessive?)
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
Just some things about the motherboard though: It supports 1600mhz RAM if you overclock it via BIOS (I have 1600mhz RAM installed works fine). HOWEVER, it doesn't support your whole 4GB of RAM. Windows 7 detects 4GB RAM installed, but only 3,25GB usable. And yes, this applies even if you have 64bit Windows, the motherboard is simply missing the feature to use all of your RAM.
Don't get a 5450, get at least a 5870 or 6870. If you are spending that much on the rest, don't cheap out on a graphics card.
Also do not buy retail, you will save a few hundred at least by looking for deals online or in factory direct stores.
As for an SSD, they wear out in a year or two. Buy a 100gb drive at most, and run your OS from there as well as the game you are currently playing. Use a HDD to store your files and back-up your os for when the drive does fail (it will).
Also do not buy retail, you will save a few hundred at least by looking for deals online or in factory direct stores.
As for an SSD, they wear out in a year or two. Buy a 100gb drive at most, and run your OS from there as well as the game you are currently playing. Use a HDD to store your files and back-up your os for when the drive does fail (it will).
If he plans to uninstall some of his games from the SSD every so often then yes, I see what you mean. Kinda like how most people with Xbox 360s will only install their newer games/the games they play the most on their hard drives. Still, in my opinion, the higher prices coupled with small storage space doesn't seem worth the extra money for slightly faster speeds.DTWolfwood said:
Sure he'll notice higher speeds when copying/pasting files and when he installs programs too. But with games; not so much.
Thats y i prefer Digital Distribution platforms like Steam. Download & install all at the same time. Uninstalling is as ez as "Delete Local Content" (20mb/s connection+ also helps)MercurySteam said:
It's all a learning process. I have an Nvidia 9800 GTX+ with 512 MB of ram and I've been able to run all the games that have come out recently on 1920x1080 resolution with most of the key settings on high. It has also allowed me to plug my pc into my HDTV and a second monitor. If you can afford something like the GeForce 470 or 480 they are amazing, but costly (sorry I only really know about Nvidia GPUs).
Your power supply is not too big. I have found with the computers I've had over the years that a larger power supply to start is better for video upgrades later. You will be thanking yourself when you can afford a better card later on.
The only thing that I would really suggest that you really look at are the following; a case with plenty of room for upgrades, do your research on your motherboard and processor and make sure that you can logically say that it will be awhile before you will have to upgrade (your AMD Phenom should be good as far as that goes). the 4gb of ram should work, but if you have a motherboard that can handle more ram than that it will be better for you in the long run.
What else can I say? Welcome to the world of PC entertainment. It can be frustrating to get started, but once you make/buy that rig of your dreams it will open up a brand new world. If you have any more questions don't be afraid to ask. Keep in mind that when you go to forums with this topic you tend to run into some people that are trying to sound like they know more than they actually know.
Your power supply is not too big. I have found with the computers I've had over the years that a larger power supply to start is better for video upgrades later. You will be thanking yourself when you can afford a better card later on.
The only thing that I would really suggest that you really look at are the following; a case with plenty of room for upgrades, do your research on your motherboard and processor and make sure that you can logically say that it will be awhile before you will have to upgrade (your AMD Phenom should be good as far as that goes). the 4gb of ram should work, but if you have a motherboard that can handle more ram than that it will be better for you in the long run.
What else can I say? Welcome to the world of PC entertainment. It can be frustrating to get started, but once you make/buy that rig of your dreams it will open up a brand new world. If you have any more questions don't be afraid to ask. Keep in mind that when you go to forums with this topic you tend to run into some people that are trying to sound like they know more than they actually know.