My new machine

just been onto the pcspecialist site and specced a pc hopefully similar to what i will eventually be buying myself. I’d like some feedback if possible, in particular if it’s worth going for win 8 or is win 7 better? Also, should i just go for a higher capacity SSD and not have a HDD at all (i’ve a netergear readynas duo with 2x2tb drives installed on my home network) and if so, how much storage is needed for the OS and games like BF3?

spec:

Case
COOLERMASTER SILEO 500 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-3570k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 – 2 DVI, HDMI, DP – 3D Vision Ready
Memory – 1st Hard Disk
240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5″ SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H40 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£39)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio (£32)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT – AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit – inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build – Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE METRO: LAST LIGHT GAME with GTX 660 & UPWARDS GPUs!
Quantity
1

Price: £1,317.00 including VAT and delivery.

I intend to wait until BF4 is released as by then the new intel chips will be out as well as the next range of gfx cards from nvidia etc but also it gives me time to get some funds together but wondered if the above spec would handle games like BF3/4 at highest settings. One last thing, is there any point in having the audigy soundcard installed if i’m only using a headset or at best stereo speakers? I used to have (and still have them in the loft) a creative surround sound 6.1 speaker set up in my old office but now the pc is in the front room i can’t have the sound booming out like i used to 🙁

cheers for the reply mate. BF4 is being built on frostbite 3:

http://bf4central.com/2013/03/battlefield-4-engine-frostbite-3/

Though what that would mean in real terms gaming i have no idea but assume a decent gfx card could still do it justice.
I’m currently using a standard 19″ monitor running at 1280×1024 though intend to get a 24″ at some point; seen this one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-050-AS

which i like the look of and it seems to have a good response time so again assume it should be ok for gaming.

Regards the sound card, i may well just stick with the onboard, i do have an old audigy in my old pc which i could possibly still use if need be. The pc will only be for gaming, surfing the interweb and messing around with photoshop so no need to have sooperdooper surround 7.1 goodness blasting out 😉

With the SSD, i may well just go for the 240gb option. The only games i play are FPS so once set up i may well install BF1942 for some retro gaming and possibly arma2 for the DayZ mod alongside BF4.

I’d probably just go with win 8. The last version of windows i was using was XP so i have no win 7 keys to hand.

So tempted to just go for it now and get some BF3 games in but shall refrain lol.

There are a few areas you might want to look at in that build, which looks good but I’m curious how it tots up to 1300 quid, especially with no monitor in there.

The motherboard description caught my eye as it highlights Crossfire support with no mention of SLI, and a quick google turned up this: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/z77-express-ivy-bridge-benchmark,review-32489-6.html

Also missing are any PCIe 3.0 pathway switches, which would have made x8/x8 mode possible for the P8Z77-V LX’s two x16-length slots. Instead, users get one slot locked into 16-lane transfers and a second locked into four-lane PCIe 2.0 transfers through the Z77 PCH. That limitation still allows for CrossFire configurations, but crosses SLI off the feature list, unless you get your hands on a single-card, dual GPU solution.

Maybe the more technically minded can look into that a bit further for you, but that would suggest to me that you’ll not get the most out of two GTX 670’s.

That being said, if you’re still using a 19 inch monitor, you probably have no need for two in the first place. As Ben has told me a few times, the max resolution you can use in a game is limited by your monitor’s native resolution, which in turn is more or less determined by the screen size. For example, Ben plays at 1920×1080 on a 24 inch screen, whereas I’ll play at 1680 x 1050 on a 22 inch screen, which is the highest the monitor supports, however with a smaller screen area, the picture quality is pretty much the same. The lower resolution on the smaller screen is less demanding on the GPU (my laymans understanding of it anyway), so you could save yourself a healthy chunk of cash just by dropping one of those two cards, and even use your spare cash to go for a better monitor. Even one GTX 670 will likely run BF4 on top settings on a 24 inch screen (Ben has two cards because he has 3 screens).

There are small areas where you can save in there as well, for example the thermal paste is £9 you probably don’t need to spend, unless you plan on dismantling your entire setup to apply a new coat of paste to your CPU or GPU. If that’s something you’d not be comfortable with, drop it off the shopping list. If the need ever arises to do it yourself, you can easily pick a tube of paste up a local hardware store, for probably the same price.

As Ben also mentioned, the sound card is something you could easily drop as well, but that’ll boil down to personal preference. I have no issues with a set of £5 speakers/microsoft headset and mic, using onboard sound.

Regarding how big to go with your SSD, consider only how you’ll be using the machine. At the moment you’ve not got many games on your list, and if that remains the case, you’ve no need to go bigger than 240 gb. I have a lot of games installed and a 250 gb SSD just about covers the main ones I use, but I have to juggle things around sometimes. As time goes on I’ll expect this to be an area where I’ll have to upgrade, however as time goes on the price of SSD’s should also drop further than have done so far.

Re windows 8, I’m also not sold on it and don’t see the need to go for it at this time. Windows 7 is pretty good, and is probably going to remain the main OS in use for some time, much in the same way as XP was. If the supplier can offer you a cheaper price on win 7 than win 8, I’d take it.

Finally, regarding the hardware requirements for BF4, I think it’s safe to assume the jump in hardware requirements will not be as great as it was on BF3’s release. Aside from all the technical nonsense regarding the engine, EA are positioned this year to take a proper chunk out of Activision’s Call of Duty sales, and they’ll not want to jeopardise that by releasing a game that requires half the world upgrading their PC’s. Their focus this time around will likely be on making the game ready for the XBOX 720 so, while the engine may be called frostbite 3, it’ll probably just be a lick of paint over the current engine (maybe also some increased destruction), as far as PC users are concerned anyway. In short, I don’t expect them to push the boat out too far in terms of hardware requirements for BF4, and the i5, GTX670, and RAM listed above, will be more than enough for you.

cheers guys, i have no idea about mobo’s; SLI etc as that came along a while after my last pc build and i’ve been out the scene for a good few years now.

I’m not afraid to do a home build, i still have a decent case that houses the pc i bought off pharty some years back – a centurion i think it is (possibly coolermaster) which i could possibly still use if it can house the current gfx cards?

I’ll be sure to come and seek your advice chaps 😉

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-028-AS&groupid=17&catid=510

Im more than pleased with it. Saves you 20£ 😀 but youll lose 1ms in response time. Idd 1300 sounds much. And I still would go on W7. SSD if I was about to get one now I would go for 250G or bigger one as my 128G is getting quite full.

sorry guys, another question. Which version of win 7 do you guys recommend? I know it should be the 64bit version but professional;ultimate; home premium etc??

cheers again.

Doesn’t really matter to be honest you just get a few extra bells and whistles but nothing that would detract from a decent all round OS. Personally for a gaming PC I would use Win 7. Win 8 more geared up for touch screen type etc but would probably work all the same.

I agree with the larger SSD, I would have gone bigger had the budget allowed but it’s quite a price jump so settled on the 128gb. With regards to the Nvidia vs AMD all much the same but Nvidia cards are generally a lot more pricey. My advice is set a maxium budget your willing to spend and stick to it and then get the best components you can for that price.

I spent litterally months comparing prices, reviews, budgets but settled on the £800 -£850 mark which will still get you a decent gaming rig. You can always add to it later as funds permit. Get a solid foundation and the rest will take care of itself.