Hi, I want to upgrade my computer which is about 3 years old now and lagging behind when running new titles such as Witcher 2 and Skyrim on ultra. I will definitely be wanting to play demanding games in the future such as Empire: Total War 2 so have come to the decision to upgrade. I've looked around a little and come across a couple of nice PC Specialist systems: http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/pc_specialist_cm_haf_xm_mkii_review,1.html http://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/zardon/pcspecialist-vanquish-z11-system-review/ Are these systems as good value for money as what I'm thinking, or could I do better somewhere else? Price limit would have to be £1000 at most. Thanks
We could also tell you what components you need, depending on your budget, and give you all our help, in getting you setup.
No good reason tbh. I built my current setup, and haven't had any issues really. The main reason is because I'm lazy I'm doubt that I can get a better value system than what those two from PC Specialist offer especially since they're already overclocked (something I've never done and scared to try doing myself). But I'm here to see if I'm wrong about that
Ok, so I'm not looking to break the bank (technically can afford more than £1000 but I don't believe in spending more than I need to): As far as graphics cards, is the 2GB GTX 670 good in terms of price to performance ratio? OR would the 660 Ti be better? I can cope with a more expensive card if it will still be good in 3-4 years time. SSD drives are something new for me but I am interested to get one in combination with a 1TB mechanical drive. I've heard something about Intel having some software that links the two to increase the access speed for frequently used files. Is that something good to look into? Otherwise, the PC Specialist setup is a good starting point. Is there anything that you would change in those setups and why?
Do you need a monitor - If not what resolution is it? I have a build I have priced up for someone else - which will be what you need!
SLI 670 would work for quite a few years, but one of those is fine. What are your exact needs for the system? Will you overclock? Just for gaming or also photoshop/rendering? What resolution? Are you willing to pay more for a good computercase? These things should help us in speccing a system out for you EDIT: just saw the resolution
I see. Is SLI something that's straightforward to set up? Sounds like overclocking is easy so I will probably give that a go. Primarily I will be gaming but there is possibility of some rendering and photoshop if I decide to get into photography. Yes I could get a good computer case if it's recommended for something that's a necessity
As you have over 20 posts - Your entitled to free next day shipping with Scan.co.uk Link to basket SLI is easy to setup - But it's pointless at 1080p unless your driving a 120Hz monitor. 3GB VRAM is a must now even at 1080p - 2GB is rigth on the limit, and in some games you will need to turn AA down. This is where 3GB comes into it's own. Games are getting ever more demanding - So VRAM usage will increase as newer titles come to market. In the above build, the PSU will allow you to do SLI with 2 GTX 660TI, and is a very solid PSU, which will last years. So when games do get too demanding - You can pop in another 3GB GTX 660TI for SLI. 8GB Ram is plenty - But 16GB is what most people have in their systems these days. Case: This is up to you, and so you can drop the case, and buy a cheaper one, to add the extra 8GB Ram, to keep it under the £1000 mark. SSD - Is fast and good enough for just Windows. Only a couple of games can take advantage of the Speed of the SSD, so installing all your Games/Programs/Media on the 1TB drive is more than good enough.
I'd generally agree with T_G's build above, but if you're keen on things being nice and quiet, I'd perhaps suggest this case: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/frac...a-low-noise-performancecase-usb-30-140mm-fans and perhaps this PSU: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/520w...s-bronze-eps-12v-120mm-silent-fan-atx-v23-psu But then I'm all about quiet EDIT: Plus there's always AMD's offering in the GPU field... Have you looked at, say, a 7950?
Thanks v much True Gamer. Is that cooler necessary or could I go with a cheaper one like the H40? Also, is a liquid cooler hard to install? Do you think that graphics card will still be available in a year or two so I can upgrade when needed? Oh forgot to add: Why is SLI pointless at 1080p?
Thanks for the input jinq-sea. Personally a bit of noise doesn't bother me, especially when I have a headset on and using skype I have had a brief look at benchmark comparisons. AFAIK that card is slightly better in performance but is more expensive? However, I seem to come across nothing but recommendations for NVidia cards so that's what I've been drawn to.
A 7950 is similar in performance to the 660 Ti, and costs pretty much the same. The major difference is GPU memory - the 7950 has 3GB compared to 2GB on the 660 Ti. However, the thing that won it over for me (I have a 7950) is the compute performance of AMD cards - they usually have more simpler cores than Nvidia cards, resulting in twice the performance for things like physics rendering or OpenCL stuff. I dabble in GPU computing, so this was a major factor for me (GPUs crack hashes much quicker too!).
I can highly recommend the Corsair H55 if you want to balance cost, noise and cooling. BUT the fan spins at 1700rpm by default, which I have plugged in to a fan controller to manage noise levels. It's no harder to install one of these than a large air cooler to be honest. The 7950 also comes highly recommended from me, and I've owned a 670. At stock the 670 is the better (albeit more expensive) card, but an overclocked 7950 is plenty capable of troubling an overclocked 680 or 7970. The original stock clock of the 7950 was 800MHz, but on selected models this can be increased to 1200MHz without troubling the cooler too much. You don't need a calculator to see that this is a 50% increase, and suddenly things start to make sense.
