TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Oh, pole, barge, leave alone AMD are sooooooooo yesterday (especially that chip), go for the intel i3 that edd had up, much better

Tony

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Here is my recommendation for budget gaming PC

MB:Asus P7P55 LX P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio Out ATX Motherboard cost 79£
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176820

CPU:intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz Socket 1156 4MB L3 88£

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/185937

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Socket LGA1156 8MB L3 157£

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755

RAM:Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V 120£

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191184

HDD:Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM 47£

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804

GPU:Sapphire HD 5770 512MB GDDR5 DVI HDMI Display Port PCI-E Graphics Card 122£

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199404

Inno3D GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Out PCI-E Graphics Card 156£

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/226371

PSU: OCZ Stealth XStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm Fan 57£

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

Bearo

I'm sure that system will be fine with a bit of overclocking and tweaking. Its not going to run Crysis on max settings but it will play starcraft 2 and any other game on fairly good settings.

The key to an effective & cheap gaming pc is the overclocking. Im running an old C2D e6750 at a stable 3.8Ghz which will perform about the same as a i7 stock. All it cost me was £25 for a aftermarket CPU cooler and a better Northbridge heat sink.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

If you think E6750 at 3.8Ghz perform as same i7 at stock,maybe in single core application but not in Multicore application aka Adobe PS,Maya etc.
Again but i7 its highly overclokable,mine run 4.5Ghz(5.00Ghz will be reached only on LN2) on water(Corsair H50)with HT(Hyper Threating) enable,and passed Prime 95,Intel Burn Test and temps under 45C. on full load.

Bearo

Well nearly all games only utilize 2 cores. I'm not saying my system is faster than a stock i7 but it will perform very similar in most games. Again, this is about games and my point was about being cheap and effective.

EddScott

This is my H50 hanging out the side of my Silverstone case. The fans are Push/Pull and blow cool across the mobo to cool the back of the 5770.



My gaming PC sits on enclosed shelving so I have to use a HTPC case which isn't great for hot clocked gaming machines.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

You may consider bigger case,HTPC case its too small.
For 2x XFX5970 and watercool,i only use HAF932(my brother say its ugliest case on market but i like this case,due amazing cooling features on side 230mm Fan,1X230mm front,1X230mm TOP,1X140mm Rear and GPU are still almost cool on full load 60C,for GPU i use AC MX-3 thermal paste).

EddScott

Well I put in the Gigabyte 460GTX upped it to 800/1600/1900 and played Borderlands for 3 hours without a cough, murmer or anything else Max temp 68 degrees C.

I've sold the WD Green 1.5TBs and going to order a Samsung F3 1TB. Hopefully using this for games won't cause the freezing.

As for the case, if I could have a bigger case I would! I also need to keep the noise down as its in the living room so using all Sharkoon silent eagles with fan/temp controller for them all at 1500rpm. Temps aren't too bad really.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

The 470/48's definately run a little on the hot side, I was at the release party with the Nvidia reps good card though, may invest in a 470 later on in the year, dont think I need a 480, my trusty 280gtx will find a good home

Tony

jura11

iTrader: (7)

My case its almost silent on low RPM,you just look for Silverstone,Antec P180 or CM 690 these cases are almost silent.In these times nVidia are little hoter than ATi,my HD5970 are overclocked to 1015/1350Mhz and temps are very very hot 100C,with these temps is compared to GTX480(but just with temps),but this overclocking its good for my 3D Mark results and my testing....
And about HDD you are be very please with Samsung F3.
GTX470/480 are hotter card but if your card its still good in every game or don't struggle game why sell,just wait until next year because coming out HD6XXX and HD5XXX will be price more better.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Yup I run a coolermaster case, it is very quiet on idle, have a couple of fans in there though, can get a little warm where it is in summer unless I have the window right open, great in winter, I dont need a radiator up in that room, just play some top end games for a while, sorts it out great

Tony

StickyMicky

Edd, i have never suffered "freezing" with my WD Greens.

Especially when playing Borderlands either!

One of my greens is specifically just for Arma 2 and its expansions, as that game has been proven/tested to outperform the majority of HDD`s anyway, even the more costly type like the velociraptors, and the green in use apears to give just the same performance as everybody else on the Arma forums, bar the people using SSD

So i keep one spare drive just for the game, so nothing else tends to meddle with the drive at all

jura11

iTrader: (7)

If you just look at some forums,you will see everybody have its same question about WD Green vs Black,Blue.On most forums and websites recommend Black,Blue or F3.And finally for gaming PC,i never use more than 1TB HDD(i prefer mostly 2x500GB + 1TB for backup),and if its possible buy HDD with 32MB or 64MB cache,if you buy with 8MB cache you will be suffering with poor transfer rate.Just download HD Tune and test WD Green or any HDD.
http://www.hdtune.com/

EddScott

Borderlands is pretty stabe - when on the SSD it used to freeze every hour or so but with the 460 it was fine last night.

Apart from AvP, all games that were on the WD Green froze/sound looped - Metro 2033 just crashed to desktop and was unplayable.

I will install Steam, Metro 2033 and Left 4 Dead 2 onto the WD and test the games. Its already cost me a sound card thinking it was the mobo sound drivers conflicting with the ATI drivers (HDMI)

jura11

iTrader: (7)

As before i say,some games(Race Driver GRID,Saboteur etc) have issues(freezing,low framerates ak low LOW FPS) with ATi GPU.Before you ordering new HDD just test every games on WD Green...

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

You've just reminded me to take my pc downstairs and plug it into my 40" LCD and see how immersive it really can be

Tidgy

have you got a full list?

not had any issues with any of the games i have with my 4890.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

These problems are only with HD5XXX,your GPU will be fine.At thse times every game have out patch,which fixing AA and other stuff.
Just check sometimes forums,before you order new HW/SW.

StickyMicky

Pretty strange as my Metro 2033 is fine as well to be honest, although i have only logged around 3 hours so far into it.

And so is my Grid, in fact so is all my games, and i have an utter ****load of them now

EddScott

Its odd. Some games that were considered stable by most have caused me issue - Metro 2033, Fallout 3. The games that most have had issue with have been 95% flawless - all the STALKER games for instance.

Not too bunched right now as I'm playing through Borderlands which is on the SSD. Might be a placebo but the game feels faster on the SSD (playing I mean rather than loading)

StickyMicky

Edd what is your steam username?

Tidgy

ah right coolio, shant worry about it then

EddScott

SteamID - EddScott

Windows Live - Clive of India

Add me!!

Whats yours - think we should have a Steam ID sticky.

EddScott

Just for a quick update, I installed Steam and L4D2 onto the WD Green and it froze/sound looped.

Bought a 1TB Samsung F3, installed Steam and played L4D2 last night for a couple of hours without a hiccup. So it would seem the WD Green was the culprit after all.

Shame I didn't work that out first. I'm happy I changed the 5770 to the 460 because the 460 is quieter and runs cooler even with the mild clock I have on it (max temp after 4 hours of Borderlands was 63 degrees C) Only thing I could probably have done without is the sound card because I can't tell the difference between onboard and the card.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

My first guess has been WD Green(SSD and WD Green doesn't likes,due WD Green have some features ) and second guess has been 5770(i have some experience with games which freeze with 5XXX series).
I use only Samsung F1-F3 for customers PC(are cheap,good transfer rate,no power saving features which you don't need for gaming PC).
GTX460 are good cards.
Comparing sound cards its not possible in games:some games use THX,some use DTS,Dolby Digital,but more games use just stereo sound.
If you really want comparing sound card,buy some profi headphones aka Bayerdynamic DT100-150,Audio Techica ATH series and try some music or download music making software and make music with onboard sound card(its horrendous making music with onboard,high latency,coloration of sound etc.)and switch to M-Audio sound card and try make music(amazing latency,no coloration of sound,no distortion on high volume etc.)
Probably best sound card out for movies,games are Asus Xonar series

StickyMicky

Its pretty strange, as while i have not played L4D2, i did play the L4D2 demo, with no issues on mine.