Advice for creating a gaming PC out of existing hardware

cdavies · Jun 30, 2014

I have two different desktops, and I'm trying to decide which one to use for my primary gaming PC.

The first is an older machine, and has a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (8M Cache, 2.40 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) processor. It has 3 PCI slots available for a graphics card.

The second is newer, and has an i7-3770 quad-core (3.4GHz, 8MB Shared Cache) processor in it. However, this PC's motherboard only has a single PCI slot for a graphics card.

I need some advice - would it be better (in terms of gaming performance) to get a multislot card for the machine with the older processor, or a single slot card for the machine with the newer processor?

woworwow · Jun 30, 2014

The newer one of course.
Although the older PC will enable you to use SLI/Crossfire, the processor will bottleneck those card.
A single GPU is good enough for gaming. If you want dual graphics, get a dual core card like Hd6990 or HD7990 etc

cdavies · Jun 30, 2014

So perhaps this is a newb question (and I am a newb to pc upgrading/building), but does a dual-width card like a GTX 760 or 770 actually need 2 PCI Express slots, or does it still just use one slot, but have the width of two cards?

iceclock · Jun 30, 2014

whats your budget?

cdavies · Jun 30, 2014

$300 - 500, although I would prefer to stay on the $300 end. I also will likely need to upgrade the PSU as my current one is 460W

woworwow · Jun 30, 2014

cdavies :

Dual slot card only uses one Pci slot on the motherboard but it uses 2 slots on your case ( the one behind your case under the motherboard I/O shield)

geofelt · Jun 30, 2014

The i7-3770 is a vastly superior base.

PCI graphics cards are old gen, expensive, and do not come in good strength.
You need to be looking at pcie graphics cards.
A single pcie x16 slot can hold the strongest of graphics cards to good effect.

Every modern motherboard will have at least one X16 graphics slot.

cdavies · Jun 30, 2014

Sorry, newb mistake - both machines have PCI Express x16 slots - the newer one is 3.0 and the older one is 1.0

iceclock · Jun 30, 2014

whats the full specs of the 3770 machine

geofelt · Jun 30, 2014

No question, the 3770 machine is the better base.
Your psu, if it is of good quality can run a card as good as a GTX660ti or a similarly performing R9-270.
Here is a sizing chart:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

With your budget, you are looking for a GTX770 $300 class card, and a 600w psu.
Look for only a quality psu like Seasonic or xfx.
That combo should be in the $400 range.

cdavies · Jun 30, 2014

Full specs for the i7-3770 machine:

• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 quad-core processor [3.4GHz, 8MB Shared Cache]
• 10GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [3 DIMMs]
• Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 120GB SSD primary hard drive
• 1TB 7200 rpm SATA secondary hard drive
• 2GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]
• 460W Power supply

I'm not exactly sure what the motherboard is; I bought this machine as a preconfigured HP Pavilion Elite h8xt and can't seem to find what motherboard is in it; I added the SSD and the GeForce GT 640

geofelt · Jun 30, 2014

Run cpu-Z.
The motherboard will be identified.
But.. it really does not matter.

cdavies · Jun 30, 2014

Great, I was already looking at a GTX 760 or 770 - I've noticed that the 770 seems to run about $50 to $100 more than the 760, is the performance increase worth the extra cost?

iceclock · Jun 30, 2014

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/RRwdD3) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/RRwdD3/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**Video Card** | [Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Dual-X Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-100363l) | $249.99 @ Newegg
**Power Supply** | [XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1550sxxb9) | $59.99 @ Newegg
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $309.98

would do the trick

geofelt · Jun 30, 2014

cdavies :

Worth is something only YOU can determine.
If you have the budget, I recommend buying the GTX770. If you don't, you will always wonder if you should have.
I would recommend this EVGA GTX770 superclock
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130921
Yes, it is more expensive than the R9-280X mentioned above.
But, R9 cards run hotter and noisier. I think they have more than their fair share of problems.
The newegg review shows about 20% negative experience from verified buyers.
By contrast, the evga card is at 7%
You might look in detail at what the problems are since they may not all be valid or applicable to you.

On the power supply, here is a Seasonic 620w unit @$65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096

For reference, here is a list of psu quality:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true

cdavies · Jun 30, 2014

Once again, newb question, but what are the differences between an AMD card and an NVIDIA one?

iceclock · Jun 30, 2014

the 280x is somethimes as fast as the 770 but he rights the 770s do heat less.

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/RRwdD3) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/RRwdD3/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**Video Card** | [Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Dual-X Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-100363...) | $249.99 @ Newegg
**Power Supply** | [XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1550sxxb...) | $59.99 @ Newegg
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $309.98

would do the trick

if you want amd with a bit more heat or this with nvidia upgrade.

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2rc9t6) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2rc9t6/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**Video Card** | [EVGA GeForce GTX 770 4GB Dual FTW ACX Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp43776kr) | $379.99 @ Newegg
**Power Supply** | [XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1550sxxb9) | $59.99 @ Newegg
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $439.98

got the 4 gig version as games already utilize 2gbs of videomemory and your gonna want more for future games

iceclock · Jun 30, 2014

if you require more help let me know

Advice for creating a gaming PC out of existing hardware

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