- Jul 31, 2012
- 3
- 0
- 10,510
Hi Everyone,
I've been lurking around Tom's Hardware for the past few weeks and would really love some advice on a new build gaming PC. I've taken the template and put all of my motivation etc at the bottom:
Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: Asap - my 0% credit card is itching to go
Budget Range: £1000/$1500 MAX
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Primarily Gaming, with internet browsing and possibly some media/NAS functionality (though I already have a 2TB NAS at home so this isn't important).
Are you buying a monitor: Not initially, I have a 19" Acer VGA that will do for now.
Parts to Upgrade: Everything!
Do you need to buy OS: Yes
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No real preferences, though I often use overclockers.co.uk as have had good experience with them in the past. I also live close to the head office/warehouse of microdirect.co.uk so can get parts quickly (asssuming they are in stock).
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
Parts Preferences:
* I've been looking at the Asus P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt as a basis (not least because it's popular on the Tom's Hardware Facebook System Builder), but I am wary that this might be overkill and the Thunderbolt capability might be fluff I don't need to pay for yet. As long as my motherboard won't start looking obviously obsolete in 3 - 5 years, that's fine with me).
* I have no preference on AMD/Intel or Nvidia/Radeon.
* I'd like to throw in a good performance SSD for a quick boot (been looking at the Crucial M4 128GB as it's good value for the performance). I'm not worried about data storage right now because of my NAS and some old HDDs I can salvage from old PCs and reuse.
* Looks aren't important, so I don't need a fancy case - just something that will vent well.
Overclocking: Maybe - I have no experience so a Motherboard with user-friendly help for this would be great.
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe - from my reading so far I don't think I need a dual GPU solution. That being said, I wouldn't want to rule it out in a future upgrade.
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920 X 1200 - as mentioned, this shouldn't be a limiting factor, as I will upgrade the monitor to something HD at some point in the near future.
Additional Comments: This is maybe a little obvious, but I'd like to future-proof as far as possible. If all goes well, I don't get bored and I'm still gaming on it in 2 years, I'd probably want to spend some money and upgrade it to keep pace.
Why Are You Upgrading: I used to be a fairly big gamer until a combination of circumstances (my girlfriend bought me an Xbox and my new job gave me a Macbook) meant my PC fell into disuse (The Xbox was meeting the gaming needs, and all my casual browsing was on the Macbook). Recently, my interest in PC gaming has been sparked again. I gave my girlfriend's old 2007 Acer a basic overhaul to try a few games I was interested in (For now, just Civ 5 and Funcom's The Secret World). Sure enough, my interest hasn't waned and I'm in a financial position to build a new PC so that I can more fully enjoy everything that's out there. Moreso, I know how much satisfaction you can get from building something yourself, so part of this project is for something interesting to do!
So far I'm aware of the GPU Hierachy and have read the articles on proper cooling etc. I tried reading up on Motherboards but it got a little too technical. In an ideal world I would love to be able to read everything, understand it, and make my own informed judgement, but I don't think I have nearly enough time to absorb the masses of information and benchmarking reviews that are out there (I think in terms of complexity it would be easier to pick a new car...).
Thanks in advance for any advice you are able to give
I've been lurking around Tom's Hardware for the past few weeks and would really love some advice on a new build gaming PC. I've taken the template and put all of my motivation etc at the bottom:
Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: Asap - my 0% credit card is itching to go
Budget Range: £1000/$1500 MAX
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Primarily Gaming, with internet browsing and possibly some media/NAS functionality (though I already have a 2TB NAS at home so this isn't important).
Are you buying a monitor: Not initially, I have a 19" Acer VGA that will do for now.
Parts to Upgrade: Everything!
Do you need to buy OS: Yes
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No real preferences, though I often use overclockers.co.uk as have had good experience with them in the past. I also live close to the head office/warehouse of microdirect.co.uk so can get parts quickly (asssuming they are in stock).
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
Parts Preferences:
* I've been looking at the Asus P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt as a basis (not least because it's popular on the Tom's Hardware Facebook System Builder), but I am wary that this might be overkill and the Thunderbolt capability might be fluff I don't need to pay for yet. As long as my motherboard won't start looking obviously obsolete in 3 - 5 years, that's fine with me).
* I have no preference on AMD/Intel or Nvidia/Radeon.
* I'd like to throw in a good performance SSD for a quick boot (been looking at the Crucial M4 128GB as it's good value for the performance). I'm not worried about data storage right now because of my NAS and some old HDDs I can salvage from old PCs and reuse.
* Looks aren't important, so I don't need a fancy case - just something that will vent well.
Overclocking: Maybe - I have no experience so a Motherboard with user-friendly help for this would be great.
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe - from my reading so far I don't think I need a dual GPU solution. That being said, I wouldn't want to rule it out in a future upgrade.
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920 X 1200 - as mentioned, this shouldn't be a limiting factor, as I will upgrade the monitor to something HD at some point in the near future.
Additional Comments: This is maybe a little obvious, but I'd like to future-proof as far as possible. If all goes well, I don't get bored and I'm still gaming on it in 2 years, I'd probably want to spend some money and upgrade it to keep pace.
Why Are You Upgrading: I used to be a fairly big gamer until a combination of circumstances (my girlfriend bought me an Xbox and my new job gave me a Macbook) meant my PC fell into disuse (The Xbox was meeting the gaming needs, and all my casual browsing was on the Macbook). Recently, my interest in PC gaming has been sparked again. I gave my girlfriend's old 2007 Acer a basic overhaul to try a few games I was interested in (For now, just Civ 5 and Funcom's The Secret World). Sure enough, my interest hasn't waned and I'm in a financial position to build a new PC so that I can more fully enjoy everything that's out there. Moreso, I know how much satisfaction you can get from building something yourself, so part of this project is for something interesting to do!
So far I'm aware of the GPU Hierachy and have read the articles on proper cooling etc. I tried reading up on Motherboards but it got a little too technical. In an ideal world I would love to be able to read everything, understand it, and make my own informed judgement, but I don't think I have nearly enough time to absorb the masses of information and benchmarking reviews that are out there (I think in terms of complexity it would be easier to pick a new car...).
Thanks in advance for any advice you are able to give
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