Good enough for gaming?

[Humble3]

Hi,
This is the first time I've put together a PC and wanted to know if it would be compatible.
I would like to play most modern games such as BF3 and Farcry 3 on at least medium settings.

The Spec:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 6MB L3 Cache Cache 125W Retail Boxed Processor
Mobo: Asus M5A78L/USB3 AMD Socket AM3+ 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CL9 1.5V Non-ECC Unbuffered
HDD: Seagate 1TB Barracuda 3.5" SATA-III Hard Drive - 7200RPM 64MB Cache
GPU: PowerColor HD 6870 PCS+ 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Dual Mini DisplayPort HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card
PSU: Corsair TX 650W PSU - 80plus Bronze Certified
Case: Cooler Master K-series K280 - Usb3.0 Atx Case
Dvd Drive: Samsung SH-118AB 18x DVD ROM Drive - Black

£446.56

My budget is £550-£580 and i still need to buy Windows 7 and a monitor with resolution of 1920 x 1080.

 

[maestro0428]

Not a fan of PowerColor, I would go with a better brand like Sapphire. I would also bump up to a 7770 for a video card if you can squeeze it in your budget. Otherwise, build looks solid.

 

[Humble3]

Not a fan of PowerColor, I would go with a better brand like Sapphire. I would also bump up to a 7770 for a video card if you can squeeze it in your budget. Otherwise, build looks solid.

Cheers for the feedback mate.
I was looking at the benchmarks though and the 7770 is worse than the 6870.
- http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/536?vs=540

Unfortunately there wasn't a Sapphire one on Ebuyer ill have a look on amazon for a Sapphire 6870

 

[cball1311]

This is what I woud go with. 7850 GPU, 21.5" IPS monitor.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£69.95 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£43.23 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£34.99 @ Dabs)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£44.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card (£126.94 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: BitFenix Merc Beta (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£47.99 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Monitor: LG IPS224V-PN 21.5" Monitor (£103.08 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£67.96 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £585.01
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-25 19:30 GMT+0000)

Some benchmarks for you
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/536?vs=549

 

[dark_lord69]

Well...
I have...

955 Black Overclocked to 3.4 GHz
8GB DDR3 1600MHz CL8
7850 MSI Factory OC (2GB)

I can run most games maxed out or nearly maxed out, but my video card is slightly better but I will look up some benchmarks for you....

Battlefield 3 - with your video card on Ultra graphics setting you could get just under 30fps so... if you turned it down to medium... it would play very smooth. Another benchmark said you'd get about 42 fps on high so as I said on medium it should run perfectly smooth.

Farcry 3 - 35 FPS on Very High Quality, which as I said for the last game lower that down to medium and the game will run very smooth.

(Both benchmarks assume you are using 1920x1080 resolution. Using a lower resolution will help you get a higher frame rate if you are unsatisfied.)

But the short answer to your question is YES, this computer is good enough for gaming.

 

[Humble3]

Well...
I have...

955 Black Overclocked to 3.4 GHz
8GB DDR3 1600MHz CL8
7850 MSI Factory OC (2GB)

I can run most games maxed out or nearly maxed out, but my video card is slightly better but I will look up some benchmarks for you....

Battlefield 3 - with your video card on Ultra graphics setting you could get just under 30fps so... if you turned it down to medium... it would play very smooth. Another benchmark said you'd get about 42 fps on high so as I said on medium it should run perfectly smooth.

Farcry 3 - 35 FPS on Very High Quality, which as I said for the last game lower that down to medium and the game will run very smooth.

(Both benchmarks assume you are using 1920x1080 resolution. Using a lower resolution will help you get a higher frame rate if you are unsatisfied.)

But the short answer to your question is YES, this computer is good enough for gaming.

Cheers mate! one quick question sorry to be a bore would i be better off buying an xfx 6870 for an extra £20 or keeping the powercolor 6870? I hear the Powercolor make isn't as good.

1.http://www.ebuyer.com/279585-xfx-hd-6870-900mhz-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-dual-mini-displayport-hdmi-hd-687a-zhfc
2. http://www.ebuyer.com/414261-powercolor-hd-6870-pcs-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-dual-mini-displayport-hdmi-ax6870-1gbd5-pp2dh

 

[Humble3]

1. http://www.ebuyer.com/279585-xfx-hd-6870-900mhz-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-dual-mini-displayport-hdmi-hd-687a-zhfc

 

[cball1311]

The 7850 still beats the 6870. Are you pretty much stuck with buying from ebuyer.com?

 

[Humble3]

The 7850 still beats the 6870. Are you pretty much stuck with buying from ebuyer.com?

I would prefer to buy it all from the same site. If amazon is cheaper i would go on that but i think they are the same.

 

[Humble3]

The 7850 still beats the 6870. Are you pretty much stuck with buying from ebuyer.com?

Its £40 difference between the Powercolor 6870 1GB and the Sapphire 7850 2GB card.
Is it really worth getting the extra card?
I want to spend as little money as possible and I'm not bothered if i have to play games such as BF3 GW2 e.t.c on medium/high settings

 

[cball1311]

Its £40 difference between the Powercolor 6870 1GB and the Sapphire 7850 2GB card.
Is it really worth getting the extra card?
I want to spend as little money as possible and I'm not bothered if i have to play games such as BF3 GW2 e.t.c on medium/high settings

If you get the 7850 from scan.co.uk, it is the same price as the XFX 6870 you posted a bit back.

http://www.ebuyer.com/279585-xfx-hd...l-dvi-dual-mini-displayport-hdmi-hd-687a-zhfc

But it is entirely up to you, that is the fun in building a rig.

 

[Humble3]

If you get the 7850 from scan.co.uk, it is the same price as the XFX 6870 you posted a bit back.

http://www.ebuyer.com/279585-xfx-hd...l-dvi-dual-mini-displayport-hdmi-hd-687a-zhfc

But it is entirely up to you, that is the fun in building a rig.

Too true just that scan website doesn't look legit no one i know has bought anything from it :S

 

[cball1311]

If it wasn't legit, I am sure the poeple on pcpartpicker.com would here about it immediately. pcpartpicker.com is a great website for designing rigs. I am from the US so I wouldn't know, but I am sure pcpartpicker.com does.

You can looks at these reviews and determine it for yourself. A few bad apples but for the most part people were happy.

http://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.scan.co.uk

 

[Humble3]

If it wasn't legit, I am sure the poeple on pcpartpicker.com would here about it immediately. pcpartpicker.com is a great website for designing rigs. I am from the US so I wouldn't know, but I am sure pcpartpicker.com does.

You can looks at these reviews and determine it for yourself. A few bad apples but for the most part people were happy.

http://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.scan.co.uk

Cheers mate was just wondering

One final question, is 1GB GPU RAM good enough? would 2GB make a huge difference?

sorry to ask so many questions new to this

 

[cball1311]

Ask away, that is what we are here for.

No, not unless you are gaming or multiple monitors or high resolutions over 1080p.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/382141-33-vram-monitors

 

[Humble3]

Ask away, that is what we are here for.

No, not unless you are gaming or multiple monitors or high resolutions over 1080p.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/382141-33-vram-monitors

Ye only the one monitor and it will run at 1080p

The changes I've made to the first setup is the GPU and PSU.

GPU: XFX Radeon HD 7850 Double Dissipation Core Edition with Ghost Thermal AMD Graphics Card - 1GB
PSU: Corsair 500W CX Builder 80 Plus Bronze PSU 3 Year Warranty

This is the monitor: Acer G226HQLB 21.5" LED LCD HDMI Monitor