Any pc ninjas out there

[howiesteed]

Hi guys I know a lot of people like ps4 or X box but just wondering if anyone actually likes playing games properly on a pc .
I'm looking to upgrade and looking for help mainly from overseas as I think parts may be cheaper anyone from states or North America know any decent pc parts sites ?

 

[ocielz]

@AcIDcOr3, he might be able to help out.

 

[nicblue]

I've built my PC. Play most MMOs, 2004-2012...pretty much stopped after I found my gf on a mmo and had her move in with me! and time investment of a mmo is just too great right now for the both of us. Guild wars 2 xpack is what we're eyeing right now and I definitely need to upgrade my pc.

I built my PC off tiger direct back in 2007. Still have the same parts aside from a upgraded graphics card and new HDD. Newegg is also a great site check out those websites. Amazon US also sells the same stuff for about the same price. I've been looking at a new mobo and cpu currently...

 

[ChrisIW]

Hi guys I know a lot of people like ps4 or X box but just wondering if anyone actually likes playing games properly on a pc .
I'm looking to upgrade and looking for help mainly from overseas as I think parts may be cheaper anyone from states or North America know any decent pc parts sites ?

I built my own PC for the first time last year, and it's a proper gaming PC. One of the best UK sites for parts is Dabs http://www.dabs.com/ , I'm not sure about overseas suppliers though (and savings may be cancelled out due to shipping charges / customs, etc, so be careful).

I'm still quite new to the DIY game but if you need any advice I can at least try an give you an answer

 

[kaneo911]

Hi,

I built my pc up over time updating parts as I went and have been doing this for years as a hobby and as my job.

I find with a pc you don't have to update as much for games compared to consoles, espesically with compatability and you have alot more customisiation and functionality available.

If your not fussed for 2nd hand always check out ebay after you find what you want. I use https://uk.pcpartpicker.com to plan my builds.

I use for parts:
overclockers.co.uk
scan.co.uk

and always set a budget

 

[Cyberpunk88]

You could try and ask over at https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc
They're always helpful

 

[howiesteed]

cheers guys ihave been building for about 10 years but my last one was 4 years ago , life and houses got in the way , gta 5 has just come out and i want to upgrade , i usually use overclockers as tehy are about 30 mins away , but was considering buyng from the US and hopefully get aninja to send it over .
im not actually sure whats good anymore , i used to be fairly up to date but now i have no idea
my system at teh minute is i5 some thing mid to high range i5 ( 3 or 4 years old)
8gd corsair domintor ram
and i ati HIS 6870
still on win 7 and have a SATA hdd i know solid state it amazing but when i built it was way epxensive.
all on a ithink a asus p5 mobo (think its p5 again its been a while)

basically im looking for the minimal cost to plat gta at a decent FPS

my first thought are just a graphics card

 

[kaneo911]

if your maninly looking for a graphics increase I would go for a R9 290 as they are quite cheap now but I would also get a ssd I prefer the samsung evo 840 and 850 basic range, I would use this for your games and you will find it will run smooth

 

[Gadget]

I would agree that buying from outside the UK (possible EU) isn't going to be a big saving; unless you happen to be in the USA on holiday and then technically you would have to declare it on the way back(even if they are more worried about you bringing too many duty free cigarettes and bootles of booze). Also DOA and warranty returns on imported stuff are more trouble than the savings (and I always seem to get the damaged/non functioning part)


I used to make my own PCs, but these days I can't be bothered. I look for someone selling a cheapish high spec brand name PC - that's maybe short on memory or hard drive or missing the OS - and add the parts I need.

 

[AlienKing]

@howiesteed Like yourself, I put together my PC 4 yrs ago (1st gen i5-750) I believe we're on 4th gen now? Damn, time flies. But still, my PC hasn't failed me because I can't remember the last time I turned it off. I do restarts once in a while but I never turn it off unless I'm going away for a long time. In the past 4 yrs I've only did a GPU and a SSD upgrade; never found the need to upgrade anything. Used to play a lot of PC games, but now not that much time for them. I'm sure its still strong enough to play most games, may be not everything on max settings though. I'm not really up to date with every part now since they come out with a new one like every 10 months or so. Anyways, if you need to get something from Canada PM me. I can also give you websites for local stores to check out. Good luck building

 

[crossbow]

but was considering buyng from the US and hopefully get aninja to send it over .

You may want to consider purchasing items locally to overcome warranty hassles. Or if it's already decided that you want to purchase from USA only, opt for brands which provide warranty internationally and has easy RMA process.

my system at teh minute is i5 some thing mid to high range i5 ( 3 or 4 years old)
8gd corsair domintor ram
and i ati HIS 6870
still on win 7 and have a SATA hdd i know solid state it amazing but when i built it was way epxensive.
all on a ithink a asus p5 mobo (think its p5 again its been a while)
basically im looking for the minimal cost to plat gta at a decent FPS
my first thought are just a graphics card

If your budget is bit flexible for now, Opt for Nvidia GTX 960 or 970 according to your budget to get the best bang for your bucks, which is latest from Nvidia lineup. Check for your current Power Supply Unit. If it dose not suit GPU upgrade, you will need to upgrade that as well. I would advise Seasonic M12II 520W or 620W modular PSU for GTX 970 depending upon your rest of the components.

 

[javiermendoza]

If you live in Europe, you might as well look at this website.
https://www.caseking.de/shop/catalog/index.php?language=en

They have competitive prices and a lot of stuff to choose from.

If you need to upgrade your CPU or GPU, I recommend this two:

CPU:
https://www.caseking.de/shop/catalo...-GHz-Ivy-Bridge-Sockel-1155-boxed::18999.html

GPU:
https://www.caseking.de/shop/catalog/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-970-ACX-20-4096-MB-GDDR5::29160.html

They will do just fine with all the latest games.

Also check if you need to upgrade your PSU:
https://www.caseking.de/shop/catalo...RM-Series-RM750-Netzteil-750-Watt::24967.html

And maybe upgrade to SSD if you haven't already.
Memory is also good to have in reserve so if you have less than 8 gigs, you might want to look at this kit:
https://www.caseking.de/shop/catalo...ries-Black-DDR3-1866-CL9-8-GB-Kit::23202.html

Works fantastic for me and the price is good.

Btw, warranty is international so you won't have any problems with that.

 

[ChrisIW]

@howiesteed I can send you my basic parts list if you like, but off the top of my head I've got a i7-4770 Quad Core with 16GB RAM and 2GB GTX 750Ti graphics card. I think this is or better is what you should be looking at if you really want to make the most out of GTA V - but it really depends on what you're willing to spend. I don't have GTA, but the first time I fired up Dirt 3 I was blown away! You also need to make sure you have a good cooling system in place.

Regarding hard drives, my set up is a hybrid 500GB SSD (for operating system and some key software) / HDD for games, music, etc with a decent 3TB capacity. Going 100% SSD is very expensive unless you don't need much space, and also they very slowly degrade over time due to files being written and deleted (such as temp files when running games) - which is why I keep my games on the HDD. I hope that makes sense lol.

 

[howiesteed]

Yeah all that makes sense and ill have a look at the Herman site see how prices compare . My cooling arm is after markets fans which cost about 40 each and standard fans on graphics . I've got pc envy now lol . But not sure on budget as I might be able to pay for some through the business as an upgrade . The cpu and motherboard could easily go down . But I'm not sure how I could explain the purchase of a 2gb + £200 graphics card just si I can run spread sheet and word software lol
It's all been very helpful thank you very much and keep them coming

 

[MrBMT]

Personally I'd avoid getting stuff from the US, because if you end up with dud components you're going to end up with some silly costs to send stuff back - and that's even if they accept RMAs from within Europe for US stock.

I've tended to get most of my stuff from either scan.co.uk (I get free shipping from them) or amazon, built a fair few PCs in the past and my current one at home is a custom build (Core i7, 12 GB RAM, 8TB 7200 RPM storage + 256 GB SSD, GTX 760).

One thing I'd keep in mind at the moment though is it may well be cheaper to purchase PC parts from elsewhere in the EU (due to no import fees and the strength of the £ vs € at the moment) e.g. I recently picked up a QHD Dell monitor for £240 delivered from a German e-tailer that sold for around £270-280 in the UK at the time.

 

[Lone Crusader]

My build:


• Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower
• Custom made acrylic full side door for the Cosmos II
• ASUS Sabortooth 990FX AM3+ motherboard
• AMD FX-8350 Vishera (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ Eight-Core Processor
• G.SKILL Trident X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) (DDR3 1866)
• CORSAIR AX860 860W Fully Modular PSU (custom sleeved with MDPC-X triple braided sleeving)
• SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Video Card
• 512GB Samsung 840 PRO Series SSD
• Seagate Barracuda 3TB HDD (x6)
• CORSAIR Hydro Series H110 Water Cooler for CPU
• ARCTIC Accelero Hybrid 7970 Extreme VGA Cooler
• HT Omega Stryker 7.1 Sound Card
• All Bitfenix Spectre Pro Fans all White
• BitFenix Recon Fan Controller
• Akasa InterConnect Pro USB 3.0 Panel w/ USB 3.0 Card Reader
• Case lighting

I love playing Diablo III on it but the computer is so powerful that anything I throw at it can handle with ease.

I have a thread about my build log HERE if you care to read about it.

I do all my PC shopping at NewEgg and sometimes Amazon, it depends on who has the better deal.

 

[Cobster]

@AcIDc0r3 Nice build buddy

 

[howiesteed]

@AcIDc0r3 I hate you lol .
But I bought gta4 it's runs it ..... its not high level but it's good enough for now I think it will just need a graphics card upgrade

 

[Illiciter]

@AcIDc0r3 - Have you tried running the PS2 emulator on that? I was eyeballing a new graphics card to see if I could throw some of the processing power to the GPU with the PS2 emulator to boost performance. Nothing has been cooler than chucking my PS2 games into my PC with my DS3 connected via bluetooth and rocking Ace Combat 4. Sadly, my ex-fiance stole my slim PS2 and I just went straight to emulators rather than ponying up the $100

My build (6 years old by now I think)
Crosshair Formula IV w/ Thuban 1090T 6 core OC'd to 4.2ghz
16gb corsair vegeance (upgraded recently from original 8gb)
the kicker: GTX 480 GPU
HAF 932 case with corsair H60 water cooling (still original, surprised it's held up)
240gb OS SSD drive, 3TB storage, 60gbSSD swap drive


Obviously the weakest link is the graphics card, but didn't know how much performance gains I could expect. The only slow downs with the emulator I have are with scenes like in God Of War when there's an insane boss battle with tons of guys on the screen. Either way, for a 6 year old build it still does everything I need it to. Do I need 8 cores? Maybe not. Do I want 8 cores? Well of course!

Anyways, was just curious if you have tried the PS2 emulator on your build.

 

[Lone Crusader]

@AcIDc0r3 - Have you tried running the PS2 emulator on that? I was eyeballing a new graphics card to see if I could throw some of the processing power to the GPU with the PS2 emulator to boost performance. Nothing has been cooler than chucking my PS2 games into my PC with my DS3 connected via bluetooth and rocking Ace Combat 4. Sadly, my ex-fiance stole my slim PS2 and I just went straight to emulators rather than ponying up the $100

My build (6 years old by now I think)
Crosshair Formula IV w/ Thuban 1090T 6 core OC'd to 4.2ghz
16gb corsair vegeance (upgraded recently from original 8gb)
the kicker: GTX 480 GPU
HAF 932 case with corsair H60 water cooling (still original, surprised it's held up)
240gb OS SSD drive, 3TB storage, 60gbSSD swap drive


Obviously the weakest link is the graphics card, but didn't know how much performance gains I could expect. The only slow downs with the emulator I have are with scenes like in God Of War when there's an insane boss battle with tons of guys on the screen. Either way, for a 6 year old build it still does everything I need it to. Do I need 8 cores? Maybe not. Do I want 8 cores? Well of course!

Anyways, was just curious if you have tried the PS2 emulator on your build.

No actually I haven't tried that. I do some video capturing and editing of my PS4 games so the 8-Cores and 32gb of RAM definitely helps out a lot.