Who's in to custom computers?

[Karlb1]

Might be slightly in the wrong section, but not many people ever answer many threads in the gaming/IT section.

Recently saw an advert on TV for PCSpecialist.

Custom made computers to your spec etc and end up better value for money.

Thought i'd give it a go since my current laptop is good for fuckall and won't load any of the games i want to play, as i've onyl really used it for web browsing and tried to step back from playing games etc..but i can't resist any more.


Looking for a bit of advice really, I've done a set up with an AMD processor over an Intel to save costs slightly, anybody got any reasons why i should specifically go for an Intel one?
I'm going to be playing some fairly intensive games but I wouldn't really call it hardcore gaming if I'm honest.

Would this spec be fairly decent for what I want?
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n522/Karlb1/pcspec_zpsfc9bfeb9.png (http://s1138.photobucket.com/user/Karlb1/media/pcspec_zpsfc9bfeb9.png.html)

[saxova]

Same case as mine lol.

Look into the black edition AMD cpus.. I bought a dual core cpu, and unlocked the other 2 cores (quad core for dual core price :) )

So that would work out better. Plus you don't need 16bg of RAM. Get a similar price 8gb but with a higher speed (check your motherboard is compatible with the speeds before)

Also try to get a SSD instead of a HDD. Or a HDD for storage and SSD for OS. Much much faster and completely makes the pc..

The cooling fan looks abit of an overkill. And expensive if thats the right price (59?) I never bother with standard heatsink/fan - but wouldn't spend 59 on a fan. 20-30 is more like it.

I have the GTX 650 TI - and it plays every game on the market @ max settings, so that will be plenty good enough.

Do you have a blue ray player? - if no why you need a blu-ray writer? - just trying to save money.

:y:

[0x90]

Same case as mine lol.
The cooling fan looks abit of an overkill. And expensive if thats the right price (59?) I never bother with standard heatsink/fan - but wouldn't spend 59 on a fan. 20-30 is more like it.

It's not just a fan. It's a self-contained liquid CPU cooler. The image doesn't reflect the product; it's just a random picture.
It's actually a really good product for people who want the low temperatures of liquid cooling but don't want to mess around with setting up liquid cooling.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/corsair-h60-v1-hydro-cooler-with-sp120l-fan-oem?utm_source=google+shopping&utm_medium=google+shopping&gclid=COWE_oetm7kCFRMgtAodxQgA_w

[saxova]

Ahh not a bad price then.

Doubt OP is going to be overclocking to the point where he needs water cooled though.

As said - £20 cooler / 'unlocked' dual core to quad core and can play hours of games with no issues so why bother :)

[Karlb1]

I only have the options that are available to me on the PCS site, so unfortunately no black edition CPUs.
I can go for 8gb Kingston HyperX BEAST dual DDR3 RAM running 2400MHz if that makes more sense? saves £50 as well lol.

With regards to the SSD or HDD, I'm a bit stuck there as it takes the budget over the £1k mark, which i'd like to stay under if possible (bare in mind i've also got a few extra cables, a monitor, keyboard and mouse etc all wit hthat as well, not just for the comptuer itself)

I can get a 120gb Kingston V300 SSD harddrive to stay in my budget. I'll probably be using an external hard drive i have lying around to store music, pictures etc and the main HD for storing games etc on the actual system.

Ah right, the cooling did sound OTT to me but i'm a complete noob to all of this so had no idea to go OTT and play safe or go slightly lower spec a bit.

There isn't a blu-ray writer on this, it's just the way they phrase the title i think lol, it's just a 24x dual layer DVD writer, no blu-ray involved

[Karlb1]

Also with the cooling, I can go to a slightly lower spec hydro CPU cooler and thats about it unless the standard CPU cooler will be anough? as it tells me the copper heatpipe AMD cooler i can choose won't fit because of the RAM i've chosen

[saxova]

tbh I'd just forget that website and choose the separate components that YOU want, not what THEY want you to buy.

1k is wayyy to expensive! especially with a low end dual core CPU. They must be adding a nice chunk ontop. EDIT Just seen the you have to get the screen etc - but still steep

[Bedford126]

http://www.cclonline.com/

Bro uses these mate. If you give them a call and ask what u asked on here they will help you out. They have teams of people just for conversation over building pc's and they are not on sales bonus so don't care if you go for one product over another.

[Karlb1]

Saxova i know 1k is a LOT, but as i said, there's a lot of extras on there. The actual computer with the extra cooling etc is around £700. I know that's still a lot that's why i came and asked to see what people recommended.

Cheers Bedford, I'll take a look

[saxova]

Yeah but like fuck would I be using a dual core for gaming lol

Ill put a list of decent components together and you can compare the spec / price - gimme 10 mins! :y:

[Karlb1]

Ideally would i be looking at quad core then?

http://www.cclonline.com/page/customise/CCL-EL-RAP/

Found this on Bedford's link, quite like the sound of it and can stil lcustomise slightly?

[saxova]

Yeah that site is pretty decent tbf

The CPU you selected is one of the newest, so think for a average gamer it wouldn't be needed - but suppose it's 'future proofing' it.

http://i43.tinypic.com/m9ybm9.png

£544.. Better spec too :y:

[Karlb1]

Fair play!
is that assembled or would i be putting it together myself?
I'd rather get it pre-assembled since i've never done anything like this..unless it's a piece of piss to do?

[Bedford126]

Yeah that site is pretty decent tbf

The CPU you selected is one of the newest, so think for a average gamer it wouldn't be needed - but suppose it's 'future proofing' it.



£544.. Better spec too :y:

My bro said thats pretty simmilar to his and he would give ccl a call and get them to give you a price as his was just over £480 and they pre build for free and include some software if you have or can give them a student number.

[saxova]

All in bits - but it's a piece of piss. Most things are colour co-ordinated / blatantly obvious where they go, If you get stuck there will be 1000's of guides :)

Your choice like, But if spending so much on a computer you want it to be right the first time :)

[Karlb1]

I'll confess, one thing that draws me to PCS is they do finance, as I can't actually afford to pay that much outright...

:(

[saxova]

My bro said thats pretty simmilar to his and he would give ccl a call and get them to give you a price as his was just over £480 and they pre build for free and include some software if you have or can give them a student number.

Worth a shot if OP cba with the hassle of 'building' it :)

[Karlb1]

With SSDs, is that just for my OS? then i run an HDD for my storage etc?

[saxova]

Yeah have it as the main drive with the OS and save everything to another drive.

That way it doesn't get cluttered / slow + cheaper as high memory in SSD is costly.

[stevo1600]

I've built 3 gaming rigs of off this site one intel and 2 amd systems.

aria.co.uk (http://www.aria.co.uk/)

Good value for money and the service is awesome.

Ive always preferred AMD as the value for money and bang for buck is second to none.

I run a 6core amd cpu OC to 5ghz, msi mobo, 8gb ram and 750w psu with 2 x radeon hd7770 in xfire. my cpu is water cooled also and will play any game max settings easily. i think my system came to £500 6 months ago.

AMD cpus run hotter - fact. so expect a hotter overall system in comparison with an intel system. spending money on cooling will be a key point here.

INTEL have the best cpus even tho i have an amd. An OC i5 will destroy every amd cpu on the market, let alone going into i7 cpus. accept the new amd 8core cpu which if im honest looks like a beast for the price.

BUT, cpu power isnt as important as your gpu power. so you want to have a very good graphics card like saxnova's or higher and a good ssd with cooling to match. 8gb ram @ 1600mhz will be plenty enough aswell.

Goodluck!

[Karlb1]

Cheers for the advice guys
How does this spec sound?
Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM ENFORCER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4570 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® Z87M-PLUS: m-ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6.0, XFIRE

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650 Ti - DVI, mHDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)

2nd Hard Disk
500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY

Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)

Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£9)

[saxova]

That would certainly do the trick.. lmao! How much? :y:

[Karlb1]

Enough but not over £1k lol.

would you say i could cut back anywhere on that at all?
always nice to save a little extra unless that's a pretty basic setup? not entirely sure what ive actually got there lol

[stevo1600]

i would not feel comfortable running that setup with only a 450w PSU. you need something bigger,

something like a OCZ 750w.

But yea, that system, providing you choose a better psu, will be one hell of a gaming rig.

[P_Connor]

I recently built my own setup for £800 with an I7 Sandybridge. Best way to go. PSU wie deffo go for more than 450. Also, it's more expensive but try and get a 750w modular. The modulars just keep the wires neater, as some you won't need like extra molex connectors... Water cooled isn't something I hve. Yet. The only problem is that there are so many options, and the hardware gets updated so much, so next month there will be the upgraded GPU, or bigger ssd.

[Karlb1]

Okay for £79 extra I can get a Coarsair Enthusiast 750 modular unit..would you say that's worth it? Put with the same spec as posted above?

[Karlb1]

Had a slight change of heart. Might try and save around £200 extra and go for this spec

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-4300 Quad Core CPU (3.80GHz/4MB CACHE/AM3+)

Motherboard
ASUS® M5A78L-M/USB3 (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 3Gb/s)

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650 - DVI, mHDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY

Processor Cooling
Corsair H40 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£39)

Extra Case Fans
1 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£5)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)


Sound half decent for some light gaming? adequate cooling etc..i know liquid cooling might be a slight overkill but it can't hurt to keep the temps down even more

[o_O]

If you are not overclocking your CPU don't bother with liquid cooling seriously. Plus if it goes wrong it can go wrong very badly.

[Randyransford91]

I built a custom gaming PC for my bro. Sourced parts through work (IT Engineer), and built myself. :y:

PICS

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/21759_10152254424050263_576396975_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/536295_10152254424175263_848082625_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/534570_10152254424220263_1272034698_n.jpg

Ignore the white drive, guy at work ordered the wrong fascia.

SPECS & PRICE
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 6MB Cache £131.71
RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 Vengeance £29.12
M/B: ASUS Sabertooth Z77 £136.31
GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti £105.81
SSD (O/S Drive): OCZ Agility 3 120GB £54.16
HDD (Storage): Seagate 500GB £37.50
PSU: Corsair CX750 PSU £50.86
Optical Drive: DVD-RW Drive £9.78
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 £74.32

Sub Total:£629.57
Vat:£125.90
Total:£755.47 (As of December 2012)

Cooling wise the case did come with Manual controlled HDD Bay Fans x2, One Huge exhaust fan on top, 1x Side fan, 1x Rear fan (i think). Obviously the CPU came with a Fan and plus the motherboard if you google it is covered with a plastic cover with fans for cooling. So yeah it's cool!

Best to build yourself, it's easy to do and plus then if it goes wrong you know where to start looking. Its like I tell people, they are just big jigsaws really parts can only go in one place. Plus when you've built it and you're having a beer :drink: you have something to be proud of!

Worse case is treat yourself to Alienware PC (On finance ofc)

[imDan]

Here my spec, built it a month or so ago, runs everything fine so far
Will be getting another 8Gb of ram next week
and 2 BenQ Monitors ( one for xbox one and the pc, within the next month )

Need to update pics as i have non with a GPU.

Monitors ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/BenQ-XL2720T-Widescreen-1920x1080-3D-Ready/dp/B00BN1PNY8/ref=sr_1_1/278-6142433-2950040?ie=UTF8&qid=1373760115&sr=8-1&keywords=xl2720t )

http://imageshack.com/a/img41/8894/w87v.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img571/6349/efhe.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img16/1056/vlbo.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img801/6129/z85x.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img163/6395/i0r1.png




(CPU) Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core - £174.93

(CPU Cooler) Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing - £26.50

(Motherboard) ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 - £63.53

(Memory) Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 - £58.97

(Storage) Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM - £49.50

(Video Card) EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB - £156.98

(Case) ( Has 6 fans built into the case ) Zalman Z11 Plus ATX Mid Tower - £58.01

(Case Fan) Zalman ZM-F3BL 120mm - £9.95

(Power Supply) Corsair 500W ATX12V - £51.09

(Optical Drive) Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer - £13.15

(Operating System) Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) - £176.58

(Mouse and keyboard) Logitech Wireless Combo MK520 - £37.50

(Monitors) BenQ XL2720T 27 inch Widescreen LED Monitor - £370.00 ( x2 )

Total = £1616.69

( Obviously the monitors are expensive, but very nice, may as well treat myself )

[Carlvtr88]

I built a custom gaming PC for my bro. Sourced parts through work (IT Engineer), and built myself. :y:

PICS

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/21759_10152254424050263_576396975_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/536295_10152254424175263_848082625_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/534570_10152254424220263_1272034698_n.jpg

Ignore the white drive, guy at work ordered the wrong fascia.

SPECS & PRICE
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 6MB Cache £131.71
RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 Vengeance £29.12
M/B: ASUS Sabertooth Z77 £136.31
GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti £105.81
SSD (O/S Drive): OCZ Agility 3 120GB £54.16
HDD (Storage): Seagate 500GB £37.50
PSU: Corsair CX750 PSU £50.86
Optical Drive: DVD-RW Drive £9.78
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 £74.32

Sub Total:£629.57
Vat:£125.90
Total:£755.47 (As of December 2012)

Cooling wise the case did come with Manual controlled HDD Bay Fans x2, One Huge exhaust fan on top, 1x Side fan, 1x Rear fan (i think). Obviously the CPU came with a Fan and plus the motherboard if you google it is covered with a plastic cover with fans for cooling. So yeah it's cool!

Best to build yourself, it's easy to do and plus then if it goes wrong you know where to start looking. Its like I tell people, they are just big jigsaws really parts can only go in one place. Plus when you've built it and you're having a beer :drink: you have something to be proud of!

Worse case is treat yourself to Alienware PC (On finance ofc)


Got exactly same case. Antec 900 2... Great case, worth shelling out the extra for. Plenty of future upgrade space.
Good cooling and looks like a monster in the dark lol.

[Randyransford91]

Got exactly same case. Antec 900 2... Great case, worth shelling out the extra for. Plenty of future upgrade space.
Good cooling and looks like a monster in the dark lol.

It is a good case for the price, plenty of room inside and expansion space too, and as said above plenty of fans to keep it cool..