New Desktop questions

[Baseley09]

If you can spend the extra ?20 - 30 id deffo go with a quad core, I have the pit end of them (Athlon II X4 620) and it copes fine with all things modern.

And get someone to sort you out with a yarred win 7 64bit.

[losersclub]

I like www.novatech.co.uk

But they are just down the road from me.

My first ever PC was purchased from these chaps

[speedlolita]

If you have an AVForums account you can get free postage with www.Scan.co.uk, I use them because of it.

[Malc]

Ok, how much better are the intels compared to AMD processors?

Will I need more than standard cooling with the AMD radeon 5770/6770?

[averybluemonkey]

Never underestimate Dell's deals, you can get a slighter better spec. with a low/mid end card in there for the same price:

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006202&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-620

Intel i3 - 3.1GHz, 3MB cache
4Gig DDR3 (2 banks)
Radeon 6450 1Gig
DVD RW
500Gig HD
Plus gubbins like Windows 7 64bit, 15 months McAffee

[abigsmurf]

Decent specs apart from the GPU and Dells a notorious for being really tight with their PSUs.

[Malc]

Ok, after thinking it over for a day or so, I really will do most of my gaming on my 360.

The only games I will want to play regularly will be Counter Strike Source and TF2 (source engine games basically). To have a solid 60fps+ on those games would be lovely, but there's not much else I will really want to play.

Will a Intel core i3-2100 (3.10Ghz, 3mb cache), 4Gb RAM do?

I need a suggestion for the graphics card though, as i'm more blind to their specs/performance.

These are the options I have on PC Specialist:






Any of them able to run source engine very nicely?

[abigsmurf]

The 430 *should* be able to run source engine at 60fps (depends on your resolution), if you overclock it slightly (it's very easy to do, you can even do it in official drivers now) it should make up for any slight dips below.

If you're sure that's all you'll be doing for gaming (or can live with 30fps with settings dialed down a bit in mordern games), it's enough.

[Malc]

Is it worth going for the geforce 440 (next one down) for an extra tenner, or is it not really worth it.

It has an extra 530mhz 'clock speed' and an extra 80mhz 'graphics clock'.

[abigsmurf]

It's approx 20% faster across the board.

Games that are playable but not 60fps will be noticably smoother. However games which are unplayable on a 430 will also be unplayable on a 440 (although I imagine the 440 can potentially play everything at a smooth frame rate, just depends how low you're willing to put settings).

In terms of what these cards can do: 40-60fps on 'console level' graphics. Basically, call of duty, Unreal Engine 3 games, should all be smooth at reasonable settings on this. Games which fully use DX11 stuff and go beyond console graphics (metro 2033 on max, Witcher 2, Battlefield 3) , expect 15fps at reasonable settings.

[Malc]

I'm partly tempted to just spas out and buy the intel i5 2400 quad core, with the amd radeon 6770 graphics card and 4gb ram.

I figure that if I'm spending near ?400 i may as well spend an extra ?100 and get something i'm really happy with/can play the games I want to really comfortably, rather than just bordering on the 60fps mark for source games.

Any idea what sort of games/fps counts i'd get with the set up i've just mentioned.

[Baseley09]

You would make mincemeat of the source games, I get 150fps on Half Life 2 maxed @ 1080p with vsync on a system crappier than that.

I reckon you should spend the cash to save disappointment, I have made this mistake before.

Hot tip is lower resolutions will bump your frames up quick, a few intense games like Lost Planet 2, lowering to 720p will give you a dreamy 60fps ride with little visual impact on smaller screens.

[Malc]

Ok, I'll consider it still over the weekend and on monday will probably end up ordering it.

Afterwards I will sell my laptop to make up for some of the lost cash, anyone know if laptops are in demand, especially ones like mine which only came out 6 months ago for ?380 and where's the best place to sell it?

[abigsmurf]

Ebay's good but be very careful, Laptops are a prime target for scammers. Do not ship to non-verified addresses (Never, ever ship overseas), don't let zero feedback bidders bid.

Low to lower mid end laptops hold their value well. Good time of the year to sell too (students looking for laptops)

[Malc]

By the way, are PC components more likely to overheat and go wrong? If so, what sort of cooling am I looking at for my specs i've chosen.

I've chosen a '450w quiet 80 plus dual rail psu + 120mm case fan' for ?29 which should be enough power for all my components right?

As for the cooling, should i switch the default 'intel socket standard cpu cooler' to the next one up which is a 'super quiet 22dba triple copper heatpipe cpu cooler' for ?19, or is that overkill for my specs?