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£500 Gaming machine

scotty220 said:
I'm pretty certain that if you only have one meter reader then you'll be fine :)

And what's with the AMD hatred? :( they're good chips!! Honestly in your budget you should seriously consider going AMD. It'll leave more money for a better PSU (Seasonic for example) or using an SSD as a boot drive as mentioned. Personally thats what I would do
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Nothing wrong with AMD, I just prefer the Intel sticker :p

Just a point its not my budget, its my Nephews, but I guess as its me getting advice its my budget in a roundabout ways.
 
Still do not get the need for the cpu really, you can save so much money there by not having to have the highest numbered i5+K just cos you can clock it..

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£135.55 @ CCL Computers)
Cheaper as no HD graphics built-in, who needs it? And unless you or nephew plan to overclock then the K' s just a waste of money.

Motherboard: Asus Z77-A ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£85.10 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£46.85 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7790 2GB Video Card (£94.22 @ Dabs)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£38.65 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£67.09 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£43.61 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£67.19 @ Aria PC)
Total: £632.25

Or keep the same and replace the chip, mobo and gpu and you come in at;-
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£82.09 @ Aria PC) - Unlocked clock
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£59.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card (£119.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £578.46

My Q9650 is rarely pushed by any game that is thrown at it, my main limit is the GPU which is still an antique 4870x2. My next step up will be the i5-2500k as I can if I wish clock to 4.5, throw in shiny new R9 280x (which here are cheaper than the HD7970's weirdly) and the rig will be set for a few more years.

SSD, yes if it can be planned into budget then very worthwhile - the difference is more than night vs day.
Not sure on UK prices but here its normally 256mb = 4500 koruna and 128mb = 2500/3000 koruna, prob about 150 quid'ish for 256mb.
 
Trixster said:
SSD, yes if it can be planned into budget then very worthwhile - the difference is more than night vs day.
Not sure on UK prices but here its normally 256mb = 4500 koruna and 128mb = 2500/3000 koruna, prob about 150 quid'ish for 256mb.
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Yes over here you know you're not paying too much if you stick to around 50p/MB e.g 128MB for around £65 etc
 
I need a quick reply, going to check this plug system, unfortunately the boy only has the one plug socket in his room so kinda need to move onto this which I saw at Amazon.

Thoughts guys..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005KTM2G6/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers

I have 5hrs to order this for tomorrow on my brothers amazon account, so does everyone think this is the one I should go for, if not then say alternative. Cheers for everyone's input on this.
 
Don't understand how they are better, the boy has one plug available in his bedroom, how would the ones you suggest scotty get it done? Surely he needs the plug adapter to allow an extension plug to be put into it.
 
Ah sorry Hudd I didn't realise you needed the plug. In that case the ones you suggest are fine :) The TP-Link PL are considered to be the best when factoring price vs. performance :)
 
I just thought, you may find this website helpful when considering buying from amazon

http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/

you paste the URL of the Amazon product you want to buy and it'll tell you the price history. Helpful if you're not sure if you're getting a bargain or not!
 
Seedy Ron said:
You can plug those powerline things into an extension lead Hudd, they still work fine.
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True though performance is hit massively. I have them at home and when plugged directly into the wall I was hitting around 12MBps. In an extension block I was only getting 4MBps
 
scotty220 said:
True though performance is hit massively. I have them at home and when plugged directly into the wall I was hitting around 12MBps. In an extension block I was only getting 4MBps
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That should be more than enough for gaming considering the data he'll be throwing around is in the kbps. It's only if you're streaming media that you'd want more than that.
 
scaramanga said:
That should be more than enough for gaming considering the data he'll be throwing around is in the kbps. It's only if you're streaming media that you'd want more than that.
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I decided that its better to future proof as the older he gets and the more that people stream its better to go with what I put up and have since purchased.

If it don't work I'll buy them off my brother and use them to connect the second Sky HD box to the on demand service.





Sunday will be decision time on the components. Thankfully Tottenham are away this Sunday so will be taking a trip south of the river to visit my nephew and talk through stuff.
 
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Where it stands..

Plugs worked a treat.. 30mb on the test comes through nicely and it didn't even need pairing.

Final sign off hopefully. I'be added a little to the total.. £730. I am going 120GB SSD for storage, I have an old 500GB WD Caviar that I can stick in it for now.

What do people think.. last thoughts before order tomorrow. Don't be shy.. tell me if I can do better for price. I admit I am a bit worried about the case.. having read someone who used this case regarding the USB3.. I'm not sure what it means.

Only real complaint is the lack of the USB3 internal header, which is cheap and not a huge deal. That's on the way and will install when I re-cable.
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http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1RVnr
 
Superhudd said:
What do people think.. last thoughts before order tomorrow. Don't be shy.. tell me if I can do better for price. I admit I am a bit worried about the case.. having read someone who used this case regarding the USB3.. I'm not sure what it means.
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I have the Zalman Z11 Plus. Zalman are GREAT at making cases, really think about practicality. What he MIGHT mean is that the front header has USB3 ports but they're simply internal wires which you then have to run around the motherboard and into the two internal USB3.0 ports you have on your MB. That was the case for my Z11 Plus. Hope that helps :)
 
Dropping the cpu to Intel Core i5-3350P and the graphics to a Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 2GB would see you gain an extra 40 quid to put towards either case, psu or graphics.

As you have dropped away from the K style chip then overclocking is not an issue, plus n minus points for the P are;-

Lower power consumption (thus you could spend the 40 quid more on graphics or case)
Cheaper..
Ok, the frequency is lower, but not by much.
Does not have integrated graphics like your current choice - but your not using them so why pay for them?
They both have the same amount of cores and also the same L2 & L3 cache..

imo the GTX 660 is slightly better than a 7850, slightly.. Money/Performance wise the 7850 kicks the 660 to death.
 
Trixster said:
Dropping the cpu to Intel Core i5-3350P
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Having thought about this issue and as this PC is not for me but for a 10 year old, I think it best that a backup of somekind with the integrated graphics worthy of just £20. If it was me or you no doubt we would just go out and spend the money on a new card, something a 10 year old cannot do and tbh the chip would see him through saving his money to buy one.
Trixster said:
imo the GTX 660 is slightly better than a 7850, slightly.. Money/Performance wise the 7850 kicks the 660 to death.
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I have gone over and over again, back and forth regarding graphics cards, having the GTX 470 myself it kinda makes me side with the 660
Do you have any benchmark comparisons for all cards like this link. http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=Radeon+HD+7850
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There is another change on the build decided today, I am changing the heatsink to a radiator. I personaly have a radiator in mine and for a 10 year old I think it will be easier for my nephew to clean the radiator and means he for now stays away for the moment from the chip and the motherboard when he spring cleans inside (something I think I will do tomorrow)

[video=youtube;HO9APx2yKrg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO9APx2yKrg[/video]

When I look at the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO and the size of it I think it just don't look right, almost top heavy as if it is gonna drop.
 
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Oh another change, I changed it from one 8GB Ram to two 4GB Ram, basically thinking who this is for, should one of them go bad, he has the 4GB to carry him should he need to save to replace.

With half term next week I am going to have to buy these tomorrow in time for him coming to stay to help build this. Hopefully some of you guys will be around, should I need a little guidance. I will post plenty of pictures of problems should they arise.
 
scotty220 said:
I have the Zalman Z11 Plus. Zalman are GREAT at making cases, really think about practicality. What he MIGHT mean is that the front header has USB3 ports but they're simply internal wires which you then have to run around the motherboard and into the two internal USB3.0 ports you have on your MB. That was the case for my Z11 Plus. Hope that helps :)
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OK.. so is this a case of the wire coming through the case and then out the back door and plugging into the back plate of the motherboard, tbh I don't like this idea at all. Can you get back asap if this is what you mean.
 
Superhudd said:
OK.. so is this a case of the wire coming through the case and then out the back door and plugging into the back plate of the motherboard, tbh I don't like this idea at all. Can you get back asap if this is what you mean.
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Thats exactly it yes, unless you have any internal USB3.0 ports on the MB in which case they simply plug into those. Though looking at the MB you're looking at it seems you will have to use the two rear USB3.0 external ports. So you'll basically lose them. As I say this is what the Z11 is like (which is supposed to be a superior case) so I imagine its the same on the one you're looking at.
 
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