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PC gaming hardware thread.
https://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5402		 Page 53 of 119
Author:  MaysLanding [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 11:44 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Hearthly wrote:
Sorry to change the subject a bit but is anyone else eyeing up a 4K gaming PC?


Just built mine.

Intel 3970x @ 4.7ghz
16gb Corsair Dominator Platinum @ 1866
Nvidia GTX Titan Black SLI
MSI Big Bang Xpower II
Corsair H110
Cooler Master Cosmos II
Intel 320 80GB
Corsair Nova 60gb SSD X 4 RAID 0
EVGA G1000
Soundblaster XFI Pro 5.1 (USB)

Image

Image

AKA "The Big Purple Monster".

It replaced (this now belongs to my fiancée) The Dark Carnival.

Image

Image

Which is...

AMD FX 8320 @ 4.9ghz
Mushkin Blackline 2x4gb @ 1600mhz
Asus Crosshair V Formula Z
AMD Radeon 7990
Bitfenix Colossus
Corsair RM 750
OCZ Revodrive 120gb
Corsair H100

I've not bought a 4k screen yet (though have the money set to one side) because they're either arse TN or crap refresh rate (30hz... yeah right !) or they're honkingly expensive. So I'll just play the waiting game for now and see what Hannspree and so on do into the future. Gotta say it is quite hilarious watching games eating on that 6gb frame buffer. Good old console ports eh?
Author:  DavPaz [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 11:51 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Hi JC!
Author:  Malc [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:25 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
That's not JC, it's Marzsyndrome (or whatever he used to be called)

Malc
Author:  Bamba [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Malc wrote:
That's not JC, it's Marzsyndrome (or whatever he used to be called)


It is JC.
Author:  Cras [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
That's some full on disco PC.
Author:  markg [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Sticking with the Blackpool theme, it was trams but now it's the illuminations.
Author:  MaysLanding [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:47 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
RE - VRAM.

4gb is barely enough now. Watchdogs eats closing in on 4gb on my cards and that's 1080p (I bought a 27" 3D thing as a stop gap). Middle earth will use over 4gb with the texture pack installed and adding 8XMSAA to any recent title (I'm using it to offset the fact I'm at 1080p) will see them all use in excess of 3GB.

IIRC the consoles have 8GB, 2GB of which is "system reserved" the other 6GB appears to be fair game. That is why I bought Titan Blacks. I was going to get 6GB 780s but Nvidia made sure no one made them with the stock Titan coolers on, meaning lots of heat circulating in the case. My last GPU subsystem (670s) caused me all sorts of issues. The top card used to hit 96c which for a Kepler was madness.

Nvidia have always been really tight with VRAM, so the new Maxwell cards have 4gb which is just about enough for now. They want you coming back, and if you want more you gotta pay for it. IIRC I paid £690 each for my TBs about three months back.

Also, the 970 and 980 have a crippled memory bus, so when you reach 4k cards such as AMD's 290 series come out the victor. I don't quite get this release tbh. They're fast enough to be 4k cards, yet Nvidia have crippled the memory pipeline so they don't quite cut it at 4k. Sadly the 780 and 780ti (which are now tumbling in price) only have 3gb which is already being over ran.

Take a look over this, paying close attention to the 4k scores. The 295x2 comes out the victor in pretty much everything.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVID ... X_970_SLI/

And these are now dropping like stones.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... ubcat=1515

So I would wait until they drop another £100 and use that for 4k.
Author:  Trooper [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Oh, and congrats on the fiancee dude :)
Author:  Trooper [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Oh, and...

MaysLanding wrote:
IIRC I paid £690 each for my TBs about three months back.


Fucking hell! :D
Author:  MaysLanding [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Trooper wrote:
Oh, and congrats on the fiancee dude :)


Thanks.
Author:  Malc [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 13:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Bamba wrote:
Malc wrote:
That's not JC, it's Marzsyndrome (or whatever he used to be called)


It is JC.


Was that JC too then?

I'm confused...

Malc
Author:  Cras [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 14:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
No.
Author:  Bamba [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 14:18 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Malc wrote:
Bamba wrote:
Malc wrote:
That's not JC, it's Marzsyndrome (or whatever he used to be called)


It is JC.


Was that JC too then?

I'm confused...

Malc


JC was JC and is MaysLanding. No one else is any of those things. It's pretty straight forward really. :p
Author:  DavPaz [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 14:31 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
But not Gryzor.
Author:  MaysLanding [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 14:38 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Mayslanding is JC. JC forgot his password and the email address linked to JC was no longer active so I couldn't change my password.

So think of me as JC 2.0. JC broke, but the doctors rebuilt him...

BTW if any of you like your MACs take a look at this...

http://midlifegamers.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=1102

Should be finished within the week hopefully, and will become my server :)
Author:  myp [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 14:51 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
I'm not JC, if that helps.
Author:  TheVision [ Thu Oct 02, 2014 16:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
American Nervoso wrote:
I'm not JC, if that helps.


It does. Thanks. I often got you two confused.
Author:  Grim... [ Fri Oct 03, 2014 12:25 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Happy birthday, me!
Author:  Satsuma [ Fri Oct 03, 2014 12:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Pfffttt. My phone gets 4G.
Author:  Grim... [ Fri Oct 03, 2014 13:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Yeah, right? I dislike that.

It should be "4GB", but they're trying to be down with the kids, I think.
Author:  Hearthly [ Fri Oct 03, 2014 14:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
What did you have before, and what are you going to give the 970 a workout with?
Author:  Grim... [ Fri Oct 03, 2014 15:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
A pair of GTX280s.

Alien: Isolation's the only modern game I'll be playing for a while, but I always like to buy big and rarely.

That's why I don't visit your mum that often.
Author:  Hearthly [ Fri Oct 03, 2014 15:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Grim... wrote:
A pair of GTX280s.

Alien: Isolation's the only modern game I'll be playing for a while, but I always like to buy big and rarely.

That's why I don't visit your mum that often.


My mum has been struggling with her weight since she sustained a really nasty break to her leg a few years ago, and I find your comment deeply offensive.

As such I am now starting my own DAY OF ANGER by means of protest.

I don't think Alien Isolation will give that card too much to think about.

Attachment:
unnamed.jpg
Author:  Grim... [ Fri Oct 03, 2014 15:18 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
:DD

Hearthly wrote:
I don't think Alien Isolation will give that card too much to think about.

No, but the predictably dire Alien: Isolation 3 might.
Author:  Grim... [ Sat Oct 04, 2014 14:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Well, I clearly need a new monitor.
Author:  Doctor Glyndwr [ Sat Oct 04, 2014 22:21 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Grim... wrote:
Well, I clearly need a new monitor.

Fucking told you. Your monitor situation is dire.
Author:  Grim... [ Sat Oct 04, 2014 22:24 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Keep talking, one-screen.
Author:  Grim... [ Sat Oct 04, 2014 22:25 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Does anyone want the GTS 250s? They seem to go for around £25 on eBay, so I'll take £10 each + postage (or I can bring them to the cottage).

As a pair, they still play most stuff wound up to full - but they don't do DX11, so some of the latest games won't run.
Author:  Doctor Glyndwr [ Sat Oct 04, 2014 23:05 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Grim... wrote:
Keep talking, one-screen.

I have a 26" screen and two 24" ones -- I just haven't plugged them in as my iMac's 27" screen is big enough.
Author:  MaysLanding [ Sun Oct 05, 2014 20:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Hackintosh is nearly finished.

Image

Image

Woo floating fans !

Image

8 cores 16 threads. :metul:
Author:  asfish [ Mon Oct 06, 2014 13:39 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
I have an Alienware Aurora, around 3 years old now. Has a Quad core 2600K I7 and 16GB of Ram

GC is a GTX Titan and my screen is a 30 inch Dell

Never had any issues to date running games on the highest settings.

Like the build on the Alienware everything nice and easy to get at, only problem I have is there are not enough USB 3 ports, The latest model you can buy now still only has 2 USB3 which is pretty shit for a performance PC.

Will probably go elsewhere when its replacement time if this doesn't change
Author:  Doctor Glyndwr [ Mon Oct 06, 2014 13:50 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
asfish wrote:
GC is a GTX Titan and my screen is a 30 inch Dell

Never had any issues to date running games on the highest settings

You've never had any trouble running games on highest settings on a £700 GPU?

Image
Author:  KovacsC [ Mon Oct 06, 2014 13:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
I need to get a new screen for home, as my 17" seems too small. But my spare cash goes on house or cycling stuff.
Author:  asfish [ Mon Oct 06, 2014 14:40 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
asfish wrote:
GC is a GTX Titan and my screen is a 30 inch Dell

Never had any issues to date running games on the highest settings

You've never had any trouble running games on highest settings on a £700 GPU?

Image


Not really no :) I guess I meant I had no need to upgrade for a while!
Author:  MaysLanding [ Sat Oct 11, 2014 12:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Just bought a few things.

Herman Miller Sayl in sage green, closed back. Got it locally, what a friggin chair.

Cherry G80 keyboard. Was going to go with reds or greens but in the end realised that blues were probably the best for typing code.

Got my MAC all sorted out. Just making the final few parts for it and have ordered myself a 3 port USB switch so I can operate both my MAC and PC with the same sets of peripherals.

Would post pics but this forum needs them to be small and I CBA resizing them all :D
Author:  lasermink [ Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Another set of hardware requirements that seem a tad over the top have been revealed, this time for Assassin's Creed: Unity...

Eurogamer wrote:
Processor

Minimum:

Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.3 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0 GHz or AMD Phenom II x4 940 @ 3.0 GHz

Recommended:

Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.4 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0 GHz or better

RAM

Minimum: 6 GB

Recommended: 8GB

Video Card

Minimum:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 or AMD Radeon HD 7970 (2 GB VRAM)

Recommended:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 or AMD Radeon R9 290X (3 GB VRAM)
Author:  Grim... [ Sat Oct 25, 2014 15:26 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Looks pretty achievable to me ;)
Author:  Hearthly [ Sat Oct 25, 2014 15:49 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Grim... wrote:
Looks pretty achievable to me ;)


Yeah TBH they're distinctly mid-range PC specs these days, certainly as far as CPU and RAM are concerned, (and I bet an i5 will be just fine despite them recommending an i7).

The recommended GPU is fairly meaty but again, I'd bet that a more modest card such as a 660/670 (or equivalent) would be plenty for 1080p at generous fidelity settings. RAM is crazy cheap, 8GB is absolutely standard.

The recent launch of the GTX970/980 by Nvidia has properly shaken up the graphics card market, and prices further down the range of both Nvidia and AMD cards have tumbled.

My motherboard, CPU and RAM are now six (!) years old and they're still cheerfully munching up any games that I chuck at them, albeit with a more modern graphics card (GTX670), but even that's more than two years old now and it wasn't top-of-the-line even when it was new.
Author:  TheCookie197 [ Sat Oct 25, 2014 16:03 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Urgh, I wish I could save up the money to upgrade my PC, most recent games I've bought have had to be played at either Medium or Low. I'm thinking I'll upgrade it next summer. I might be able to get a job and save up a bit to buy a new PC before I (hopefully!) go to Uni. (And if I get into what I want, a new PC would probably help a bit.)

For a decent PC that would last quite a while, any idea what kind of price bracket I'd looking at? (If I was to buy the bits and build it myself, that is)
Author:  Bamba [ Sat Oct 25, 2014 16:27 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
My machine is knocking on for seven years old now and is nowhere near those specs. My PS4 is going to be my main gaming machine when I buy it but I suspect I'm going to need to upgrade to a new PC sooner rather than later just so I can carry on taking advantage of cheap Steam deals and the like. Usually I'd be happy to do this but it's been a hilariously fucking expensive few months and I don't relish the idea.
Author:  Hearthly [ Sat Oct 25, 2014 17:33 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Cookie197 wrote:
For a decent PC that would last quite a while, any idea what kind of price bracket I'd looking at? (If I was to buy the bits and build it myself, that is)


Off the top of my head I'd say under £500 for a gaming PC capable of serving up 1080p@60FPS in nearly all games at generous visual settings (the usual suspects like Crysis 3 excepted).

Haven't priced one up for a while TBH, and it's entirely possible there's an off-the-shelf one that might fit the bill too.

I'll have a little poke around.
Author:  markg [ Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:40 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
I'm definitely interested in seeing what you turn up. I just don't have the time to get up to speed on them but I really need a new PC and looking at similar money.
Author:  Doctor Glyndwr [ Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
This RLLMUK thread is a good place to start: http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?/t ... ggestions/
Author:  DavPaz [ Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
I do not have permission to view that forum
Author:  Doctor Glyndwr [ Sun Oct 26, 2014 10:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Oh, guess you'll have to register then.
Author:  Hearthly [ Sun Oct 26, 2014 10:51 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Under £600, no OS, but no cheapy shit in there either. (Lots of us work in IT so we legitimately get OS via that route innit.)

Latest i5 processor (I consider Haswell and Devil's Canyon to be the same thing), powerful graphics card, 8GB of fast RAM, 128GB SSD and 1TB hard drive.

For god's sake don't anyone order this as I've not sanity checked it (for example that's a big Windforce graphics card that may not fit in the case....), but this would be a genuinely powerful gaming PC for under £600.

Obviously there are lots of areas where the cost could be trimmed (lose the SSD, lob a cheapy power supply in there, drop the graphics card down a notch or two, even downgrade the CPU), but to give you an idea this is actually pretty damn similar in performance to my own PC, which can happily chuck Battlefield 3 around at top detail settings at 2560x1440 and hold around 60FPS.

If you need an optical drive that'd be an extra tenner or so, although I can't remember the last time I used the one in my PC, and you can install an OS from USB.

I'll have a go at putting together a proper cheapy one from eBuyer.

Attachment:
under600.JPG
Author:  Hearthly [ Sun Oct 26, 2014 11:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
Off-the-shelf for £599.99 and of course this does come with an OS (8.1 or Win 7 64-bit).

http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fu ... ng-PC.html

The graphics card is perhaps a touch on the weak side but should still do you for 1080p, and they've not skimped on anything else. (The 1TB hybrid drive is a nice touch, and apparently they work pretty well for giving SSD-like performance for a lot of tasks.)

Personally I'd be inclined to bump up the graphics card a notch to a 270X which will add about £40 to the cost, although you could always see how the 260X performs with the option of upgrading it in the future.

Quote:
Zalman Z3 Case in Black or White
Intel Core i5 4690K Processor overclocked to up to 4.3GHz
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler
Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Motherboard
AMD Radeon R7 260X 2GB Graphics Card
8GB PC3-12800 DDR3 Memory
1000GB SATA SSHD 7200rpm Hybrid Drive
600watt FSP PSU
Onboard High Definition Audio
Windows 8.1 64bit or Windows 7 64 bit at no extra cost

Please note there is no CD/DVD drive included in this specification as standard - one can be added on the first page of options for this PC

Ports on rear of system: *

4 x USB 3.0 ports
2 x USB 2.0 ports
Audio outputs
1 x 10/100/1000Mbps
Ethernet for network
2 x DVI outputs
1 x HDMI

* May vary if configuration is altered!

Ports on case:

2 x USB 2.0 ports
1 x USB 3.0 port
FP audio
Author:  DavPaz [ Sun Oct 26, 2014 11:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
That cpu, ram and mobo combo looks about right for my next upgrade
Author:  markg [ Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
I should probably just upgrade mine. Right now it has this:

2.80 gigahertz AMD Athlon 7850 Dual-Core
Gigabyte M61PME-S2P
ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
4GB RAM
500 GB HDD that's almost full.

If I was to chuck, say, £250 at it what would be the best things to buy? Is it even worth upgrading something of this age? Don't want to spend money just to stave off the inevitable for another year.

That said it's not especially for gaming I just need a bit more power for video stuff really and I'm pretty sure the CPU is the bottleneck there. Trying to play 1080p raw video files it just stutters and the task manager shows both CPU cores thrashing away at 100%.
Author:  Trooper [ Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:04 ]
Post subject:  Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
To be honest, it's probably not worth trying to upgrade, it's all a bit old hat and you won't get much for your money.
Better bet would be to start again and spend around £400 on the bits. AE will be along in a sec to tell you exactly what to buy :D
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