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Advice on general gaming build

I

Isildur

n00b
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
15
As of recently my PC started BSOD'ing and doing random re-boots a few minutes after startup, with no CPU or GPU consuming tasks other than booting up and launching startup programs. It could be the software, but since I wanted to upgrade anyway, Ill re-install the OS then.



1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
It will be used for general gaming on high settings (Skyrim, Tribes Ascend, Diablo 3 and such), some mild video-editing and Photoshop
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Around 300 Eur inc. taxes. This converts to roughly 300 USD because of the higher taxes in Europe.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Europe, Estonia
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
I'll need a CPU, MOBO, 8 gigs of RAM and a CPU cooler if neccesary.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I'll be reusing the Gpu (Nvidia GTX 560Ti, factory overclocked), the PSU (Corsair CX600 600w), case (InWin Fanqua), DVD drive and HDD's.
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
22" 1920x1280
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
In the following week.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Nothing special, but a little upgrade room for RAM would not hurt.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Win. 7 Ultimate both x64 and x86
 
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What's the specs of your current PC? Have you actually done any troubleshooting?
 
No, I haven't done any troubledhooing yet, because I have no intention to use any parts of that PC other than GPU and PSU. However, if you think that the problem.may be in either of those parts, then 'll certanly try and find the source of the problems. It might be troublesome however, because tha PC seems to keep running onluõy i safe mode.

But again, I will upgrade the PC even if the problems cease.

Those are the current specs:
AMD Athlon 64, X2 Dual Core 5600+ 2.81 GHz
ASUS M2N-X MOBO
2x1024Mb DDR2 Ram
Plus the psu, gpu and case mentioned above.
 
Do you know of any online stores that'll ship to Estonia?
 
Amazon should, but pricewise I'm pretty sure that if something costs ie. 100 bucks in the states then the price would be ca 100 eur in Estonia.
My budget is around 300 EUR give or take 50 EUR.
 
I will probably buy most of the stuff locally, because shipping would be more expensive. This is the shop that I'll most likely use. Problem is, it's only in estonian (altough item names and descriptions are in english). I doubt that anyone will have the time to search parts there, but I'll link it anyway.

http://www.arvutikeskus.ee/
 
It's great that you managed to look up specific items. Thanks alot. How viable would this build be, lifespan-wise? I might be able to spend like 50 Eur more. Are there any breakpoints near that pricerange? I mean, if I spent a little more, woulf I get better performance? If so, what is bottlenecking the build atm. cpu? gpu?

Thanks in advance.
 
You can get roughly 5% more performance with this CPU:
http://www.arvutikeskus.ee/est/TOOT...-3450-31G-6M-LGA1155-BOX-BX80637I53450-156548

Besides that, CPU wise, you're pretty much set since you're only gaming, not overclocking (your budget, even with the extra euros, still wouldn't be enough for an overclocking capable setup), and your video editing/Photoshop work is only "mild".

Actually that 50 euros really wouldn't get you any noticeable performance increase with the kind of use you've described. Maybe more RAM since those are starting to go back up in price.

As for your next bottleneck, it's gonna be the hard drive a tie between the HDD and GPU IMO. A HDD will always be the slowest part in a PC. However a SSD (a good quality one anyway) will make a huge difference in the overall responsiveness of the system. If you do ever get the funds for a new SSD, I recommend the Crucial M4, Plextor M3, Corsair Performance Pro, Intel 520, or Samsung 830 series SSDs. I do not recommend any other SSD series at this point in time. GPU wise, if you plan on playing more higher-end games (BF3) or using Skyrim with a ton of mods, a new GPU might be a good idea. But D3 and Tribes Ascend whould be more than happy with the GPU you have now. However your budget isn't enough for either new parts.
 
Thanks for the info. If I were to buy more RAM, I should buy a 2x8 Gb set right? What should I bear in mind when choosing it? Does it have to have heatsinks or is that something related to overclocking? Also, do I need a CPU cooler or can I just roll with the default?

Do you think that this build would be viable for gaming in
some time? Also, how big of a performance increase I will see after upgrading?

I hope that later on I will be able to upgrade parts seperately, and thus get better quality parts, as of right now I had to upgrade everything.

Again, thanks to anyone that finds the time to answer my questions.
 
For what you do right now, all you really need is 8GB of RAM. What are you using for video editing?

If you're not overclocking and you don't live in a hot environment, you can get buy with the stock CPU cooler. Then again, a good third-party CPU cooler like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus will run quieter and cool better than the stock Intel HSF.

The new motherboard and processor will add a slight performance boost in gaming. For more noticeable gaming improvement, however, you need to buy yourself a newer, better video card. Not even an SSD will improve games the way that a better GPU would -- an SSD only loads games and programs faster.
 
Okay, I'll be using the pc for cutting clips of video snd joining them, maybe a little colorcorrection, but thats it.

Is the 560ti really that weak? It seems to be put into most prebuilt gaming machines even those that run an i7 alongside it. I understand it is'nt nowhere near top-notch bug it seems to be sufficent

I might buy a fan controller instead, because right now the pc's 4 fans make huge noise, even when idling.
 
He was asking what program you're using for video editing.

It's not weak per sa, but it's not a top end card either. It's on the low end of the gaming GPUs for sure, so you'll be fine with it. However, the upgrades you are doing wont really net you a gaming performance increase (more FPS) since most games benefit from better video cards, not GPUs. So if you want to see a gaming performance increase, you'll want to upgrade that 560 Ti.

Unless it's 120mm or bigger fans, I wouldn't bother with a fan controller.
 
Yes, i do have a 220mm side fan and 3x 120mm fans. As for the software I'm not sure yet. I already have the base material, but haven't had time to edit it. Maybe Aftereffects maybe something simpler, as I do not need special effects but rather cutting together large amounts of video.

For now I think I'm content with that setup and will buy t parts in a few days.

Thank you very much for helping me. If I have any further questions, I'll post them here.
 
The G.Skill RAM is the same, specs-wise, as the Patriot RAM I chose earlier. The Patriot RAM, however, was slightly cheaper.

If either (or both) of them are out of stock, what you should look for in RAM is DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600 speeds (don't spend more for faster RAM) and 1.5V (any higher and you risk damaging the processor).
 
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