my gaming pc for guild wars 2?

[sassyjay]

awesome builds!!!! and a choice of three thank you! I actually find it really hard to choose which one!! hmmm I guess for overall performance I might go for the 6300fx with the 2gb 7850 as I can over clock the graphics card and save money for the cooler for the fx later... however you said the motherboard isnt good for overclocking? imagine not being limited by budget on the motherboard, which cheapest motherboard would you suggest for an overclock on the processor? arww shucks the first two builds are great I will probably go for one of them. I had conisdered using the phenom ii 4x 965 for overclocking but they look good enough!

woops double post didnt realise it had gone to the other page
ah excellent! hmmm so my choice seems to be to go for the fx 6300 and overclock it later or go for an i5 for the processing power without overclock.

right I am slightly blowing my budget but I am going for the i 3350p AND the msi 2gb radeon 7850 oc I wondered about paying the extra £12 for the i5 3450 but dont know how much difference in processor performance that would make?? Anyway very nervous as i am about to place the order later today!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

right I am slightly blowing my budget but I am going for the i 3350p AND the msi 2gb radeon 7850 oc I wondered about paying the extra £12 for the i5 3450 but dont know how much difference in processor performance that would make?? Anyway very nervous as i am about to place the order later today!!

The Core i5 3550P seems to be out of stock on Scan,and I assume you have free postage activated??

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I had a look around at other retailers and looked at parts in stock.

The first part of the build is from Amazon. Amazon are doing a free Amazon Prime next day delivery trial for 1 month. You can also get Nectar points on Amazon purchases.



I went for a slightly smaller screen but the monitor is better.

The second part of the build is from Dabs and you can get cashback from them too:

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/dabs/

http://www.quidco.com/dabs-com/



The total comes to around £630.

You can go for this CPU to save some money:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Proces...595013&sr=8-16

It is slightly slower than the one I specified and lacks PCI-E 3.0 capability too.

There is also this Palit GTX660 2GB:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Palit-GeForc...1595060&sr=8-1

The stock GTX660 2GB is around 10% to 15% faster than a stock HD7850 2GB. However,there is noise that AMD cards do better than Nvidia ones in GW2. OTH,I have not seen any recent articles testing this.

However,the Gigabyte HD7850 2GB I specified has the following advantages:
1.)Is pre-overclocked by around 13%
2.)Comes with a better cooler
3.)Has UK based RMA and a better warranty
4.)The HD7850 tends to see more performance gains with overclocking

[sassyjay]

good lord you are a mine of information!!!! thank you let me look at those for a moment! I have never seen dabs before?? those parts will come with warranty wont they? plus I looked at their website and they dont seem to sell anything but just link to other vendors how did you get the the parts??

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Dabs is a big computer parts retailer, some might be better overall,but they have been around for a long time.

You can get all the parts from Amazon,to make things easier. The main issue is the Core i5 3450 is £20 more on Amazon,so you would need to go for the Core i5 2400 and hard drives are cheaper on Dabs. Also Amazon has a habit of not packing their hard drives well enough for some unknown reason.

Edit!!

I would ignore the recommended add-ons in the Dabs picture as they are not really needed. The antistatic wrist band might be useful if you have never built a computer. However,I would do the following when building the computer:
1.)Not wear clothes made of materials which easily generate static,ie,Nylon for example
2.)Touch an earthed object like the bear metal part of the radiator before the build
3.)Do the build on a wooden floor or a wooden table. If on carpet,some of the more fluffier types are probably not a good idea.
4.)Handle parts via their edges
5.)Don't rush
6.)Don't rush
7.)Make sure if inserting any part,the two slots line up exacting,ie,for things like RAM

[sassyjay]

I put a build together using dabs and Scan and it looks pretty good and I get some better components from dabs.. i.e. motherboard and processor for cheaper. However scan are very good for graphics card, especially the msi 7850 so I will probably get that from them. How do you link the shopping basket images into your messages I have no idea how to do that?

[jim]

Press printscreen, load up paint, press Ctrl+V to paste, save the image onto your hard drive as a png file.

Then go to a site like photobucket or imageshack, upload the image you just saved.

Then copy the link that those sites create for a vbulletin forum - it should look something like [img]myimage.png[/img] - and then it should show in your post.

[sassyjay]

So sorry I did try what you said jim but unfortunately when I click on print I can only save the image as an xps and I cant copy and paste that into paint or anything. Unless there is literally a printscreen option in the browser and I just cant find it. Thank you for trying to explain it to me though.

Cat my apologies, honestly, this wont last forever but here are two builds one which is yours and alternate sacrificing cpu power for gpu which is probably bad for guild wars 2.

1
ASRock 970 Extreme 4, AM3+, AMD 970, ATX, 4 D3 2100, GLAN, USB 3.0, ESATA £69.56
AMD FX 4300 Black Edition, Vishera, Quad Core, S AM3+, 3.8GHz, 8MB Total Cache, 95W, Retail £103.28
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 PRO Extreme Performance CPU Cooler S775/1155/1156/1366/939/AM2/AM2+/AM3 £24.18
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.65V £26.59
23" Acer S230HLBbd DVI LED Full HD DVI/VGA 1920x1080 250cd/m2 100M:1 5ms Black £103.48
Sony AD-7280S-0B 24x DVD±R, 12xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6 ,12xRAM SATA, Black, OEM £12.67
500GB Seagate ST500DM002 Barracuda SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5ms, NCQ £41.98
NZXT Source 210 Elite White Mid Tower Gaming Case with USB 3.0 w/o PSU £35.05
2GB MSI Radeon HD 7870 Twin Frozr OC, 4800MHz GDDR5, 28nm, GPU 1050MHz, HDMI/mDP +Game Voucher £180.94
500W Corsair Builder Series CX CP-9020047-UK, 80 PLUS Bronze, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX, PSU £45.00
total inc vat and delivery £653.71
The idea for this build was due to tomshardware GW2 cpu and gpu guide which showed the large performance boost of the BD 4100 when overclocked to 4ghz. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...rk,3268-7.html. This way I get a more normal balance between cpu and gpu for other games. Don't worry I will be swapping the monitor and and power supply for instock and cheaper ones from DABS its just easier to put it together with these for you to see the comparison.

This is the second build.
Asus P8B75-V, Intel B75, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, PCIe 3.0 (x16), D-Sub (VGA)/ DVI-D, ATX £57.30
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.65V £26.59
Intel Core i5 3450, 1155, Ivy Bridge, Quad Core, 3.1GHz, 5 GT/s DMI, 650MHz GPU, 6MB Smart Cache, 31x Ratio, 77W, Retail £144.18

500GB Seagate ST500DM002 Barracuda SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5ms, NCQ £41.98
2GB MSI Radeon HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC, 4800MHz GDDR5, 28nm, GPU 900MHz, HDMI/mDP +Game Voucher £149.74
500W Corsair Builder Series CX CP-9020047-UK, 80 PLUS Bronze, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX, PSU £45.00
Sony AD-7280S-0B 24x DVD±R, 12xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6 ,12xRAM SATA, Black, OEM £12.67
NZXT Source 210 Elite White Mid Tower Gaming Case with USB 3.0 w/o PSU £35.05
23" Acer S230HLBbd DVI LED Full HD DVI/VGA 1920x1080 250cd/m2 100M:1 5ms Black £103.48
total including vat and delivery £635.96
The i5 is probably the build I will get as it doesnt bust over my budget so severly but there are some tempting advantages to the 4300 build like having a cooler and being able to buy steamroller when it comes out. I am not worried about the energy consumption so much as performance. Well with some swaps for the case/power supply/motherboard and cpu from dabs I reduce the bill by about 7 or 8 £s for each build which is nice. Any thoughts on the advantages/diadvantages between the two? the first can be adjusted to have the fx 6300 with the same cooler but drop the 7870 to the msi 7850 which is tempting. I promise I will make this the last offering before I ruminate and make the decision myself.

[jim]

Printscreen is a button on your keyboard, to the left of scroll lock usually.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

A few things:
1.)The XFX PRO 550W,Antec HXG 520W and OCZ ZS 550W are better PSUs than the CX500W for around £45 to £55. This is because they use better quality internal components. Dabs does the OCZ ZT 550W modular PSU for under £50 but it noisy under load.
2.)The monitor I chose uses an IPS panel,which means better viewing angles.
3.)The Bitfenix case is fantastic for the price. It can take very long cards(even an HD6990).
4.)The SB and IB CPUs require 1.5V RAM. The 1.65V RAM will default to 1333MHZ at 1.5V,although it is 1.5V 1600MHZ DDR3 which is the ideal RAM regarding price/performance for the IB platform. AMD CPUs tend to be OK with slightly higher voltage DDR3,although the lower voltage stuff runs a bit cooler.

Here is a review of the case:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/LP/msi..._medium=banner

The TH article could have been better done:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...rk,3268-7.html

They actually seem to not test the CPUs at stock settings which is daft!! The FX4170 actually operates at between 4.2GHZ to 4.3GHZ! The SB based Core i3 2100 operates at 3.1GHZ too. This means both a Core i3 2100 and an FX4170 are very similar in performance in the game.





However,the FX6000 series is around 25% faster clock for clock than the FX4000 series CPUs tested.

I suspect the Core i3 3225 and the FX4300 are with 10% of each other at stock clockspeeds.

Also,the AMD CPUs tested are the earlier Bulldozer based one and in certain games the Piledriver ones do have much better clock for clock performance.

I would get this motherboard for an AMD build:

http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyt...d%20ud3&src=16

The FX6300 is not too badly price either:

http://www.dabs.com/products/amd-fx6...%206300&src=16

However,the Core i5 build which I suggested is around the same price as an FX6300 overclocking build. It would be interesting to see which was faster,although the FX6300 build is more exciting!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I managed to find some other cases on Dabs.

This case will take upto 13" long cards if you remove the central part of the HDD cage:

http://www.dabs.com/products/xigmate...126.html?src=3

This case will take up to 11.4" long cards:

http://www.dabs.com/products/zalman-...BR7.html?src=3

The MSI card is around 10.6" long:

http://uk.msi.com/product/vga/R7870-...=Specification

I would get the monitor off Amazon as it does seem to get decent user reviews.

[sassyjay]

Printscreen is a button on your keyboard, to the left of scroll lock usually.

DOH! :$ was right in front of me. thank you

Cat that is a really good price for the fx 6300! hmmmm I am going to go for it with the amazon monitor and the motherboard you recommend! I will take your advice and really take my time with building it, and it would be good to try some overclocking! There are guides on tomshardware and here so I will give them a thorough read. Though does the gigabyte motherboard come with some kind of efi? that would make things very simple.
for example
http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-m5...48750000&src=3

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

So,what parts list are you looking at,just to check the components compatibility. I do wish more reviews tested the FX4300 and FX6300 overclocked in games against a Core i5. It seems most reviews are only bothered about checking the overclocked gaming performance of Core i5 K series it seems!!

Consider how cheap the Phenom II X4 965BE is,I am surprised TH did not even put in a Phenom II X4 in the GW2 benchmarks.

[sassyjay]

Sorry to sound over the top but here is the best CPU benchmark review I have ever found! REALLY thorough as they dont just rely on an average fps to compare them. http://www.hardcoreware.net/amd-pile...ishera-8350/1/
According to that I should really get the fx 6300 and some air cooling as at my price range I will get some really good performance. The only thing is the motherboard, I need perhaps to spend a little more on that or the asus will be good enough? to be fair I should not be swayed by eufi and get the best board so your gigabyte one is probably better. I will edit this post later with my shopping basket for you to see.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

then the rest I will get from scan here


Uploaded with ImageShack.us
The idea with this build is I will buy my cpu cooler at the end of next month when my next paycheck comes in. That way I can get a noctua or equivalent air cooler. whaddya think?

edit again... ah ha I have found a motherboard that supports FX straight out the box without needing to flash the motherboard.
http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-m5...48750000&src=3
however I would prefer the gigabyte from reading the review.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The thing is though those motherboards and coolers are nice but bump the cost up so,you could get a cheaper socket 1155 motherboard and a Core i5 though! However,overclocking is fun as is having a shiny motherboard,so it depends on what you want!!

That Gigabyte 970 motherboard is not too bad - my mate has one and has his Athlon II X3 455 at 4GHZ in it.

[sassyjay]

ah man I have been doing research and all these motherboards require a bios update to run an fx chip in them. Only asus(£97 or £119) seem to have compatible ones and I dont have a spare cpu if i buy the others. I could go with that gigabyte 970 and stick the phenom 965 BE and overclock it if I want to do some overclocking, or I go for the cheaper i5 build you have suggested to me. I think the i5 is going to win as I dont want to be trying to flash a motherboard on my first build (sorry amd I wanted to use them!). The build will be the dabs one you showed me before with the amazon monitor and the things from amazon I will get from scan if they have the msi in stock anytime soon.

edit major issue, I hadnt taken in that my old vista CD was from my laptop and thus was oem, so basically I wont be able to use it. One idea to solve this problem is to buy from this website (I pay 95p for expenditures in dollars on my card) and download that copy and burn it to a dvd. That would work wouldn't it?
edit.
sorry I removed the link as I have found out they are fraudsters, my apologies.

2nd edit.
I have ordered my beautiful pc!!! err I dont suppose there is a forum where I could start a thread showing some pictures of my parts and the completed build?