Idea's need - spec to play Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2

[Amethyst]

Hi All,

I am not sure what I want other that to play this one game.
This is not a rush request. planning on saving for new CPU for my birthday in July.
Looking at a budget of £500- 800.
will be home computer and to only play this one game.

minimum requirements for the game are
OS Windows 7 64-bit,
Windows 8.1 64-bit,
Windows 10 64-bit
CPU Intel i5 650, AMD Phenom X4 9850
GPU NVIDIA GeForce GT 640,
AMD Radeon HD 7730
RAM 4 GB

But I want something that's better faster than my current computer which is
Hewlett-Packard
Processor "AMD AthlonÔ II X4 635 Processor
Quad-core
2.90 GHz
512KB of L2 cache per core (total of 2MB)"
Installed memory (RAM) 3 GB (2.75 usable)

Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE nForce 430
System Type Windows 7 home premium - 64 bit
Storage 464 GB (0.464TB)
Wifi Built in
Optical disc drive Cd/DVD

Is it possible to get wifi built in
what would recommend?

sorry if I am posting this on the wrong board. And pardon the spelling and punctuation I am dyslexic.

 

[Oussebon]

I am not sure what I want other that to play this one game.
This is not a rush request. planning on saving for new CPU for my birthday in July.
Looking at a budget of £500- 800.
will be home computer and to only play this one game.

Are you saying you won't be buying this until July?

In which case there's no point designing a spec yet as the market might look quite different by then. Zen (new CPUs) will presumably be out, as will Vega (new GPUs), and economic conditions might be different as well. The state of the £ since last summer has caused a steady rise in the price of computer components - that may reverse or worsen in the next 6 months.

But if you're not buying for 6 months I'd say there's no point planning a spec yet

 

[Amethyst]

Thanks for replying. I wanted some ideas so that I know what I need to save up as my economic conditions have change and i gotten a new job but I am trying to resist buying new computer just to play one game. I keep this on the back burner for the moment until nearer the time. I try reading the threads but I am a little lost.

 

[Oussebon]

As well as the minimum requirements it's often worth looking at the recommend requirements as this gives a quick indication of whether there is any benefit to higher end hardware.

MINIMUM
OS: Windows 7 64-bit / Windows 8.1 64-bit / Windows 10 64-bit
CPU: 3.20 GHz Intel i5 650 / 2.5 GHz AMD Phenom X4 9850
RAM: At least 4GB for Windows 7 / Windows 8.1 / Windows 10
Hard Drive: 40 GB
Video: NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 / AMD Radeon HD 7730
DirectX: 11
Input: Keyboard and Mouse, Analogue Controller
Online Connection Requirements: 192 KBPS or faster internet connection

RECOMMENDED
OS: 64-bit Windows 10 or later
CPU: Intel i5 6600 or equivalent
RAM: At least 16GB RAM
Hard Drive: 40 GB
Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB / AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB
DirectX: 11.1 Compatible video card or equivalent
Input: Keyboard and Mouse, Analogue Controller
Online Connection Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster internet connection

So it seems it can make use of fairly high end hardware towards the upper end of your budget, such as an intel i5 and a GPU like an RX 480 / GTX 1060 (the modern equivalents of the GTX 970 and R9 290 in that spec). That kind of spec would in fact push pretty high settings on most modern games.

You'll see well-rounded builds of around £800 with that kind of spec so all being well you should be able to afford a PC capable of taking the game to its limits that is also suitably future-proof to remain viable for other games for several years.

You obviously don't have to buy a PC capable of pushing very high settings on PvZGW2. If you do keep an eye on budget gaming build threads on the forums though, you'll see people explain the kinds of compromises and proportionately lower value for money when there's a budget around the £650 end of things or less.

That's somewhat obvious when you think about it - for a gaming PC you'll want Windows (£90), a PC case (~£40), some RAM (~£40), a power supply (~£35-45), a motherboard (~£60), some kind of storage (HDD for ~£45), none of which really affects gaming performance but which you need for the PC to function. So if you have a budget of £600 that's about half of it gone before you've started buying things like the CPU and GPU that affect gaming performance. Thus an £800 gaming machine will have getting on for double the amount spent on its gaming capability as a £550-£600 machine.

Factor in the fact that performance for gaming GPUs doesn't scale linearly with price (a £140 GPU can be a lot weaker than a £180 one, while a £650 GPU may only be 30% weaker than one costing £1200) and you tend to find a very steep decline in performance once your budget drops below a certain level.

What level that may be will doubtless shift around come July, but for the moment I would say ~£800 is a sweet spot for a gaming build.

If that's of any interest as you peruse the forums

/burbling

 

[Amethyst]

Hi,

That was sort of the info I was looking for. So I start Saving up i know what I am aiming for.

 

[Amethyst]

Hello Again.

Budget may have altered a bit now more in the region of £700 -850. should i still wait to spec or is now a good time?

 

[Wozza63]

While there's not really any expected major hardware releases, it's still worth waiting until shortly before you're ready to place your order. Prices fluctuate, so what may fit your budget now, may be cheaper or more expensive in a months time.

 

[Oussebon]

A budget around £800 sounds totally fine.

As above, there's no immediately obvious reason why waiting would be better or why buying now would be better.

So I guess the main question is if you a) want the PC now, b) are happy waiting, or c) want to wait and save up more to get something even better.

An £800 gaming PC would already be better than what a lot of people game with.

 

[Amethyst]

Hi oussebon & wozza

I have the money save give or take £50 which I am hoping I can use a promo code for. main thing with the time line is i have a holiday coming up. Unsure if i need to order now for delivery before 25 June or leave it later for delivery after13th July. I aim to have new PO for the 16th my actual B'day.
also being a bit odd have preference for the colour purple and the number seven. Think an I7 is out of my league?

 

[Wozza63]

That's a difficult decision. Ordering now, you would almost definitely receive it before your holiday, however it would be difficult to time it to a 3 day window afterwards. An i7 or Ryzen 7 would not be very balanced in your system unless you were to do CPU intensive work. I suggest probably a Ryzen 5 would be best for your budget.

 

[Oussebon]

There won't be any promo codes, certainly not worth £50. They used to do the occasional £10-15 one in printed PC magazine adverts so you could potentially find one there.

An R5 build might just fit into the budget. The quad core R5s really don't distinguish themselves in gaming, especially for the only modest cost reduction vs a 6 core R5, so I'd suggest the R5 1600(x):


Case
GAME MAX FALCON BLACK GAMING CASE (RGB LED)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six Core CPU (3.4GHz-3.6GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B350-PLUS (DDR4, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP

FREE Rocket League with select GTX 10 Series GPUs!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price £846.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/GcMD6dsKnA/

Otherwise an Intel i5 7600 build would be about £60 cheaper and the performance would be pretty similar overall for gaming. Sometimes a bit better, sometimes not. The R5 might age better for gaming.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc/2cUV!GjAve/

Purple PC cases aren't very common. Your best bet would be RGB LEDs to make purple light. I put an RGB LED strip in the R5 build and the Game Max Falcon case has RGB LED fans.

If you do get the PC before going on holiday to get it in time for your birthday, make sure to test it thoroughly before going on holiday, don't just let it sit in the box. I'm sure the overwhelming majority of PCS computers are fine on delivery, but sometimes things can get damaged in transit and there's always the scope for human error in quality control, so it's always worth running the PC when you get it and testing it out in gaming etc to make sure everything's as it should be.

 

[Amethyst]

Hi,

thanks for the reply. what's the difference between a RBG LED strip and a UV would they both look purple? case colour does not mater so much( as long as there is not pink)with all the talk of SSD drive was hoping to get one or are these outside my price range? Also think i might need an controller to play the game? are x box controllers they only ones that work with PC? also will I need a different wireless option than
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
as i am only connected by wifi.

would shifting the budget up improve performance and loading times (SSd)?

forgot to ask on AMB option you went with a Nvida card is there a particular reason for this? why not an AMD card. does it meet the directx 11 requirements of the game?

also thinking of getting tekken 7.

 

[Oussebon]

are these outside my price range?

I would say that they are as getting one within your budget would involve major compromises on other components.

Adding an SSD is one of the easiest DIY upgrades for a PC however, and not having one doesn't mean lower gaming performance. Installing one involves 4 small screws and connecting 2 cables. Or if it's an M.2 SSD, one screw and no cables.

Obviously you can stretch the budget. A PM961 SSD is about £110. But if doing so is a bit problematic then buying one further down the line isn't a problem.

what's the difference between a RBG LED strip and a UV would they both look purple?

An RGB strip should look whatever colour or changing colour combinations you tell it to look like. The UV ones I assume look purple or blueish purple. You could ask PCS.

 

[Amethyst]

thanks. considering increasing the budget.

I need to add in an analogue controller I think the is on e of the peripherals. are the x box ones the only type that work with a PC?

thinking of getting tekken 7 - how do i find what specifications this would need?

do I need to get better wifi card as this is who mus PC is connected with out a home plug.

On the AMD ryzen spec you used a GEFORCE card is this better than the AMD cards? when used with AMD processor?

 

[Oussebon]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/389730/TEKKEN_7/

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required)
• Processor: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5 GHz or equivalent
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 equivalent or higher
• DirectX: Version 11
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 60 GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX compatible soundcard or onboard chipset

So the hardware should be fine for that game.

This article talks about performance and also controller support for Tekken 7: http://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/reviews/tekken-7-pc-review-1706889

On the AMD ryzen spec you used a GEFORCE card is this better than the AMD cards? when used with AMD processor?

The CPU brand you use makes no difference to the GPU brand, or vice versa. At the prices on this website and your budget, a GTX 1060 3gb seemed like the best option.

do I need to get better wifi card as this is who mus PC is connected with out a home plug.

Yes, you'd need a wifi card or a USB wifi adapter. The AC1200 wifi card should be fine. Otherwise a USB adapter you can get off Amazon is also fine. There are no knockout advantages to one over another.

I need to add in an analogue controller I think the is on e of the peripherals. are the x box ones the only type that work with a PC?

There are lots of other controllers available. You can just search on Amazon and see what I mean. Some games may prefer an xbox controller. Since you're already stretching your budget you may want to shop around in case you can find your peripherals cheaper elsewhere. I've seen some (legit) ones for almost £20 less.

 

[Amethyst]

Hi,

dragon has spoken.Not to but new PC until after holiday( will have more time playing with it then). fingers crossed I have a better budget then. thanks for your input.

 

[Amethyst]

Hello, back again.

got a bonus at work and did not spend all my holiday money so budget Max is now £1050. I tried tweaking the spec i was given to add the fractal define case, noctua cooler fan,ssd ememory, with a wireless card and DVD drive. but can't get this to work with the motherboard. Help?

 

[Oussebon]

For that kind of budget and if you like the Define case I would probably suggest something like:

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-7700k (4.2GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z270-P: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP

FREE Rocket League with select GTX 10 Series GPUs!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212X (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,038.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z270-pc/ep4ez5BH4d/

 

[Wozza63]

For that kind of budget and if you like the Define case I would probably suggest something like:

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-7700k (4.2GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z270-P: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP

FREE Rocket League with select GTX 10 Series GPUs!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212X (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,038.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z270-pc/ep4ez5BH4d/

For gaming an i5 or Ryzen 5 and a 1070 would make much more sense?

 

[Oussebon]

If gaming at 1080p a GTX 1060 is fine, while the much better i7 would be more futureproof, hopefully delaying as long as possible the purchase of a new system.

Whether the OP buys a 1060 or a 1070 now, they will one day want to replace it with something better. Probably best if the CPU is as little a roadblock to performance for whatever they add in a few years down the road.

Recommending an i5 + GTX 1070 hasn't made sense for gaming for a while now. And by the same token nor does an R5 and GTX 1070 unless the criterion is "budget 1440p". And that's something of a contradiction.