Thoughts on Possible PC

[keynes]

Also, I see a lot of people use two drives, often the second drive having a larger capacity. I don't see what the point of this is, should I be considering it?

can your budget allow for a 2nd drive?

 

[BenV]

can your budget allow for a 2nd drive?

I've gone way over my original intended budget, so unless there's a VERY good reason to, nope. I was just wondering why people use two drives.

 

[keynes]

first drive OS with an SSD 2nd drive for storage of games/media...etc

 

[Rakk]

Also, I see a lot of people use two drives, often the second drive having a larger capacity. I don't see what the point of this is, should I be considering it?

Its basically because when a lot of people do this the first hard drive is an SSD which is much faster than a normal hard drive but is also more expensive, so they get a faster smaller drive for the OS and most used stuff and a larger drive (that is cheaper) for everything else - its basically cos buying an SSD big enough for everything would be really very pricey.

 

[BenV]

Well I guess I don't have much reason to stretch my budget even further then. Windows 7 takes up about 20GB, the 1TB Cavair Black should do.

 

[BenV]

Case
InWIN G7 BRUSHED EFFECT DARK GREY CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-6300 Six Core CPU (3.50GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AM3+ (ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ R9 270 - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W VS SERIES™ VS-650 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
AOC 21.5" WIDESCREEN LED TFT - 1920 x 1080, 5MS, D-Sub, DVI-D (£85)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® K120 USB KEYBOARD (£10)
Headsets
CM Storm Ceres-300 Gaming Headset (£34)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £787.00 including VAT and delivery.

Thoughts on this then, as a final spec?

 

[keynes]

R9-270x, you could get 4gb ram in the meantime to compensate for the difference in price.

 

[BenV]

R9-270x, you could get 4gb ram in the meantime to compensate for the difference in price.

The R9-270 looks like it would be good enough though, I'd much rather not lose 4GB of RAM.

 

[keynes]

I doubt you will notice a difference between 4gb and 8gb for your intended use.

 

[BenV]

Would 4GB of RAM be sufficient to run demanding games like Far Cry 3?

 

[keynes]

Would 4GB of RAM be sufficient to run demanding games like Far Cry 3?

What is going to make a difference is the GPU not the RAM. 4gb ram will be fine for Far Cry 3, the r9-270x will give you more fps.

 

[BenV]

Alright, I'll go with 4GB if it's definitely enough memory and get the R9-270x, which actually saves me £20

Apart from that, does it look decent?

 

[keynes]

Alright, I'll go with 4GB if it's definitely enough memory and get the R9-270x, which actually saves me £20

Apart from that, does it look decent?

Looks good

 

[BenV]

Thanks for the help

 

[BenV]

Sorry to keep bumping this thread. I'm just a bit concerned about the case right now, I'm starting to question whether or not it would be sufficient in keeping the system properly cooled. I was thinking about adding extra fans, but for some reason the configurator doesn't let me do this, even though the case details says the case has extra fan slots. Would the case be sufficient anyway, or should I consider changing it? Here's the spec below for reference:

Case
InWIN G7 BRUSHED EFFECT DARK GREY CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-6300 Six Core CPU (3.50GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AM3+ (ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ R9 270X - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Free Item
FREE NSF - SILVER GAME VOUCHER with AMD R7 260 & R9 270 GPUs
1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W VS SERIES™ VS-650 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
AOC 21.5" WIDESCREEN LED TFT - 1920 x 1080, 5MS, D-Sub, DVI-D (£85)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® K120 USB KEYBOARD (£10)
Headsets
CM Storm Ceres-300 Gaming Headset (£34)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £801.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[keynes]

If you are concerned with heating get a better case rather than adding more chassis fans

 

[vanthus]

The case should be fine,it will have 1 x rear 120mm case fan,1 x top 120mm case fan and 1 x front 120mm case fan ,
suitability in the specs is described as "Extreme Gaming, Home Servers, Extreme PC Systems"

 

[BenV]

Thanks

 

[BenV]

Oh, and do you think it would be worth upgrading the cooler is the standard one good enough?

 

[BenV]

I read somewhere that DVI can't produce sound independently. The monitor I chose has built in speakers, but will they actually be functional if the monitor is connected simply via the DVI? Sorry if this is a stupid question. :wacko: