Gaming PC

[Wolfman]

Please help !

My son is asking for a gaming PC instead of using his XBOX


He wants to play Minecraft, Skyrim on the PC and leave the XBOX for COD etc


Can anybody suggest a typical spec and price and what to look for


It will also need wifi as he wishes to download from Steam etc


Any advice

 

[GreiginFife]

Personally I would look for minumum i5 Core Processor or alternatively AMD FX-7 or 8 Bulldozer Processor , about 6-8GB DDR3 RAM (around the 12800 standard - 1600MHz) Hard drive would be around 1TB (for the updates as some can be pretty big). Graphics card wise I would be looking at the nVidia GTX560 or above (or ATI Radeon HD78 series or above if you go for an AMD Processor) to get the best out of the games he is looking at.
Wifi is a minor consideration as most pre-built systems should have it or if you are looking at custom build then the wireless cards are only around the £20 mark for a reasonable one.
Suppose it's like clubs, our budget will define what you get for the most part - self build is the cheapest option.

 

[Wolfman]

OK i understand some of the spec. but where should i buy ?

How easy is it to build your own machine ?

What about secondhand off ebay ?

 

[CMAC]

OK i understand some of the spec. but where should i buy ?

How easy is it to build your own machine ?

What about secondhand off ebay ?

dont touch evilbay for second hand gaming pc's, more than likely you'll get a lemon...

I've bought here more than once and their pre-custom built gaming pc's are excellent- they know their stuff and prices are pretty good, active helpful forum as well..........
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/produ...874494586165&gclid=CP-I5c_-obMCFW3MtAodLwUA9g

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Agree mostly with Greg , but i would look at the Intel I7 3rd generation processor

anything by AMD is inferior, nothing comes close to this cpu

Combine it with 6 or 8 GB ram, a graphics card like Greg suggested and a SSD hard drive, 256Gb minimum and it will fly

Put in another standard SATA 1 TB hard drive for data and you will have a system that will last years

Fragger has spoken

 

[Phil2511]

dont touch evilbay for second hand gaming pc's, more than likely you'll get a lemon...

I've bought here more than once and their pre-custom built gaming pc's are excellent- they know their stuff and prices are pretty good, active helpful forum as well..........
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/produ...874494586165&gclid=CP-I5c_-obMCFW3MtAodLwUA9g

For gaming you don't need more than an i5 processor. Don't buy AMD.
The forum mentioned above is great. They are a friendly bunch of guys and if you give them a budget they will spec you the best PC for your money.
The important part for gaming is graphics card and they can be as much as £600 for a single card.

Here is a link to their forum. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/ 100's of members to advise you.
HTH

 

[ScienceBoy]

I bought an i7 920 system when they first came out, still going strong and OCed to 3.8

I suggest getting a prebuild system, either Scan.co.uk or overclockers are both good. You pay a little more but it saves a lot of work.

Also get a corsair h80 or similar sealed liquid cooling system and go for a 10-20% overclock.

Also try and get it with an SSD for the boot drive and a 1TB or 2TB drive for the rest of the data.

With a graphics card, 2GB onboard ram will become a necessity for a lot of big world games of the next few years. Either than or a crossfire/SLI setup.

PS looks like GIBBO is a moderator on that forum.....

 

[Phil2511]

If its the same Gibbo, i think he's an owner or staff with the company.

 

[G1BB0]

nah not me I'm afraid

 

[Lollfred]

I recently bought a gaming PC from Chillblast, cant go wrong with them and great value:

http://www.chillblast.com/