A friend (not the one with the broken PC, now fixed BTW) is looking to purchase a new gaming PC for his son this weekend. He lives near me, and isn't at all clued up on PC technology, so I've been making some suggestions (not that I would claim to be an expert).
He doesn't want to take the DIY route, which is understandable, and given that there's a Novatech near us who seem to offer reasonable value machines, that's where I've suggested he looks. Here's the list:
www.novatech.co.uk/pc/gaming/
I suspect the £665 one (2nd down) would more than do the job - 8GB RAM, GTX650Ti, i5, 1TB HD + 128GB SSD, but he wants to spend more. So I suggested one of the 2 £905 machines further down - both have i5s and 2TB HD + 128GB SSD, but one has a 7950 and 8GB RAM while the other has a GTX660 and 16GB. According to
www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php
the 7950 has a slightly higher benchmark, 4614 vs 4116.
Can you spot anything significantly 'wrong' with either of these, and which would you go for? That is, is having the extra RAM better than having the faster graphics?
(I've pointed out that he will also need a Windows, probably the £78 Windows 7 64 bit OEM.)
Other suggestions of course welcome, although regarding online alternatives I do think buying from somewhere nearby is a good idea in this case.
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A thumbs up for Novatech, I bought my present PC from them 2 years ago to replace my equally excellent MESH.
Dunno about games though, as I don't play games, well, not those-sort of games anyway ;)
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He should not be looking at a gaming PC, but instead for a console.
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Maybe, but then he wouldn't be able to play games online with all his friends (including my son).
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>> Maybe, but then he wouldn't be able to play games online with all his friends
BTW that is what they do ALL THE TIME instead of revising etc. :)
Last edited by: Focusless on Fri 23 Aug 13 at 11:33
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>> Maybe, but then he wouldn't be able to play games online with all his friends
>> (including my son).
>>
I thought modern consoles gave internet access?
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>> I thought modern consoles gave internet access?
Sorry, I wasn't clear - yes, you can play console games online, but the group of friends our boys are in have PCs rather than consoles (or if they do have consoles, they prefer PCs).
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>> I thought modern consoles gave internet access?
They do. But if his friends are playing games on PCs, then not likely to be able to play online with them if he gets a console.
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If he gets a console he will not only be able to play the lastest and greatest games (that may, if you are lucky appear on PC months later (if ever) 0 he will also get MORE friends.
PC is dead. Specially for gaming.
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Given its for the lad, that the lad wants a PC, that the friends he wishes to play with are on PCs and that the games they play are clearly available on PCs, then I'm guessing buying a console would be a pretty big fail.
However "dead" the PC is.
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>> Given its for the lad, that the lad wants a PC, that the friends he
>> wishes to play with are on PCs and that the games they play are clearly
>> available on PCs, then I'm guessing buying a console would be a pretty big fail.
>>
>> However "dead" the PC is.
Like we will take advice from a bloke who cant even operate a speaker....
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>> PC is dead.
What's the difference between a PC and a console? As a PC owner/user, I might need to know this when my current PC packs up.
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>> >> PC is dead.
>>
>> What's the difference between a PC and a console? As a PC owner/user, I might
>> need to know this when my current PC packs up.
No you dont need to know what a console is.
A console is for games players. When your PC packs up you will need to switch to a tablet.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 24 Aug 13 at 09:13
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>> When your PC packs up you will need to switch to a tablet.
>>
What's the difference between a PC and a tablet?
[I'm on enough tablets already ;-)]
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Its very much bigger than the tablets you have now, and very very difficult to swallow.
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>>[I'm on enough tablets already ;-)]
Keep taking the pils ;)
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>> A thumbs up for Novatech
Thanks, good to hear.
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Whilst for most uses, the PC is dead, for online gaming I'm not so sure. Anyway that's just my opinion.... a fast PC with not even a top end graphics card is more powerful than the next generation consoles. BUT... developers will develop for the consoles and therefore the extra capability of a PC is never used.
Of course to get a fast PC with excellent graphics costs a lot more than a console!
Back to the specs of those ~£900 gaming PCs I'd personally go for the one with nVidia graphics. But that's because of a personal preference to nVidia GPUs. The Geforce 660 GTX will run at full HD with most setting at their max and give good performance. But if you want higher resolution or to drive multiple monitors (for surround gaming) then you might want something faster.
The Geforce 670 has recently been dropped in price I think... might be worth asking about an upgrade to that?
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Thanks - I think the 660 will be fine for his usage. It doesn't look like they offer customised builds.
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Well as just mentioned in other thread, the deal is done. In the end I didn't really do much at the shop - a nice young chap came over to help and he seemed to know what he was talking about, so I pretty much left them to it.
And they didn't hold back - not just the £900 PC (advisor persuaded them to go for the Radeon 7950 rather than GTX650 option on the basis of better graphics), but also a £300+ 24" gaming monitor! Advisor must have thought Christmas had come early :)
My son was also there to get a new monitor to replace his 17" 4:3, and was happy to come away with a somewhat cheaper (£110) 24" Novatech/AOC. Old 17" (LCD) now on ebay, but I'm not sure it'll make double figures - pretty much being given away these days.
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New PC - Dog
