This is posted seeking an answer from Zero, but by all means I am happy to listen to anybody. The sad truth is that I am a hardware expert from the days when Compact MicroVAX, VAX/VMS and RD54s rules the world. I would have asked Zero privately in an email but I thought others might be interested.
The daughters needs a gaming machine, I would prefer not to spend hugely on the subject.
I am trying to combine limiting my immediate expenditure but retaining expansion possibilities.
So, what's wrong with this?
Intel Core i3-8100
GeForce GTX 1060 6G
MSI Z370-A Pro
DDR4-2400 8GB
Crucial MX300 275GB
EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze PSU
plus a case.
Like I said, I no longer know about such stuff. e.g. does buying an i3 limit me in some way that buying an i7 would not? Though it seems that MB can cope with most of today's CPUs so upgrade is always possible.
I know more disk space will be required, I have a s***load of unused disks. Ditto monitors, keyboards and mouses (or mice).
My technical expertise is faded to the point where part numbers and product names help me more than capability and functionality descriptions.
As Zero mentioned to me, I have peculiar local supply restrictions. But i have a one off opportunity since a friend is moving from the States to here and is bringing a large container. So I can sneak stuff in.
Thoughts?
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>> Intel Core i3-8100
You said a gaming machine - too slow. You need something fast to feed the GPU. AMD's Ryzen CPUs are very good. But if you insist on Intel than an i5 at a minimum. If you don't intend upgrading in the future, an older generation i7 might be a good buy.
>> GeForce GTX 1060 6G
New Nvidia Turing GPUs due soon - some bargains no doubt to be had. High end GPU's have been expensive of late because of bitcoin miners.
>> DDR4-2400 8GB
8GB isn't much especially across multiple channels. I'd say 16GB minimum.
>> EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze PSU
Might be okay but depends on CPU and GPU you go for. No mention of disks.... I'd have an SSD for the system and a HDD for everything else.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 20 May 18 at 21:08
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>> >> Intel Core i3-8100
>> You said a gaming machine - too slow.
That was my thought too.
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Cant argue with any of that, (well I could but it would be nit picking or pandering to my personal manufacturer prejudices)
Initially I baulked at the mention of an I3, but I see its the new architecture 4 core. Even so for a gaming machine I would kick it out in favour of an i7
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>> Even so for a gaming machine I would kick it out in favour of an i7
Could you give me a pointer as to which i7 please.
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I7 8700 (save money, not the 8700K)
make sure your motherboard supports the latest Gen 8 "coffee lake" CPU's.
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Ok, got you.
But other than making sure the Mother Board above supports it, and ensuring the PSU is man enough, am I probably going to be ok?
I guess Rob's suggest about 16Gb RAM makes sense, also?
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Your PSU will be man enough for the config you have. The I7 is only about 65 watts, and the SSD is a low power device, Graphics cards eat power. However watch the number of HDD you add.
I have 16gb of memory on my machine.
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Oh and make sure the CPU you buy is a retail one, not an OEM one. The retail one comes with a fan and heatsink, the OEM one dont. Its hassle you dont want trying to buy and spec a fan heatsink combo that will fit.
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Good tip, I would have missed that.
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I have had access to a PC for longer than most - 1984, 8088 PC twin floppy, DOS1 (no £ sign)
I have seen folk struggle with PCs built from bits, slight incompatibilities that are difficult to track down as to hardware, drivers, OS etc.
If it were me I'd buy a Brand name gaming machine hoping that at least there is some engineering & testing gone into the configuration & there is somewhere to go back to if & when it goes wrong for a couple of years anyroads..
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What is your budget? I have just bought a CPU/MB bundle with 16GB RAM for £400 from Amazon - existing case, drives and GPU (Radeon R7) were reused.
AMD Ryzen 1600X and 16GB 2400 DDR4 RAM.
Seems to run ok and upgraded a near 10 year old AMD Athlon X4 which was fine for most things but was struggling to run some recent games without low res/textures.
Note - if you love driving games, Beamng drive is a must.
www.beamng.com/
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>What is your budget?
I am reverse engineering that. It looks like it will cost me about $1,100 US, about £800. I can live with that, I thought it was going to be worse.
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>> I have had access to a PC for longer than most - 1984, 8088 PC
>> twin floppy, DOS1 (no £ sign)
>>
>> I have seen folk struggle with PCs built from bits, slight incompatibilities that are difficult
>> to track down as to hardware, drivers, OS etc.
It was a lot harder in the old days when you had to deal with IRQ conflicts and elusive drivers, but nowadays it's a doddle, to be completely honest.
I've built my last 3 desktop machines, and as long as you don't buy anything too obscure, the hardware is pretty much plug and play these days. Modern Windows recognises almost everything out of the box, and will install standard drivers that get the machine up and running without any user intervention at all. Windows 10 will install on my 4 year old home built i5 and get everything working by itself. Pretty much the only manual part now is downloading and installing the latest graphics card drivers from the manufacturer, to replace the Microsoft version that Windows installs.
What I love about home build, apart from the satisfaction, is that you can spend the money where you think it's needed, rather than paying for stuff you don't need or want.
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... and if something fails or requires upgrade you now have the knowledge and confidence to replace that part rather than the whole PC.
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>> I have had access to a PC for longer than most - 1984, 8088 PC
>> twin floppy, DOS1 (no £ sign)
I had access to similar a year earlier, and had certainly built one by 1984, probably one of the first to build one in the UK.
>> I have seen folk struggle with PCs built from bits, slight incompatibilities that are difficult
>> to track down as to hardware, drivers, OS etc.
Certainly in the old days, anything dos based. PnP OS fixed all that (well when they got PnP fixed that is)
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In 84 I was mostly using VAXen. Put I had a horrible VT52-based PC. And it was nasty.
I don't think I really started using PCs regularly until about 90. It was just as Windows 3.0 started.
I'd stopped doing anything technical for a job by about 87, I think.
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>> The daughters needs a gaming machine
Is PC still a gaming platform? I thought kids now prefer iPad/PS4/XBOX etc. over PC for gaming.
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I pass on what I am told.....
Apparently the graphics are downgraded for consoles and the best graphics are available on PCs. I am told the difference is significant.
If you are playing fast then apparently a PC is better than a console, including mouse and keyboard rather than controller.
Both [all] is better than any one.
Don't ask me, I still think Space invaders is cool.
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Ah, that Space Invader and Pacman! Some apps in tablet have depicted those old games. So if you like you can still play.
I think these are to attract old (!) people like us. Modern kids don't really enjoy such blockly graphics type games.
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I recently found a PC based Spectrum emulator and free games. I used to play some of those games for hours on end. Atic Atac, Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, Horace and the Spiders and others. Tried them out but they don't grip me as much - but then I'm more of a solitaire player than an out and out gamer now. I have some elderly shoot 'em up (early Call of Duty and Doom etc) and motor racing games which I wind up once in a while.
I often play poker (for fun, not real money!) and of course Candy Crush on the phone while watching TV.
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I regularly play snooker on Virtual Pool, one of the best sports simulations I've ever seen. All Billiard table games are available on it and they have got the angles and the reaction of the balls spot on. The only grumble is the tables play a little too fast.
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R O'R,
I couldn't find it on Google, do you have a link? Thank you.
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>> I pass on what I am told.....
>>
>> Apparently the graphics are downgraded for consoles and the best graphics are available on PCs.
>> I am told the difference is significant.
You are able to buy, and update to, faster better graphics cards on PC, and ditto CPU and memory.
Al in all, the PC is a much faster machine for games
>> If you are playing fast then apparently a PC is better than a console, including
>> mouse and keyboard rather than controller.
However, the choice of games for PC is much more limited than consoles, not all console games port to PC. Even MS ones.
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As you say Zero not all games come to the PC. I've not purchased a game in ages and my PC probably needs a better graphics card - it's quite a few years old. CPU is fine since the latest quad Core i7's and massively faster.
The consoles on sale now have CPUs based on outdated AMD CPUs (the ones that were not competitive against Intel at the time) and GPUs are nowhere near as fast as even the top end card available in PCs a few years ago. But.... the programmers know what the spec is and can take full advantage. For PCs you have to make sure the game will play on lower spec hardware (reduced graphics, particles, physics etc).
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Building a computer.... - rtj70
