So, without Mac haters ranting about hating Mac's, I need some advice please as I have no idea where to begin or even if it's worth replacing....... A friend suggested the following:
Eos - i5 Gaming PC
Component Upgrades
Case - Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred
Power Supply - Corsair CX600 600W
Processor - Intel Core i5 3450 3.1Ghz
Processor Cooler - Stock Manufacturer Heatsink and fan
RAM - 4GB Corsair DDR3 XMS3 1600Mhz/PC12800
Motherboard - Asus P8B75-M LX
Graphics card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB
Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 1TB Hard Drive 7200rpm 32MB Cache
2nd Hard Drive - Corsair 60GB SSD Solid State Drive Force3
3rd Hard Drive - None
Sound card - Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Optical Drive - Sony 24x DVD/CD ± Re-Writer Black
2nd Optical Drive - None
Network card - Integrated 10/100/1000Mbps
Wireless Card - Asus N15 300MBPS
Memory Card Reader - None
Extra Ports - None
Case Modifications
Case Paint - Standard Case Paint
Lighting Kit - Blue Cathode
Case fans - Standard Case Fans
Quiet Case Fans - None
Cable Management - UKGC Blue system
Cable Braiding - None
Sata Cables - UKGC Standard system
Hard Drive Dampening - None
Thermal Compound - Artic Cooling MX-2
Fan controller - None
Peripherals
Monitor - Asus 23.6" VW247H LED HD LCD
2nd Monitor - None
TFT Dead Pixel Check - None
Keyboard / Mouse Combo - None
Keyboard - None
Mouse - None
Mouse Mat - None
Headset - None
Speakers - None
Software
Operating System - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium inc Win 8 Upgrade Offer - recommended
Internet security - None
Office Suite - None
Multimedia - None
After Sales
Is this much better than the iMac in terms of performance, is it good enough for running everything on WoW on ultra (I specified the blue lights btw :P), is there anything that should be changed to either something better or that is overkill and could be reduced.
I would appreciate any advice since I don't really want to commit a not insignificant sum to doing this if there is no point or if I get it wrong!!
Thanks
Riggy
xx
More memory I'd say. Suspect Ducky will have more feedback on the other stuff. But not a bad start.
Are you sure you have enough blue crap?
Any chance
Quote from: Riggy;360983Case Paint - Standard Case Paint
couldn't this be blue too? I'm kinda worried that you'll disappointed that you haven't got enough blue going on.
:rolleyes:
The primary HDD should be the SSD one (may well be the case but it's listed as 2nd HDD).
Where have you specc'd this from?
RAM is cheap as chips so I'd opt for an 8 or 16 gb set dependant on what you use it for 8s fine for gaming. 16s more for video encoding, media nonsense ect
1. Id suggest going for a Z77 board instead of a B75, a lot of users around the interwebs are experiencing horrible PCIe performance, and the lack of certain essentials features.
2. Get the 3570 instead, the performance jump is quite noticeable.
3. Drop the X-fi soundcard, its a horrible soundcard, and the onboards these days are very good, atleast better then Creatives latest fubar stuff (Got a X-fi card myself, currently rest ing on the shelf)
4. Increase memory to 8 Gig atleast, ram are so cheap these days, it's just silly
Ducky is right about on board sound. If you want to get something "Creative" get a Fatality headset (a self-contained USB sound card + headphones + mic) this works very well for gaming. Maybe not the very best, but excellent value for money.
Have you tried using BootCamp to see how the games run on your iMac hardware? (it's free and worth a peek before spending loadsa money)
You've chosen SSD for a boot drive (I assume) and a 1TB Seagate as main storage. You might want to consider a USB external backup drive if you are going to keep essential data on the box, or an extra Seagate to set up a RAID mirror (a redundant backup copy, in case one drive fails).
While METRO smells freshly laid, Windows 8 64 is actually quite good, especially once you are using something like StarDock's Start8. You can purchase an "upgrade" (http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/pdp/productID.257641900?tduid=535abc69c7dace2b39c48dc62a94cea0) copy for £24.99 what's better? It's FAST and with some nice modifications.
With an i5 core intel CPU you can also install the box as dual boot into OSX (Lion for sure)
Thanks for all the comments.......... I do run windows on the Mac already and it's pretty good tbh (although distinctly lacking in blue stuff!!). This was a spec that a dutch friend suggested but since I have so little clue about the goings on inside Mac's/PC's I wondered if I would really notice much difference. If a new PC is going to be a real difference then ofc it's worth doing and I will make the changes you suggested!
Thanks
Riggy
xx
Quote from: Riggy;361004Thanks for all the comments.......... I do run windows on the Mac already and it's pretty good tbh (although distinctly lacking in blue stuff!!). This was a spec that a dutch friend suggested but since I have so little clue about the goings on inside Mac's/PC's I wondered if I would really notice much difference. If a new PC is going to be a real difference then ofc it's worth doing and I will make the changes you suggested!
Thanks
Riggy
xx
My knowledge about the different iMac models are limited, repaired a few (made me sad and slightly insane) but im guessing its a few years old..
So ofc you would see a performance difference.... if its 20 years old oh dear... if its only a year old... a bit less..
I would be easy if you tell me a budget and a preferred shop, ill dig something up for you?
Quote from: Riggy;360983Is this much better than the iMac in terms of performance, is it good enough for running everything on WoW on ultra (I specified the blue lights btw :P), is there anything that should be changed to either something better or that is overkill and could be reduced.
I would appreciate any advice since I don't really want to commit a not insignificant sum to doing this if there is no point or if I get it wrong!!
Ditch the lighting kit and the sound card and upgrade to 8Gb RAM and/or a core i5 3570K. Assuming of course that your motherboard has audio onboard (and they all do), I'd say that anyone who has purchased a sound card post-2003 has wasted their money. Just my opinion though.
Quote from: b00n;361006Ditch the lighting kit and the sound card and upgrade to 8Gb RAM and/or a core i5 3570K. Assuming of course that your motherboard has audio onboard (and they all do), I'd say that anyone who has purchased a sound card post-2003 has wasted their money. Just my opinion though.
All the blue led fans comes with the case ;) got the same model (tho blue fans got dumped ages ago.
I doubt hes into overclocking, hence i didnt suggest the k model, but the basic 3570 (if he doesnt OC, he doesnt need the unlocked multiplier)
Quote from: kregoron;361007All the blue led fans comes with the case ;) got the same model (tho blue fans got dumped ages ago.
I doubt hes into overclocking, hence i didnt suggest the k model, but the basic 3570 (if he doesnt OC, he doesnt need the unlocked multiplier)
Well, some people may not like to OC ever, but for the few extra quid I would always want to have that option as it could mean the difference between having to upgrade a year earlier or later down the line.
Quote from: kregoron;361005My knowledge about the different iMac models are limited, repaired a few (made me sad and slightly insane) but im guessing its a few years old..
So ofc you would see a performance difference.... if its 20 years old oh dear... if its only a year old... a bit less..
I would be easy if you tell me a budget and a preferred shop, ill dig something up for you?
The Mac is almost 2 years old. I don't really have a preferred shop but budget would be around £1300 (I don't wanna ditch the blue lights, I'm a girl, I like shiny things!!!). Happy to take on board the increased memory, on board sound card etc though!
Riggy
x
Quote from: Riggy;361017The Mac is almost 2 years old. I don't really have a preferred shop but budget would be around £1300 (I don't wanna ditch the blue lights, I'm a girl, I like shiny things!!!). Happy to take on board the increased memory, on board sound card etc though!
Riggy
x
£1300!!!
Ok, then I can tell you that the main difference between Mac and PC is that I was thinking of a budget of about half of that. :D
But really, I just spent around half that much on a PC that will do me for years, and that included a 24" LED monitor. (Ok, I got a good deal on the monitor 2nd hand from a mate for £100, but you get the idea). You can definitely get the key components of an i5 3570, 8GB RAM, good GPU and an SSD, built and in your PC for less than £600.
Though I'll grant you that I cut out anything not performance related, like lights and sparkly bits. :)
Any recommendation as to where to buy this then since you can probably tell I am not going to be building anything myself :P
Still not sure if it is worth doing right now in terms of noticing a big difference in gameplay other than the blue lights glowing when it's dark :)
Riggy
xx
a quick 2 minute build
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1579[/ATTACH]
can be adjusted and made cheaper with much ease
Riggy,
Not to volunteer BrotherTobious unecessarily but both he and Gortex live in P'mouth and I'm sure have sufficient skill to put it together for you. Might save you a few bob as well.
Quote from: Riggy;361036Any recommendation as to where to buy this then since you can probably tell I am not going to be building anything myself :P
Still not sure if it is worth doing right now in terms of noticing a big difference in gameplay other than the blue lights glowing when it's dark :)
Riggy
xx
Quote from: kregoron;361037a quick 2 minute build
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1579[/ATTACH]
can be adjusted and made cheaper with much ease
I can definately vouch for Ducky's recommended motherboard, RAM and accessories. I have the same board (as recommended by Ducky) and it's excellent! Consider a sealed watercooler for the CPU. I have an Antec cooler and it's quiet and works a treat.
NF
Quote from: Ninja_Freak;361040Riggy,
Not to volunteer BrotherTobious unecessarily but both he and Gortex live in P'mouth and I'm sure have sufficient skill to put it together for you. Might save you a few bob as well.
Never trusted retailers building the rig for you, often seen retailers replacing bits ordered to scam customers for a buck or 10.. :/
You should be able to trust NF or Gortex ;)
take a look at //www.scan.co.uk
they build some nice systems and there pricees are not bad.
Quote from: Sneakytiger;361069take a look at www.scan.co.uk (http://www.scan.co.uk)
they build some nice systems and there pricees are not bad.
probably forgot to mention that was the site i used to create the previous build
I scan also recommend Scan or PC Specialist. Both a fully trustworthy imo
Scan supplied all but one of my parts for my new rig..
Quote from: Penfold;361072I scan also recommend Scan or PC Specialist. Both a fully trustworthy imo
found pc specialist to be rather expensive and limited in brands
Thanks for all the advice guys :)
xx
Quote from: Riggy;361098Thanks for all the advice guys :)
xx
Anytime, feel free to ask if you got any questions