Building a gaming computer - where to buy bits?

beefwellington

Definitely look at aria pc (can't post links as a new user but easy to google), great prices and I haven't had any problems with service so far. They also have a really helpful forum which you can learn loads from - give them a budget on there and the regulars will help you get the most out of your money.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-368-IN
with
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-360-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990
would be a nice base to build on.

cheapest superclocked graphics card i found
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-160-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=
can build on this aat a later date to run SLI.

a pair of these
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-314-CS
16GB for under £100 value IMO and good memory and later you could expand it to another pair for 32GB!!

i know 120GB not much.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-076-OC
but you could implement a normal hardrive for storage just use this for the OS and games only. use a normal harddrive to store music and video etc. can always upgrade at a later date when money is saved.

the power supply is more or less you life blood of the system on whether you going to blow up your componants or damage them by overunning a low rated on or running everything with ease.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-055-AK&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=


this is just an example, of what you can get. alot more than your budget granted.

windows 7 ultimate 64bit would be my reccomendation of a decent operating system.

jayme1

I bought all my custom computer stuff from CCLonline and would recommend them

simon12_2

Godd opions have been mentioned also Aria and ginger6 are good. I can't post links but add .com to the name

JamesK10

pcunite wrote: »

I heard a lot about overclockers.co.uk being the newegg for this region.

They're more like Marmite, a few years ago excellent - actually ringing me when there was a problem with my order so that it wasn't delayed, but the last time I used them was 2-3 years ago. They sent me the wrong item, issued an RMA, then changed their mind and refused to take it back AFTER I'd gone to Scan for the right thing. So I had to flog it online to get my cash back, never again.

CountryGoose

Corelli wrote: »

Its more about finding a way for my son to find a way of using and developing his obsessions. I don't understand this at all but obviously some adults make a living in the gaming world and he has the drive to learn to programme and design and I want to see him explore this. Right now he is just getting frustrated with the laptop he has and I wanted to provide him with the tools he needs.

Now as a sometime "IT Professional", I'd like you to have a look at this:

http://www.colin-beveridge.com/index.php/console-generations-do-not-compute/

Which was posted before the breaking of this piece of exciting, cheap, kit. (A $25 Computer) + Shiiping and Taxes.

If your son is interested in learning how to program, rather than playing, games, you could invest in a bit of kit that will work with old monitors and keyboards and will provide a challenge.

Also, some time spent at the Codecademy would be useful, challenging and without the need for expensive kit.

Many of todays leading games programmers learnt their trade on ZX81's, Spectrums and BBC Micros which were very limited technology wise but required skill and expertise to squeeze the most out of the hardware, without allowing the machines to bloat around them.

Corelli

CountryGoose wrote: »

Now as a sometime "IT Professional", I'd like you to have a look at this:

http://www.colin-beveridge.com/index.php/console-generations-do-not-compute/

Which was posted before the breaking of this piece of exciting, cheap, kit. (A $25 Computer) + Shiiping and Taxes.

If your son is interested in learning how to program, rather than playing, games, you could invest in a bit of kit that will work with old monitors and keyboards and will provide a challenge.

Also, some time spent at the Codecademy would be useful, challenging and without the need for expensive kit.

Many of todays leading games programmers learnt their trade on ZX81's, Spectrums and BBC Micros which were very limited technology wise but required skill and expertise to squeeze the most out of the hardware, without allowing the machines to bloat around them.

Aaaah yes, Spectrums and ZX81s .... those little flapping symbols. We had one of those.

Thanks a lot for this post. That Codecadamy looks really good.

pledgeX

I bought these bits a year and a half ago so they're a little out of date now, but it should give you an idea of all the parts you need.

- CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Socket AM3 3.2 GHz
- Power supply: Corsair 500W CX
- Graphics card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- RAM: Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard
- Case: Coolermaster Elite 334 Midi Case - Black

Then I had a dvd drive and a hard drive laying around which I re-used. That's all the parts you'd need, That came to near enough £500 for everything 18 months ago. So you could easily get the same setup for less than £<400 today if shops still sold the parts!

I've played Crysis on it so I know it's capable of that. I'm not sure about playing it on max settings, but it was definietly above medium settings.

Hope that helps.

Also, I think Country Goose's suggest about programming is an excellent idea. I've read about the technology he's posted and would be interested in playing with it myself, but at this stage I think it's a little too unknown for me personally. I wante to hear a bit more about people's experiences on it and how they've used it.
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Corelli

pledgeX wrote: »

I bought these bits a year and a half ago so they're a little out of date now, but it should give you an idea of all the parts you need.

- CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Socket AM3 3.2 GHz
- Power supply: Corsair 500W CX
- Graphics card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- RAM: Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard
- Case: Coolermaster Elite 334 Midi Case - Black

Then I had a dvd drive and a hard drive laying around which I re-used. That's all the parts you'd need, That came to near enough £500 for everything 18 months ago. So you could easily get the same setup for less than £<400 today if shops still sold the parts!

I've played Crysis on it so I know it's capable of that. I'm not sure about playing it on max settings, but it was definietly above medium settings.

Hope that helps.

Also, I think Country Goose's suggest about programming is an excellent idea. I've read about the technology he's posted and would be interested in playing with it myself, but at this stage I think it's a little too unknown for me personally. I wante to hear a bit more about people's experiences on it and how they've used it.
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Thanks PledgeX,

that is very helpful, but a reality checker for me as well. My boy dreams of minecraft on max and making and running high end mods. Not that I understand completely what that means.

I too went straight away to CountryGooose's links. The Raspberry Pi has sold out but I've registered an interest in the next batch released. It does look inspiring.

Codacadamy is fun, I got as far as lesson 2. Last night I was sure I was entering the variable correctly but kept getting an error message - and thought 'there is a mistake in the webpage'. Today I think 'I'll go back and have another look and see where I went wrong'.

JamesK10

It's true, we haven't remarked on AMD, Intel might be mega-fast, but AMD are cheap and good value for their processors and the memory's grouped into pairs more often than an odd number which I've found hard to sell on in the past.

Their Bulldozer range will be worth taking a look at when Windows 8 is released, as they don't work that well under Windows 7 (see the reviews at the Bit-Tech site from the link in my other posts) but before that there's the older Phenom II X4 and X6 ranges, the X6 1100T being the top of the old tree.