Just getting started with PC gaming - help needed!

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Smoggy1985

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#1 Smoggy1985
Member since 2014 • 25 Posts

Hi all,

Wondered if I could ask for some help? I am about to embark on my PC gaming life, not really played many PC games for a long time. Looking to get onto Skyrim and Morrowind to start with. However, not sure my PC would work, in fact, I know it won't. Wanted to ask though, do I just need a decent graphics card to get up and running or start with a new PC? My current specs are: (Please let me know if you need more info!)

RAM: 4gg
Processor: Intel Pentium CPU G360 @ 2.7ghz
64 bit operating system (Windows 7)
No decent graphics card in there - is it worth buying one or getting a new PC?

Either of these any good?

http://www.ebuyer.com/517546-pc-specialist-infinity-elite-gaming-pc-pcs-d563907

http://www.ebuyer.com/662346-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7260-8022

Thanks in advance for the help!

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Daian

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#2 Daian
Member since 2005 • 2901 Posts

Sorry but those are both junk by today's standards. U're gonna need at least 500$ for a decent custom PC. never buy premade.

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quikdash6

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#3 quikdash6
Member since 2004 • 480 Posts

If you are on a budget I would suggest getting a good graphics card to start with. Most likely you will also need to upgrade your power supply if you are using any kind of pre-built system. From there you could upgrade your CPU, RAM, etc. as you can or as needed.

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Daian

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#4  Edited By Daian
Member since 2005 • 2901 Posts

@quikdash6: he needs a new PC, that CPU is ancient and so is the MB and RAM automatically. Basically needs to change everything, a new good GPU would be bottlenecked by everything else.

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KHAndAnime

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#5 KHAndAnime
Member since 2009 • 17565 Posts

Your PC can still probably play Morrowind - since you asked.

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top_lel

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#6 top_lel
Member since 2014 • 886 Posts

If you're really like reaaallly strict on budget, just get a 750Ti. Otherwise, don't go for the pre-built. You can build a way better PC for much less.

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xantufrog

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#7  Edited By xantufrog  Moderator
Member since 2013 • 17875 Posts

I would buy a mobo, cpu, video card, power supply, and 8GB of RAM. I understand you aren't looking for a top of the line beast - with that in mind, you should be able to build a decent machine for the price of those prebuilts. I don't follow UK prices, but in the US an R7 265 would be a good affordable card (~130 USD) [could even get an R9 270x here for approaching that price too if you find the right "holiday blow-out" price on tigerdirect or newegg - no joke!], pick up a mobo+cpu combo, RAM's cheap...

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aceatch

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#8  Edited By aceatch
Member since 2009 • 29 Posts

Ah so you're from the UK. Cool, so if you don't want to go down the route of building your own PC. You can pick up this pre-built PC i7, GTX 770, SSD, Windows 8 for £550. However it is known that they will accept offers of £500. Honestly, this is a good deal and actually cheaper than building your own! Link

Depending on your situation, you may want to purchase the following to add to the PC:

DVD/Blu ray drive (USB external is preferred for simplicity) for installing Windows 8. Otherwise you can google how to install windows from a USB drive

1TB hard drive

USB Wireless Wifi connection

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quikdash6

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#10 quikdash6
Member since 2004 • 480 Posts

@Daian said:

@quikdash6: he needs a new PC, that CPU is ancient and so is the MB and RAM automatically. Basically needs to change everything, a new good GPU would be bottlenecked by everything else.

Are you sure? I think he may have put the wrong CPU. I wasn't able to find a pentium G360 just a Celeron 360, but I did find a Pentium G630 @ 2.7GHz which is a 1155 socket.

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Zefur

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#11  Edited By Zefur
Member since 2014 • 29 Posts

@smoggy1985: Sorry, man but I agree with the first replyer. Both of those PCs are crap compared to today's standards. I would suggest building a PC which can get you much better performance for the price. This PC (Parts) exceeds both of the consoles in specs and plays the latest games at 30 FPS+. It's a total of $388.30 USD.

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jun_aka_pekto

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#12  Edited By jun_aka_pekto
Member since 2010 • 25255 Posts

This review has a close approximation of that prebuilt with the GT 730 video card, using a Celeron instead of a Pentium CPU.

http://www.tipidpc.com/viewreview.php?id=1107

Gaming is pretty much 720p/768p. For many people I know (including my kids) it's good enough.

Edit:

My kid's PC has a Phenom II X3 720BE, 8gb RAM, and a GDDR5 GT 730.

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Zefur

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#13  Edited By Zefur
Member since 2014 • 29 Posts

@jimmy_russell: For the OP's sake it's better to get Skyrim for PC because of mods. Skyrim for PS3 doesn't have community DLCs, tweaks, better graphics, etc. Besides, the OP said he wanted to get started with PC gaming not just play Skyrim on it.

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GeryGo

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#14 GeryGo  Moderator
Member since 2006 • 12803 Posts

@smoggy1985 said:

Hi all,

Wondered if I could ask for some help? I am about to embark on my PC gaming life, not really played many PC games for a long time. Looking to get onto Skyrim and Morrowind to start with. However, not sure my PC would work, in fact, I know it won't. Wanted to ask though, do I just need a decent graphics card to get up and running or start with a new PC? My current specs are: (Please let me know if you need more info!)

RAM: 4gg

Processor: Intel Pentium CPU G360 @ 2.7ghz

64 bit operating system (Windows 7)

No decent graphics card in there - is it worth buying one or getting a new PC?

Either of these any good?

http://www.ebuyer.com/517546-pc-specialist-infinity-elite-gaming-pc-pcs-d563907

http://www.ebuyer.com/662346-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7260-8022

Thanks in advance for the help!

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/BHYXdC I'd build this, but if you really have to choose something it would be clearly the Intel CPU with the GT730

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xantufrog

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#15  Edited By xantufrog  Moderator
Member since 2013 • 17875 Posts

What's your budget and end-goal, to be clear? Do you want to "get in" in the sense that you just want an entry level machine to play older RPGs like Skyrim and Morrowind? Or do you want to get in in the sense that you want 1080p on a variety of 2015+ games?

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#16 Legend002
Member since 2007 • 13405 Posts

Your current PC is ancient. What's the max you are willing to shell out?

Nothing wrong with premade rigs btw but it is better to put one together yourself to familiarize what and where everything is. Eventually you are going have to open it up anyway to clean/upgrade/replace parts if/when something happens.

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Smoggy1985

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#17 Smoggy1985
Member since 2014 • 25 Posts

Thanks to all who replied! Much appreciated.
I thought as much, PC is a few years old and didn't think it would handle a graphics card. I am looking into building my own and my mate works in IT and knows this stuff pretty well. He's putting together something for me around £400. in fact, if you're interested, here is the link:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/dannyabowers/saved/zWLfrH

Just starting out but this gives me some scope to upgrade in the future, which no doubt I will do! CPU and GPU would be top of the priority list in the future.

Thanks again for everyone's help and have a good Christmas all!

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aceatch

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#18  Edited By aceatch
Member since 2009 • 29 Posts

@smoggy1985: Yo for the same price you could get an i7, GTX 770 and Windows 8 (Link, offer the person £500 and he should accept that)!! just saying. As i said it's cheaper than building one with the same spec. Go ahead and try!