I'm running a GTX 960 4gb with an old Core2 Quad Q9550 (running DDR 2 ram) The processor has not been the bottleneck of the system, the GFX card has, running Doom 2016 at a mix between high and max settings at 1080p at 60 fps sometimes dropping to 50fps in really heavy parts, according to Doom's built in metrics the CPU has never been to blame for the drop in fps.

What I'm saying is, the CPU is WAAY overpowered for the GFX card, my system cost less than £250 to build.

Good for future upgrades (unless you wait so long that you need a new motherboard and ram, in which case it's a moot point)

I agree although that was the case for a long time if you pardon the pun. I remember being so proud at my 2 grand "Mesh" custom PC in 2001, and if the sticker sealing the case was broken, it actually did void your warranty.

I learned 2 things..... Warranty is meaningless because components are very stable 99% of the time. Also that never pay more than 800 pound every 3 years on a remake because the diminishing returns are huge.

THIS
If you are lucky you will get one with a 575w PSU but its likely you will get a 375w PSU version, you will almost definitely have to upgrade this (I have a 375w version but im am also running a xeon CPU, same speed as the 9550 but uses 25w less power)
and
THIS

Seems I got very lucky getting my hands on a 4gb version at the price I did. Probably get one on ebay for the same price or less.

Also, the only thing I have played on it so far is Doom.

Actually not bad at all for the price :smiley:

I'm running a GTX 960 4gb with an old Core2 Quad Q9550 (running DDR 2 ram) The processor has not been the bottleneck of the system, the GFX card has, running Doom 2016 at a mix between high and max settings at 1080p at 60 fps sometimes dropping to 50fps in really heavy parts, according to Doom's built in metrics the CPU has never been to blame for the drop in fps.

What I'm saying is, the CPU is WAAY overpowered for the GFX card, my system cost less than £250 to build.

Good for future upgrades (unless you wait so long that you need a new motherboard and ram, in which case it's a moot point)

Less than £250, could I have a breakdown as I am looking to build a PC for that price and spec?

THIS
If you are lucky you will get one with a 575w PSU but its likely you will get a 375w PSU version, you will almost definitely have to upgrade this (I have a 375w version but im am also running a xeon CPU, same speed as the 9550 but uses 25w less power)
and
THIS

Seems I got very lucky getting my hands on a 4gb version at the price I did. Probably get one on ebay for the same price or less.

Also, the only thing I have played on it so far is Doom.

About twice as powerful according to CPU BENCHMARK.

Neither would be good for CPU intensive games

Obviously worth mentioning that opening the case on a Freshtech PC invalidates the warranty.

Some PC manufacturers do this and some don't, but worth considering if you think you'll upgrade before it expires.

This appears the meet the min spec for VR (Oculus/HTC Vive), in case anyone's interested.
Ignore me. I mixed up the graphics card. Well spotted MeistroUK.

​vr is a gtx 970 min

good find op, heat added

can anyone tell me how I would get a operating system onto this without spending out my ass for official key with disc

​Thanks. but this card is for pci express 3.0 mine is pci express 2 :disappointed:

you can put a pcie3 card in a pcie2 slot theres not much performance difference on most graphics cards as they dont use all the bandwith (x16pcie2 single gpu)

This will work fine in a PCI-express 2.0 slot, my machine is PCI-express 2.0

Only the very highest end cards require PCI-express 3.0.

​one last thing, my psu is 300w would it work with that? Thanks in advance

I agree although that was the case for a long time if you pardon the pun. I remember being so proud at my 2 grand "Mesh" custom PC in 2001, and if the sticker sealing the case was broken, it actually did void your warranty.

I learned 2 things..... Warranty is meaningless because components are very stable 99% of the time. Also that never pay more than 800 pound every 3 years on a remake because the diminishing returns are huge.

Not a 300w, you will definitely need an upgrade.

download Win7 software installer on to a bootable USB, buy a product key and activate. Software Geeks sell Win7 keys for £15 last time i checked

Those Mesh PCs, eh? I bought one for £1300 in 2001 I think. Graphics card was faulty and had to return the whole unit. Like you, I won't spend more than £800ish on a new PC. And really if you have a spare GFX card, monitor, etc. lying around then there's no real need.

CASE BUILT IN Zalman T4 Gaming Case
MOTHERBOARD Gigabyte H110M-S2H
MOTHERBOARD EXPANSION SLOTS 1x PCI Express x16, 2x PCI Express x1
CPU TYPE Intel I5 6th Generation Skylake
CPU MODEL Intel Core I5 6600 3.3ghz 6mb Cache 6th Gen Skylake
CPU SOCKET Intel 1151
CPU CLOCK SPEED 3.3 Ghz
CPU MAX TURBO CLOCK SPEED 3.9 Ghz
CPU COOLER Standard Intel Cooler
MEMORY 8gb DDR4 2133mhz Performance Ram
HARD DRIVE SIZE 1tb Western Digital WD10EZEX 64mb Cache 7200rpm
OPTICAL DRIVE Samsung 24x Sata DVD Writer
GRAPHICS CARD Nvidia Geforce GTX 960 2gb
PSU SIZE Corsair CX600 80 Plus Bronze Certified 600w Power Supply
OPERATING SYSTEM No Operating System
FRONT / TOP CASE PORTS 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0, 1x Headphone Jack, 1x Microphone Jack
MOTHERBOARD REAR PANEL 2x PS/2, 1x D-Sub, 1x DVI-D, 1x HDMI, 2x USB 3.0/2.0, 4x USB 2.0/1.1, 1x RJ-45,3x audio jacks (Line In, Line Out, Mic In)
MOTHERBOARD FEATURES 3D OSD, @BIOS, AutoGreen, Cloud Station, EasyTune, Fast Boot, Smart TimeLock, Smart Keyboard, Smart Backup, System Information Viewer, USB Blocker, Support for Q-Flash, Support for Smart Switch, Support for Xpress Install, Support for APP Center, 3D OSD, @BIOS, AutoGreen, Cloud Station, EasyTune, Fast Boot, Smart TimeLock, Smart Keyboard, Smart Backup, System Information Viewer, USB Blocker, Support for Q-Flash, Support for Smart Switch, Support for Xpress Install
PC SPECIAL FEATURES 2x Cooling Fans Included, Additional Case Cooling Optional, Fully Upgradeable, Overclocking Potential, Water Cooling Support
WARRANTY 1 Year Collect and Return Warranty ( 1 Year Collect, 1 Year Parts, 1 Year Labour ) Buy with confidence knowing if anything goes wrong we are here to help.
ALSO INCLUDES Free 60 Day Trial Norton Internet Security ( OEM )
KEYBOARD AND MOUSE Not Included

well, if you have not tried other cpu's there is no way for you to know that your cpu is in reality bottlenecking your gtx960

We bought a Freshtech gaming PC last year:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/intel-core-i5-4460-240gb-ssd-8gb-1600mhz-gtx-960-2gb-galaxy-r-gaming-computer-519-2280659
Things will have moved on since then, but it was about the same specification (for the time) and price. My son (aged 11 and the only user - I just do the maintenance) tells me it is a good gaming machine. I can vouch that nothing has gone wrong with it is about 9 months, so it was a really good buy.
Heat added, Freshtech make good products and this is a good price.

My laptop wins for most overpowered CPU - I have a quad-core i7 paired with an Nvidia GT 555M (equivalent to desktop GT 440!)

Full specs here:smiley:

Doom's in game metrics breakdown GPU and CPU usage down to each core. And every time the framrate has dropped below 60 its because of the GFX card going in to the red, the CPU cores stay solid in the orange.

Also, while not the be all and end all of benchmarks, my 3d mark scores are pretty consistent with other 960 users.

i5 6600: £150
gtx 960 2GB: £140
1TB HDD: £40
Case: £30
Mboard: £40
RAM: £30
DVD writer: £10
PSU: £50
Cooler: Stock, but worth perhaps £20? You can get a good cooler for 25, so
2 Fans: £15

=about £500-20

You can't build this for much less, altho for me I would self build and upgrade as the 4GB 960 is literally the same price, and the 6600k is better, OC-able and only 30 quid more, good prebuild tho

You would still have a warranty with a self build, an individual warranty on each part, some parts might even come with a longer warranty.

I'm not saying you are an idiot of you buy a pre made (im not one of those masterracer no lifers), just saying there are other options out there.

I personally prebuild, I built my pc from scratch, and yes you're right many components come with warranties, I'm just making the point for the many people who want to game but can't build PCs, that this is only a small amount above the market price of the individual parts

The only other option to buying a PC, is building one, which not everyone can do
Having said that, it is pretty much always cheaper to do so and you can custom pick parts

For example the 960 in this is 2GB, you can get a 4GB version for literally the same price at the 2GB individually, or you can buy a great cooler, Cooler Master Hyper 212, for 25 quid which will cool much more efficiently than a stock cooler (altho stock ain't bad tbf), you can also double the RAM for perhaps an extra tenner too.

Thats almost as bad as macbook pro's lol.

If you compare the i5 6600 to your laptop i7 CPU, the i5 has like double the quad core speed and power xD shows the difference between pc and laptop big time

Mind you the i7 is 5 years old :smile:

My CPU does have 'turbo boost' up to 3.1 GHz, but I can't use it due to overheating - another issue with laptops.

Just get a really big fan and dangle it off your head, should do the trick

Vive games run fine on my 780, I have to turn the detail down on some games but I can play every game. 970 is the official minimum requirement though.

You wouldn't choose to have a Intel Q9550 as it's a very old CPU now, it was released in 2008. You'd only have one as an upgrade to an old system. If you were buying a cheap CPU now to use with a dedicated graphics card you'd get an Intel i3-6100 which beats the Intel Q9550 even though it's dual core instead of quad core, then you have the option to upgrade to i5 or i7 in the future. The benefits are; you'd have a modern motherboard with all the modern connectivity that gives you and a cheaper upgrade path.

Kinguin

Burn iso to disc using Rufus. Boot to USB. Install Windows.

pretty bad tbh...

Dont you need a proper license key (not oem) to do that from Microsofts site?, i had to get the windows 7 file from elswhere and activate it by phone

I echo dijital's comments. I bought a refurbished business pc and put a GTX 750ti in and spent just less than £300. I wanted to build my own but really there are so many powerful business pcs out there that can be upgraded. dijital recommended a more powerful power supply PC that can run a better graphics card (960). I wanted a smaller quiet one.

Seen amazon selling 64bit Windows 7 keys with discs for like £30 a few weeks ago.

thanks for the reply about getting a operating system lads

This way works perfectly well. There are plenty of sites to download a Windows 7 or 8 image and make a bootable disk, and lots selling activation codes. Once Windows 7or 8 is loaded I think the upgrade to Windows 10 is still free.

Will my A6-6400k hold up my GTX 960 4GB GDDR gpu that I'm added then?

your A6-6400 is 40% less power than the Q9550

So the CPU should slightly bottleneck the GPU but nothing much?

by a lot unless you overclock like crazy. It does not mean that cannot be used of course, even if it was a 4 cores might still bottleneck the gpu in some games

link just goes to the site, where is the direct link for this offer please

Cheers

GTX 960 ? Gaming pc ? Joke.