Advice on building gaming rig for new PC gamer?

Barso

Barso

Barso

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27 May 2009
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I am in the process of selling my xbox 360 and moving over to PC gaming as I am fed up with the low resolutions and low framerates most games seem to suffer now with the outdated hardware.
But should I stick with the X58 chipset and a core i7 950 or should I purchase the new sandybridge core i7?
Also I understand the SB chipset only supports dual channel memory, would I better with X58 and triple channel memory?
I will be purchasing a GTX580 as my GPU and will also be going the overclocking route with watercooling.
Thanks.
 
Go Sandy bridge, its just better/faster, and you wont miss the triple channel memory difference.

4GB of ram is plenty for a gaming pc.
 
How much are you will to spend is the 1st question many will ask you now. (EDIT: Wow you guys reply quick lol :) )

Also Sandybridge is great value and don't get too bothered about the dual channel versus tripple channel memory situation, real world use you will not notice the difference between dual or tripple channel memory. I would look at a Sandybridge setup now if I was buying, they overclock very well and remain very cool.
 
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Barso said:
No,I already have a samsung 1920x1200 monitor.
I need everything else, is £1400 not enough?
Click to expand...

You could build a mega gaming system for £800. You'll be fine :)

Id try your best not to go crazy though, the classic phrase with building computers is "the more you spend, the less you get for your money".
You'd be better off getting very good (but not the BEST overpriced) stuff and saving some money for future upgrades.

Id wait for one of the pros to spec you an awesome machine, shouldnt be long.

Im guessing it will be -
I5 2500k
4gb 1600 ram
GPU - ati 6950 / gtx 570 / 580

People say the gtx 570 can overclock to very near the 580, so you could save some money. Also, if your just gaming i7 isnt needed, the i5 760 or the new i5 2600k (the replacement for the 750/760) is enough, you might get about 2 fps more with the i7, but its definitely not worth the extra cash.

And in terms of your water cooling and overclocking i dont know, but im thinking its unnecessary. Spending that much on a system, i dont think you will need to overclock, i cant imagine what would stress your computer enough to do so. You can run crysis warhead (the most intensive pc game there is) fine on max at 1920x1080 on the GTX 580.

I cant see why you would overclock anything.

Will be a monster! prepare for some real gaming! :)
 
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Barso said:
I will be purchasing a GTX580 as my GPU and will also be going the overclocking route with watercooling.
Click to expand...

Is this your first time building a watercooled rig? Have you done plenty of reading on setting up watercooling so you know what you're getting yourself into? :D
 
I used to watercool few years back.
I know about about the pitfalls and made a few myself.
I looked at PC gaming as a hobby more than a pastime so hoping to get back to those glory days.
Was more worried about whether I should buy an X58 chipset or the new sandybridge, I am sure intel has the successor to the X58 in the pipeline.
 
Barso said:
Apologies but I won't be watercooling the GPU, just the CPU.
Click to expand...

If you are just gaming im pretty sure thats not necessary.
Im guessing the pros round here will tell you that you wont see any (if you do it will be very small) benefits in gaming if you overclock your CPU, Thats if it is a i5 760 / i7 / i5 2600k.
 
Check this thread

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18225055


To be honest with you I wouldn't build a water cooled system if you are only planning on cooling the cpu I would get one of these.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-002-CS&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

or


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...03-CS&tool=3&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

or


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-002-CI&tool=3



For graphics card I would be looking at a gtx 570 or gtx 580 best single card you can afford and with the money you are willing to spend it should not be a problem. Also many will advise you to get a gtx 570 and just overclock it to 580 speeds and they seem to overclock very well. As someone said above more you spend less you get sometimes. I would look at a balanced system and then with any extra money look at improving the sound card and other things like the speakers etc.
 
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Purgatory said:
Check this thread

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18225055


To be honest with you I wouldn't build a water cool system if you are only planning on cooling the cpu I would get one of these.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-002-CS&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

or


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...03-CS&tool=3&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

or


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-002-CI&tool=3
Click to expand...
Yeah they look great, takes a lot of stress and worry away doesnt it :)
 
Okay reasonably extreme gaming PC spec:


Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Palit GeForce GTX 580 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £439.99
(£366.66) £439.99
(£366.66)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £189.98
(£158.32) £189.98
(£158.32)
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £144.98
(£120.82) £144.98
(£120.82)
Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 850W Power Supply £107.22
(£89.35) £107.22
(£89.35)
Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1) £102.12
(£85.10) £102.12
(£85.10)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £83.99
(£69.99) £83.99
(£69.99)
Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £76.99
(£64.16) £76.99
(£64.16)
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard (920-000375) £71.48
(£59.57) £71.48
(£59.57)
Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS34G1600LLK) £52.99
(£44.16) £52.99
(£44.16)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £32.66
(£27.22) £32.66
(£27.22)
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £25.52
(£21.27) £25.52
(£21.27)
LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.28
(£11.90) £14.28
(£11.90)
Sub Total : £1,118.52
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £226.45
Total : £1,358.72

Couple of things to note:

Suggesting the i5 2500k instead of the i7 2600k as for gaming there's hardly any performance difference (the i5 actually does better in some games).

Haven't included any cooling suggestions as I'm by no means an expert on watercooling. I heard a while ago that the socket 1156 coolers would be compatible with 1155, however I've not heard if this has been confirmed.

If you wanted to save some money on the basic components to spend more on the cooling you could go for a cheaper keyboard or get rid of the SSD...
 
10dchw1.jpg


Up to you to add speakers, keyboard and mouse also if you like xbox controllers I would add a wireless pc xbox controller and then you can use your other xbox controllers for multi play with friends. Also remember you will need Windows OS too if you don't have that. Also you could pick a cheaper case and one with a style you like if you don't like this one.


wireless pc xbox controller

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GC-001-MS&groupid=702&catid=288&subcat=
 
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