New £600 gaming rig

[doug17]

Hey all, I'm currently looking to build a new gaming rig with a budget of £600 including an OS. This is what i've come up with:

XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £95.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99

OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £66.98

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £59.98

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98

OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £39.98

Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black £29.99

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £17.99

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99

Sub Total : £495.72
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £101.49
Total : £608.96

Any comments/suggestions/opinions would be greatly appreciated.

In particular, i couldn't decide between OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply and Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply.

Thanks!

 

[Lemin]

Id get...

XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply [P1-650S-NLB9]
£65.99 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-003-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

or

XFX Pro 750W Core Edition Power Supply
£73.99 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=



& look at this deal...

Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit
£101.39 inc VAT
£84.49 ex VAT

Choose Your Hard Drive Choice:

Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6GB/s (£0.00)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6GB/s (+ £12.50)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-000-OP&groupid=33&catid=1963&subcat=

edit, at that price not such a great deal on reflection.

 

[Cookeh]

Not bad at all.

I would as Lemin said swap out the PSU for the XFX - very good PSU.

Also, there is a HD5850 for sale atm. This card normally retails around £150-160 yet can be had for just £107

Comparison of the HD5850 and HD6850

The saved money could be put toward a better heat-sink, like this Titan Fenrir or a better mobo (I would try and get ASUS as their current boards will be able to support AM3+ with a BIOS flash).

This is a similar spec to the UD2H you linked to.

While this is a better board, and is capable of asymmetric CrossFire

 

[Nvidiot]

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £154.99
(£129.16) £154.99
(£129.16)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Asus P8H67-M Pro Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £89.98
(£74.98) £89.98
(£74.98)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache WD10EALX - OEM £47.99
(£39.99) £47.99
(£39.99)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
Sub Total : £490.26
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £100.30
Total : £601.81

Sandybridge is much faster than AMD.

you cant crossfire with a 880 chipset, so just keep with a lesser PSU.

5850 will destroy a 6850.

 

[Cookeh]

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £154.99
(£129.16) £154.99
(£129.16)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Asus P8H67-M Pro Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £89.98
(£74.98) £89.98
(£74.98)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache WD10EALX - OEM £47.99
(£39.99) £47.99
(£39.99)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
Sub Total : £490.26
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £100.30
Total : £601.81

Sandybridge is much faster than AMD.

you cant crossfire with a 880 chipset, so just keep with a lesser PSU.

5850 will destroy a 6850.

You're right, SB is faster, but that gap lessens as you overclock the Phenom - which you can't do with the i5+H67.
There is also no upgrade route with 1155 atm, however the ASUS boards will take AM3+ after a BIOS flash.

You "can't" Crossfire with the mobo you chose either

The OS+HDD bundle you've chosen is actually more expensive than an OEM+Seagate Barracuda - which is MUCH faster

Take a look at the benchmark I linked above before you say silly things like "destroy". There is only one or two fps in it in most cases and if it wasn't for the offer currently on the HD5850 I'd choose the HD6850 due to less heat and lower power consumption, they also scale better in CrossFire.

Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed, I didn't even want to try a SB spec for £600 but you pulled it off.

 

[Nvidiot]

You "can't" Crossfire with the mobo you chose either

never claimed it did!!!

 

[Cookeh]

never claimed it did!!!

I know, I'm just pointing it out

But the ASUS board I said that can do asymmetrical CF can do just that. 16x/4x - yes, it's slower than 16x/16x but the performance loss is a mere ~5%

 

[pv123]

I would go down the SB route too, dosen't seem right to invest in AMD now, if you want AMD wait until BD in my opinion.

 

[doug17]

Thanks for the replies everyone, lots more to think about!

Firstly, regarding the graphics card, the one i have picked out already is the black edition which is slightly factory overclocked. Would this push it's performance level over that of the HD5850? As looking at the comparison posted by Cookeh the HD6850 uses less power and is also quieter than the HD5850 so it might be worth the extra cost, especially if the performance of the black edition is better.

If, however, i went for the HD5850 it would allow me to invest in a better mobo to allow for the possibility to crossfire in the future, or alternatively stick with a mobo of the same price range and perhaps upgrade to a 6 core processor.

As far as Sandybridge is concerned, i thought i would stick with AMD as it seems you get more for your money in this lower price range.

Any thoughts?

 

[olivier renault]

you can save a few extra pennies by looking that the 2500K + P67 bundle.

That still adds £25-30 the top of the build, but it will have more legs for future proofing.

Interesting the bundle is not a 2500 + H67 build. That would be Home & office for me, not an overclocking monster

 

[Cookeh]

6 core is pretty naff for gaming.

Only reason I would go for AMD atm is for the upgrade route to AM3+ with the inclusion of an ASUS motherboard.

 

[doug17]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I've revised the original list and i now have:

XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £144.98

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £95.99

Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £59.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99

XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply £65.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98

OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £37.99

Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black £29.99

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £17.99

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99

Sub Total : £489.07
Shipping : £11.75
VAT : £100.16
Total : £600.98

Unless anyone has any more comments/suggestions i reckon i'll be going with this build.

I tried to fit a sandybridge build into the budget but could only manage a dual core build, which according to the benchmarks i've read can't stand up to the AMD quad.

 

[Cookeh]

Looks good - but don't expect much out of the CPU cooler - it will just run more quietly and a few degrees cooler - might get you to 3.6GHz but I wouldn't go higher!

Xigamatek Asgard is a slightly better case imo, and is £0.39 cheaper

Nice choice with ASUS, will let you go with AM3+ after a BIOS flash.

 

[olivier renault]

Save for a better cooler for later. You can stick to stock speeds in the meanwhile.