Gaming Rig Build Advice

heretic397 · 13 May 2011 at 19:24

Hello folks, I'm looking to spec a build for a new PC and was wondering if some of you guys would be kind enough to lend me your wisdom and experience to point me to some of the best performance for the money components.

The sole purpose of this rig is for gaming (with BF3 on the horizon I'd like something capable of handling this on high graphics). I've been out of the game waaay too long but I've seen a few parts about the place that I have in mind, and would like your best opinion on these.

My budget is ideally ~£800 but am willing to pay the extra bit more if it was really worth it, no more than £1,000. I've never overclocked before, and while I don't feel the most confident at doing it, I would be willing to give it a shot. I'm also curious about cooling, something I never seriously considered before but am open to ideas for cooling hardware I should buy.

I'm looking for a CPU, Motherboard, GFX Card, Memory, PSU, Case (non-negotiable!) and Cooling parts (where necessary/ideal). I'm only looking at one graphics card (mostly as I've always had one) however if SLI is really worth it I may purchase another in the future.

The parts I've had in mind are:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-443-AS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-222-AS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-293-CS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-022-NX

Thanks in advance everyone!

stulid · 13 May 2011 at 19:26

Firstly a Sandybridge system needs a dual channel RAM kit in 4GB or 8GB

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-203-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-290-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Secondly, this motherboard is cheaper - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-165-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1906 and still does all the good stuff.

Thirdly an extra £10 gets a GTX480 with a much better cooling system - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-078-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1750

If you wanted to go SLI GTX480 you need a 850w PSU or more, such as ,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-053-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-150-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

cmndr_andi · 13 May 2011 at 19:34

Hi there and welcome to the forums

The CPU is great, however I would suggest changing a few things:

- The memory is a triple channel kit but the LGA 1155 system is only dual channel. If you are mainly gaming I would suggest going for a kit like this.
- The board is OK, but there have been quite a few reported issues with the P67 ASUS boards, I would suggest this board which is about on-par in terms of features and is a bit cheaper to boot.
-The GPU is very fast, but it also very loud. I would suggest going for one of these with the much quieter custom cooler or a HD 6950 2GB.
- The PSU really depends on what GPU you chose to go for and whether you want it to able to power a SLI/Crossfire setup in the future.
- In terms of cooling parts, I would suggest getting an aftermarket cooler like this one so you can give overclocking a good go and also keep the noise down.

Will you be needing a new OS, hard drive or optical drive?

heretic397 · 13 May 2011 at 19:54

Thanks for the replies guys!

Erm, I'm good for an OS, going to transfer the HDDs from my old rig and maybe just get a cheap optical.

stulid · 13 May 2011 at 19:56

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 480 "Special Edition" 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £229.99
(£191.66) £229.99
(£191.66)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £155.99
(£129.99) £155.99
(£129.99)
OCZ ZX Series 1000W '80 Plus Gold Certified' Modular Power Supply £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £132.00
(£110.00) £132.00
(£110.00)
NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case - White £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £733.27
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 : £149.40
Total : £896.42

Thats what I recommend.

A nice fast SSD to run the O/S/Games wouldnt go a miss, then use your HDD's for storage.

heretic397 · 13 May 2011 at 20:47

Cheers stulid and cmndr! stulid I'm just wondering, is 4GB of memory enough or should I grab those 2x4GB sticks instead. Bit more expensive but I'm willing to spend it if 4GB would not be enough/struggle.

Also just wondering what your opinion of the following PSU is:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-000-XF&utm_source=froogle

Is it powerful enough? It's cheaper and still seems quite powerful.

stulid · 13 May 2011 at 20:48

4GB is enough for a gaming PC, but 8GB is cheap enough, your call if you have a 64BIT operating system?

That XFX is very good with excellent reviews, but if you ever wanted to add another GTX480, then it will be maxed out, GTX480's really are in a different league when it comes to power consumption.

heretic397 · 13 May 2011 at 20:53

Well you clearly know you stuff stulid, if I were wearing a hat, it'd be tipped to you sir, thanks a million!

stulid · 13 May 2011 at 20:58

GTX480 SLI - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/159

Look near the bottom, you will see 668watts while playing Crysis and 851watts running Furmark which is a stress test program, these values include the complete system from the wall socket.

Pohly · 13 May 2011 at 22:03

stulid said:
Secondly, this motherboard is cheaper - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-165-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1906 and still does all the good stuff.

+1 for the msi they are great boards i have one myself and i couldnt Recommend it more cheap too

heretic397 · 14 May 2011 at 14:05

Well I've settled on my build:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (Socket 1155)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 480 "Special Edition" 1536MB GDDR5
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
OCZ ZX Series 1000W '80 Plus Gold Certified' Modular Power Supply
NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case - White
Corsair Hydro H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Was looking to get it ordered today but unfortunately the case is out of stock

, just wondering if any of you guys happen to know how long it may take for OcUK to restock these cases, as I don't really want to purchase anywhere else!

Once again thanks to everyone who helped out, especially stulid!

stulid · 14 May 2011 at 14:09

You will need to ask in the customer support section, or phone up.

The spec is spot on.

hbk123 · 14 May 2011 at 14:21

I think you should go with the antec 620 over the H50, updated technology really