Friend wants a new build.

MrElve

MrElve

MrElve

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Joined
28 Jul 2010
Posts
662
Location
Grimsby, Lincolnshire.
Hey guys. Just came off the phone with a friend and he said he wants to get a new PC build this summer and then I'll build it for him.

He is a heavy gamer who plays games such as starcraft 2, crysis 2, battlefield bad company 2, battlefield 3 (when it comes out) and things like that. He already has everything including windows 7 home premium 64-bit, he just needs the PC and some speakers and / or a headset. The budget is around £700-£800 but he is willing to go up to £1000 if he see's something that he really likes but no higher.

EDIT: Forgot to put this, he says he definitely wants a 1TB hard drive for storage but thats the only fixed thing.

Thanks in advance guys.

I would have specced him one as an example and post it here but I thought i'd ask you guys first.
 
MSI GeForce GTX 580 OC Twin FrozR II 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £379.99
(£316.66) £379.99
(£316.66)

Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £254.99
(£212.49) £254.99
(£212.49)

Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £96.00
(£80.00) £96.00
(£80.00)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)

Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £56.99
(£47.49) £56.99
(£47.49)

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £33.59
(£27.99) £33.59
(£27.99)

Creative Fatal1ty HS-800 Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001) £26.99
(£22.49) £26.99
(£22.49)

Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)

OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply £46.98
(£39.15) £46.98
(£39.15)

Sub Total : £710.43
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £144.19
Total : £970.50

different case suggestion :
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-161-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160
 
Last edited:
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £254.99
(£212.49) £254.99
(£212.49)

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 Game £199.99
(£166.66) £199.99
(£166.66)

Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £96.00
(£80.00) £96.00
(£80.00)

Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £56.99
(£47.49) £56.99
(£47.49)

OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply £46.98
(£39.15) £46.98
(£39.15)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £33.59
(£27.99) £33.59
(£27.99)

Creative Fatal1ty HS-800 Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001) £26.99
(£22.49) £26.99
(£22.49)

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £18.98
(£15.82) £18.98
(£15.82)

Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)

Sub Total : £662.07
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £134.91
Total : £809.48
 



Edit: and one of these to overclock the cpu : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-CS


You can swap out the motherboard for one of these but you'll lose 2 usb 3 ports (you still have 2 left) and only have 2 sata 6gb/s but you can still do crossfire/sli. The only reason I didn;t choose it is because it's out of stock atm. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-170-MS

I added the sound card beacause it'll give you better sound quality than the onboard and give you the option of dolby headphone. If he was interested in sound quality more than the mic, he would be better off getting goldring dr150's. (Not stocked at ocuk)
 
Last edited:
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 Game £199.99
(£166.66) £399.98
(£333.32)

AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1090T Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)

Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £106.99
(£89.16) £106.99
(£89.16)

Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXUK) £84.98
(£70.82) £84.98
(£70.82)

Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £65.99
(£54.99) £65.99
(£54.99)

Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £56.99
(£47.49) £56.99
(£47.49)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)

Creatve Fatal1ty HS-800 Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001) £26.99
(£22.49) £26.99
(£22.49)

Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)

Sub Total : £784.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £159.48
Total : £956.89

2 6950s





Edit : Final attempt


2x Asus GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FarCry 2 Game £219.98
(£183.32) £439.96
(£366.64)

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)

MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)

Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXUK) £84.98
(£70.82) £84.98
(£70.82)

Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £56.99
(£47.49) £56.99
(£47.49)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £33.59
(£27.99) £33.59
(£27.99)

Creative Fatal1ty HS-800 Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001) £26.99
(£22.49) £26.99
(£22.49)

Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)

Sub Total : £822.06
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £166.91
Total : £1,001.47

Can perhaps add a aftermarket cooler.
 
Last edited:
Why buy a x6 1090 when you have a budget of £800?

2 gtx 480s in sli are not really a god idea due to the heat and massive power consumption. A 750w is probably not sufficient for sli 480's either.
 
mufcmark said:
Why buy a x6 1090 when you have a budget of £800?

2 gtx 480s in sli are not really a god idea due to the heat and massive power consumption. A 750w is probably not sufficient for sli 480's either.
Click to expand...

Says could stretch to £1000
 
Very top end of the budget (slightly over infact - but you get free postage so it's £4 over :p).
Haven't included a optical drive, but I imagine he can easily recycle the current one.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £359.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £155.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £112.98
1 x OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX60G) £79.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £43.99
1 x Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £43.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £33.59
1 x Creative Fatal1ty HS-800 Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001) £26.99
1 x Intel Official i7 CPU Cooler (Socket 1366) £0.98
Total : £1,018.48 (includes shipping : £12.50).

- 850W PSU will allow for SLI of the 580 in the future.
- Z68 board with an SSD (not the fastest I know, but still a massive improvement) for SSD caching.
 
Another option, still SLI capable, but no SSD caching.

Included the fastest SSD currently available in 60GB to compensate ;)

After-market cooler could be forgotten for a bit (you can hit 4.4Ghz on stock cooler with reasonable temps ;)) if he does need a optical drive.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £359.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £155.99
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £112.98
1 x MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £109.99
1 x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £94.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £43.99
1 x Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £43.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £33.59
1 x Creative Fatal1ty HS-800 Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001) £26.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £19.99
Total : £1,002.49 (includes shipping : FREE).
 
£800 option:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus ATI Radeon HD 6950 DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £155.99
1 x MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £109.99
1 x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £94.99
1 x XFX 750W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £94.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £43.99
1 x Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £43.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £33.59
1 x Creative Fatal1ty HS-800 Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001) £26.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £19.99
Total : £798.50 (includes shipping : FREE).

- HD6950 1GB performs pretty much identically to the 2GB version and seeing as the latter can no long be flashed I don't see the point in the premium.
- CF capable still, you could actually get away with CF on a 650W PSU if you wanted.
- Fastest 60GB SSD currently on the market.
 
Your budget does rule out AMD really. An i5 is the way forward, if the budget was £500-600 you could make a case for AMD.

I'm liking mufcmarks spec (post #5) OEM CPU mind so add an aftermarket cooler. You really need to take an interest in GPUs. Read some reviews and check benchmarks, if he's gaming the GPU really does matter.

That 6950 is still very good. I believe some of the early rev 1, reference design ones can be flashed with a 6970 bios. Might be worth googling it and see if you can find out which cards can be "modded"......just a thought ;)

Good luck with the build, any questions or probs you know where we are.

*edit* having said that cookeh post #13 is better still and a good price even with the SSD. That will improve the response of the OS and reduce the loading time of games installed to it
 
Last edited:
Very much like the latest spec from cookeh. Spot on for 1k.

Could lose the SSD or drop to a rev.1 2GB 6950 (flashable to 6970) to make things cheaper.
 
shadow_boxer said:
Very much like the latest spec from cookeh. Spot on for 1k.

Could lose the SSD or drop to a rev.1 2GB 6950 (flashable to 6970) to make things cheaper.
Click to expand...

I take it you mean my second spec, and your recommendations for cheaper apply to my last spec? :p
 
Cookeh said:
£800 option:



- HD6950 1GB performs pretty much identically to the 2GB version and seeing as the latter can no long be flashed I don't see the point in the premium.
- CF capable still, you could actually get away with CF on a 650W PSU if you wanted.
- Fastest 60GB SSD currently on the market.
Click to expand...

I'd prefer the msi powercooler III. It has 2gb of vram which would be more suitable for crossfire and if he intended the system to last, the msi 6950 would be preferable.

750w should be ok but what if he intends to overclock the graphics cards?

I'd prefer the crucial m4. The m4 is more reliable and performs closer to advertised speeds, something the agilty 3 does not do so well at.
 
Considering that two HD6970s and an overclocked i7 (not SB) only draws 601W, I'm sure that 750w will be more than enough for CF HD6950s and SB ;)

M4 has terrible write speeds, but it is indeed more reliable. Any evidence for your latter point? :confused:
 
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