Another spec thread! ~£1000 gaming pc

[RipTheJacker]

Hi all,

I am WELL out of all the loop with whats good, what goes with what etc, so I am looking for some help with building a new pc (with whatever is fastest at the mo).

I will take the HDDs from my current pc but I think everything else will stay put.

Here are some things that I would have included.

Case: NZXT Phantom

The CPU/MOBO/RAM combo is where I will need the most help. I will be sticking with intel for this one. I see 1366 and 1155. I would assume the 1366 is the latest and best but what do I know .

For the CPU- some i7 and i may go with water cooling for this

For the motherboard I would prefer to go with a good ASUS but im open to suggestions! Something with uefi BIOS would be nice if everything doesnt use that already.

For the RAM, capacity wise I will go with 8GB

For the graphics card I would prefer to go with nvidia so probably a 580 or 570 (the 590 cost too much )

I will also get windows 7. Is there much advantage in professional?

Everything else I can sort on my own but will include: optical drive, PSU, possibly an SSD and a sound card although I am usually fine with onboard sound.

Currently I am running
nvidia 8800gtx
q9400
Asus blitz forumla
4GB Giel ram.

I will be doing some research myself but thanks for any help/advice in advance

 

[95thrifles]

What are you planning to do with this computer? cos if its just gaming then i7 is not neccessary, i5 is just as fast
1155 is actually newer and better, Id recomend a Z68 mobo, i5 2500K cpu, 8 gig Corsair XMS3, 570 and as you say fill in the rest, if I were you Id get new HDDs whilst youre at it, use a SSD for windows/main apps n a 1Tb storage, theyre that cheap you may as well get new everything and youre right onboard sound will likely be fine, PSU wise get a decent make (Eg Corsair) and 550 for a single card set up or 750 if you want to leave room for a 2nd gfx card later maybe (though make sure your mobo choice supports this too)

Theres a few different builds in my link will give you an idea

 

[olivier renault]

An example. If you use chrome, little spec-check utility in sig.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £279.98
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £161.99
1 x Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £130.00
1 x NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case - Black £109.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £89.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £59.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
Total : £999.80 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 

[olivier renault]

For the CPU- some i7 and i may go with water cooling for this

Depends if you need the i7 hyperthreading or not. Games don't use that, at least yet. so i7/i5 perform the same in gaming.

For the motherboard I would prefer to go with a good ASUS but im open to suggestions! Something with uefi BIOS would be nice if everything doesnt use that already.

Their P67 have got a bad rep, lots of gremlins.

For the RAM, capacity wise I will go with 8GB

OTT in most cases, but Corsair XMS3 is £60 on a deal, so why not.

For the graphics card I would prefer to go with nvidia so probably a 580 or 570 (the 590 cost too much )

Dont think the budget will allow a 580, unless you downgrade some components (case, motherboard, PSU).

I will also get windows 7. Is there much advantage in professional?

Not much advantage in Win 7 pro, unless you need the pro stuff, like remote desktop and network administration.

Everything else I can sort on my own but will include: optical drive, PSU, possibly an SSD and a sound card although I am usually fine with onboard sound.

Onboard sound is pretty good nowadays. I've added a bluray, but it's an extra £30.

SSD are good, but then again they eat £100 of budget.

Haven't included a CPU cooler (well, the CPU comes with own cooler) since you say you gonna go water, but in case you change your mind, there are some good and quiet air coolers out there (Silver Arrow, Noctua NH-D14).

For PSU, with a 570 / 580, 850W for SLI, 650W for single graphics card will do. Corsair / XFX / Antec usually recommended.

 

[RipTheJacker]

Thanks very much Oliver and Thrifles.

Yeah the rig is pretty much just for gaming and general stuff so i5 will be fine.

What you have put up there looks rather tasty. I will probably stick with air cooling, go with an ssd instead of cavier blue (I have a fairly new 1TB cavier black in this system).

I dont mind going over budget so I might stick a "cheap" 580 in there instead if its worth it.

Ill have a look at a few reviews tomorrow to see what these parts are like for overclocking and probably purchase sometime next week.

Thanks!

 

[xNytramx]

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £178.99
(£149.16)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
£161.99
(£134.99)
Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
£130.00
(£108.33)
NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case - White
£109.99
(£91.66)
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
£183.98
(£153.32)
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8)
£83.99
(£69.99)
Lepa B-Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply
£72.98
(£60.82)
Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3)
£50.99
(£42.49)
LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
£16.99
(£14.16)
Sub Total : £824.92
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 : £167.48
Total : £1,004.90

Thats the best I can do for you. If you are happy to drop to a 64Gb version of the SSD with the SSD Caching, then you can save quite a bit - maybe get the 570.
Note: Some of what i've posted above is currently out of stock.
The Lepa PSU's have had good reviews so far - if you dont feel to safe about new branded items then you can spend an extra £18 on a Corsair TX 750w
You could also easily shave off some money on the RAM - 8GB is a little overkill but it makes it that little more 'futureproof' Get whats on offer with decent timings You can always try and tighten them up later.
HDD Note: If you're willing to get a new HDD grab a nice 6GB/s one and it should work nicely with the SSD cache on a 64Gb SSD - Installing all frequently used programs on a 128GB SSD will give best results but if you only use a handful 4-5 then SSD caching should do the job nicely on a 64Gb

Hope this helps GL Choosing everything

 

[RipTheJacker]

Thanks xNytramx.

Ill probably be ordering today or tomorrow.

How about this then. (PS. Its WELL over the budget I gave, but you guys have given me a good starting point).

MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card x2
£559.96
(£466.64)
These cards have rather large looking coolers. Im gonna have a look around and see if I can find some info.
I have been saving up every £2 coin I get for a while and that covers the price on one of the cards ;D.


OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (VTX3-25SAT3-120G)
£199.99
(£166.66)

I was really in two minds with this one but the OS will be installed on it so I might as well just bite the bullet now.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
£161.99
(£134.99)

Is the retail HS adequate enough?

Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850HXUK)
£139.98
(£116.65)

Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

£130.00
(£108.33)

NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case - White

£109.99
(£91.66)

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8)

£83.99
(£69.99)

Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit

£68.40
(£57.00)

Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX)

£32.99
(£27.49)

Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM)

£49.99
(£41.66)

Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616)
£24.98
(£20.82)

My mx500 finally needs to move on. I wish I could buy another

Total :

£1,579.97 ouch!

Opinions?

 

[RipTheJacker]

Are the gtx 570s supposed to be so hot? I am nearly sweating if I try and play a game lol.

At the moment I am using the default setup of the nztx phantom but there is space for a rather large side fan so I will be looking into getting one. (Should this be pushing air in towards the cards or act an as exaust?)

The cpu in bios also idles around 50-60 which seems rather high. What CPU cooler can you recommend?

thanks!

 

[seandog]

I'd use the side fan as an intake to draw cool air in to ur CPU and GPU, for cooler it depends on ur budget and how much room ya want to take up. For £20 you can get the artic 7 (using this atm and does a great job for my needs and is silent) but if you go higher clock speeds the silver arrow and noctua seem to be the best air coolers on the market but are pretty huge

 

[olivier renault]

Are the gtx 570s supposed to be so hot? I am nearly sweating if I try and play a game lol.

At the moment I am using the default setup of the nztx phantom but there is space for a rather large side fan so I will be looking into getting one. (Should this be pushing air in towards the cards or act an as exaust?)

depends if the GPU exhausts at the back or into the case. If it dumps in the case, use an exhaust side fan. If it sucks air from the case, then a side intake fan.

The cpu in bios also idles around 50-60 which seems rather high. What CPU cooler can you recommend?

What's the system temp? Could be that the case doesn't ventilate properly. A good cheap cooler that performs would be a Corsair A50.

 

[RipTheJacker]

I'd use the side fan as an intake to draw cool air in to ur CPU and GPU, for cooler it depends on ur budget and how much room ya want to take up. For £20 you can get the artic 7 (using this atm and does a great job for my needs and is silent) but if you go higher clock speeds the silver arrow and noctua seem to be the best air coolers on the market but are pretty huge

I shall have a look at the coolers mentioned. Luckly i dont think size will be an issue.

depends if the GPU exhausts at the back or in the case. If it dumps in the case, use an exhaust side fan. If it sucks air from the case, then a side intake fan.

I am using these I would image they are venting out of the case but i havent checked.

My case exterior is getting hot using these things. . I will have a look tomorrow and see if everything is working down there properly. The software monitor says the fans are on at least ;o

Sleep time!