£1000 Gaming Spec

McDaniel · 24 Jul 2011 at 15:13

Afternoon All,

Friend of mine has asked me about a gaming spend with ~1K budget; the only item not required is a monitor/speakers as he'll be using the TV/Headset. However needs everything else as only has a PS3 at the moment!

Looking for something which will run SWTOR when its out, most other MMO's - and other resource hungry RPG's such as Witcher 2 - he's not an FPS gamer, but looking for something which should perform well over the next couple of years and have some up-gradable options in the future (naybe a 2nd GFX card, more RAM, CPU etc..) so he wouldnt need to fork out for a whole new system again.

I was thinking along the lines of a i5, he hinted at an i7 but with the price difference it will limit some other luxuries like a better GFX card or SSD OS drive, and i am not sure the extra for the i7 is all that worth it?

So what you guys reckon?

Reaper 392 · 24 Jul 2011 at 15:56

for a gaming spec the i7 makes no difference over the i5:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287
(look at the FPS columns)

i assume he needs, along with everything inside the tower:
- windows 7
- mouse
- keyboard
- mouse mat

*edit*
oops, i see he doesnt need a monitor
one gaming spec:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £173.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x Lepa B-Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £72.98
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) £29.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £42.98
1 x Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £29.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £26.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £25.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
1 x Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Mouse Surface £14.99
Total : £1,010.74 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Tediore · 24 Jul 2011 at 16:24

MSI GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
(£199.99) £239.99

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

MSI Z68A-GD65 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
(£124.99) £149.99

OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G)
(£74.99) £89.99

Antec TruePower New Modular 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply ** FREE 3D Mark 2011 Advanced **
(£70.82) £84.98

Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl
(£66.66) £79.99

Logitech G110 Illuminated Gaming Keyboard (920-002241)
(£44.16) £52.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ)
(£34.99) £41.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)
(£22.49) £26.99

Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
(£21.66) £25.99

Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616)
(£21.66) £25.99

Samsung SH-S222AL/RSMS 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail
(£15.82) £18.98

Sub Total : £833.22
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 : £169.39
Total : £1,016.36

Don't think I've left anything out...

There are obviously lots of options for each component, but I feel that's a good starting point. Comes in 14 pence under budget if you get free delivery

*realises now he completely forgot about an OS*

McDaniel · 24 Jul 2011 at 16:30

He's happy to push a bit over budget if it means a better system in a few areas, ie pushing a bit more ram or bigger SSD - I'm just not sure on the current GFX card Market and what's best

Jony27 · 24 Jul 2011 at 16:40

Reaper's build is solid, bigger SSD and also has the option of adding a second GTX 560 Ti in the future.

McDaniel · 24 Jul 2011 at 16:46

Any good write ups/performance info on the 560 I can browse? Also not heard of that psu make - after having a cheap one blow myself and losing a load of hardware I tend to opt for something more reliable - but been out of the game a while so they might be ok.

Reaper 392 · 24 Jul 2011 at 16:54

McDaniel said:
Any good write ups/performance info on the 560 I can browse? Also not heard of that psu make - after having a cheap one blow myself and losing a load of hardware I tend to opt for something more reliable - but been out of the game a while so they might be ok.

performance info on the 560Ti. sadly theres a serious lack of info on the 560Ti in SLI on the internet
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/330

the PSU is made by a branch of enermax, but if you are worried about it then the antec will be just as good.

Jony27 · 24 Jul 2011 at 16:55

Lepa is Enermax's house brand
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/06/20/lepa_b_series_850w_power_supply_review

GTX 560Ti Review
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-review/

McDaniel · 24 Jul 2011 at 17:02

Cheers mate - all looking good, just wondering on whether to opt for 6gb and a 1tb hdd on Reapers build then, otherwise might have a winrar!

Good enough to play Skyrim well do we think? No new tech just around the corner to wait for?

Jordan97 · 24 Jul 2011 at 17:15

McDaniel said:
just wondering on whether to opt for 6gb and a 1tb hdd on Reapers build then

Sandybridge is dual-channel so you couldn't get the full benefit of going with 6GB because you would have to have 3 2GB modules or a 4GB and a 2GB which will not operate in dual channel. The next step up from 4GB would be 8GB.

McDaniel · 24 Jul 2011 at 17:28

So Slight alteration on Reapers build then:

Krypton Z68 600i Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.60GHz Overclocked Bundle £235.21
Options applied to the above product:
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX)
£49.99
Options applied to the above product:
Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
£129.98
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £173.99
Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£173.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
Lepa B-Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply
£72.98
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache WD10EALX - OEM £48.98
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £42.98
Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £29.99
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £25.99
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Roccat Taito Gaming Mouse Pad £11.98
Sub Total : £910.04
Total : £1,108.55

So slightly over my original budget, be think it'll be good, thoughts?

Bolo_Santosi · 24 Jul 2011 at 20:17

I would probably go for an 6950 2gb, if your planning on SLI'ing in the future, the 2gb may come in handy as when you sli two cards, your still left with the amount of memory from one, and this may come in handy in a couple of years. Although Im not an expert, so i'd probably confirm this with others.

Jony27 · 24 Jul 2011 at 20:36

AMD/ATI = Crossfire
NVidia = SLI
I think OP would only need the extra VRAM if he games at high res, or have a multi monitor setup.

Reaper 392 · 24 Jul 2011 at 20:36

sorry, ive just noticed i didnt paste the link with the performance info on the single 560Ti. here it is:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/330

(also edited into the first post now)

Reaper 392 · 24 Jul 2011 at 20:42

are you happy to overclock it yourself, because you are paying a HUGE premium for it to be overclocked for you (~£45)

subbytna · 25 Jul 2011 at 20:44

should be easy to OC that rig himself