Need Advice on buying my new Gaming Rig

Nemesis1uk · 12 Aug 2011 at 12:01

Hey folks!

I'd like to purchase a new Gaming rig that will hopefully be able to run all existing and upcoming games on MAX. Such as Witcher 2, SC2, Rage, Deus ex HM, Skyrim and more...

My budget is around £850ish, However, I am willing to spend that bit extra if it is cost efficient enough

Right, Here is what I have in mind:

Processor - Intel Sandybridge i5-2500 Core i5 Quad-Core Processor (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155) £154

Motherboard - Gigabyte SKT-1155 Z68X-UD3H-B3 Motherboard £127

RAM - Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory - £49.50

PSU - Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2UK Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 High Performance 750W Power Supply £87

HD - Western Digital Caviar 2TB SATAII 64MB Cache 3.5-inch Green Internal Hard Drive OEM £57

SSD - Kingston SSD V100 64GB SATA2 2.5inch Hard Drive £70

case - Cm Storm Mid Tower Scout Case £63

GFX card - MSI R6870 Twin Frozr II - Graphics adapter - Radeon HD 6870 - PCI Express 2.1 x16 - 1 GB GDDR5 - DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort ( HDCP ) £204

The Graphics card is either the above or 560ti, Not sure which to get. I read in an article in Toms hardware that performance wise the 560ti is better however has higher power consumption, makes more noise and can overheat... Wondering if anyone can attest to this

Do you guys think the above build is suitable to my needs (maxed out games)?

secondly, Is the PSU good enough? I don't need anything higher do I?

I'm not entirely sure as to what graphics card I should be getting. please help

What about fans cpu coolers etc?

I already have a 22" viewsonic 1080p ready monitor.

Thanks in advance.

Greavesy · 12 Aug 2011 at 12:14

You want an i5 2500k CPU and £200 for a 6870 you can get a 6950 for that.

You may want an optical drive and you will definitely want an after Market cooler of you get the 'k' chip. The 'Gelid Tranquillo' is a good cooler for it's price

R088ieS86 · 12 Aug 2011 at 12:20

OCZ have got a lot of bad press about their drives failing recently, but their new firmware seems to fixed things, I've bought one and its running strong so far, no problems waking from sleep or anything.
Motherboard supports Xfire so another card down the line will be supported and the PSU can also handle another 6950.

Something like this?

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Dirt3 PC Game £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £131.99
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £85.99
1 x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA-II 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARS) £56.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £23.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £855.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Nemesis1uk · 12 Aug 2011 at 17:11

Thanks for your input guys, much appreciated.

Isn't it worth getting 8GB RAM as opposed to 4Gb?

Would this be a nice sturdy rig to run all upcoming games on max? would it be good for streaming Starcraft 2 games? These are my main needs that I need this rig to cater for.

I'm still doing research and checking out more reviews for the gear before I pull the trigger.

R088ieS86 · 12 Aug 2011 at 17:46

For gaming 4Gb is plenty. The only time you use more than that is if you are video/image editing on a heavy scale or 3D rendering.
I'm sure there are plenty more, but for gaming, 4GB is more than enough.

Starcraft 2 isn't too demanding. That rig will destroy it!

Nemesis1uk · 12 Aug 2011 at 18:13

Lol, yeah I know, just for high quality streaming. from what I read, It really diggs into your processor apparently.

what would you say about getting one really powerful gfx card as opposed to getting another 6950 later on down the line?

olivier renault · 12 Aug 2011 at 18:52

I took 8GB, and remove the swap file and hibernation feature. Saves about 10GB on the SSD.

olivier renault · 12 Aug 2011 at 18:57

Nemesis1uk said:
Lol, yeah I know, just for high quality streaming. from what I read, It really diggs into your processor apparently.

what would you say about getting one really powerful gfx card as opposed to getting another 6950 later on down the line?

IMO one single GPU > dual GPU. Not from the performance standpoint, but power consumption, noise, and heat. And also reduces the requirement on the PSU, however a 750W Antec will take care of dual 6950 2GB, and these cards are powerful enough on their own, especially for Starcraft 2.

If you cannot afford a single 580, then a 6950 now and one later is a good upgrade path. I'd keep it the way it is tbh.

Nemesis1uk · 12 Aug 2011 at 19:17

olivier renault said:
IMO one single GPU > dual GPU. Not from the performance standpoint, but power consumption, noise, and heat. And also reduces the requirement on the PSU, however a 750W Antec will take care of dual 6950 2GB, and these cards are powerful enough on their own, especially for Starcraft 2.

If you cannot afford a single 580, then a 6950 now and one later is a good upgrade path. I'd keep it the way it is tbh.

Yeah, Thats exactly what I thought. I'm really fond of the suggested build. seems solid. As long as it can run Witcher 2, Rage and Skyrim on max then Im a happy camper.

I see, SLI would be ideal for me in that case. I'm not really too fussed about the noise as long as its not like a jumbo jet Its all good. Besides Ill have my Astros on and won't be able to hear anything from the rig.

Looking good

any other advice fire away