New Gaming Rig - Spec Please

blu3shad0w · 13 Aug 2011 at 20:53

Hi The OC Mafia

Need a new gaming rig after my last one has just died. Think it time for a new one since haven't bought one in a few years.

Looking to include the following

Something that is fairly easy to overclock, From reading the forums think that a I5 2500k sandybridge would be more than enough.
Also the new motherboards make overclocking easy and safe?
Good cooler.
8Gb of Ram
1TB hard drive or 2tb if possible- not after SSD at this stage but then again that might be an option in the future.
Case - was looking at the coolermaster cm-690 II
No keyboard, mouse or monitor.
Windows 7
PSU
DVD rewriter
NVIDA Geforce GTX 560 TI 1024MB - are these better than the ATI 2GB cards that are out there of a similar price?

And any of the other normal stuff that I might have forgot.

And the budget - £800 but might be able to get to £850

The other thing, is there a fairly cheap way to protect a case with filters? Help to stop the dust coming in

Thanks

Blue

stulid · 13 Aug 2011 at 20:57

Hi there,

Heres what I have come up with,

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98
(£133.32) £159.98
(£133.32)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Lepa B-Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £74.98
(£62.48) £74.98
(£62.48)
Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £66.98
(£55.82) £66.98
(£55.82)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £713.22
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 : £145.14
Total : £870.86

As you can see if you put a 2GB 6950 in it (which are faster - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=330 ) then its closer to £900

You can select a cheaper motherboard if you want - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-458-AS

Both motherboards are the latest Z68 chipset, support SLI or Crossfire, the ASrock is also PCI-E3.0 with Ivybridge CPUs released next year.

Any questions about this killer spec?

The other thing, is there a fairly cheap way to protect a case with filters? Help to stop the dust coming in

Good case like above have dust filters as standard.

blu3shad0w · 14 Aug 2011 at 00:00

mmmm looks neat but might have to shave the price down...

Is there any other alternatives on the motherboard side that are cheaper but still have the easy overclocking and are PCI-E3.0 with Ivybridge CPUs compatible for future?

stulid · 14 Aug 2011 at 00:02

I can do a spec with a cheaper P67 board, no PCI-E3.0 support, Ivy bridge should hopefully just be a BIOS update away.

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Dirt3 PC Game £199.99
(£166.66) £199.99
(£166.66)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £74.99
(£62.49) £74.99
(£62.49)
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £67.98
(£56.65) £67.98
(£56.65)
Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £66.98
(£55.82) £66.98
(£55.82)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £658.23
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 : £134.15
Total : £804.88

Or this motherboard is very good - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-170-MS - takes the total to £837.88

blu3shad0w · 14 Aug 2011 at 00:52

What is the difference between Z68 and the P67.

Is it there overclocking?

stulid · 14 Aug 2011 at 00:53

blu3shad0w said:
What is the difference between Z68 and the P67.

Is it there overclocking?

They both do overclocking, the Z68 has these extra and they have video outputs for the built in CPU graphics core.

SSD caching.
Lucid Virtu.
Quicksync.

Except for some Gigabyte Z68 boards that only have SSD caching because they dont have the display outputs..

stulid · 14 Aug 2011 at 00:57

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £67.98
(£56.65) £67.98
(£56.65)
Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £66.98
(£55.82) £66.98
(£55.82)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £664.06
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 : £135.31
Total : £811.87

You can SLI (add another GTX560ti) with this MSI board, it also has OCGenie which is a button to press to give an instant 4.2GHZ if you dont want the hassle of overclocking yourself.

will13 · 14 Aug 2011 at 01:08

stulid said:
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £67.98
(£56.65) £67.98
(£56.65)
Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £66.98
(£55.82) £66.98
(£55.82)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £664.06
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 : £135.31
Total : £811.87

You can SLI (add another GTX560ti) with this MSI board, it also has OCGenie which is a button to press to give an instant 4.2GHZ if you dont want the hassle of overclocking yourself.

I got same board as that and its great, heard the OC Genie uses to many volts though, so I don't use it

I would change 2 things on that list, the case and HDD, I'd personaly get a Fractal Design's R3 midi, and a WD Green

stulid · 14 Aug 2011 at 01:10

will13 said:
I'd personaly get a Fractal Design's R3 midi, and a WD Green

A WD green is a slower 5400rpm drive.

will13 · 14 Aug 2011 at 01:22

stulid said:
A WD green is a slower 5400rpm drive.

Personal preference, can't say I've ever noticed the few I've got being slow, yeah they may be 5400rpm drives but they are very quick

stulid · 14 Aug 2011 at 01:37

It just that whenever I see a HDD roundup,

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2009/10/06/samsung-spinpoint-f3-1tb-review/1
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/hdd-2010_16.html#sect0

The Big three (WD Black, Samsung F3 and Seagate Barracuda 7200.11/12) are always the top dogs.

So why put a slower drive in the spec when a F3 is faster and cheaper.

will13 · 14 Aug 2011 at 01:48

stulid said:
It just that whenever I see a HDD roundup,

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2009/10/06/samsung-spinpoint-f3-1tb-review/1
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/hdd-2010_16.html#sect0

The Big three (WD Black, Samsung F3 and Seagate Barracuda 7200.11/12) are always the top dogs.

So why put a slower drive in the spec when a F3 is faster and cheaper.

To be fair thats usualy the case, but you can pick up a 6Gb/s Green for about same price as the F3, and I've heard that the 6Gb/s Green is a 7200rpm drive

stulid · 14 Aug 2011 at 01:56

will13 said:
To be fair thats usualy the case, but you can pick up a 6Gb/s Green for about same price as the F3, and I've heard that the 6Gb/s Green is a 7200rpm drive

Even if its the same price as a F3, it makes sense to use the F3, why make a PC slower? This is the OP's main boot drive and so should be the best he can get (WD Blacks are too much money) if he had a SSD, then a WD Green or Samsung Ecogreen are good for the general storage etc.

The WD Green is "upto 7200rpm"

will13 · 14 Aug 2011 at 02:00

stulid said:
Even if its the same price as a F3, it makes sense to use the F3, why make a PC slower? This is the OP's main boot drive and so should be the best he can get (WD Blacks are too much money) if he had a SSD, then a WD Green or Samsung Ecogreen are good for the general storage etc.

The WD Green is "upto 7200rpm"

I see your point..

But a WD Black is less then £20 more at moment

stulid · 14 Aug 2011 at 02:01

will13 said:
I see your point..

But a WD Black is less then £20 more at moment

But a F3 is as fast (almost, a tiny bit less maybe)

will13 · 14 Aug 2011 at 02:03

stulid said:
But a F3 is as fast (almost, a tiny bit less maybe)

TBH I'm just biased towards WD since I've used them in nearly everything for last few years, and they've never failed on me

stulid · 14 Aug 2011 at 02:07

They do get specced in these "spec me threads", the 2TB WD Green is currently the cheapest and so usually ends up be selected along side a SSD, where budget allows.

blu3shad0w · 14 Aug 2011 at 22:21

Budget has now been increased to a max of £1000.

Also now looking at a different case.

Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two (V3) Ultimate Gaming Case (with USB3.0 Support) - Black

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-110-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160

Is this case any good? Looks like it got good cooling as well as the air filters.

Still not looking for a SSD at this stage. How much of an improvement would it be say vs more memory or a better graphics card.

stulid · 14 Aug 2011 at 22:23

That Antec902 is an old design, try something more modern,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-008-LN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1447

blu3shad0w · 14 Aug 2011 at 22:28

mmm, seems that people eat, live, sleep, and breed on these forumns.......

Did have a look at lancool but thought that the antec or the coolermasters looked better....