Help building a gaming PC

Combat Butler · 28 Dec 2011 at 17:26

I'd like some help building a PC for a friend that is to be used primarily for gaming, he has a budget of about £700-£800.

These are the components he has put together so far:
Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with Battlefield 3 PC Game**
£185.99

Asus P8Z68-V PRO GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
£169.98

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

OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G)
£64.99

Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3)
£54.98

Antec VP550P 550W Continuous Power Supply
£49.99

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
£49.99

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX)
£41.99

Samsung SH-D163C/BEBE SATA 16x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £13.99

Sub Total : £661.58

(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £134.82
Total : £808.90

The motherboard was chosen because it has built in bluetooth so that he can use Turtle beach PX5 headsets with them, he already have a HDD with windows 7 and doesn't need a keyboard or mouse.

I would like to know if this build is any good and any changes that could be made to it.

Thank you.

skylineboy · 28 Dec 2011 at 17:31

I would swap the vertex SSD out for a crucial M4. So much better. I would also look at a gelid tranquilo cooler as they tend to get excellent reviews. I would wait until start of Jan as new GPUs are out from AMD.

Not sure on that psu- little knowledge of it

Reaper 392 · 28 Dec 2011 at 17:38

ive managed to get a much better case, graphics card, power supply and SSD in the budget just by sacrificing the 3rd PCIe x16 slot and onboard bluetooth (ive added a bluetooth USB adapter)

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £86.99
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £41.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Dynamode Compact Bluetooth™ USB adapter £2.99
Total : £785.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).

the extra VRAM will also come in very handy with some games (especially BF3)

GTO656 · 28 Dec 2011 at 17:40

Reaper 392 said:
ive managed to get a much better case, graphics card, power supply and SSD in the budget just by sacrificing the 3rd PCIe x16 slot and onboard bluetooth (ive added a bluetooth USB adapter)

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £86.99
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £41.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Dynamode Compact Bluetooth™ USB adapter £2.99
Total : £785.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).

the extra VRAM will also come in very handy with some games (especially BF3)

Can't agree with you more on that Case its brilliant, the rest is perfect.

fowler002 · 28 Dec 2011 at 20:24

Reaper 392 said:
ive managed to get a much better case, graphics card, power supply and SSD in the budget just by sacrificing the 3rd PCIe x16 slot and onboard bluetooth (ive added a bluetooth USB adapter)

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £86.99
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £41.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Dynamode Compact Bluetooth™ USB adapter £2.99
Total : £785.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).

the extra VRAM will also come in very handy with some games (especially BF3)

but changing case to a zalman would mean can't make use of the ag15 viucher code that gives 15% of the case and psu if you buy an antec case and psu at the same time.

if no plans for sli/xfire in the future then http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI would save £18

if the op/ops friend is a nivida fanboy then http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-175-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341

Combat Butler · 28 Dec 2011 at 20:33

He was looking for a Nvidia graphics card. Is the physc X feature on the Nvidia graphics card anything that sets it higher than an ATI card? Also, what are the new ATI cards that are coming out next month will they be in the same price range as the one's in the baskets? The Nvidia card was chosen because it comes prepacked with Battlefield 3 which will hopefully save him some money by getting it bundled with the card.

Reaper 392 · 29 Dec 2011 at 00:55

if you really want Nvidia then go for one of the extra RAM versions, such as the 2GB 560Ti

fowler, i would have gone for an antec case, but the cheapest non hideous case that i would be happy to put two 6950s or 560Tis in crossfire/SLI is ~£100

fowler002 · 29 Dec 2011 at 01:38

Reaper 392 said:
if you really want Nvidia then go for one of the extra RAM versions, such as the 2GB 560Ti

fowler, i would have gone for an antec case, but the cheapest non hideous case that i would be happy to put two 6950s or 560Tis in crossfire/SLI is ~£100

what's wrong with the 100?

Combat Butler · 4 Jan 2012 at 21:32

Thank you for all of your suggestions, my friend has decided to go for this build and would like to check if its alright.
OcUK GeForce GTX 560Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£209.99

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

Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £157.99

Silverstone Temjin TJ08B-E Midi Tower Case - Black
£89.99

Fractal Design Define Mini Computer Case - Black
£74.99

Razer Naga 5600DPI MMO Laser Gaming Mouse
£69.98

OcUK Battle 650W Dual Rail High Efficiency Modular '80 Plus' Power Supply
£50.99

OcUK Value 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit
£29.99

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

LG GH22NS70 24x DVDRW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
£14.99

OcUK Black Gaming Keyboard
£10.99

Speedlink Vellu Gel Mousepad - Black
£6.98

Dynamode Compact Bluetooth USB adapter
£2.99

Total : £931.97

moody89 · 4 Jan 2012 at 21:35

You have two cases listed on the above build mate

You also have OCUK own brand PSU and memory. I'm not sure on the quality of either but I'm of the thinking that branded units would be of better quality and not an awful lot more cost.

mickyflinn · 4 Jan 2012 at 21:43

You should get 1600mhz ram especially if you overclock and i would go for the asrock extreme 4 motherboard. A quality psu is a must in my opinion and i would get the HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X PLUS Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with Dirt 3 PC Game** [OcUK_Exclusive] £215.99 inc VAT

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-042-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

Combat Butler · 4 Jan 2012 at 22:14

He was wondering which case would be better? And he would also like to know why this PSU is considered bad when compared to others?

beejjacobs · 4 Jan 2012 at 22:16

Unbranded PSU (e.g. OCUK own) just aren't as well made as brands such as Corsair, XFX, OCZ, Antec etc... They won't be able to deliver their stated power for very long, and if they can it may fluctuate. a PSU can damage every component in a PC so when spending £900 never skimp on the PSU!

beejjacobs · 4 Jan 2012 at 22:18

Also, neither of those cases are suitable for that motherboard. The motherboard is ATX, whereas the cases only support micro-ATX and smaller (double check, but I'm fairly sure from the descriptions on the cases).

fowler002 · 4 Jan 2012 at 23:37

as said why 2 cases? both are matx and will be too small for the chosen motherboard.

unless you plan on xfire and heavy overclocking/need the bells whitles of the ~£160 motherboard can get a good motherboard for about half the price.

£70 on a mouse?

I would say something like

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 560Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £83.99
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £72.98
1 x Logitech G510 Gaming Keyboard (920-002762) £69.98
1 x Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £46.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £46.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9) £43.99
1 x Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse and FREE Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Mouse Surface £36.98
1 x Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £912.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).

not got the blue tooth usb adapter but just add £2.99 to the total.

use the voucher code ag15 to get 15% off the case and psu(have to but an antec case and psu) which if my maths is correct is £18 off the total so £898.35

you can save like £20 by going for an air cooler instead of the closed loop liquid cooler but would have to change the ram as well to ones without fins.

Combat Butler · 5 Jan 2012 at 01:02

He is going to be traveling around a lot and is looking for a Micro ATX build which is powerful enough to run Battlefield 3 maxed out on a £950 budget. Sorry for the confusion.

beejjacobs · 5 Jan 2012 at 01:08

Then maybe the above, with this motherboard:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-343-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

and one of the cases suggested?