£600-630 Gaming rig - Help please! :-)

DazLad

DazLad

DazLad

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20 May 2012
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Hey guys, my names Darius and I'm back again to build a new PC for general use and gaming. The games I will play are WoW, Guild Wars2, BF3, Call Of Duty, Diablo, etc :-)
I have a pretty tight budget of £600-630, preferably closer to the £600 mark, but £630 is the absolute max.
I've tried adding components to the basket myself and I just couldn't decide on what components to get in the end so here I am! :D

I already have Two monitors, keyboard, mouse and windows 7.
There's a few things I'd like in the build:
i5 processor with the overcloccking capabilities
Nvidia graphics card that will let me use 2 monitors at once (I hate alt-tabbing!)
A good motherboard that will allow me to upgrade overtime, I'd also like the option of using two Nvidia graphics cards at once (SLI? Not sure if that's what it's called haha)

Thanks in advance for any help!
-Daz
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £170.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9) £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler (Socket Intel® Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AMD Socket FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £26.99
Total : £618.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).




I`d change PSU, but the ones that I like are all out of stock, AMD GPU`s are better in this price range you`ll still be able to use 2 monitors.


I would personally spend extra on video card and get this config

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £170.99
1 x Sapphire HD 6950 OC "Dual Fan Edition" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9) £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler (Socket Intel® Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AMD Socket FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £26.99
Total : £684.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).




Since 6850 1gb will most likely bottleneck your system, especially in bf3 on Ultra that game is VRAM hungry and consumes about 1.5gb of it.



If 630 is absolute maximum, I would argue that this config with 8120 would perform better in games than the 1st one

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 6950 OC "Dual Fan Edition" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x AMD Bulldozer FX-8 Eight Core 8120 Black Edition 3.10Ghz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail with FREE Deus Ex PC Game £131.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x Asus M5A97 PRO AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £73.79
1 x OCZ ZS Series 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9) £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler (Socket Intel® Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AMD Socket FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £26.99
Total : £613.81 (includes shipping : £11.75).



You can change ram to this : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-017-SA&tool=3

They overclock better, but dont have heatsinks.

Wait for Stulid to spec you, he`s god of this :)
 
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i'd favour going with most of Lazder's first spec, but dropping the mobo to the msi z77 to free up funds to get the 6950 gfx card.

unless your really intent on sli'ing/crosfiring your graphics cards.
 
 
Saving £18. And he already has some components, so he may have one?

You can probably salvage one of those from somewhere, or do without for a while. You can install Win 7 via a USB stick, that's if you have one.

Could probably squeeze one in with a Xigmatek Asgard case. They are cheap, and decent enough.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Sapphire HD 6950 OC "Dual Fan Edition" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £37.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower Case - Black/Orange £27.98
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £27.98
1 x LG GH22NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £624.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).





YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £37.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower Case - Black/Orange £27.98
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £27.98
Total : £635.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x **B Grade** VTX3D HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Dirt3 PC Game £149.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.38
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x GeIL Enhance Corsa 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEC38GB1600C9DC) £39.95
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £27.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower Case - Black/Orange £27.98
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £619.25 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Put a tranquillo in there as you said you are looking to overclock. Skimping on the PSU though which might not be ideal if you are overclocking.
 
Guys, what if I used two 500GB Hard drives instead of buying new ones, they're pretty old, like 4+ years old but still seem to work, so would that free up a little more of my budget for a better PSU or something like that?
 
Sure. One problem is that if your HDDs dont work too well, you will have to shell out £60 for a new one, and you can't really build a computer without a HDD :)

Also, your HDDs will have to be SATA. And if you can live with their relative slowness, then why not.

Sooo... Risk it all, re-use your HDDs, but improve PSU, case, and motherboard? :)

I'd be game myself, I'd do the most to get the best core components I can get (PSU, CPU, motherboard, GPU, and a decent case), but it's not my money.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £37.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £34.99
Total : £635.94 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
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Oliver and Bigchief, the problem is that the guy wants to SLI or Crossfire so mATX board is not very good for that and neither is OCZ 500W PSU... If he decided that he no longer needs that, then your builds are much better, + top mounted PSU in Xigmatek case...
 
DazLad said:
Guys, what if I used two 500GB Hard drives instead of buying new ones, they're pretty old, like 4+ years old but still seem to work, so would that free up a little more of my budget for a better PSU or something like that?
Click to expand...

As long as they are in good health, no problem.
Do you require a mobo that is sli/xfire capable at x8/x8 as the D3H and G43 only do x8/x4.
 
Lazder said:
Oliver and Bigchief, the problem is that the guy wants to SLI or Crossfire so mATX board is not very good for that and neither is OCZ 500W PSU... If he decided that he no longer needs that, then your builds are much better, + top mounted PSU in Xigmatek case...
Click to expand...

On his budget, I'd give up on the idea and get the best single GPU he can get.

I would defenitely forfeit xfire / sli for a good all round build.

Can use a corsair Carbide 300, with a cheaper motherboard, but not SLI / xfire.

The xigmatek case is OK, but the corsair is a proper case (cable management, USB3, bottom mounted PSU, dust filters, ...). That or the shinobi.
 
Lazder said:
Oliver and Bigchief, the problem is that the guy wants to SLI or Crossfire so mATX board is not very good for that and neither is OCZ 500W PSU... If he decided that he no longer needs that, then your builds are much better, + top mounted PSU in Xigmatek case...
Click to expand...

I didn't realise the G43 was micro ATX?

In terms of SLi/Xfire I wouldn't be doing that on such a budget as bang for buck it's better to stay with one card expecially on a lower end mobo your just not going to get the performance. Just my opinion, if Darius is adamant on SLi/Xfire then will have a rethink.

Fair point on the Xigmatek case the BF Merc is a better choice for the £4 extra.
 
 
Honestly, if SLI/Xfire isn't the way to go, I'll avoid it. What if I were to get a high-end motherboard, that way I can add to it over time.
I've just downloaded HDTune and it said my Hard drive health status was Ok.
I should be able to res-use the dvd drive from my current pc.

What are your opinions on buying a few high end items couples with a few low end? Obviously I'll replace the low end as soon as possible, or will this bottle-neck my system?

EDIT: This is DazLad btw, just got my old accounts password reset!
 
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The mobo in the last spec i posted is capable of sli/xfire at x8/x8. The spec in general is very good for your needs. If you could stretch your budget an extra few quid, get a 750w Psu if you intend getting a second card.
 
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