My son has about £800 to spend on a gaming computer

Put it this way, the original comment about the 7850 was understated. It will play every game that's on the market very well @1080p, there are very few it will need to turn the settings down on.
 
Stonker said:
OK. I don't really understand over clocking (other than it gets more performance and generates more heat). Will I be doing that with the recommended systems?
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The cpu will OC, but you can set that easily enough in the bios or just use the Quick Boost, it has 3 determined settings, so just select one.
 
Is it cheaper than buying a ready made machine?

He did order a G30 from **** but it was 3 days late arriving and then it didn't work so it's going back...
 
Sparx said:
Oh hono, it's like we are in sync.
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Yeah kinda. Spend too much time together on here lol

I used the MSI because I prefer the look\styling of it. Either the GB or the MSI will both overclock very well with these improved coolers. Both have 3 year warranties if you want the GB card I won't argue.

Idlemans build is basically identical to mine bar the cheaper case. The Shinobi is technically better but case is personal preference. I would suggest win7 over win8 simply for the better driver support. Windows 8 is "ok" but takes a little getting used to.

Building isn't difficult at all, if you follow the steps correctly and use common sense.


If you want to overclock the GPU (which you really do) that's very easy. Overclocking the CPU isn't difficult either, simply up the multiplier/ratio, you will be limited by the stock heatsink though

 
Idleman said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £149.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £66.66
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
Total : £809.56 (includes shipping : £12.50).

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Very nice and the Gigabyte card is quieter than the MSI version and clocked higher too.
 
The GB 7850 and the MSI both get knocked for being loud at high fan speeds in their reviews, depends how far he pushes the OC I suppose. The GB may well be quieter at idle (if we believe GBs quoted dB) and it does come clocked faster out of the box but you really want to OC either card so the later is not really a valid argument.
 
If you say so Stu. Either card will hit 1050mhz core speed, little more with some tweaking. I did show a video for the OP to see how easy it is to OC the GPU. Overclocking will increase the fan speed on both cards obviously.

There is the 7850 frozr IV for £10 more which doesn't have the voltages locked to assist in tweaking the overclocks. Wether it's worth the extra is down to the OP to decide.
 
The only valid argument in my eyes is the GB UK based warranty.

Afterburner will OC either card, you dont have to stick with the factory overclock. You can set upto 5 overclocked profiles, one for summer and winter is all I have bothered with. It's also possible to set custom fan speeds to address noise from the fans. There is also an OSD which can be set to display GPU load, temps, FPS etc etc which is handy to see what difference the OC is making in game.

Once the OP decides what he wants we can help him tweak the most from his setup :)
 
stulid said:
Sounds a bit like a desperate post to try and convince that the MSI is equal to me.
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Ooooooo someones tired!

We have no idea when the OP is ordering the kit so it's important he understands the differences should he be looking to buy once this weeks offers expire.

By RRP the Frozr III is cheaper. The Windforce X2 at it's RRP goes head to head with the Frozr IV which isn't voltage locked so in my eyes that is the better 7850 GPU.

OP said he knows very little about overclocking so I have tried to show how easy it is to do and get more bang for his buck. He might well get the Windforce, just because it's technically better "out of the box" doesn't mean that it can't be tweaked aswell and improved from factory settings for both speed and noise. That was the point of me talking him through afterburner.

It's also worth mentioning the LucidMVP software that comes with the Z77 mobo. As it can switch between the IGP and the dedicated GPU depending on what's needed to save power. Infact the IGP can be used to boost the GPU but this is only really making a difference on much more budget orientated GPUs. If it's starting to sound complicated we are always willing to help walk people through the build.

I don't mind which spec he uses honestly. I think Sparx and Idleman did a good job too. As his boy wants a gaming rig then the 7850 makes a lot of sense as it's known as a good OC'er and comes with a nice bundle of games. If his boy does any video encoding or might well want to, he could consider the nvidia 660 for it's CUDA support. Somehow I think he will take the free games over this option but I'll still point it out all the same.
 
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The gigabyte is still the better card to have out of the two currently.

None of what you have just typed excuses this fact.
 
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stulid said:
The gigabyte is still the better card to have out of the two currently.

None of what you have just typed excuses this fact.
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Either card is good for the price and will give plenty of bang for buck. I prefer the styling of the MSI GPU, it might have a lower factory overclock and maybe a little louder at idle but these "issues" can be resolved easily enough.

I don't like the blue PCB on the Windforce, infact even the amount of blue on their entry level mobos makes them look "cheap" to me. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. I'm not saying their stuff is rubbish, I just don't like the styling. This matters to me but maybe not the OP, each to their own.
 
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