Sub £800 gaming build

Poulter · 16 Jan 2013 at 17:49

Hi, I asked for a sub 1100 build earlier, but money has come up short, was wondering is it possible to get a decent setup for 800, not so much for fps games, but MMO's etc (need everything apart from OS)
Any help would be greatly appreciated

twera · 16 Jan 2013 at 17:51

I'm aslo building a gaming rig for under £800.

This is what was suggested, and after taking a look into it - I'm getting exactly this with a different HDD and no optical drive.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=23569117&postcount=12

1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77N-WIFI Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £98.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Arctic White £57.98
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £50.00
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £35.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £745.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).

stulid · 16 Jan 2013 at 17:56

YOUR BASKET
1 x intel core i5-3570k 3.40ghz (ivybridge) socket lga1155 processor (77w) - retail £179.99
1 x gigabyte geforce gtx 660 windforce 2x 2048mb gddr5 pci-express graphics card £179.99
1 x samsung 120gb ssd 840 sata 6gb/s basic - (mz-7td120bw) £85.99
1 x gigabyte z77-d3h intel z77 (socket 1155) ddr3 motherboard £79.99
1 x silverstone strider plus 500w modular '80 plus bronze' power supply (sst-st50f-p) £67.99
1 x toshiba (7k1000.d) 1tb sata 6gb/s 32mb cache - oem (dt01aca100) hdd £54.98
1 x cooler master k280 midi tower case - black (rc-k280-kkn1) £36.98
1 x geil evo leggera 8gb (2x4gb) ddr3 pc3-12800c9 1600mhz dual channel kit (gel38gb1600c9dc) £35.99
1 x alpenföhn matterhorn pure edition cpu cooler (socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / am2 / am2+ / am3 / fm1 / fm2) £29.99
1 x lg gh24ns95 24x dvd±rw sata rewriter (black) - oem £17.99
total : £782.48 (includes shipping : £10.50).

motherboard reviews,

kitguru.
hexus.
eteknix.
madshrimps.
windwithme.
tbreak.

kitguru even gave it the budget board for 2012 award - http://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/zardon/kitguru-annual-awards-2012/5/[/quote]

heatsink review - http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/alpenfoehn_matterhorn_pure_cpu_cooler_review,1.html

Pick a case you like, I selected that one as it has a USB3.0 front port and some basic cable management.

honosuseri · 16 Jan 2013 at 18:01

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Samsung S22B300BS 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £100.00
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM £55.00
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.98
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £35.99
1 x TT eSports Challenger Gamers Keyboard £24.98
1 x Xigmatek Achilles II SD1284 CPU-Cooler - 120mm (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366 AMD AM2/AM3/FM1) £23.98
1 x Steelseries Kinzu V2 3200 DPI Rubberised Black Gaming Mouse (62022) £17.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £792.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Poulter · 16 Jan 2013 at 18:03

stulid said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x intel core i5-3570k 3.40ghz (ivybridge) socket lga1155 processor (77w) - retail £179.99
1 x gigabyte geforce gtx 660 windforce 2x 2048mb gddr5 pci-express graphics card £179.99
1 x samsung 120gb ssd 840 sata 6gb/s basic - (mz-7td120bw) £85.99
1 x gigabyte z77-d3h intel z77 (socket 1155) ddr3 motherboard £79.99
1 x silverstone strider plus 500w modular '80 plus bronze' power supply (sst-st50f-p) £67.99
1 x toshiba (7k1000.d) 1tb sata 6gb/s 32mb cache - oem (dt01aca100) hdd £54.98
1 x cooler master k280 midi tower case - black (rc-k280-kkn1) £36.98
1 x geil evo leggera 8gb (2x4gb) ddr3 pc3-12800c9 1600mhz dual channel kit (gel38gb1600c9dc) £35.99
1 x alpenföhn matterhorn pure edition cpu cooler (socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / am2 / am2+ / am3 / fm1 / fm2) £29.99
1 x lg gh24ns95 24x dvd±rw sata rewriter (black) - oem £17.99
total : £782.48 (includes shipping : £10.50).

motherboard reviews,

kitguru even gave it the budget board for 2012 award - http://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/zardon/kitguru-annual-awards-2012/5/

heatsink review - http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/alpenfoehn_matterhorn_pure_cpu_cooler_review,1.html

Pick a case you like, I selected that one as it has a USB3.0 front port and some basic cable management.[/QUOTE]
Quick question about this, do i need the overclockable processor, i don't know how to, i could learn, but is it needed for the games that are out/will be out in the next couple of years?

stulid · 16 Jan 2013 at 18:06

Poulter said:
Quick question about this, do i need the overclockable processor, i don't know how to, i could learn, but is it needed for the games that are out/will be out in the next couple of years?

With the Z77 chipset its a little silly not to get the "K" CPU.

Overclocking is very easy to do with these (just increase the CPU ratio), start of slowly and before you know it you could be at 4Ghz+ in a very short amount of time.

An alternative is to pick an i5 - 3330 (still quad core) which as it still has TurboBoost, you can do whats known as "limited" overclocking by increasing the turbo ratio 4 speed bins higher than normal.

Edit... you can even save £30 by using the stock intel heatsink supplied with a retail CPU, these can still be used for around the 4GHz mark.

lee32uk · 16 Jan 2013 at 18:13

If you dont mind 'B' grade items, and using the stock cooler. Case is out of stock, but you had that in your previous thread.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7870 OC Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £149.99
1 x Asus VN247H 24"Widescreen Super Narrow Bezel LED Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
1 x Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black £59.99
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £35.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £800.40 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Poulter · 16 Jan 2013 at 20:09

If i could stretch the budget to 900-950, would that be a good idea, or not worth it?

stulid · 16 Jan 2013 at 20:14

Sure is a good idea to get the 3570K.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £280.00
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £85.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Silverstone Strider Plus 500W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (SST-ST50F-P) £67.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black £64.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £54.98
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £35.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £912.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Could even get a stronger GFX card etc.

Poulter · 16 Jan 2013 at 20:45

The above is great but i kinda need a monitor, was looking at the Dell Ultrasharp 23inch

lee32uk · 16 Jan 2013 at 20:46

Again if you don't mind a 'B' grade card (£50 cheaper than a new one) Added a SSD drive, Cooler and Modular PSU.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7870 OC Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £149.99
1 x Asus VN247H 24"Widescreen Super Narrow Bezel LED Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Silverstone Strider Plus 500W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (SST-ST50F-P) £67.99
1 x Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black £59.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £54.98
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £35.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £26.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £940.33 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Poulter · 16 Jan 2013 at 21:05

What does a 'B' grade mean in terms of performance?

lee32uk · 16 Jan 2013 at 21:20

Poulter said:
What does a 'B' grade mean in terms of performance?

Doesn't affect performance at all. They are usually returned items that may have certain acc missing that you would get in a retail version. i.e A 'B' grade motherboard might have missing cables. You get a 90 day warranty from OCUK and i think you also get the balance of any remaining manufacturers warranty.
Might be an idea to ask in the customer services section, or give them a ring.

Poulter · 20 Jan 2013 at 11:40

Ok so on the bright side my budget is back at £1000. The things that i would like:
MoBo
CPU
GPU
RAM
Extra CPU heatsink
PSU
Case
HDD
SSD
Basic Optical drive
Decent monitor for under £200
Basically i need everything bar windows
Would this all be possible for this budget, and given some time to think over it, what would you guys honestly buy with that budget? I would prefer Nvidia/Intel but if there is a reason why ATi/AMD are better then i would be happy to change, but with the build could i have a short sentence for why the parts chosen are the best for that price? Just that £1000 is a lot for me to spend, justification would be quite nice

Ty very much everyone

RJC · 20 Jan 2013 at 11:52

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP V2 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Asus VH242H 24" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black £131.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £35.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £993.34 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Poulter · 20 Jan 2013 at 13:32

RJC said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP V2 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Asus VH242H 24" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black £131.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £35.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £993.34 (includes shipping : £13.75).

7950 better than the 660ti?

Cpukid · 20 Jan 2013 at 13:34

RJC said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP V2 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Asus VH242H 24" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black £131.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £35.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £993.34 (includes shipping : £13.75).

That's one nice looking build!

Bacon? · 20 Jan 2013 at 14:09

Poulter said:
7950 better than the 660ti?

Yep

Not a great fan of that GPU myself, uses up 3 PCI slots.

Poulter · 21 Jan 2013 at 19:08

Right so i went a bit mad... but stretched the budget to £1200... This is what i've come up with, what do you think?

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 £319.99 (£266.66)
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM 23" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £161.99
Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (VTX4-25SAT3-128G) £99.98
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020048-UK) £56.99
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black £59.99

Total : £1,187.18

So yeah that is what i've come up with, thoughts/changes?

stulid · 21 Jan 2013 at 19:13

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £319.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Dell UltraSharp U2312HM 23" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £161.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £85.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £79.99
1 x Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £1,179.00 (includes shipping : £20.10).

• A more suitable PSU for SLI later on.
• Aftermarket cooler.
• Changed the SSD for something cheaper/still blisteringly quick.