Gaming Build

morphz

morphz

morphz

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Joined
17 Dec 2009
Posts
23
Hey guys

I'm putting together another gaming build for myself. (Big thanks Stulid for the help on selecting my previous system components!)

I would like to stick around the £1300 budget +/- £200 and will be using a single monitor at 1920x1080. I won't be taking anything from the old case as I'm looking to sell it on to a friend, so will need the OS.

I have checked a few specs suggested around my budget and checked various reviews and came up with this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £259.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cask Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) HDD £73.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £64.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,282.30 (includes shipping : £13.75).





My main concerns / questions are:

1. Will the CPU cooler fit in the case? Will the case be OK for components temperature wise as it's for silence not cooling? I am looking to overclock CPU and possibly GFX card after some research but not to extreme levels. I also like this case:
1 x BitFenix Shinobi XL Full Tower Gaming Windowed Case - Black £114.95

2. Primarily for gaming so is an upgrade to i7 worth it? I would hope to have the system for at least 2 years, upgrades in between possible.

3. How about this GFX card instead as it's on offer this week?
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £251.99

4. Any problems? Missing components or changes you would recommend?

Thanks a lot for all your help!
OCUK forums.. helping me build my 3 previous systems and now 4th :D
 
Last edited:
Q1 - Yes, that cooler will fit in both case's. If you are worried about noise, look at the BitFenix Recon fan controller. You can have loads of custom profiles from full speed to all fans disabled.

Q2 - The i7 only has hyperthreading as an addition. While games like BF3 & Crysis 3 may use this more than others, the money is yours to spend.

Q3 - The gigabyte is a great card. Cool quiet & you get UK RMA.

Any reason you have 2 difference mechanical drives in your spec? Being as picky as I am, it would look better with 2 of the same :)
 
morphz said:
(Big thanks Stulid for the help on selecting my previous system components!)
Click to expand...

Great start :)

morphz said:
My main concerns / questions are:

1. Will the CPU cooler fit in the case? Will the case be OK for components temperature wise as it's for silence not cooling? I am looking to overclock CPU and possibly GFX card after some research but not to extreme levels. I also like this case:
1 x BitFenix Shinobi XL Full Tower Gaming Windowed Case - Black £114.95
Click to expand...

Yes the CPU cooler will fit in that case and the Shinobi XL..

That cooler is one of the top air coolers, similar to the D14, which i have. On silent mode my 4.7 OC sits around 70C (little high but still good), so no problems there.

Cooling wise i think the Antec is better..

morphz said:
2. Primarily for gaming so is an upgrade to i7 worth it? I would hope to have the system for at least 2 years, upgrades in between possible.
Click to expand...

No need to upgrade to an i7, will see no difference.


morphz said:
3. How about this GFX card instead as it's on offer this week?
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £251.99
Click to expand...

Its a good card at a good price, though that cooler design (the back end) worries me..

Not sure how easy it would be if you had 2 in Xfire..

I'd stick with the Windforce.

morphz said:
4. Any problems? Missing components or changes you would recommend?
Click to expand...

Why do you have 2 X 2TB drives (both different)?
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £349.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail with Dead Space 3 PC Game £239.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £169.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) ** Cask Back Promo ** £109.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) HDD £73.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1866C10DC) £49.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,312.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
dacads said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £349.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail with Dead Space 3 PC Game £239.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £169.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) ** Cask Back Promo ** £109.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) HDD £73.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1866C10DC) £49.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,312.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

Why?

Not worth an extra £100 for a few FPS

He won't need a CPU that powerful..

Smaller SSD

PSU that won't handle Xfire

Cooler won't be as good as the K2

1866 RAM will have no benifit and 2011 works better with quad channel.

I prefer the OP spec, by a long way.
 
The 2TB HDD is on offer and he can only add one to the basket ;)

Nice basket of bits there, I'll do an alternative for you

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £251.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cask Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £173.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi XL Full Tower Gaming Windowed Case - Black £114.95
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Toshiba (7K3000.D) 3TB SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA300) HDD £97.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 1220 Series 4 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA1155 / LGA1156 / LGA1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM2+ / AM3+) £97.58
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £40.00
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,322.94 (includes shipping : £13.75).



The Shinobi XL isn't great for air cooling hence the CLC. The GPU is external exhaust as you are setting yourself up for Xfire it seems. The mobo gives you wifi and bluetooth and has some nice freebies thrown in. If stulid was around he would point out it doesnt do offset overclocking but the mobo has got i5Ks to 5GHz on watercooling......it's far from shabby ;)
 
Last edited:
snips86x said:
Change that RAM for the Blue version. Would look great in that case :D
Click to expand...

The M power RAM I used colour codes to the mobo. I'm sure the OP would have seen the LED RAM on offer at £40. He went with the Kingston RAM even though the blue LEDs would have matched the GB mobo......so I doubt he is interested in it. Granted it's worth mentioning incase he missed it though
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cask Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £62.98
2 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-255-SE) £62.4 (£124.80)
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,251.10 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
honosuseri said:
The M power RAM I used colour codes to the mobo. I'm sure the OP would have seen the LED RAM on offer at £40. He went with the Kingston RAM even though the blue LEDs would have matched the GB mobo......so I doubt he is interested in it. Granted it's worth mentioning incase he missed it though
Click to expand...

Missed the mobo, looks great in that case. (both senses)
 
Doomedspeed said:
Great find on that 7970 Idle, 7970 for the price of a 7950.

Great spec too.. I like a lot.
Click to expand...

Alas being B grade it doesn't include the games :( We often tend to agree the 7950 is a good compromise as it can be OC'd well to close the gap on the 7970 which isn't really worth the extra at retail pricing.

Not that I'm knocking my buddy Idlemans spec, it's a worthy alternative also :)
 
honosuseri said:
Alas being B grade it doesn't include the games :( We often tend to agree the 7950 is a good compromise as it can be OC'd well to close the gap on the 7970 which isn't really worth the extra at retail pricing.

Not that I'm knocking my buddy Idlemans spec, it's a worthy alternative also :)
Click to expand...

£20 cheaper than the 7950, i don`t think I would be to disappointed about the games. :D

it's a worthy alternative also
Click to expand...

Cheers buddy.
 
There is only the one though in the clearance section. I doubt that will be around long at that price ;) I was talking about retail pricing just so the OP knows that the 7950 (£260) he went with isn't a bad shout at all over the 7970 (£350 for the windforce).

I just offered a variant around the Shinobi XL he mentioned. It's known not to be great for air cooling so I did spend a little more on the cooling and picked a GPU that exhausts the hot air out of the case rather than dumping it inside like the Windforce.

I think he did pretty well himself but it's always nice to discuss the options. As my sig says infinite possiblities and all that jazz lol
 
Thanks for all the replies, very helpful. :)

Two HDDs as I want to put films and music on the WD green and games / programs on the other and not worry about filling them up in the future. Also as honosuseri says I can only order one seagate as it's on offer and 1TB drives are not much of a saving.

The 7970 for £20 less would have been amazing but I'm too late someone has snapped it up already!

I prefer the Antec P280 so will go with that setup as there seems to be no major issues and am not worried about how the RAM looks, going for value & performance - kingston, avexir or another?

Will I need to order some SATA cables for the drives or will there be some with the mobo?

Thanks again, hope to order soon!
 
Mobo will come with the cables you need (providing you dont buy a B grade one).

With RAM going higher than 1600Mhz will make little odds on the 1155 socket. Technically the lower the CAS rating the better but in the real world the difference between C9 to C11 isn't really noticable. It really will boil down to price and looks, we do like to spec low profile RAM (like the Kingston Genesis which I own personally) as it makes life easy with tower heatsinks.

Look forward to seeing what you settle on in the end :)
 
You should get about 4 data cables, I believe with most mobos these days.
Shame about the 7970, but hardly surprising it`s gone so quickly, especially at that price.
 
Thanks honosuseri & Idleman for the answers.

I'm still a bit undecided about what case I want and have been looking at the CPU watercoolers. How are they for cooling and noise vs the K2? Having looked at the options I am happy to spend ~£100 on the CPU watercooler if it will benefit, is there one you would recommend?

Thanks again
 
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