1500 gaming budget

thekhalida1 · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:30

Hi there this pc not for me. For a good friend who asked me to build one for him. He wants to mainly use this pc for gaming he needs everything apart from monitor. Prefers windows 7. Just a couple a questions we had when looking over previous posts why does most people prefer a 7950 to a 680 apart from money are they the same performance wise. And is it better to have 4x4gb ram or 2x8gb ram. He wants to go air cooling but at a later date may want to watercool so a case that can do both would be good. I5ivy procecesor will be more than enough. A 256ssd with a 1tb hard drive also would be good. A good mechanical keyboard and were not sure what to look for in mouses. Also motherboards were not Sure to look for. Weve heard good things about seasonic powersupplys are they any good.

Leprechaun312 · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:41

YOUR BASKET
2 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99 (£479.98)
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Seasonic X-Series 750w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £124.99
1 x Qpad MK-80 Blue LED Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - UK Layout - Black Switches £99.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black £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 Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £51.95
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £49.99 (£99.98)
1 x Roccat Kone+ 6000 DPI Max Customization Gaming Mouse £49.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,518.31 (includes shipping : £13.75).

the mouse and keyboard can be changed to his liking but that build should do the trick

subbytna · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:44

Think he needs an OS (win 7)

snips86x · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:44

thekhalida1 said:
Hi there this pc not for me. For a good friend who asked me to build one for him. He wants to mainly use this pc for gaming he needs everything apart from monitor. Prefers windows 7.

We had when looking over previous posts why does most people prefer a 7950 to a 680 apart from money are they the same performance wise.

The 7950 is better value for money and some will state it's quicker than the 680. If you look at the price difference, the 680 it's more expensive and doesn't overclock as well. The 680 only adds PhysX & Cuda, which are not heavily utilized.

thekhalida1 said:
And is it better to have 4x4gb ram or 2x8gb ram.

Unless your going with the x79 build, you'll only get 2x8gb now as it's cheaper than buying 2 lots of 2x4gb's.

thekhalida1 said:
We've heard good things about seasonic powersupplys are they any good.

Seasonic & XFX are the best PSU's out there, so yes. They are one of the best. There is also Enermax, BeQuiet & Silverstone.

thekhalida1 said:
He wants to go air cooling but at a later date may want to watercool so a case that can do both would be good. I5ivy procecesor will be more than enough. A 256ssd with a 1tb hard drive also would be good. A good mechanical keyboard and were not sure what to look for in mouses. Also motherboards were not Sure to look for.

Spec wise, hows this?

YOUR BASKET
2 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99 (£479.98)
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi Tower - Black £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x XFX Pro 750W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x TT eSports MEKA Mechanical Gaming Keyboard £59.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £56.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Black (CH-9000022-EU) £54.95
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £40
1 x OcUK Mega Mat XXL Elite Tactical Gaming Surface £6.95
Total : £1,564.46 (includes shipping : £14.75).

Don't forget you can get free shipping with an additional 8 posts.

subbytna · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:45

Lep - Tbh one of the 7950 would be fine and put the money saved elsewhere. Decent case for starters...a £1500 build shouldn't languish in a 300 carbide case.

thekhalida1 · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:45

Leprechaun312 said:
YOUR BASKET
2 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99 (£479.98)
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Seasonic X-Series 750w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £124.99
1 x Qpad MK-80 Blue LED Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - UK Layout - Black Switches £99.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black £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 Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £51.95
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £49.99 (£99.98)
1 x Roccat Kone+ 6000 DPI Max Customization Gaming Mouse £49.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,518.31 (includes shipping : £13.75).

the mouse and keyboard can be changed to his liking but that build should do the trick

Thanks

Would rather a single graphics card

subbytna · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:46

snips86x said:
The 7950 is better value for money and some will state it's quicker than the 680. If you look at the price difference, the 680 it's more expensive and doesn't overclock as well. The 680 only adds PhysX & Cuda, which are not heavily utilized.

Unless your going with the x79 build, you'll only get 2x8gb now as it's cheaper than buying 2 lots of 2x4gb's.

Seasonic & XFX are the best PSU's out there, so yes. They are one of the best. There is also Enermax, BeQuiet & Silverstone.

Spec wise, hows this?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi Tower - Black £149.99
1 x Qpad MK-80 Blue LED Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - UK Layout - Black Switches £99.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £99.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Silverstone Strider Plus 500W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (SST-ST50F-P) £67.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £56.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Black (CH-9000022-EU) £54.95
1 x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £40
1 x OcUK Mega Mat XXL Elite Tactical Gaming Surface £6.95
Total : £1,423.27 (includes shipping : £13.75).

+1 for this....

thekhalida1 · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:52

Thanks. See the companys that the items how are there warrantys. Is there some makes i should stay way from

snips86x · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:56

subbytna said:
+1 for this....

Had to change it as I'd missed the ODD & couldn't get 2 cards in the budget, so changed to one.

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7970 IceQ X² 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H797QM3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £319.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi Tower - Black £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 920 Series 4 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA1155 / LGA1156 / LGA1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM2+ / AM3+) £84.98
1 x XFX Pro 750W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x TT eSports MEKA Mechanical Gaming Keyboard £59.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £56.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Black (CH-9000022-EU) £54.95
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £40
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x OcUK Mega Mat XXL Elite Tactical Gaming Surface £6.95
Total : £1,445.27 (includes shipping : £13.75).

thekhalida1 said:
Thanks. See the companys that the items how are there warrantys. Is there some makes i should stay way from

Gigabyte gives you UK RMA, but Overclockers would handle any warranty issues.

thekhalida1 · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:56

subbytna said:
+1 for this....

Really liking that. What do you look for in a good motherboard? Everyone piking that keyboard any reason?

thekhalida1 · 8 Apr 2013 at 10:59

snips86x said:
Had to change it as I'd missed the ODD & couldn't get 2 cards in the budget, so changed to one.

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7970 IceQ X² 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H797QM3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £319.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi Tower - Black £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x XFX Pro 750W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x TT eSports MEKA Mechanical Gaming Keyboard £59.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £56.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Black (CH-9000022-EU) £54.95
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £40
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x OcUK Mega Mat XXL Elite Tactical Gaming Surface £6.95
Total : £1,420.27 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Gigabyte gives you UK RMA, but Overclockers would handle any warranty issues.

So how long are warrantys say for example the gpu. Say in 2 years it went wrong if it was still in warranty would i deal with ocuk or the company

EyepodI · 8 Apr 2013 at 11:08

thekhalida1 said:
why does most people prefer a 7950 to a 680 apart from money are they the same performance wise.

For the most part the cards are pretty similar in performance. In most gaming benchmarks you'll see the 680 slightly outperform the 7950. But in some games using PhysX the 680 will outperform by quite a lot (BF3 for example). But the 680 is more expensive. It's easier to overclock the 7950, you'd have mess around flashing BIOS on the 680 to get it to really overclock. General consensus is the 680 is better at SLI than Crossfire on 7950.

I own a 680 but if it were me and I had no intention of using dual graphic cards I would get a 7970 (as opposed 7950). If I intended SLI in the future I would get a 680.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/550?vs=555

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18487976

Bacon? · 8 Apr 2013 at 11:10

Ignore above post.

Seriusily out of date info
Bad benchmarks
Lots of x-fire uses out here are happ

thekhalida1 · 8 Apr 2013 at 12:21

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
EVGA GeForce GTX 680 FTW 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £419.99
(£349.99) £419.99
(£349.99)
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Seasonic 860w '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
(£94.16) £112.99
(£94.16)
Corsair Vengeance SODIMM 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz SODIMM Kit (CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10) £99.95
(£83.29) £99.95
(£83.29)
Razer Blackwidow Expert 2013 Mechanical Keyboard £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Green (CH-9000024-EU) £54.95
(£45.79) £54.95
(£45.79)
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Sub Total : £1,170.68
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £236.24
Total : £1,417.42

My friend came up way this btw ive showed him youre suggestion how is his build what are the flaws

Incrauze · 8 Apr 2013 at 13:27

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £399.95
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £179.99
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 £112.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £79.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black £79.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD316GB1600C11DC) **OcUK Exclusive** £79.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £32.99
1 x Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) £22.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,442.33 (includes shipping : £13.75).