Build me a clean, quiet gaming rig for £800

Infam0us

Infam0us

Infam0us

Soldato
Joined
16 Oct 2008
Posts
3,427
Location
Birmingham
Hi there peeps,

Can you wonderful people please spec me a £800 PC that is both powerful and quiet. It will be running ArmA 3 and BF3,4.

With regards to the case I want something that can be extremely neat and tidy, so much so that you can't notice the wires unless you really look as I want a sidewindow but only if its OCD clean inside. I like the style of the black corsair cases with black PSU, or even sleeved cables as they look better to me. Basically a case that makes cable management a breeze :)

I would like to for there to be some form of LED inside the case too, nothing over the top something that just shows off the case nicely in the dark. Even the LED Ram I like the look off too!

I did originally look at a C70 build but I've seen a few built and they don't look as tidy as others on here, I also toyed with the idea of a Bit Phoenix prodigy, but people advised me against that as they're not that upgradeable.

I'm not looking to X-Fire or Crossfire either.

Hopefully someone can help me! :)

Edit - Current spec is

AMD FX-4100
8GB Kingston Hyper X DDR3
M5A78L Asus Mobo
GTX570 PNY
128GB Kingston SSD
Asus DX2 Sound
3 Storage HDD
Corsair CX 600W Non Modular PSU
Lancool K58 Case

So feel free to use any of those parts. Although tbh I probably won't use the CD Drive.
 
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Slightly over budget:

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795F3G2M) 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 Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Advanced USB3.0 Windowed Dominator Case - Black £89.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £56.99
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 620 Series 4 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £44.39
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
Total : £813.30 (includes shipping : FREE).



A m-itx build would be fine if you are not looking to go SLI/xFire, but cable management is not easy.
 
snips86x said:
A prodigy build wouldn't be too bad. If you invest in a modular PSU, the cable management should be ok with a little work. This can also be made easier by purchasing smaller sata leads, 15cm.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...w=&pup_c=pla&gclid=CKPCuvPsu7YCFcLHtAodRSYANw
Click to expand...

I am quite fond of the little case :)

Do you think it would be manageable with a modular cable to get it looking clean inside, I'd be planning on sticking a side window on it so you could see in so I'd guess a modular with sleeved cables should do the trick?
 
They sell a windowed panel for the prodigy. In truth the GPU will hide everything, that's all you will see pretty much. Spending cash on sleeved extensions will be wasted cash in my opinion
 
I wouldn't go with a Prodigy build unless it's really necessary :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795F3G2M) 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 Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler - Silver (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £66.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Windowed Case - Black £59.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45.00
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £40.00
Total : £813.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
dacads said:
I wouldn't go with a Prodigy build unless it's really necessary :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795F3G2M) 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 Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler - Silver (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £66.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Windowed Case - Black £59.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45.00
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £40.00
Total : £813.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

Thanks for the build.

Are you not a fan of the Prodigy? Can you explain your reasoning? :)
 
lol I quite like the Prodigy actually but I see no point of going with it unless you're limited with space and/or go to LAN meets or travel frequently with your PC. A standard ATX case will just have more room inside to work with which will in reply be much more enjoyable then trying to squeeze things in like you would have to with an ITX case :)

So my choice would be an ATX case as it will allow more room for expansion & other things such as cable management
 
dacads said:
lol I quite like the Prodigy actually but I see no point of going with it unless you're limited with space and/or go to LAN meets or travel frequently with your PC. A standard ATX case will just have more room inside to work with which will in reply be much more enjoyable then trying to squeeze things in like you would have to with an ITX case :)

So my choice would be an ATX case as it will allow more room for expansion & other things such as cable management
Click to expand...

and then someone does this...........


and somehow none of that matters any more ;)
 
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I would give a vote to the CM690 case. I have it myself, really nice case, looks very tidy. Good cable management options, is well built, and has a nice led blue glow from the off. Pair that with another blue LED strip for the inside, and you get a nice glow, even out the top thanks to the mesh style of it. Get great temps even with standard fans inside.

Good functionality too with the ports available on it, easy to use HDD cages.

The smaller cases are as others have said, good if you need to transport it, or are short for space, but if you have it available, it is a great case, you will not be dissapointed.
 
I've had a good look at the cases people have recommended on here but for some reason I still want a Prodigy. Even though I know its going to be a pain to build as its so small, but I see so many people doing different mods with it makes me want to build one as a mini gaming PC that I can hide away somewhere rather than the big black towers I'm used too. I think I could cope with a few hours of frustration to have a build inside it :D

My only concern is going back to onboard sound from a DX2, I have been looking though at USB Soundcards from Creative although I'm not too sure what they are like?

I have also had a look at

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-121-SV&groupid=2362&catid=1092

Which reminds me of a Prodigy but is a bit larger, so this may be the compromise I am looking for in terms of case size. Although just looking at the measurements this is bigger than my current Lancool K58 somehow :eek:
 
Silverstone also have some good mini ITX cases ;) From what I've heard USB soundcards are terrible so you're best bet would be to get a USB Audio Interface such as the Tascam US-122MKII. But of course it depends on what speakers you have as no point investing in decent equipment if you're speakers are no good :p Onboard sound has progressed well and isn't that bad at all anymore :)
 
I've done my latest build in a Prodigy, turned out well. (Project log HERE)

The case itself is fantastic though could do with sound dampening as it has a lot of ventilation holes/grills. Please bear in mind though that the Windowed side panel doesn't provide any airflow as the stock sidepanel does - so any GPU will suffer heat wise.

I don't miss out on sound quality as the decoding is done through my graphics card and then amped via my home cinema setup. As above the onboard sound is great, just there is no real amplification so if you want to drive some high end headphones you'll be out of luck. On the other hand any externally powered speakers will be fine, unless you are hardcore into audio (Assuming you are not as you are asking the questions!). Even if you were you'd want to be driving the speakers through a dedicated amplifier anyway.
 
dacads said:
Silverstone also have some good mini ITX cases ;) From what I've heard USB soundcards are terrible so you're best bet would be to get a USB Audio Interface such as the Tascam US-122MKII. But of course it depends on what speakers you have as no point investing in decent equipment if you're speakers are no good :p Onboard sound has progressed well and isn't that bad at all anymore :)
Click to expand...


BuToNz said:
I've done my latest build in a Prodigy, turned out well. (Project log HERE)

The case itself is fantastic though could do with sound dampening as it has a lot of ventilation holes/grills. Please bear in mind though that the Windowed side panel doesn't provide any airflow as the stock sidepanel does - so any GPU will suffer heat wise.

I don't miss out on sound quality as the decoding is done through my graphics card and then amped via my home cinema setup. As above the onboard sound is great, just there is no real amplification so if you want to drive some high end headphones you'll be out of luck. On the other hand any externally powered speakers will be fine, unless you are hardcore into audio (Assuming you are not as you are asking the questions!). Even if you were you'd want to be driving the speakers through a dedicated amplifier anyway.
Click to expand...

Hi both :)

I currently use a pair of Sennheiser 518's along with a ASUS DX2 and this gives me good sound ingame (Can hear footsteps) and music sounds good and punchy too won't be as good.

What would you recommend to get a similar sound from a Prodigy as I assume the onboard of this, a Tascam US-122MKII?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-530-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2071

Fantasic build BuToNz, would you say the case gives chance to build a high end gaming PC? Would you advise against the sidepanel then, even with a good aftermarket cooler GFX?

What are the sound levels like, I'm assuming adding aftermarket fans and a CPU Corsair Cooler would help? Also are there dust filters, as you say there's a lot of grills and vents so I imagine the dust has lots of chance to get in. Then again its not a lot to clean with some compressed air.

Sorry for all the questions :p
 
Infam0us said:
Fantasic build BuToNz, would you say the case gives chance to build a high end gaming PC? Would you advise against the sidepanel then, even with a good aftermarket cooler GFX?

What are the sound levels like, I'm assuming adding aftermarket fans and a CPU Corsair Cooler would help? Also are there dust filters, as you say there's a lot of grills and vents so I imagine the dust has lots of chance to get in. Then again its not a lot to clean with some compressed air.

Sorry for all the questions :p
Click to expand...

Not 100% sure on what external headphone amplifier you should go for as I've never wanted/needed one. I think that question would best be answered by someone more 'in the know'. Pretty sure you won't need a huge amount of amplification to get those Sennheisers going.

So back to the case...
The original side panel is vented by small holes, which unfortunately don't have any kind of mesh/air filtering. I am on the lookout for some filter mesh but in fairness I've not found it needed. The sound level is pretty quiet but not silent by any means. This isn't helped by the number of fans/fan speed I use - but I've never made any proper effort to silence it nor really does it bother me much.

I have seen people on the OCN forums who have modded the windowed version of the side panel to have a gap between the window and the panel. This seems to allow much better airflow while keeping the side panel window. As said above though the only thing you will see through the window is the GPU anyway so might not even be worth the effort. Personally I prefer no window cases.

The front and top have mesh which acts as a good dust filter, the rear has the standard honeycomb grill/cut. I've tried sucking air into the case from the back, it did make a difference in temps but at the cost of a LOT of noise as the air was drawn over the honeycomb grill. This also introduced more dust. So the only air intake is my front 200mm then the rear/top are blowing out of the case.

I get good temps (As you might have seen in the project log) so I'm happy. For the price the case is fantastic but I do have a lot of space left due to removing all the HDD cages and only running SSD's.

Another thing to consider is your choice of PSU, the one I have is 160mm long which just about fits (With some force) anything bigger is impossible without either some spacers or cutting the PSU cage.

Hope this gives you an idea, more than happy to answer more questions.
 
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I guess one of my main questions is, are you happy with it and will you be keeping it for a while as your main rig?

What made you want to build with it in the first place?

For me its to have a small portable PC thats quiet and powerful that I can game with on BF3,4 and ArmA 3.

I can't tell why I want one so bad, other than I know I want one :p
 
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