Compatible Gaming Build?

jscott10

jscott10

jscott10

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18 Apr 2013
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21
Long story short: Looking for new computer for gaming. First time building a computer but have taken my current computer to bits for cleaning and it still works.

So onto what you guys need to know:
Most of these are just copy/paste from the OC store.

CPU - Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail

Motherboard - MSI Z77 MPOWER Intel Z77(Socket1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard

Ram - TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit

Hard Drives - 150GB HDD(Used for OS), 1TB HDD Drive and 500GB HDD - All taken from current build

Graphics Card - GeForce GTX 560 - Taken from current build

PSU - OcUK Rage GT 800W PSU 80+ Dual Rail "80 Plus" Efficient Power Supply - Taken from current build

Case - Aerocool CyborgX Midi Tower Case - Black

CPU Cooling - Undecided

Case Fans - Extra 2x Xigmatek Crystal 140 Red LED Fan - 140mm

CD/DVD Rom Drive - OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Sound Card - Standard Sound Card - Taken from current build

Now onto some main "issues":

CPU Cooling - Once again a Air Vs Water, I did do some research into this. It seems water is better for general overclocking(something I have never done, but may wish to dabble in). I do not however want to spend a load to keep my comp cool so I was thinking of a pre-built one for the CPU.Here are links to two watercooling systems I'm considering:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-002-IN

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-005-AN

If I do go watercooling do I also get the thermal paste? I never saw it mentioned at all.

Graphics Card - Not sure whether to upgrade or not. My 560 seems to do well enough(I think its the CPU which holds my gaming back). However I may upgrade to a Geforce GTX 670 (Link - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-017-KF )

I think thats all the info for now. Any questions then feel free to ask.
 
Ah I knew i missed something. I did originally think around the £800 mark or so. Taking away the price of the new GFX card I'm sitting at £525 round about (with GFX Card £825).

I would go at most £1000 for a new computer. I think it really depends on whether the new GFX Card will be worth it.
 
If it's purely for gaming, an i5-3570K will do. Games usually only use 2-4 cores effectively.

Swap the PSU for a more reliable one, you have a time bomb there... Good brands to look for is Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, etc...

Maybe stick with 1600 MHz RAM, it's the sweet spot for Sandy/Ivy Bridge and there's hardly any performance gains going for faster RAM.

Water is only beneficial if you're going for a custom water cooling loop. The all-in-one ones can easily be matched/suprassed by a good air cooler. And yes, thermal paste is still needed, but it's usually supplied with the cooler.

Also, what sound card do you have? Is it PCI or PCI-E?

And from the looks of it, I guess you want to do a mATX build?
 
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£20 over:

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795F3G2M) £233.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £189.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £83.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) HDD £74.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.95
1 x Patriot Viper Xtreme 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PXD38G1600LLK) £39.95
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 140 BW Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £34.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,020.73 (includes shipping : FREE).



If you're just gaming, 1600 RAM will be fine and there is no need for the i7. The 670 is a great card, but the 7950 is better priced compared.
 
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £224.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) £109.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.95
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £83.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Patriot Viper Xtreme 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PXD38G1600LLK) £39.95
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £20.99
Total : £804.83 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Your PSU is naff, this 750W silver rated PSU is great and will allow you to dual card GPUs. Keep hold of the 560 (OC it if you haven't). BF4 is out in october and will be given away with the new AMD GPUs......that's when i'm looking to upgrade from the 1GB 460 ;)

I don't have a problem with your choice of the Mpower mobo, it comes with wifi and bluetooth with some other freebies thrown in. The 2700K isn't to be sniffed at although I can tweak the spec to get the IB i7K with a GB mobo that still does Xfire/SLi properly

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £279.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) £109.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.95
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £83.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G186C9K) £39.95
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £20.99
Total : £822.79 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Hope this helps, look forward to seeing what you settle on :)
 
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Oh wow, that was much more help than I expected.

Ill have to take a look at the various builds you guys posted a little later.

Thanks a lot for the builds though :D
 
Orcvader said:
Swap the PSU for a more reliable one, you have a time bomb there... Good brands to look for is Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, etc...
Click to expand...

Would like to know how my current PSU is a "time bomb".


Water is only beneficial if you're going for a custom water cooling loop. The all-in-one ones can easily be matched/suprassed by a good air cooler. And yes, thermal paste is still needed, but it's usually supplied with the cooler.
Click to expand...

Yea I guessed air could match a simple water cooled system. Just wanted to make sure

Also, what sound card do you have? Is it PCI or PCI-E?
Click to expand...

Its a PCI soundcard, it was a relatively cheap one. I only need it to play music/sound through the speakers while I sen skype chat through a headset.


And from the looks of it, I guess you want to do a mATX build?
Click to expand...
Haven't heard of the mATX build before, so more information please.

Also for the guys who posted builds, I did kind of have my heard set on the Cyborg case. Would the builds still work with that case?
 
Drop to the i5, you really won't need the hyperthreading for gaming. Use the money saved there to splash out on a SSD it will have a much more noticeable effect on boot and load times.
 
I was considering an SSD some time ago but I love having all my games(I hate steam and their sales) on my computer ready to play at a moments notice. So space is an issue for me, hence the 1TB HDD. As for boot times, its really a non issue to me. I usually turn the comp on then go grab a drink or something and my comp is usually ready for me to log in and use.

Ill have a think about it though.
 
jscott10 said:
I was considering an SSD some time ago but I love having all my games(I hate steam and their sales) on my computer ready to play at a moments notice. So space is an issue for me, hence the 1TB HDD. As for boot times, its really a non issue to me. I usually turn the comp on then go grab a drink or something and my comp is usually ready for me to log in and use.

Ill have a think about it though.
Click to expand...

I have the important stuff on a 120GB SSD, windows, office, browser etc, anything I open regulary opens instantly. My games go on a seperate mechanical HD, music/films on a NAS.
 
jscott10 said:
Would like to know how my current PSU is a "time bomb".
Click to expand...

It's cheap for a reason (compared to other 800w PSUs), it uses low quality parts and may not even have protection circuits to protect the rest of the PC if it does go wrong. And like other no-namer PSUs, the stated wattage is usually the peak wattage (which lasts for a couple of seconds) instead of the actual wattage it can supply 24/7. Not to mention most of the time the amps on the 12v rail is usually low. Everyone else has suggested much more reliable, longer lasting PSUs in their specs.

Its a PCI soundcard, it was a relatively cheap one. I only need it to play music/sound through the speakers while I sen skype chat through a headset.
Click to expand...

Good to know, there are some motherboards that don't have PCI slots so will need to look out for that...

Haven't heard of the mATX build before, so more information please.
Click to expand...

I misread the board name and thought it was the mATX variant, so nevermind on this :p. mATX is basically a smaller form factor than ATX, mATX having 4 expansion slots while ATX having 7.

Also for the guys who posted builds, I did kind of have my heard set on the Cyborg case. Would the builds still work with that case?
Click to expand...

Case will be fine. Not exactly my cup of tea appearance wise but all to their own tastes.
 
Okay this may be the build I'm going with.

CPU - Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - £189.95

Motherboard - Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - £112.99

Memory - Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G186C9K) - £39.95

PSU - XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply - £83.99

Case - Aerocool CyborgX Midi Tower Case - £67.99

CPU Cooling - Antec Kúhler H2O 620 Series 4 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) - £44.39

Extra Case Fans - 2x Xigmatek Crystal 140 Red LED Fan - 140mm - £6.98(For 1)

CD/DVD Drive - LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM - £20.99

So I compared each of the proposed builds against each other. This largely seems the best.

As for the GFX card I mentioned, I may try this one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-049-HS

I'm not used to using Radeon cards but willing to try it.

So total price of: £574.21 (£808.20 with the GFX Card)

Within budget with a bit left over. Any recommendations or changes, feel free to speak up. Remember this isn't set in stone. Not yet anyway.
 
Case is a personal preference but I can see you are trying to style the build. Personally I think the blue and red will clash but to each their own. I could imagine something like this.....

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £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 XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £83.99
1 x CM Storm Enforcer Gaming Case - Black £74.99
1 x OcUK Tech Labs - Corsair H60 Performance Intel Liquid Cooling Solution (Socket 1155 / 1156 / 1366) £39.95
- 1 x Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound (8g) £8.99
- 1 x BitFenix Spectre PRO 120mm Fan Red LED - Black £11.99
- 1 x BitFenix Spectre PRO 120mm Fan Red LED - Black £11.99
1 x Patriot Viper Xtreme 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PXD38G1600LLK) £39.95
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £20.99
1 x BitFenix Spectre 200mm Fan Red LED - black £11.99
Total : £649.79 (includes shipping : £12.50).



The case you have is limited to a GPU length of 290mm which limits GPU choice. The HDD cage might come out but then you would have to mount your HDDs elsewhere. This case is similar but has a removable and static HDD cage.

It's a bit more cash but is styled and does inc wifi and bluetooth. I've made my own CLC from a barebones kit, static pressure fans would be better for cooling through the rad but you won't find SP LED fans easily. I added an extra 200mm LED fan for the ceiling, if you buy the Hydra LED controller I reviewed it would allow you to toggle the LEDs on and off on the rad and ceiling fans....not essential but you might want to add it later for the sake of £20ish.

I could go with the blue theme with the Z9 U3 but it too is limited to 290mm GPUs. It comes with three 120mm fans, two are LED blue. It has a fan controller and digital temp display built in too.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £83.99
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G186C9K) £39.95
1 x OcUK Tech Labs - Corsair H60 Performance Intel Liquid Cooling Solution (Socket 1155 / 1156 / 1366) £39.95
- 1 x No Fan Required £0.00
- 1 x Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound (8g) £8.99
- 1 x No Fan Required £0.00
1 x Corsair SP120 Quiet Series High Pressure Low Noise - Dual Pack £25.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £20.99
1 x Akasa USB 3.0 internal adapter cable (AK-CBUB09-15BK) £5.99
Total : £587.90 (includes shipping : £11.75).




If you drop the Xfire requirement you can save more cash on the mobo and PSU. By doing the cooler this way (you obviously know air cooling is better value surely) you get a tube of good paste and plenty of it. I would take the heatsink off "my" 560, clean it out and the fan, clean off the old gunk and apply the MX2 paste. Then overclock it and wait on BF4 in Oct. before I changed it.

It's your build your rules and more importantly your cash. Building rigs can be fun when you style it. I look forward to seeing your final basket, THIS might help with you posting it :)
 
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Going for a "style" was something I originally hadn't though of. I just saw the case and thought it looked good and tried to match the LEDs of other parts with the red. If I was to style it then yea I would make it at most 2 colours IE Red/Black or white/blue. Looking over my build I can see a fair bit of blue but It would be hard to change them or the case. Would also change the fans if the case was changed.

The current area my comp is sitting wouldn't let it be shown off anyway. Only the front would be seen. The GFX limitation does concern me though. Also I would like to point out I didn't mention anything on wanting XFire. It would be nice if I choose to go that route.
 
Ok so another build which is hopefully a bit more styled, and takes GPU Card size into account. Hopefully all is good now.

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Aerocool Mechatron Gaming Windowed Tower Case - White £83.99
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £83.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G186C9K) £39.95
1 x OcUK Tech Labs - Corsair H60 Performance Intel Liquid Cooling Solution (Socket 1155 / 1156 / 1366) £39.95
- 1 x BitFenix Spectre PRO 120mm Fan Blue LED - Black £11.99
- 1 x BitFenix Spectre PRO 120mm Fan Blue LED - Black £11.99
- 1 x Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound (8g) £8.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £20.99
2 x Aerocool V12XT BlueLine Edition Fan - 120mm £6.98 (£13.96)
Total : £872.22 (includes shipping : £11.25).



For those who read my earlier post, I chose the windowed case as it will hopefully last me a while so will be shown off at some point.
 
Yeah nicely styled!! The choice of blue actually helps you style whilst keeping to a budget with decent value parts ;) Does look very tidy :)

GPU is great and at a good price, pity you just missed out on free games which is partly why I suggested you wait on one to get more for your cash. That GPU uses External exhaust so is ideal if you thinking of adding another for Xfire, the hot air is blown out of the case rather than dumped inside it. Interesting choice as it's 295mm long so doesn't fit the Z9 U3 ;)

That case I dont know if it supports 240mm rads incase you want to upgrade the CLC down the line. The price of it is very close to the NZXT 410. That can take a 240mm rad and comes with plenty of fans....Two 120mm and a 140mm and comes in a range of colours.

We can nit pick all day long over builds. I'd want the LEDs to match on all the fans myself and would probably favour the SP120 QEs (has rings to colour code it) on the rad rather than LED PROs but they are a good all purpose fan to their credit. Hopefully you understand some of the parts and how to balance it out now by what they offer you. I think I'd rather get a SSD now than the GPU as there is currently cashback on samsung ones ;) I myself will most likely get an 8000 series GPU in october with BF4. I may even try and keep my 460 in there too and dedicate it to CUDA and PhysX support which would give me the best of both worlds for any game or application ;)

Enjoy it and have fun, god forbid you have any problems or maybe just have some more questions you know where to find us :D
 
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