£1000 Gaming Rig Suggestions

Rexonon · 31 Jul 2013 at 14:00

Hello OC Community,

Time for a complete upgrade! I am looking to get a decent gaming rig with a £1000 budget. I will need all tower components including the case however I will not need a DVD drive, peripherals or a sound card (use headphones anyway).

I am hoping for a decent i7 if possible as I want to future proof it as much as possible and any extra free gifts that come with the items is always a bonus (especially if they can be sold on) but not if it's not cost effective. Of course I want to run games with as much detail as I can get out of them and have no idea if it could (or should) be watercooled.

So, I will leave it to your superior knowledge and thank each of you for providing your assistance. Please ask if you have any further questions.

teppic · 31 Jul 2013 at 14:16

Here's a good set up. This comes with 5 good games for free, but the offer ends today (it'll probably be the regular 2 or 3 tomorrow).

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** £259.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black £113.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £74.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £48.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £39.95
Total : £1,019.34 (includes shipping : £17.10).

If you don't like the case, this is a cheaper more traditional one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-107-CA&groupid=2362&catid=2277

Doomedspeed · 31 Jul 2013 at 14:33

teppic said:
Here's a good set up. This comes with 5 good games for free, but the offer ends today (it'll probably be the regular 2 or 3 tomorrow).

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** £259.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black £113.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £74.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £48.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £39.95
Total : £1,019.34 (includes shipping : £17.10).

If you don't like the case, this is a cheaper more traditional one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-107-CA&groupid=2362&catid=2277

looks good to me, id go for that with the 200R/300R case.

Gaming wise the i5 is exactly the same performance as the i7 so you'd just be throwing money into the wind...

The GPU is epic for the price.

The only change id make (apart form the case) is the motherboard to this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-436-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2574

it has better Xfire capablities than the other one.

id also get some SP120's to use to with the H100 as the stock fans are mighty loud at full pelt: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-008-CS

teppic · 31 Jul 2013 at 14:35

Yeah, I put that same board in to begin with but it took it over budget a bit. The cheaper case would allow it though.

yoyo59 · 31 Jul 2013 at 14:40

teppic said:
Here's a good set up. This comes with 5 good games for free, but the offer ends today (it'll probably be the regular 2 or 3 tomorrow).

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** £259.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black £113.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £74.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £48.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £39.95
Total : £1,019.34 (includes shipping : £17.10).

If you don't like the case, this is a cheaper more traditional one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-107-CA&groupid=2362&catid=2277

how do you post builds like this from overclockers shop? i tried to do it but it doesnt come out like yours

teppic · 31 Jul 2013 at 14:43

yoyo59 said:
how do you post builds like this from overclockers shop? i tried to do it but it doesnt come out like yours

Chrome extension - ocuk shopping cart app.

yoyo59 · 31 Jul 2013 at 14:50

Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor & Corsair H100i CPU Cooler Bundle £358.99

MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99

Gigabyte Z87X-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £131.99

Corsair Vengeance C70 Midi Tower Gaming Case - GunMetal Black £94.99

Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99

Corsair 2013 Edition Gamer Series GS 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020063-UK) £65.99

Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G160C9K) £59.99

Total : £998.93 excluding shipping

Doomedspeed · 31 Jul 2013 at 14:58

teppic said:
Chrome extension - ocuk shopping cart app.

yoyo59 said:
Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor & Corsair H100i CPU Cooler Bundle £358.99

MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99

Gigabyte Z87X-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £131.99

Corsair Vengeance C70 Midi Tower Gaming Case - GunMetal Black £94.99

Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99

Corsair 2013 Edition Gamer Series GS 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020063-UK) £65.99

Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G160C9K) £59.99

Total : £998.93 excluding shipping

Still not right, and i wouldn't get the 4770k as the reason i stated above...

teppic's spec is much better.

teppic · 31 Jul 2013 at 15:42

Doomedspeed said:
id also get some SP120's to use to with the H100 as the stock fans are mighty loud at full pelt: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-436-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2574

Funny looking fans there

Doomedspeed · 31 Jul 2013 at 15:50

teppic said:
Funny looking fans there

Whoops, Well spotted..

Here is the real link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-008-CS

Have also edited my post.

yoyo59 · 31 Jul 2013 at 15:52

Doomedspeed said:
Still not right, and i wouldn't get the 4770k as the reason i stated above...

teppic's spec is much better.

''I am hoping for a decent i7 if possible''

''teppic's spec is much better. ''

that is a matter of opinion, personally I don't see how it is better

honosuseri · 31 Jul 2013 at 15:59

I see Teppic is borrowing heavily from the Carbide 540 spec's I've done lately

The 200/300R won't like the H100, I would stick with the Carbide 540 amazing case for the cash......

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £131.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black £113.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £74.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £48.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £39.95
1 x Corsair Fan, SP120 PWM Low Noise High Pressure Fan 4 pin, Dual Pack (CO-9050012-WW) £25.99
Total : £1,000.91 (includes shipping : £11.75).

The 670 is still a viable option, it's a cutdown 680 but they cut off very little just OC it to close the gap on the 680 (same with the 7950 to match 7970). Wasn't that long ago the 670 was a £300 GPU, the new 770 have dropped it's price. The 770 is a "Super Duper" 680 basically. With Nvidia you also get CUDA and PhysX support

teppic · 31 Jul 2013 at 16:01

honosuseri said:
I see Teppic is borrowing heavily from the Carbide 540 spec's I've done lately

Ha, I am not! I just like that case

honosuseri · 31 Jul 2013 at 16:05

teppic said:
Ha, I am not! I just like that case

The 7950 has gone up now and I was using the Z87X OC but that's gone back up in price too

Other than changing the mobo it's identical to what I've been spec'ing lately

yoyo59 said:
''I am hoping for a decent i7 if possible''

''teppic's spec is much better. ''

that is a matter of opinion, personally I don't see how it is better

PSU is too weak and the RAM is too slow. Haswell can use faster RAM than 1600Mhz for £60ish might as well get the faster kits.

teppic · 31 Jul 2013 at 16:11

^ There's also no cooler.

honosuseri · 31 Jul 2013 at 16:21

teppic said:
^ There's also no cooler.

H100i is bundled with the i7K and it would fit in the C70. I'd rather have the Carbide 540 though.

In your spec the 850W PSU is major overkill for the D3HP mobo as it doesn't do dual GPUs in sync. Might as well use a lower wattage but modular PSU if changing the case. Nice thing about the Carbide 540 is that because it's wider than most cases you aren't punished for using a non modular PSU, in that case the 850W XFX was OTT but for the price might as well have it

teppic · 31 Jul 2013 at 16:43

honosuseri said:
H100i is bundled with the i7K and it would fit in the C70. I'd rather have the Carbide 540 though.

In your spec the 850W PSU is major overkill for the D3HP mobo as it doesn't do dual GPUs in sync. Might as well use a lower wattage but modular PSU if changing the case. Nice thing about the Carbide 540 is that because it's wider than most cases you aren't punished for using a non modular PSU, in that case the 850W XFX was OTT but for the price might as well have it

Ah, so it is, my mistake.

The board does crossfire, just not SLI. I put in the higher PSU to allow for that.

Rexonon · 31 Jul 2013 at 16:50

Many thanks for all the replies. It's really useful and is the main reason I use Overclockers

The spec looks great and I will certainly take up Doomed's advice of taking the alternate motherboard (for future upgrades) and the additional fans. I will go with the cheaper case mainly due to the cost although the cube did look great.

I do however have a question in regards to the cooling in general. Will I need thermal paste or does it come pre-applied on the CPU? I am also worried that I have no idea how the water cooling works (and might need to do some google'ing). Are there more components required for it or is it literally just that small component as listed? Where does the water go?

Many thanks and again, the help is always appreciated.

teppic · 31 Jul 2013 at 16:53

Rexonon said:
Many thanks for all the replies. It's really useful and is the main reason I use Overclockers

The spec looks great and I will certainly take up Doomed's advice of taking the alternate motherboard (for future upgrades) and the additional fans. I will go with the cheaper case mainly due to the cost although the cube did look great.

I do however have a question in regards to the cooling in general. Will I need thermal paste or does it come pre-applied on the CPU? I am also worried that I have no idea how the water cooling works (and might need to do some google'ing). Are there more components required for it or is it literally just that small component as listed? Where does the water go?

Many thanks and again, the help is always appreciated.

It's an all in one cooler. It's no different from air really to set up, you mount it on the CPU and attach the fans/radiator to the top of the case.

Coolers either have pre-applied paste or come with a tube of it. I'm not sure about the H100.

If you'd rather stick with air, there are plenty of good options under £40.

honosuseri · 31 Jul 2013 at 16:54

teppic said:
Ah, so it is, my mistake.

The board does crossfire, just not SLI. I put in the higher PSU to allow for that.

The Xfire is just marketing hype really. The PCI-E lanes don't run in sync so adding the extra GPU is false economy. That's why I used the Z77X-D3H as it does it properly