New gaming rig

The Gidfather

The Gidfather

The Gidfather

Associate
Joined
23 Sep 2009
Posts
35
Hi folks,

As my last PC has now descended into computer senilty, I'm looking to spec a new gaming rig. I'm not looking at this stage for much if any overclocking, although I am considering buying another monitor to compliment my 21" Samsung at a later date.

Processor = i5 or i7 Haswells, is the difference between the i5 4670k and an i7 4770k worth the extra £77?
Motherboard = one that suits the above
RAM = looking at 16gb (overkill?)
Graphics = is it worth looking at sli/ crossfire?
Hard drives - only looking for an SSD as I have the previous 4.2tb of drives from the previous rig.
PSU = one for sli
Case = Fractal Design Define XL2 (fancy a new case), only thing I've decided on.
CPU cooler = considering water cooling if it fits the above case and is muppet proof to install
CD/DVDRW = have 2 x IDE drives already, will reuse those if the mobo supports them
OS = Win 7 (already have)

Looking at a budget of about £1000 although can stretch further if it'd be worth the extra. Aiming to hit the sweet spot between performance and price.
 
 
For gaming: 4670K and 2x4GB RAM, will save a lot and perform no worse.

Crossfire/SLI is only really necessary on one screen if you want maximum settings at 60fps+ in the very latest games (Crysis 3, etc.). I'd go for a 7950 and overclock it, and maybe add a second later if needed.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £164.99
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) £115.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance C70 Midi Tower Gaming Case - GunMetal Black £94.99
1 x XFX Pro 750W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2133HC11ADC01) £71.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
Total : £1,022.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).




smidgen over :) you could save some money getting non pro version of the sdd and smaller psu but since you asked about crossfire and sli i made sure the board and psu would support it :)



YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7970 Lightning BOOSTED Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Corsair Vengeance M65 Mouse & OcUK Mega Mat!! £419.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £164.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) £115.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance C70 Midi Tower Gaming Case - GunMetal Black £94.99
1 x XFX Pro 750W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2133HC11ADC01) £71.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
Total : £1,292.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Quite abit over but t eh GFX will play all new games comes with a great mouse and mat AND a lot of the best games
 
Last edited:
scotsdragon said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £164.99
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) £115.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance C70 Midi Tower Gaming Case - GunMetal Black £94.99
1 x XFX Pro 750W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2133HC11ADC01) £71.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
Total : £1,022.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).




smidgen over :)
Click to expand...

Should definitely change to the insane deal on the H100 Extreme on top right of the forums.
 
Trouble is a lot of the refurbs have had issues that cooler is just as good and new :) To OP that mobo doesnt support IDE but you can get a new dvd drive for less than 20 pounds
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD) £339.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £103.99
1 x Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/120G) £76.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £59.99
1 x Thermaltake Smart 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.95
Total : £880.84 (includes shipping : £10.00).



Went with single higher end GPU, did not worry regards the water cooler.

Added optical drive as motherboards don't have a IDE Port.
 
SLI option:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD) £339.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £164.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 730W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £79.99
1 x Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/120G) £76.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £59.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.95
Total : £971.83 (includes shipping : £10.00).

 
I5

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £164.99
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 £71.99
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £59.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £39.95
Total : £898.43 (includes shipping : £10.50).



I7

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card £199.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £164.99
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 £71.99
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £59.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £39.95
Total : £976.43 (includes shipping : £10.50).

 
Last edited:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £164.99
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 £71.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (PV38G240C0K) £65.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £39.95
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.95
Total : £1,005.91 (includes shipping : £11.75).



GPU comes with a MEGA bundle of games too :) If you fancy a panel THIS is quite nice whilst on offer
 
Last edited:
honosuseri said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £164.99
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 £71.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (PV38G240C0K) £65.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £39.95
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.95
Total : £1,005.91 (includes shipping : £11.75).



If you fancy a panel THIS is quite nice whilst on offer
Click to expand...

This is my vote. Leaves room for another 7950 for superb performance down the line. And that case is starting to intrigue me...
 
teppic said:
This is my vote. Leaves room for another 7950 for superb performance down the line. And that case is starting to intrigue me...
Click to expand...

Thanks fella :)

I've done specs similar to Snappy however......I would use the 7950 to get the games and the Ronin could REALLY do with a modular PSU. Nice thing about the Cube Carbide is there is soooo much room behind the mobo tray, which means you aren't punished for getting a non modular PSU ;)
 
honosuseri said:
Thanks fella :)

I've done specs similar to Snappy however......I would use the 7950 to get the games and the Ronin could REALLY do with a modular PSU. Nice thing about the Cube Carbide is there is soooo much room behind the mobo tray, which means you aren't punished for getting a non modular PSU ;)
Click to expand...


All you need to do is change the op's mind from the Fractal case :p
 
RJC said:
All you need to do is change the op's mind from the Fractal case :p
Click to expand...

What are your thoughts on The Corsair 540 fella?

Only thing I can really fault is the cut outs in the base of the case for venting the two hot swappable HDD mounts (you can mount more storage behind the mobo tray btw). I'm sure that could be resolved with magnetic dust filters we use for fans.
 
honosuseri said:
What are your thoughts on The Corsair 540 fella?

Only thing I can really fault is the cut outs in the base of the case for venting the two hot swappable HDD mounts (you can mount more storage behind the mobo tray btw). I'm sure that could be resolved with magnetic dust filters we use for fans.
Click to expand...

I do like the case and looked at several reviews, its handy having the PSU away from the main components bit like my 800d was and keep the cable's at bay.

The bottom vent holes like you say you can put some filters on there, but no case is 100% dust proof and does not matter how hard you try dust will get in there!

I have thought about updating my Shinobi to one, but with moving house all expenditure has been put on hold :(
 
honosuseri said:
What are your thoughts on The Corsair 540 fella?

Only thing I can really fault is the cut outs in the base of the case for venting the two hot swappable HDD mounts (you can mount more storage behind the mobo tray btw). I'm sure that could be resolved with magnetic dust filters we use for fans.
Click to expand...

I did`nt think magnets and hdd`s were compatible. :eek:

Depending on your cooling, I would look at getting some fan mounting brackets for the hdds.

http://www.mountainmods.com/120mm-hard-drive-rack-black-wrinkle-p-416.html
 
Idleman said:
I did`nt think magnets and hdd`s were compatible. :eek:

Depending on your cooling, I would look at getting some fan mounting brackets for the hdds.

http://www.mountainmods.com/120mm-hard-drive-rack-black-wrinkle-p-416.html
Click to expand...

Yes that's true but it's not coming in direct contact. An SSD wouldn't care being flash RAM anyway.

The magnets on the dust filters aren't heavy duty though or it would be a PITA to get them off, I really doubt they are strong enough to bother the HDD. The Bitfenix Ronin has a long magnetic filter on the bottom of the chassis. It stops right up against the lowest point you can mount a HDD.

Like RJC said you can't stop all dust, cases aren't air tight so dust can work it's way in the nooks and crannies. I'm sure we will see lots of innovative ideas once the case is being widely used :)
 
Wow, didn't expect so many posts on this! Quite a lot of info to take in, to summarise ...

  • Processor = 50/50 on the i5/i7 debate, tempted with the i5 if there's no massive difference for gaming
  • Motherboard = consensus seems to be the 1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
  • RAM = most have specced 8gb of the black mamba gen 3's
  • Graphics = tricky one, tempted with either the GTX 770 as it's a newish card? or the 7950 as it's cheaper and could be crossfired at a later date
  • Hard drives = consensus seems to be the 1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic
  • PSU = 1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
  • Case = still prefer the Fractal, sorry guys :p
  • CPU cooler = Alpenföhn's, is the £60 one overkill for an non-overclocked cpu?
 
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