£2k gaming system

[Crixus00]

Ok guys, i have come into some money and i want to ***** it all on a gaming system.

- Budget £2,000 including Monitor (DON'T need an OS)

What shall i go for?

Do i go for a bundled system? Quite like the look of the "Ultima VelociRaptor" http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-087-OE&groupid=43&catid=1270&subcat=

Or do i go for something similar to 95thrifles £1,500 "Guide to helping you choose your components" (if its still up to date)? Note that i dont have much experience in putting PC's together but i am not a total noob.

Is it worth spec'ing in a SSD?

Or shall i wait at all for the latest technololgy that may be comming out that i dont know about?

Please discuss, thanks.

 

[Crixus00]

£2K just for gaming? Really?

£2k to spend on system, which will ofc include gaming. Any ideas what to go for?

 

[Crixus00]

1.2K on PC (if you must have a top of the line system), and about £480 on monitor imo. Save the rest.

I'd go for Core i7 (on 1366 board) with Corsair H50 or TRUE etc.
6GB DDR3 RAM
Radeon 5870
Some sort of SSD depending on you storage requirements plus a couple of 1TB disks for storage.
Decent seasonic or corsair PSU, at least 650W, modular.
Silverstone fortress case.

Get a 24" dell IPS monitor to go with.

Any more money into a machine and it's just being wasted I'm afraid. Can do a full spec at a later date or someone on here will help out for sure.

thanks for this. Is it worth getting the additional gfx or would that be a relative waste of money?

 

[Crixus00]

How's this looking?

* didn't mean to select 2 cpu coolers!

 

[Crixus00]

Looks good, Why the two h50?

there isn't lol i hit the buy button twice without noticing.

 

[Crixus00]

I couldn't wait until January anyway! Unless it was for a very good reason. Good point re VAT going up from January 1st. I have booked two weeks off work over xmas and I would like to spend the majority of that gaming.

OK, think we are nearly there....

Looks like I’m definitely going to get the individual components rather than buy an "off the shelf" system. I really do want to include an SSD for Windows and priority games/ applications so going to try and work it in. Will probably be either the Intel 80gb or the Crucial 64gb.

I may also go for the Coolermaster Storm 'Scout' Gaming Case rather than the Antec 902 because judging by the review in the latest PC Format mag, it is easier to work with and transport.

Definite includes so far:

Dell ultra sharp 24” Monitor
Case (tbd)
An SSD (tbd)
Some Big storage (tbd)
Motherboard (tbd)
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366)
Patriot Viper 6gb
Asus ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
LG CH08LS10 8x Blu-Ray Reader/16x DVD±RW
Corsair H50 CPU watercooler

Noob question, but got to ask it as I haven’t built a system since collage and that was 8 years ago: before I commit to buy, are they’re any other items I need to consider in order to put my build together? I'm thinking of things such as Network cards, Sound cards, Cables/ wires, tools, adaptors, any additional equipment to overclock the CPU, more cooling options etc?

Thanks guys, I have really appreciated the discussion thus far.

 

[Crixus00]

Why are people recommending the Dell 2408WFP when the U2410 is superior and cheaper?

Is that right?

 

[Crixus00]

Another thing to check would be that the 5870 fits into your final choice of case.

Good point, i hear they sport very large dimensions.

 

[Crixus00]

i'm just shocked that no-one's told him to get a dell 3008WFP. the monitor is blatantly the longest-lived part of any PC (except maybe the disk drives ).

if you're gonna splash out, the smartest thing you could do it on would be a giant monitor, and the 3008WFP is the only monitor that fits that bill

Are you having a laugh, this monitor costs £1099.98!!

P.S. I got the Hanns.G 28" for about £280. Best money I have spent. I may get another

Thanks for that, i may just go for it

 

[Crixus00]

OcUK did list the NEC MultiSync EA231WMi-BK however have taken it down, Was IPS 23" with display port and 100 quid cheaper than the Dell. Doesn't seem to have the tint issues dell seem to be suffering with. however i think dell are sorting this issue now plus the issue only seems to be affecting/noticed by few however it put me off getting one.

As for the people shouting "waste of money!" please go away it's hardly constructive, £2000 for a pc including a monitor isn't too bad, infact i'd say it's a good budget. I'd advise buying now rather than waiting otherwise you'll be forever waiting for something, by the time you wait for the new cards something else will be on the horizon.

I can't do you a spec as i'm at work but i would advise going for an i7 920 setup with an SSD for boot and an f3 for storage. and perhaps a 5850 for graphics as they are a better option than the 5870 in terms of value plus you can always get another later if you need to. I would also advise getting something like a lian li case as they will last you forever. If you pick your components carefully should be able to get it with enough change to get some nice new peripherals or something.

Interesting, i wouldn't mind seeing a full spec later if you have the time.

90% of my gaming and Video watching is with headphones ( i have the Sennheiser PC 350 which are fantastic), im now thinking it may be a good idea to include a dedicated sound card if i have the pennies left over. I wouldn't want to sacrifce the SSD though. Looking into a different thread on here it would appear the Asus Xonar Essence are highly recommended, if expensive.

 

[Crixus00]

Also, I agree with what the guy earlier said about watercooling - it's a bit wasteful, so I wouldn't bother unless you're determined to spend it all.

I don't plan on having a watercooled system, i'm confident enough to put together a standard system but wouldn't know where to start with watercooling plus i don't have the time or inclination at this stage to learn and implement it. I must say though, some of the completed watercooled systems i have seen do look super cool, if you parden the pun.

So, i would rather spend the money elsewhere if it's worthwhile, providing i can get away with not watercooling, or just save it.

 

[Crixus00]

Better late than never:


Right i know this uses the full 2k but there are some options open to you to save money quite easily:

1) corsair H50 is not needed but i figured you may like it, the much cheaper titan fenrir will do the job fine if you wish to save pennies there.

2) non modular PSU could save money, apparently looks tidier, however if you're good with cable management modular is probably unnecessary, depends how much you want to save.

3) SSD you could go bigger if you make saving else where, my choice may not be the best as it's not really my area but put one in to show you can get one

4) monitor i deliberately picked the more expensive one to show that you can pretty much get what monitor you want (excluding the dell 30") could make some big savings here depending on what monitor you go for. Both Dell 24 inchers are good, as is the HP, NEC and i believe there is a phillips one out there somewhere. For a more informed choice on monitor i'd advise looking in the monitor section.

5) Graphics card. As you are probably aware the cards are rocketing in price and hard to come by. The way i look at it is you can either try to get one now or get a 4890 to tide you over until they are more readily available and maybe down on price. This i leave to you as it is going to be entirely dependant on if you consider it worth the investment and how much you want DX11 games. (nearest ones to release i believe are dirt 2, the new stalker and avp2 i could be missing some tho). Like i said your call on this one, depends what you want however i've put a 5850 in the spec.

6) Blue ray, you may or may not need this. Again another possibility to save a few pennies.

The spec above is utilising all your money and is the best i can do with 2k this does not mean you have to spend that much like i said you have options. I hope this helps and best of luck with the pc. Sorry if i missed anything as well.

Thank you very much and for the explanation. I stated £2k because i have £2k to spend. The only reason i would not want to spend all of it is if it would be crazy to do so, for whatever reason. Once you factor in a nice monitor (and i do want a nice monitor), what you're left with to spend doesn't seem very obscene to me as some have suggested.

If you are interested, the reason why I am going to build this PC is because I have rejected a certain gaming laptop from a competitor which I purchased 18 months ago. The SLi (graphics 8800 gtx) failed/ overheated twice and are now not available to (again) replace so I phoned up trading standards to get some advice and i managed to pursue a full refund, which I now have. All £2k of it


My personal circumstances have now changed to the extent i dont need a mobile powerhouse. If i am away on business, i take my Samsung netbook for watching films/ noobing around on the internet.

 

[Crixus00]

5) Graphics card. As you are probably aware the cards are rocketing in price and hard to come by. The way i look at it is you can either try to get one now or get a 4890 to tide you over until they are more readily available and maybe down on price This i leave to you as it is going to be entirely dependant on if you consider it worth the investment and how much you want DX11 games. (nearest ones to release i believe are dirt 2, the new stalker and avp2 i could be missing some tho). Like i said your call on this one, depends what you want however i've put a 5850 in the spec.

I originally dismissed this idea but after thinking about it some more it may just make sense. I did have my heart set on the 5870s but judging from what i have read and that i havn't even pre-ordered it yet i doubt i will get one for xmas.

It may just make more sense to get the 4890 and wait untill the new year. I can then have a look at Nvdia's new DX11 flagship offering and if its not what i want at least it's presence should, in theory, drive down the cost of the 5870s.

hmm..... some decision to make!