£600 Gaming Rig

Cosmicolor

Cosmicolor

Cosmicolor

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31 Dec 2009
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10
ok so i have been doing some research for awhile and have decided that i would want to try and attempt at building a computer for myself but since i am new, i thought i could get some advice on what parts to get for building the computer.

the budget that i am willing to spend is £600 and i would mainly use it for gaming and general use e.g. web browsing, listening to music. i dont need a mouse and i will be getting Windows 7 for free since im part of the MSDN. i will be getting a Logitech G15 keyboard and this Samsung monitor from somewhere else: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-108-SA.

i am aware of the Intel and AMD builds but i have no idea which to go for as i just want the computer to last for quite some time but also upgradeable when needed.

would be great if i dont go over-budget but if i do, i can only stretch it to around £630...

Thanks for the help ^^
 
Here is a good gaming setup that will be future proof.The HD5770 will be sufficient for all games and you can add another one in 2 months time to get some serious performance boost.The mobo supports SATA 3 and USB 3.0 so you will be able to switch to SATA 3 in the future without changing the mobo.
pc2.png
 
thanks for the reply Ast3r.

just wondering how much difference would it make if i went the Intel route, in terms of how much it would affect the budget and performance wise?

also the graphics card has many different brands - does it matter which one i choose? although i never really considered it but if i do add another 5770 in the future, would i need anything extra to keep them cooler?

Edit: a friend told me i may need to buy wires to connect some parts e.g. hard drive. is that true? i thought most things needed to connect all the parts would be provided =S ?
 
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Everything should be provided with the motherboard in terms of connecting sata drives etc... They normally come with about 4 sata cables! You might want another cpu cooler if you plan on overclocking that chip! Personally i'd get that AMD chip above! It's fast and 30 quid cheaper than it's nearest intel rival; the i5!
 
AMD is similar to Intel in games.A Phenom II 955 will be identical with an Intel 920/940 and even beat them in 5 out of 10 games on stock clock.AMD also scales better in xfire than Intel.Also an Intel setup that will be comparable with the one suggested will cost around 800-900 quid and if its only for gaming and general its not worth to spend the extra 200 quid.There isn't any difference in the gpu brands other than warranty and maybe a little overclock.The HD5770 runs very cool so you won't need any additional cooling for them when you're going to xfire.Even overclocked it won't go above 55-60*C.But it also depends on the airflow inside the case which won't be a problem with the CM-690.And as brooksieking1 said you'll have everything you need provided with the motherboard and gpu.
 
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there is the antec 300 which would bring you within budget.


also it don't matter what CPU your running SLI/crossfire scale the same its depened on the game

I think AMD would have been sued by now if that was the case

the AMD has higher minimum frame rates in games meaning it would be smoother game play than intel, even the 920 but the i7 will blow it away in terms of max frame rates, but also a lot more expensive, this is also the case with the I5

however AMD falls behind intel most CPU intensive stuff, so its not as fast as intel at decoding/encoding virus scans that sort of thing, but its a great gamer CPU out of all honesty
 
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thanks for the advice guys =) .

i have also asked some friends if they got any suggestions and they recommended me to get the build Ast3r suggested and to probably swap the graphics card to the Sapphire one. i am planning to order the parts soon but too bad the mobo is out of stock.

if theres anymore advice, i would really appreciate it.
 
Cosmicolor said:
just wondering how much difference would it make if i went the Intel route, in terms of how much it would affect the budget and performance wise?
Click to expand...
PhII is very high end!

Athlon II is even fast enough!

more info please read: 4p

Ast3r said:
AMD
Click to expand...
Keep up the good work Ast3r . . . that's a uBer build! :eek: (I'm wondering is that ram ok though?)

Check out the latest AMD Athlon II stuff sometime see what you think!
 
The first reason why I chose PhII 955 was the future proofing thing but I think Wayne is right and an Athlon II is good enough.The RAM would have worked fine with AM3 I just built a pc recently with AM3 and OCZ Gold 4GB Core i5 Optimized version and it worked just fine.Anyway here's an updated spec that also costs a bit less.
pc4h.png
 
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Get the phenom 550: it has higher clock speeds out of the box (which will be more advatageous for the tasks you describe) the advantage of a l3 cache and can be unlocked to a quad core if you are lucky. It is also cheaper
 
hey , im new to these forums like xD i just wanted to share mi ideas with u cool guys :)
so... how about

.Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz ( runs better , better for overclocking, better threads)

.keep the graphic card benchmarks look real nice. (Y)

.Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45 (realy! nice mobo to be overclocking with even to those with
no experiance)

.Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) @ 1333Mhz ( Fast Speed , good brand , PRO performance)

.Corsair VX 550W (cheaper , +12V power rail that delivers continuous power under heavy
loads)

.Antec 300 ( great Solid quality , enough room to fir 12 inch cards in. great for price)

.Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 32MB (190-220MBS transfer speeds silent? PRO SPEED runs nice and smooth , quite and smooth

.Sony Optiarc (great standard optical drive , nice for money)

all this comes a little over budget but i can asure you the performance will be a beast on steriods. saving that little extra for a huge impact.
 
For 50% extra cost, the Phenom 955 is a much better choice than the Athlon 620 for gaming. It's significantly faster clocked & has tons of L3 cache which is very useful for some games. The 620 is a good CPU but not ideally suited to gaming.
I would go with the 1st spec Ast3r posted, if you want to reduce the price I'd consider a cheaper motherboard such as :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-198-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481

I'm not convinced USB3 & Sata3 are too important just yet.

You might also consider this PSU instead :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-014-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

That line of OCZ are popular because they're cheap & modular but I've seen mixed reviews, I prefer a higher quality supply with fixed cables.

@CrixxzeH An i5 is worth coinsidering, though likely to work out a little more expensive but you've specified a socket 775 motherboard for a socket 1156 CPU, it will never work.
 
oh yeah :O:O:O ... cheers for pointing that out .. maybe mobo should be a switch but , that psu (Y) great stuff tbh.
@Quixote thanks for pointing out i forgot XD cheers .
 
Like a previous poster said the Phenom II has L3 cache and also more L2 cache which helps in games. For other tasks though the difference between an Athlon II and Phenom II is not so large.

I would also consider the following motherboard too:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-366-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481

It has can do Crossfire at PCI-E 2.0 8X.

I would check the build I suggested in this thread:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18105801

With the money left you could get a decent PSU and perhaps change the HD4870 1GB to an HD5770 1GB.
 
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Off Topic:

CrixxzeH said:
.Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45 (realy! nice mobo to be overclocking with even to those with no experiance)
Click to expand...
Hello CrixxzeH,

Sadly your looking at very old and very over-priced technology! :(

Please do not give Intel good money for old rope, that motherboard is nice but is worth £50 max
 
Snax said:
Get the phenom 550: it has higher clock speeds out of the box (which will be more advatageous for the tasks you describe) the advantage of a l3 cache and can be unlocked to a quad core if you are lucky. It is also cheaper
Click to expand...
Hello Snax,

The Phenom II X2 is a nice chip especially is it *unlocks* but it based on one year old technology and it will not compete well really with a modern Athlon II X4 . . . please take some time out to research the updates as the rules have changed . . . . QUad Core time! :cool:
 
Quixote said:
For 50% extra cost, the Phenom 955 is a much better choice than the Athlon 620 for gaming. It's significantly faster clocked & has tons of L3 cache which is very useful for some games. The 620 is a good CPU but not ideally suited to gaming.
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Quixote,
same for you please . . . The Athlon II is more than good enough for gaming! especially at high res, it sometimes beats an Intel Core i7, trust me on that! :)

If your a competitive benchmarker, or if you want 120FPS instead of 100FPs then maybe you have a good case but please spend two hours reading all the new reviews on Athlon II, it's a perfect match for most peoples needs . . .

Gaming rig should have every spare penny channelled towards the GPU!. I ganing with a an Athlon II X3 overclocked to 3.6GHz and it laughs at everything, no problems at all . . .
 
CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
Like a previous poster said the Phenom II has L3 cache and also more L2 cache which helps in games. For other tasks though the difference between an Athlon II and Phenom II is not so large
Click to expand...
Heya Cat,

while you right that L3 cache helps in *some* games it makes no difference at all in others, on top of that if it doesn't unlock your stuck with a dual core. The Athlon II X4 is a superb processor for someone who games in the *Real-World* and cannot tell the difference between 165FPS and 150FPS :p

Gaming technology is one of the most advanced in the world for consumers now, they have great multi-core support, I'll take four real cores over 6MB L3 cache every single day! :)
 
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