Advice for game rig (and photo editing) £700 max

marko999 · 20 Apr 2015 at 11:35

just thought i would ask for some recommendations on a system to keep up with my sons who have i5 systems and would like it to be able to handle newish games (ARMA 3 ect.) but also need it for photo editing as i'm a keen photographer.
I dont need a SSD (have a new unused 240g )
dont need OS (got windows 7 pro)
i have a monitor so can make do with that if it keeps costs down and better components

£700 give or take £50 if necessary ..

ShivP · 20 Apr 2015 at 11:42

Welcome

What monitor do you have? Also, do you need keyboard and mouse?
I believe Photoshop CS6 can make use of OpenCL, so an AMD card would be nice. Something quick I made if you didn't need keyboard/mouse

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£12 Saving** £277.98
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £227.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £89.99
1 x Seasonic S12II 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £52.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £41.99
1 x Xigmatek Mach Midi-Tower Black £21.95
1 x Arctic F12 Case Fan - 120mm £3.98
Total : £726.47 (includes shipping : £8.00).

There's also the 290X which is a bit quicker for about £10 more

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-281-MS
Would you ever go for two video cards (crossfire/SLI?)

or with a cheaper motherboard

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £227.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £199.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £63.95
1 x Seasonic S12II 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £52.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £41.99
1 x Xigmatek Mach Midi-Tower Black £21.95
1 x Arctic F12 Case Fan - 120mm £3.98
Total : £712.43 (includes shipping : £8.00).

stulid · 20 Apr 2015 at 11:54

Shivy011 said:
I believe Photoshop CS6 can make use of CUDA, so an AMD card would be nice.

LOL what? CUDA is an Nvidia technology not and AMD one

@OP,

Here is a great spec,

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent "Infin8 Black Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **WorldWide Exclusive** £269.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £199.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £63.95
1 x Seasonic S12II 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £52.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £44.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £41.99
1 x Antec VSP5000 Silenced Tower Case - Black £39.95
Total : £713.84 (includes shipping : ).

Nvidia card so you do get CUDA

Case with three fans with low+high speed controllers, no need to add any extra fans into the build.

marko999 · 20 Apr 2015 at 11:54

my monitor is a bit old.. its fujitsu siemens 22" so would i benefit from getting a new monitor (had this one for a few years maybe 4)
i'm fine for a keyboard and mouse ... thanks for the quick response

ShivP · 20 Apr 2015 at 11:55

stulid said:
LOL what? CUDA is an Nvidia technology not and MAD one

Changed it to OpenCL before you quoted it

and now it seems you changed it

What resolution is that monitor marko?

stulid · 20 Apr 2015 at 11:58

Shivy011 said:
Changed it to OpenCL before you quoted it and now it seems you changed it

Should have got it right in the first place

Ace Modder · 20 Apr 2015 at 11:59

That Antec case is great, and silenced too, perfect for any gaming and 3d/GFX work, will keep any GPU noise down for you.

marko999 · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:00

Shivy011 said:
Changed it to OpenCL before you quoted it and now it seems you changed it

What resolution is that monitor marko?

not sure! ... how do i find out?

stulid · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:00

marko999 said:
not sure! ... how do i find out?

What is the model? or what does display settings say?

P.S heres the same but with a gold rated PSU

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent "Infin8 Black Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **WorldWide Exclusive** £269.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £199.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £63.95
1 x Antec TruePower Classic 550w '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £44.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £41.99
1 x Antec VSP5000 Silenced Tower Case - Black £39.95
Total : £720.84 (includes shipping : ).

ShivP · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:00

stulid said:
Should have got it right in the first place

People make mistakes. Anyway, Photoshop CS6 makes use of OpenCL more so than CUDA I believe, so an AMD card is best

stulid · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:04

Shivy011 said:
People make mistakes. Anyway, Photoshop CS6 makes use of OpenCL more so than CUDA I believe, so an AMD card is best

Are they? source for this?

marko999 · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:05

fujitsu siemens L22 W13 YE7V015516

analogue 1680 x1050 65khz/59Hz

its very old! ... think it runs on steam power lol

marko999 · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:05

stulid said:
What is the model? or what does display settings say?

P.S heres the same but with a gold rated PSU

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent "Infin8 Black Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **WorldWide Exclusive** £269.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £199.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £63.95
1 x Antec TruePower Classic 550w '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £44.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £41.99
1 x Antec VSP5000 Silenced Tower Case - Black £39.95
Total : £720.84 (includes shipping : ).

ujitsu siemens L22 W13 YE7V015516

analogue 1680 x1050 65khz/59Hz

its very old! ... think it runs on steam power lol

marko999 · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:07

keep the suggestions coming ..i'm off to work so will check back later and hopefully get the components ordered!!! ... how much is it to have it built?

stulid · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:08

You need a new monitor, the resolution of that is very low.

24", 1ms response - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-023-AO&groupid=17&catid=510

Has digital inoputs too.

Also its £60 roughly to put together.

ShivP · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:12

stulid said:
You need a new monitor, the resolution of that is very low.

24", 1ms response - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-023-AO&groupid=17&catid=510

Has digital inoputs too.

Also its £60 roughly to put together.

I would personally want an IPS panel for photo editing as they give better colours etc

stulid · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:13

Shivy011 said:
I would personally want an IPS panel for photo editing as they give better colours etc

And a gamer would want a fast response panel to reduce/eliminate ghosting etc.

That was just one example of a low cost decent panel.

marko999 · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:15

cheers guys new monitor will be ordered as well ....

stulid · 20 Apr 2015 at 12:18

Also you get a free game with the GTX970 with the 290 you get nothing.

And if you want a GTX970 with two free games and a mouse mat - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-206-OK

Poneros · 20 Apr 2015 at 14:34

You definitely want to go with AMD for OpenCL, and even in gaming the 290x is still a better proposition than the 970. The one for 300 that stulid posted is bonkers, you can easily get those games for 20 quid each.

If you're gonna pull the trigger this week then go for this GPU: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-281-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

As for monitor, there's no question about it you have to get an IPS panel for photo editing. Look here for some suggestions.

Advice for game rig (and photo editing) £700 max

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