Advice on my build before I pay

Cottee · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:19

Can someone just give me some advice on my list below please, I'm looking to build a gaming rig for my son. And have a budget of around £800 I've put together a list below, my plan is later on I can put an i7 and a gtx 580 in as I don't have the funds at the moment.
It's my first pc build for years so will this setup play all the latest games on the best settings. Thanks for any help or advice.

Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with Battlefield 3 PC Game**

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor

Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive

Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply

Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel

Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

stulid · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:21

Nothing wrong as far as I can tell.

Instead of the i7, wait for Ivybridge (the motherboard is compatible)

Also instead of a GTX580, add a second GTX560ti in SLI mode (the board and PSU are both fine for this too)

GTX560ti SLI vs GTX580 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/441?vs=305

Howitzer · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:23

Looks perfectly great to me!
No real need to upgrade very soon either.

stueng · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:25

i5 is great for gaming

my only comment is that if you wish to overclock get the UD4 instead of hte UD3 motherboard

edit: and just saw below.. its true, if you wish to play at 1080p or above then you really should have more than 1GB vram

I play BF3 on high with an i5 and a 560Ti 1GB and its completely smoothe

Reaper 392 · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:26

the obvious things from your post are:
the i7 2600K/2700K makes NO difference for gaming: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287
if you look at the FPS scores they are virtually identical. if you want to do stuff like video encoding/editing, CAD/CAM work, or anything else that is highly threaded and can make use of hyperthreading then go for the i7 2600k/2700k upgrade. if you wont be doing that kind of stuff a lot then donte waste your money on the i7 2600k/2700k upgrade

Graphics card has only 1GB VRAM. with modern games (especially battlefield 3) you really want to get the 2GB VRAM version

the kingston 8GB kit is cheaper and performs just the same as the corsair low profile stuff

stulid · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:27

stueng said:
it was an i5 not an i7... i5 is great
Hes talking about adding a i7 later
my only comment is that if you wish to overclock get the UD4 instead of hte UD3 motherboard
The UD3 will do an easy 4.5GHz+

stulid · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:28

Reaper 392 said:
Graphics card has only 1GB VRAM. with modern games (especially battlefield 3) you really want to get the 2GB VRAM version

Depends on the resolution being used

Reaper 392 · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:30

stulid said:
Depends on the resolution being used

as a 1360x768 user who maxes out my 768MB card regularly i would apply the "get a 2GB 560Ti over the 1GB one" logic to any resolution

stulid · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:31

Reaper 392 said:
as a 1360x768 user who maxes out my 768MB card regularly i would apply the "get a 2GB 560Ti over the 1GB one" logic to any resolution

Never had any issue s with my 1.28GB GTX570 at resolutions up to 1900X1200

Cottee · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:36

Thanks for the fast replays for an extra £40 I can get this card what do you think, I can lose the DVD drive and use one in my old rig to save a bit of cash.

EVGA GeForce GTX 560Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

stulid · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:37

Cottee said:
Thanks for the fast replays for an extra £40 I can get this card what do you think, I can lose the DVD drive and use one in my old rig to save a bit of cash.

Is it IDE or SATA? if its IDE you cant use it.

EVGA GeForce GTX 560Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

You may not need to, what resolution is your monitor?

See how a GTX560ti (1GB model) does against other cards at resolutions that most average 23"/24" screens use,
http://www.guru3d.com/article/battlefield-3-vga-and-cpu-performance-benchmark-test/5

Easily beating cards such as the 6950 which has 2GB, its only on the next page were he resolution tested really gets high that it drops behind.

As quoted above,

stueng said:
I play BF3 on high with an i5 and a 560Ti 1GB and its completely smoothe

Reaper 392 · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:42

stulid said:
Never had any issue s with my 1.28GB GTX570 at resolutions up to 1900X1200

you clearly havent played BF3 or any of the stalker series with the complete mods

for the OP. this is what ive been basing my opinion on: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18344290

Cottee · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:43

Thanks for that I've got around an extra £300 to buy a monitor and also my old drive is IDE but I can stretch the extra £40 for the card, it just means it comes out the monitor fund. Unless I break out the wife's credit card lol. Thanks for the help I've been out of the loop for such along time.

stulid · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:44

Reaper 392 said:
you clearly havent played BF3 or any of the stalker series with the complete mods

I play BF3 at maximum settings at silly resolutions.

stulid · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:45

Cottee said:
Thanks for that I've got around an extra £300 to buy a monitor and also my old drive is IDE but I can stretch the extra £40 for the card, it just means it comes out the monitor fund. Unless I break out the wife's credit card lol. Thanks for the help I've been out of the loop for such along time.

Try a monitor like this - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-055-DE&groupid=17&catid=1425&subcat=

It has a e-IPS screen - http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2312hm.htm

stueng · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:47

Cottee said:
Thanks for that I've got around an extra £300 to buy a monitor and also my old drive is IDE but I can stretch the extra £40 for the card, it just means it comes out the monitor fund. Unless I break out the wife's credit card lol. Thanks for the help I've been out of the loop for such along time.

get the 2GB card for £40 and spend 260 on a monitor instead of 300

stulid · 24 Jan 2012 at 12:55

Get a 448 core version instead, much faster and closer to a GTX570 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-043-ZT&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341

As it is just a GTX570 with a few bits turned off.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2011/11/29/zotac-geforce-gtx-560-ti-448-cores-review/6

Cottee · 24 Jan 2012 at 13:13

Thanks all so my final build will be this thanks for your help.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560Ti "448 Edition" OC 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
(£179.99) £215.99
(£179.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £141.98
(£118.32) £141.98
(£118.32)
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
(£108.32) £129.98
(£108.32)
XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £94.99
(£79.16) £94.99
(£79.16)
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
* Sub Total : £714.09
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £144.82
* Total : £868.91

stulid · 24 Jan 2012 at 13:15

Cottee said:
Thanks all so my final build will be this thanks for your help.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560Ti "448 Edition" OC 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
(£179.99) £215.99
(£179.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £141.98
(£118.32) £141.98
(£118.32)
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
(£108.32) £129.98
(£108.32)
XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £94.99
(£79.16) £94.99
(£79.16)
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
* Sub Total : £714.09
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £144.82
* Total : £868.91

Spot on.

Last question is what case is it going in to?

stueng · 24 Jan 2012 at 13:36

If you get a 1.2GB card you wont be able to play BF3 on Ultra, with a 2GB card you probably can

just sayin... I have a 1GB card and I stutter on ultra, I am pretty confident its VRAM causing the issue