AMD based gaming rig SPEC me up!

spanielgita · 15 May 2011 at 08:14

OK so here is the criteria;

I want this build to be between £500-600 and it needs to have the best GFX card as priority. To go with this I would like a great price/performance AMD processor(gaming wise) and a cheap reliable mobo (no need for sli). Would like a 64GB SSD in there also so maybe a 6gbps mobo would be nice (depends on cost).

On a side note, i have been reading that 4gb is ample for gaming. Can somebody explain why this is? Are games not exceeding 4GB ram usage atm? Will they start to in the near future?

Already have;

OS
monitor
case
keyboard
mouse
speakers
dvd drive
sata hdd

95thrifles · 15 May 2011 at 08:48

Youre asking a bit too much for the SSD within that budget, and yes 4 gig RAM is ample, also the 6Gb/s transfer speed for mechanical drives is not neccessary

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £89.99
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £69.98
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £58.99
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £43.99
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £17.99
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Sub Total : £473.24
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £97.15
Total : £582.89

spanielgita · 15 May 2011 at 08:55

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 Twin FrozR II 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
(£166.66) £199.99
(£166.66)
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive ** PRE ORDER PRICE ** (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Sub Total : £449.10
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 : £91.82
Total : £550.92

RJC · 15 May 2011 at 08:57

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
HIS ATI Radeon 6950 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive ** PRE ORDER PRICE ** (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
(£68.32) £81.98
(£68.32)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £19.99
(£16.66) £19.99
(£16.66)
Sub Total : £459.09
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 : £93.82
Total : £562.91

spanielgita · 15 May 2011 at 08:57

95thrifles said:
Youre asking a bit too much for the SSD within that budget, and yes 4 gig RAM is ample, also the 6Gb/s transfer speed for mechanical drives is not neccessary

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £89.99
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £69.98
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £58.99
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £43.99
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £17.99
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Sub Total : £473.24
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £97.15
Total : £582.89

No case needed or HDD (have a 250gb sata)

Reaper 392 · 15 May 2011 at 09:04

so you need processor, mobo, memory, graphics, a small SSD and a power supply?

god knows why everyone is saying your asking for too much

if you really cant go above £600
(the i5 2500k will kick anything AMD has into the middle of next week)

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FarCry 2 & Operation Flashpoint Games £214.99
(£179.16) £214.99
(£179.16)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £155.99
(£129.99) £155.99
(£129.99)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply £50.99
(£42.49) £50.99
(£42.49)
Sub Total : £484.95
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 : £98.99
Total : £593.94

but, if you can stretch the budget, you get as much better motherboard, which lets you overclock the processor and has SLI support:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FarCry 2 & Operation Flashpoint Games £214.99
(£179.16) £214.99
(£179.16)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £155.99
(£129.99) £155.99
(£129.99)
MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply £50.99
(£42.49) £50.99
(£42.49)
Sub Total : £526.62
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 : £107.32
Total : £643.94

spanielgita · 15 May 2011 at 09:06

RJC said:
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
HIS ATI Radeon 6950 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive ** PRE ORDER PRICE ** (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
(£68.32) £81.98
(£68.32)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £19.99
(£16.66) £19.99
(£16.66)
Sub Total : £459.09
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 : £93.82
Total : £562.91

I think the intel setup is worth the extra cash! Thanks for the comparison

RJC · 15 May 2011 at 09:09

spanielgita said:
I think the intel setup is worth the extra cash! Thanks for the comparison

I think so, link below shows a comparison between the 2, also the k series can be overclocked very easy to around 4ghz +

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=88

spanielgita · 15 May 2011 at 09:09

but, if you can stretch the budget, you get as much better motherboard, which lets you overclock the processor and has SLI support:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FarCry 2 & Operation Flashpoint Games £214.99
(£179.16) £214.99
(£179.16)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £155.99
(£129.99) £155.99
(£129.99)
MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply £50.99
(£42.49) £50.99
(£42.49)
Sub Total : £526.62
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 : £107.32
Total : £643.94[/QUOTE]

Hmm this setup seems great! I would definately like to OC the cpu as i've heard the i5 2500k is good for it.

Is the GTX 480 a big improvement over a 2GB 6950?

Reaper 392 · 15 May 2011 at 09:10

RJC said:
I think so, link below shows a comparison between the 2, also the k series can be overclocked very easy to around 4ghz +

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=88

only if he goes for the more expensive of my setups. the cheap one has a H series motherboard so cant be overclocked

*edit*
oh, i see thats what he's going for

RJC · 15 May 2011 at 09:11

The 480 can be faster in certain games:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=309

spanielgita · 15 May 2011 at 09:14

RJC said:
The 480 can be faster in certain games:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=309

I was thinking of getting the 6950 and flashing it to a 6970. Would this work out better value?

Reaper 392 · 15 May 2011 at 09:14

spanielgita said:
Is the GTX 480 a big improvement over a 2GB 6950?

if your happy to 'flash' the 6950 into a 6970, then theres not a huge amount in it, but compared to the standard 6950 there is a resonable difference:
480 vs 6950: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/309?vs=293
480 vs flashed 6950: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/309?vs=292

Reaper 392 · 15 May 2011 at 09:17

going for the 6950 puts the build almost in your original budget:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
(£159.99) £191.99
(£159.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £155.99
(£129.99) £155.99
(£129.99)
MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply £50.99
(£42.49) £50.99
(£42.49)
Sub Total : £507.45
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 : £103.49
Total : £620.94

RJC · 15 May 2011 at 09:21

Do Ocuk have any cards in stock which can be flashed, I knew they mentioned some stocks were getting low.

spanielgita · 15 May 2011 at 09:22

Reaper 392 said:
going for the 6950 puts the build almost in your original budget:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
(£159.99) £191.99
(£159.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £155.99
(£129.99) £155.99
(£129.99)
MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply £50.99
(£42.49) £50.99
(£42.49)
Sub Total : £507.45
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 : £103.49
Total : £620.94

Yes thats a tasty setup right there. After reading a review about the gtx 480 running very hot and loud, i would not be happy with this card

Reaper 392 · 15 May 2011 at 09:23

RJC said:
Do Ocuk have any cards in stock which can be flashed, I knew they mentioned some stocks were getting low.

the MSI one i specced him can be flashed

anything that says revision 1 in the title can be flashed. personally i'd go for either the standard MSI, or MSI twin frozr III (not the II, that cant be flashed) if you want a better/quieter graphics cooler

*edit*
and yes, the GTX480 is a hot and loud card

Pohly · 15 May 2011 at 09:26

OcUK Motherboard Bundle - Intel Core i5 2500K & Asus P8P67 Intel P67 Mainboard **B3 Revision** OcUK Motherboard Bundle - Intel Core i5 2500K & Asus P8P67 Intel P67 Mainboard **B3 Revision** £249.41
(£207.84) £249.41
(£207.84)
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
(£159.99) £191.99
(£159.99)
OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX60G) OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX60G) £73.99
(£61.66) £73.99
(£61.66)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Sub Total : £495.30
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 : £101.06
Total : £606.36

i5 all the way!!

spanielgita · 15 May 2011 at 09:29

Pohly said:
OcUK Motherboard Bundle - Intel Core i5 2500K & Asus P8P67 Intel P67 Mainboard **B3 Revision** OcUK Motherboard Bundle - Intel Core i5 2500K & Asus P8P67 Intel P67 Mainboard **B3 Revision** £249.41
(£207.84) £249.41
(£207.84)
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
(£159.99) £191.99
(£159.99)
OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX60G) OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX60G) £73.99
(£61.66) £73.99
(£61.66)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Sub Total : £495.30
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 : £101.06
Total : £606.36

i5 all the way!!

haha, lots of enthusiasm for the i5! love it. Does the bundle deal save money?

Reaper 392 · 15 May 2011 at 09:29

Pohly said:
OcUK Motherboard Bundle - Intel Core i5 2500K & Asus P8P67 Intel P67 Mainboard **B3 Revision** OcUK Motherboard Bundle - Intel Core i5 2500K & Asus P8P67 Intel P67 Mainboard **B3 Revision** £249.41
(£207.84) £249.41
(£207.84)
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
(£159.99) £191.99
(£159.99)
OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX60G) OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX60G) £73.99
(£61.66) £73.99
(£61.66)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Sub Total : £495.30
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 : £101.06
Total : £606.36

i5 all the way!!

i wouldnt say the same with an asus motherboard though