Building a cheap gaming rig - need help with PSU

Bart_Hunt · 13 Jan 2013 at 02:06

Avenged7Fold · 13 Jan 2013 at 02:20

The PSU could probably run 2 GPU's in a normal situation when under load but i wouldnt like to try it out without a decent 750+ PSU at least.

If i were you i would get a ATI 7950 as its great bang for buck and you can get the performance of a 7970 with a little tweaking if you need to.

Bart_Hunt · 13 Jan 2013 at 02:30

Thanks a lot

tres_kun · 13 Jan 2013 at 09:36

What is up with the HDD ?
A 500Gb and a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB ???
If you have a SSD the segate XT has no reason of existing in the build besides it is a 2.5 inch drive
And for the cost of a 500Gb drive get a 1TB not a big difference in price

snips86x · 13 Jan 2013 at 09:53

Made a few changes:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99
1 x OCZ Vertex 3 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (VTX3-25SAT3-60G) £61.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £54.95
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) HDD £47.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £35.99
1 x Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev.2 High Performance Quiet CPU Cooler(Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £565.86 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Cheaper RAM which will do just a good a job as well as the cheaper PSU. 530w should be fine if your not going SLI/xFire, 750w+ needed if you are.

HDD changed as the hybrids are not that good, you'd be better with a standard HDD or a 128/256gb SSD if you can afford it. Also changed to OEM optical drive as you'll get the SATA lead in the mobo box and they are all pretty much the same.

Do you have a budget, would be easier to work with? we could get your graphics card in there also.

RJC · 13 Jan 2013 at 10:03

Retail CPU included, excellent motherboard:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 2.5" 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3A-B) £78.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 530W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £66.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £35.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £825.44 (includes shipping : £10.50).

snips86x · 13 Jan 2013 at 10:27

RJC said:
Retail CPU included, excellent motherboard:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 2.5" 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3A-B) £78.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 530W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £66.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £35.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £825.44 (includes shipping : £10.50).

********....can't believe I missed that!

Bart_Hunt · 14 Jan 2013 at 14:22

I ended up with whats in my signature + Corsair GS 600 (2013 Gaming Edition)
I already had RAM and 2 x 2,5" HDDs so it was cheaper.
At the moment I am running it with on board GPU, but I have a Xfire in plans - 2 x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-308-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1699

So far I spent 520£ including OS (Win 8 Pro), will be around 800 £ with GPUs, also planing some additional fans.
Thanks for advice guys, it certainly gave me some options

Bart_Hunt · 14 Jan 2013 at 14:29

tres_kun said:
What is up with the HDD ?
A 500Gb and a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB ???
If you have a SSD the segate XT has no reason of existing in the build besides it is a 2.5 inch drive
And for the cost of a 500Gb drive get a 1TB not a big difference in price

Those are my old laptop drives.
Laptops died (mostly burned GPUs), but HDDs were fine so I decided to use them. I have OS and system tools on SSD, games on hybride and rest of my stuf (photos, some music) on normal seagate.

Anyway, the rig works like a dream, takes 5 seconds to get to log-in screen.
Couldn't ask for anything more.

OvEr_KiLL · 14 Jan 2013 at 16:46

Bart_Hunt said:
I ended up with whats in my signature + Corsair GS 600 (2013 Gaming Edition)

i wouldnt of got that psu!!i had the 700w and it didnt work properly!when the fan was trying to spin up it made a high screeching noise and wouldnt spin properly, so i sent it back and got an xfx one...it is a KNOWN fault with those power supplies

Bart_Hunt · 14 Jan 2013 at 17:04

OvEr_KiLL said:
i wouldnt of got that psu!!i had the 700w and it didnt work properly!when the fan was trying to spin up it made a high screeching noise and wouldnt spin properly, so i sent it back and got an xfx one...it is a KNOWN fault with those power supplies

Is it? I thought it was intended, it has something about power saving feature in the product description - it sure does this noise you described, but only at startup, then is totally silent.
I have to try to make it actually spin the fan, it didn't even move so far but everything runs normally and PSU is perfectly cool.

Idleman · 14 Jan 2013 at 17:17

I think I would sooner have a 7950 than 2x7770 for the same price.

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) £239.99
Total : £250.79 (includes shipping : £9.00).

Bart_Hunt · 14 Jan 2013 at 18:51

Its not written in stone yet.
I am just running games on Intel HD 4000 and its awful.
I have other expenses coming soon (rent + council tax, bleh, over 700£) so I could only free around 120£, figured 7770 would be best for that money.

Idleman, what do you think of this one instead: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-312-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
Review looks promising and to be honest, I cant spend over 200£ for GPU right now. Its way over my budget.