Building a gaming rig.

Mackey18

Mackey18

Mackey18

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Joined
25 Aug 2011
Posts
223
Hi guys,

I'm looking to build a gaming rig (heavy duty). I looked at the PC configurator section and built the perfect PC for about £1300. However, I can only stretch as far as £1000. Would building it from scratch make it less pricey?

My main issue, is that I'm a noob and don't know whether components will work together or not.

The rig:
- It doesn't need a display as I'll be using my iMac (late 2009) as the display. therefore the GPU must have a Display Port.
- I was thinking of using a Nvidia GTX 580 but perhaps 2x Nvidia GTX 570s (Which one will be better?)
- I'd like either an Intel i3 (or is it i2?) or an i5 CPU.
- 12GB - 16GB RAM (therefore a 64bit OS is required.)
- As for the mother board and power supply etc. etc. I couldn't tell my left from my right. Could you advise me on this?
- I would love to be able to buy parts and replace them in the future, is there anything I need to do to make sure it's upgradable in the future?

My main aim is to play games like Battlefield 3 as close to max as is humanly affordable.

So what do you think of the setup? Yay or Nay?

Kind regards,
Mike

P.S. go easily on the terminology. Thanks.
 
Are you using it mainly for gaming, or will you need to do heavy duty photo/video editing or anything else? What resolution is your screen? Apart from monitor (which you have), do you need keyboard/mouse/speakers?

I'm fairly new to the forums, but you'll soon have several builds suggested to you. You'll easily get a monster gaming pc for under £1000, just watch...
 
8gb RAM would be plenty for gaming and the system below can be upgraded to SLI in the future if needed, your budget does not allow for 2 cards at the moment.

The price can also include a better case :)

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £259.99
(£216.66) £259.99
(£216.66)
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £169.98
(£141.65) £169.98
(£141.65)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £159.98
(£133.32) £159.98
(£133.32)
OCZ Z-Series 850W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £57.59
(£47.99) £57.59
(£47.99)
BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Windowed Case - Black £52.79
(£43.99) £52.79
(£43.99)
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 £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Sub Total : £797.24
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £162.20
Total : £973.19
 
for gaming you'll only need 8GB RAM. most games cant even fill up 4GB, let alone 8GB

*edit*
RJC, the graphics card you chose doesnt have a displayport output

build removed - no OS. see two posts down for new build
 
Last edited:
RJC said:
I think the op requires a operating system Reaper 392!
Click to expand...
damn, missed that. no unlocking cards for the OP then:

YOUR BASKET
2 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Dirt3 & Deus Ex PC Games £199.99 (£399.98)
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £159.98
1 x MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £107.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £57.59
1 x OCZ ZS Series 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £55.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Windowed Case - Black £52.79
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,005.34 (includes shipping : £22.20).

*edit*
the card doesnt come with a mini-displayport to displayport adapter, and i cant find one of these adapters anywhere. however it looks like the apple screens use mini-displayports which would solve the problem.
@OP: if you could just confirm if its a displayport or a mini-displayport on your monitor that would be great
 
Last edited:
Wow

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

Ok, so we only need 8GB, ace!

To answer some questions:

- This setup is purely for gaming.
- Screen res = 2560x1440
- I do need a keyboard/mouse/speakers, but I'm looking for cheap ones to get me by until I can get some better ones.
- Reaper, my iMac has a Mini-Display Port. There is an adapter that can be used if the graphics card has a Display Port, that I found on a thread on the apple forums.

To ask some questions:

- Thanks for the rigs guys. How upgradeable are they?
- I would really prefer it if it had a Nvidia card as opposed to ATIs.

Regards,
Mike

EDIT: What about something like this for the GPU: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-260-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1812
 
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I have used the Gen 3 Asrock which I believe can have the option of using the PCI-E 3 which Ivy Bridge offers when launched, and the ability to run another Nvidia card in SLI if needed.
 
hmm, if you want mouse + keyboard then theres no way im getting SLI/crossfire in the budget (ive already sacrificed a fair amount on the mobo and case in my build)

*edit*
was wrong, HDMI is all good. now looking for HDMI to mini-displayport adapter
*/edit*

this is the best i can do:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 TOXIC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex Games £229.99
1 x MSI Z68A-GD65-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £164.98
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £159.98
1 x Lancool Dragon-Lord PC-K62 Mid Tower Case with Window - Black £84.98
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £77.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £57.59
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £948.38 (includes shipping : £13.75).

the graphics card can be unlocked into a 6970. i'll see if i can dig out the article saying how

i dont know much about keyboards and mice, so i've left £50 in the budget for them
 
Last edited:
Mackey18 said:
RJC, Struggling to follow that. Are you talking about a case or a card?
Click to expand...
he is saying the motherboard will support the latest version of PCIe connections (graphics card to motherboard connections) when intels as yet unreleased processor called ivybridge is installed in it.

he is also saying that for a future upgrade you could add a second identical graphics card into the computer to get ~95% increase in framerates in games.

ok, i refuse to do a triple post so an edit will have to do. it looks like HDMI can do what you need (if it can do 1080p @ 120FPS it can do 2560 x 1440 @ 60FPS), so if theres a HDMI to mini-displayport adpater then its all go for Nvidia and i'll make change #1934698172634 to my build.
 
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Sorry, this is the cable. It's not an adapter, more of a single cable, so will it support such a high res at 60fps?


The only reason why I'm against ATI is because they don't support PhysX. Am I wrong?

That build is awesome thank you very much. I'm guessing I can upgrade the parts to whatever I like in the future yes, with the option of making it SLI?

Regards,
Mike
 
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reaper according to the reviews I've read it's just a case of flicking the switch to change to the modified bios so no need to flash the bios, well 1 review said they flashed the bios but the others said it comes with a pre-modified bios and a standard bios with a switch to change between them.

I've gone for 2 for a xfire setup, hope they come with the unlocked shaders :)

mackey sorry but you're a bit confusing, does the display have mini-dp or full dp? if it's mini-dp then just get a graphics card with mini-dp so no need for converters.
 
Last edited:
the adapter you have is fine. but you might want to remove the competitor link because your not allowed to link to competitors on here ;)

now that i know HDMI will do what you need (its 2560x1440 @ 120FPS that it cant do, which your monitor cant do either) i'm asking the guys at OcUK if an adapter ive found will do the job you need it to

@Fowler: the review i read said you needed to flich a switch, mess around with some power settings and increase the clock speeds to get it to a 6970. this may have been fixed with a later bios though
 
Mackey18 said:
So does that mean I have a bigger choice of GPUs to choose from?
Click to expand...

just had a message from 5UB saying he is pretty sure that it would, but if it doesnt then you can always send it back for a refund.

so, with that info heres the new Nvidia spec:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £259.99
1 x MSI Z68A-GD65-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £164.98
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £159.98
1 x Lancool Dragon-Lord PC-K62 Mid Tower Case with Window - Black £84.98
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £77.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.98
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x OcUK Value Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter £8.99
Total : £969.77 (includes shipping : £13.75).


i'm 99% sure the graphics card comes with a mini HDMI to HDMI adapter, which you'll need for the cable to work. probably best to ask in the customer service section though just in case.
if it doesnt then just get one from somewhere else for ~£5 because OcUK dont sell them.

also, ive just noticed that the official apple HDMI to mini displayport lead looks incredibly similar to the one OcUK sell (but is a bit more expensive)
 
if your going for that case, make sure to phone up and ask which one it is, as someone made a thread complaining they got a different case which had a big AMD logo on the side when their build was based on Intel and Nvidia! :D
 
Jony27 said:
if your going for that case, make sure to phone up and ask which one it is, as someone made a thread complaining they got a different case which had a big AMD logo on the side when their build was based on Intel and Nvidia! :D
Click to expand...

lol, i remember that one. i think that will have been a one off though.

however, theres plenty of room in the budget for a better case if the OP would like one. i just tried to keep near the middle of £900 and £1000
 
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