Building a gaming rig.

[BeerMonkey]

Building a gaming pc for a friend this is what i have put together, any thoughts?
Anything you would change?



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Total comes in at £1523.78 inc VAT
Want to stay around that price but can maybe go a little higher if necessary.

Thanks

 

[honosuseri]

The i7 is debatable for gaming, 16GB is deffo overkill and you can get 2x8GB 2133Mhz kits for the same price as that slower quad channel kit you picked.

They have started to drop the price of AMD GPUs now. The 7970 is cheaper close to what 7950s used to cost and the 7950s are cheap enough that I can Xfire for the cost of the single 770 almost.....

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ XL2411T 24" TRUE 144Hz 3D Vision 2.0 Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
2 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** with FREE GAMES £189.95 (£379.90)
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £167.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black £111.98
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £74.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2666HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £49.99
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £41.99
Total : £1,519.92 (includes shipping : £35.15).



Just to give you an idea of what's poss. The Bluray would only really be needed for movies. Even a single 7970 would be good enough would leave cash to up the SSD capacity and storage perhaps.

 

[BeerMonkey]

Thanks for your help. Why not an i7?
I have always had amd builds personally so i know little about intel.

As i said it is for a friend tho and he wants an i7 and nvidia graphics and won't let me change his mind, would it be possible for you to give me a few reasons for the choice if that is not too much bother.

Thanks

 

[honosuseri]

Well the i7 has hyperthreading and that doesn't seem to make much odds for gaming. Apparently the i7 does maintain better minimum frame rates with dual GPUs though

The Nvidia 770 is a "Super duper" 680. There are some good deals on the 670s now which are a cutdown 680 but they cut off very little.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor & Corsair H100i CPU Cooler Bundle £373.98
1 x BenQ XL2411T 24" TRUE 144Hz 3D Vision 2.0 Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red £249.95
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Gamer 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **FREE SHIPPING** £197.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £167.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black £111.98
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £74.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2666HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x LG CH10LS28 BD-ROM 10x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £63.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £49.99
Total : £1,443.83 (includes shipping : FREE).



This i7K has the H100i bundled with it. The 670 I've used also gives the whole basket free P&P

 

[Idleman]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £275.99
2 x Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Gamer 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **FREE SHIPPING** £197.99 (£395.98)
1 x Asus VN247H 24"Widescreen Super Narrow Bezel LED Monitor - Black £169.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £131.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £74.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 330R Silent Mid Tower Case - Black £74.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £65.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler £62.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £49.99
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
Total : £1,502.82 (includes shipping : FREE).



Does he have an OS?

 

[zoobee]

My build with nice quality


YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7970 GHZ X-Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £299.99
1 x BenQ XL2411T 24" TRUE 144Hz 3D Vision 2.0 Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £179.99
1 x Silverstone Strider Gold Evolution 750w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (ST75F-G) £129.95
1 x Silverstone Raven 3 Full Tower Windowed Case - Black/Grey (SST-RV03B-WA USB 3.0) £104.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £89.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K2/8X) £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) HDD £76.99
1 x Thermaltake Frio Advanced CLP0596 CPU Cooler £49.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,506.44 (includes shipping : £22.20).

 

[honosuseri]

Sufficed to say that £1500 is a good budget but having more cash opens up more options. I quite like my buddy Idlemans alternative too, he prefers a good air cooler over CLCs and that is a reasonable preference to have. I'd prefer the 330R over the Coolmaster CMII too truth be known.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £275.99
1 x BenQ XL2411T 24" TRUE 144Hz 3D Vision 2.0 Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red £249.95
2 x Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Gamer 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **FREE SHIPPING** £197.99 (£395.98)
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £167.99
1 x Plextor M5S 256GB Solid State Drive - (PX-256M5S) £139.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £74.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 330R Silent Mid Tower Case - Black £74.95
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2666HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £49.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £41.99
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,554.79 (includes shipping : FREE).



Hopefully you are getting some ideas of how to balance things out and settle on some parts you like. You can use THIS to post your next basket which you might find easier. I really look forward to seeing what you settle on in the end

 

[Potty27]

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 680 Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £269.99
1 x Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £209.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £124.99
1 x NZXT Phantom Enthusiast USB3.0 Full Tower Case - Red £104.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £94.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £65.99
1 x BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU Cooler £61.99
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £49.99
Total : £1,452.89 (includes shipping : FREE).

 

[Potty27]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £269.99
1 x Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £209.99
2 x Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Gamer 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **FREE SHIPPING** £197.99 (£395.98)
1 x MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £124.99
1 x NZXT Phantom Enthusiast USB3.0 Full Tower Case - Red £104.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £94.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HG5D Series THNSNH 7mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - (THNSNH128GCST) £85.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £65.99
1 x BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU Cooler £61.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £49.99
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
Total : £1,514.88 (includes shipping : FREE).

 

[Potty27]

Some may not like my choice of monitor, but it's what I would buy if it were me.

 

[honosuseri]

Some may not like my choice of monitor, but it's what I would buy if it were me.

IPS panels aren't ideal for gaming on to be honest. It's a higher resolution but the response rate is also higher (that's bad for gaming). IPS panels have better colours so if the rig was an "all rounder" and was for editing etc above gaming then yes the IPS isn't a bad trade off.

For out and out gaming I'd lean towards a 120Hz+ panel with a low response rate at that price range but each to their own. Always worth pointing out different options and why so the OPs can choose for themselves what suits them best

 

[BeerMonkey]

Wow guys thanks for the advice Some very nice builds will get him to have a look.

Also how do you post the baskets like that?

Thanks

BeerMonkey

 

[Idleman]

Wow guys thanks for the advice Some very nice builds will get him to have a look.

Also how do you post the baskets like that?

Thanks

BeerMonkey

Just use this http://ocuk-shopping-cart-to-forum-converter.googlecode.com/git/INSTALL.htm

 

[honosuseri]

Wow guys thanks for the advice Some very nice builds will get him to have a look.

Also how do you post the baskets like that?

Thanks

BeerMonkey

You must have missed "this"

You can use THIS to post your next basket which you might find easier.

My buddy Idleman has put you on the right path now anyways

 

[BeerMonkey]

You must have missed "this"

Ha ha i apologise but thanks for taking the time to say again.

Will let you guys know of the outcome later.

Thanks

 

[Potty27]

IPS panels aren't ideal for gaming on to be honest. It's a higher resolution but the response rate is also higher (that's bad for gaming). IPS panels have better colours so if the rig was an "all rounder" and was for editing etc above gaming then yes the IPS isn't a bad trade off.

For out and out gaming I'd lean towards a 120Hz+ panel with a low response rate at that price range but each to their own. Always worth pointing out different options and why so the OPs can choose for themselves what suits them best

Agree with what your saying, but I expect most gamers could not actually tell the difference between 8ms and 2ms response times. Though I expect many "pro gamers" will claim they can

I'd not bother with a 120Hz personally, if you can get a constant 60FPS the results would be more than pleasing for most. 30FPS+ looks pretty good to me anyway.

 

[Potty27]

One thing that's interesting, I had a 2ms low-medium end monitor and changed to a larger better quality 5ms monitor, if anything the 5ms seemed to respond faster and the picture was far better.

 

[BeerMonkey]

I think i am going to go with this build to show him. He hasn't really got a clue tbh and will get whatever i advise.
With SLi i know the second card runs slower but how much increase would i expect him to see? basically is it worth it for these two over one higher model?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £275.99
2 x Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Gamer 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **FREE SHIPPING** £197.99 (£395.98)
1 x Asus VN247H 24"Widescreen Super Narrow Bezel LED Monitor - Black £169.99
1 x MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £124.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Nvidia Edition Advanced USB3.0 Dominator Case - Black/Green £94.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £74.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G186C9K) £65.99
1 x BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU Cooler £61.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £49.99
1 x Saitek Cyborg V5 Illuminated Gaming Keyboard £39.98
1 x Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T.3 3500 DPI Gaming Mouse £33.95
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,492.81 (includes shipping : FREE).



Edit* He chose the case, it was the only thing he was bothered about so want to keep this one in there.

 

[Idleman]

I think i am going to go with this build to show him. He hasn't really got a clue tbh and will get whatever i advise.
With SLi i know the second card runs slower but how much increase would i expect him to see? basically is it worth it for these two over one higher model?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £275.99
2 x Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Gamer 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **FREE SHIPPING** £197.99 (£395.98)
1 x Asus VN247H 24"Widescreen Super Narrow Bezel LED Monitor - Black £169.99
1 x MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £124.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Nvidia Edition Advanced USB3.0 Dominator Case - Black/Green £94.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £74.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G186C9K) £65.99
1 x BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU Cooler £61.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £49.99
1 x Saitek Cyborg V5 Illuminated Gaming Keyboard £39.98
1 x Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T.3 3500 DPI Gaming Mouse £33.95
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,492.81 (includes shipping : FREE).



Edit* He chose the case, it was the only thing he was bothered about so want to keep this one in there.

Looks good, but for the same price, you can get this faster ram.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £65.99
Total : £74.69 (includes shipping : £7.25).



Nice keyboard and mouse, had mine a while now, can`t fault either of them.

 

[Ethermaster]

I think i am going to go with this build to show him. He hasn't really got a clue tbh and will get whatever i advise.
With SLi i know the second card runs slower but how much increase would i expect him to see? basically is it worth it for these two over one higher model?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** with FREE GAMES £189.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £167.99
1 x Iiyama Prolite E2481HS-B1 24" Widescreen LED Super Slim Bezel Monitor - Black £143.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black £111.98
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 750W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (0-761345-06223-7) £99.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC10TDC01) £89.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x CM Storm Quickfire TK Mechanical Keyboard - Brown Switch £68.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £49.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £41.99
1 x CM Storm Recon 4000 DPI Gaming Mouse £39.98
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Cable Bundle - Orange £28.45
1 x Alpenföhn 140mm Wing Boost Plus PWM Fan - Orange £14.99
1 x NZXT CB-LED20-OR 24x Orange LED Sleeve - 2m £13.99
5 x Alpenföhn 120mm Wing Boost Plus PWM Fan - Orange £13.99 (£69.95)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Orange £6.98
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 6pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Orange £6.49
2 x BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - Orange £5.99 (£11.98)
2 x Akasa FLEXA FP5S 5 Fan PWM Controller (AK-CBFA07-45) £5.28 (£10.56)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal Audio Extension Adaptor 30cm - Orange £4.49
Total : £1,485.50 (includes shipping : £23.20).