Building my first game system, help would be appreciated :)

maxim.mitrokhin · 19 Feb 2009 at 11:10

Hi,

It's my first time building a computer, so I took quite a while to research and came up with the build below.
I have razer barracuda headphones and razer lachesis mouse, unfortunately OCuk don't have the sound card AC-1 and I'll have to get it elsewhere.

Please could someone check the build? Purpose is gaming, internet, office stuff, movies. Also would like to avoid really loud components, but this is a very minor issue. I'd rather have power with noise

Graphics card: would like GTX 295/285, but I think they are too expensive, so 260 should be a good alternative?
CPU: 8600 seems a bit overpriced, so think this would be a good choice and could be easily overclocked with the case I'm getting.
Monitor: Really not sure about this, not sure how to go about this, but was choosing on the basis of native resolution - 1920
Motherboard: Here I need help! I'm not sure if I want to have SLI in future or not, or just upgrade to 295 or something when time comes, and not sure which motherboard is good. I need WIFI PCI, soundcard PCI, graphics card PCI, so really confused which motherboard supports which cards and the spacing in between them etc. Anyways could I have some suggestions here.
Case: I'm in love with this case and don't think I'll be able to choose another one as alternative...
Operating system: Think this is all I need for gaming, as for Office programs, already have those
PSU: Please help, I'm not sure how to calculate and which one to get.#
Keyboard: I might as well keep with my razer them, mouse, headphones and keyboard all glowing blue

RAM: Want at least 4GBs, but have no idea how to choose it... Need help here!
Harddrive: I never needed large one. So I think this one would do, just for OC, games and music. Also ahve 250Gb external already, that should easily slot into the system when taken out of the case.
Optical Drive: Don't really care, should be silent and fast, writing dvd and cds is a bonus, but I use it very rarely.

Basically could you advise me on what can be changed or improved, but keeping a good quality/price rational. Don't want to go overboard, but would like something that will play all games on almost max settings. Is 1920 preferred resolution for gaming? Or would other resolutions do as well, if yes what size screen is the best for experience, if it will be 0.5m in front of me at most?

Thanks in advance

ro55o · 19 Feb 2009 at 11:32

The GTX 260 you've shown is a b grade product, you can get a brand new one for the same price

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-008-ZT

The P45 boards support crossfire, so If you want to add additional cards then you could always go with the 4870, pretty much the same performance as the GTX260.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-120-XF

If you want an intel dual core CPU, then go for the E8400, only slightly slower than the 8500 but a bit cheaper now (you could easily overclock it by the .16ghz difference

).

The Asus P45 P5Q Pro board is a good choice. It will have sufficient PCI slots for the wireless card and additional soundcard, and again will support crossfire if you go for the 4870.

Another note on the CPU, the new AMD AM3 CPU's seem to be performing well in games, the X3 720 BE looks good for the price, pair this with a decent AM2+ mobo.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-238-AM

DarthBallz · 19 Feb 2009 at 11:33

if you want to sli you'll have to bump another £80 to get an nvidia board or like you said just wait for the 295 to get cheaper.

the ram is fine. to check which ram to buy, just look at the mobo spec for which type, speed and the amount of memory it supports, it'a all there.

ro55o · 19 Feb 2009 at 11:40

Intel Setup

AMD Setup

If you want the GTX 260 instead then just swap it for the 4870, if you do you'd be better changing the mobo in the AMD spec to one that supports SLi, the one I've shown supports crossfire.

matt_fsr · 19 Feb 2009 at 11:41

Graphics card: GTX 260 is probably your best bet, or a 4870 if you prefer AMD/ATi camp. My advice is dont spend £400 on a card now, only to be 12 months down the line wishing you could afford to upgrade....
New card every 12 months or so is a good plan.
CPU: Go for a E7400, and save £60 for other components - clock the 7400 slightly, and it's ace.
PSU: Up to you, but see my signature - I've tested it from the plug socket, and I can only get a maximum draw of 220 watts, running my CPU and GPU full 100% stress testing. No need for 700 watt PSU yet methinks

RAM: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-144-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813 - Should do you fine.
Harddrive: You can never have enough space, get a good fast 500Gb one - price difference is negligible, and bigger drives are usually faster as well.

maxim.mitrokhin · 19 Feb 2009 at 11:45

As far as I understand, any mobo will support any card, even if it has crossfire and I use Nvidia?

I'd rather stick to Intel, somehow I trust them more. What does B grade product mean? And how do cards variate in performance between brands and different things like: Core 216. Also I noticed a significant difference between cards of the same type like - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-079-BG and
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-008-ZT

If CLI or Crossfire are used I guess u can't mix ati and nvidia cards, but is it possible to mix 260 with 295?

Thanks for your replies and sorry about so many questions, I'm trying to educate myself in the process.

ro55o · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:00

maxim.mitrokhin said:
As far as I understand, any mobo will support any card, even if it has crossfire and I use Nvidia?

I'd rather stick to Intel, somehow I trust them more. What does B grade product mean? And how do cards variate in performance between brands and different things like: Core 216. Also I noticed a significant difference between cards of the same type like - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-079-BG and
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-008-ZT

If CLI or Crossfire are used I guess u can't mix ati and nvidia cards, but is it possible to mix 260 with 295?

Thanks for your replies and sorry about so many questions, I'm trying to educate myself in the process.

Any mobo will support either ATi or Nvidia, whether or not it's crossfire or Sli capable. The Asus P45 will support both cards, but can't support SLi, only crossfire.

The core 216 is the newer version of the GTX 260, all the ones on OCUK will be this. The difference between the 2 cards you've shown is that the BFG version is overclocked, therefore it's more expensive. You can do this yourself though, i.e. get the zotac one up to the same speed as the BFG. B grade are generally returns to OCUK, checked and re-packaged.

You can't mix nvidia and Ati cards. If you go SLi the card needs to be same, i.e. pair a gtx 260 with another 260, it won't work with anything else. Although crossfire you can mix n match cards from the 4xxx range, so a 4870 would work with a 4850, 4850x2, 4870x2 and so on.

If you want to go intel then the setup I've shown is a good shout. The comment made by matt fsr is a good one. If you wan't to save some money then you can go for the E7xxx series CPU and overclock it to the more expensive intel CPU's, but you would need an aftermaket cooler as the one that comes with the CPU isn't good enough to keep the temps down.

maxim.mitrokhin · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:02

thanks ro55o for the intel set up, think I'm going to go with that. Except that I'd like to stick to 260 gtx for some reason. But shouldn't be a huge difference in money or capability, right? Does PSU account for the WIFI card, usb and another Harddrive that I already have? and perhaps some margin? I like to be on the safe side

maxim.mitrokhin · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:06

matt_fsr said:
Graphics card: GTX 260 is probably your best bet, or a 4870 if you prefer AMD/ATi camp. My advice is dont spend £400 on a card now, only to be 12 months down the line wishing you could afford to upgrade....
New card every 12 months or so is a good plan.
CPU: Go for a E7400, and save £60 for other components - clock the 7400 slightly, and it's ace.
PSU: Up to you, but see my signature - I've tested it from the plug socket, and I can only get a maximum draw of 220 watts, running my CPU and GPU full 100% stress testing. No need for 700 watt PSU yet methinks
RAM: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-144-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813 - Should do you fine.
Harddrive: You can never have enough space, get a good fast 500Gb one - price difference is negligible, and bigger drives are usually faster as well.

I know you can get E7400 to a good speed, but I have some money to spend, so I'm trying to get an up-to-date computer with resonable price. CPU is not something that can be changed easily so would like it to be E8xxx, the logic for graphics card is same for me, I'd rather buy cheaper versions than the top ones and then not see a difference. I agree with the space, what more concerns me is reliability, quitness and speed.

Also is there any point in getting more than 4GBs, and how would 4x2Gb ram cards work together, I read it can cause big problems like BSD

ro55o · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:17

That corsair PSU will be enough for the setup, plus it's modular (only use the cables that you need, it makes building it easier and looks tidy).

Go for the Zotac GTX 260, great card for the money, plus you should get far cry 2 and mirrors edge with it. The 260 will be more than enough to power it, should get any game maxed out (and if you need additional kick, then download rivatuner and overclock the card).

Even though you want the nvidia card I'd still go with the P45 board that I spec'd, you won't be able to go SLi, but to be honest when the time comes you need more graphics power (which won't be soon) then just get the next best card that's out at that time.

I'd just stick with 4gb, you won't need anymore and wouldn't see a difference in gaming.

Go for the intel setup I've spec'd and just swap the 4870 for the GTX 260

I'm guessing you've already got the wifi card?

icey_haj · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:21

I would agree with ro55o's Intel spec.

Ro55o what happened to specing only AMD machines, eh?
I thought you were a fanboy.

maxim.mitrokhin · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:21

ro55o said:
That corsair PSU will be enough for the setup, plus it's modular (only use the cables that you need, it makes building it easier and looks tidy).

Go for the Zotac GTX 260, great card for the money, plus you should get far cry 2 and mirrors edge with it. The 260 will be more than enough to power it, should get any game maxed out (and if you need additional kick, then download rivatuner and overclock the card).

Even though you want the nvidia card I'd still go with the P45 board that I spec'd, you won't be able to go SLi, but to be honest when the time comes you need more graphics power (which won't be soon) then just get the next best card that's out at that time.

I'd just stick with 4gb, you won't need anymore and wouldn't see a difference in gaming.

Go for the intel setup I've spec'd and just swap the 4870 for the GTX 260

I'm guessing you've already got the wifi card?

Thanks, you've been great help. Yeah I don't think I'll ever need SLI, by the time I will, there will be something totally different on the market, like in 5 years time, may be you'll be able to buy additional mobo expansion and link any graphics card togetjer :O lol

About the WIFI card, actually not. Need some advice here. The router is 15 meters away through 2 non carrying walls, get 5/5 reception on my laptop. Bthomehub router if that makes any difference. Is there any card that is an obvious buy. Don't think I'll be going for the gamers cards that costs up to 200 pounds.

ro55o · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:32

icey_haj said:
I would agree with ro55o's Intel spec.

Ro55o what happened to specing only AMD machines, eh?
I thought you were a fanboy.

haha I'm definitely not a fanboy, considering I've got an E8400 myself and would pick it again over an amd one, but the new AMD CPU's do look good and actually have only started specing them over the past few days. I obviously need to start balancing myself out a bit more, offer both spec's

ro55o · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:36

maxim.mitrokhin said:
Thanks, you've been great help. Yeah I don't think I'll ever need SLI, by the time I will, there will be something totally different on the market, like in 5 years time, may be you'll be able to buy additional mobo expansion and link any graphics card togetjer :O lol

About the WIFI card, actually not. Need some advice here. The router is 15 meters away through 2 non carrying walls, get 5/5 reception on my laptop. Bthomehub router if that makes any difference. Is there any card that is an obvious buy. Don't think I'll be going for the gamers cards that costs up to 200 pounds.

Nah the gaming cards are only for pro gamers or people with too much money

Just a standard wireless PCi card will do, just depends on how much you want to spend. I have this in one of the PC's at home and seems to do the job well enough

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-011-NG&groupid=46&catid=1002&subcat=1000

maxim.mitrokhin · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:40

Now that the components are sorted out, all I need is to order them and then build it. I know the theory of building and read a few articles, does anyone know any guides are help articles, may be videos. Obviously I'll be searching myself as well, but may be there is a really good one.
Guess there is a risk in doing it yourself first time, but I have to start sometime.

icey_haj · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:40

I would suggest you consider Wireless-N RangeMax from Netgear. I switched from b/g to that and it cut out the lag that I used to get in games. I have thick walls in my house and the router is far away, so maybe the one Ro55o spec'd is good enough for you.

feeddagoat · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:43

I went with an AMD build in my new gaming rig. Partly because it worked out cheaper than a similar intel build and the release of phenom II will hopefully make a gradual upgrades easier. the other reasons that made me choose AMD are that intel are moving to i5 and I have an AMD sempron office pc so old parts can go to upgrading that. I just hope that AMD dont die anytime soon lol

ro55o · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:44

With the build just take your time, discharge any static from your body (touch something that's earthed, I touch the radiator before touching any of the components), make sure everything is connected in the right place (pretty much one place for everything anyway) and there shouldn't be any problems. It can be pretty rewarding when you finish and it's all up and running.

There are loads of guides on the internet and a few videos on youtube aswell, just google what you need.

ro55o · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:48

icey_haj said:
I would suggest you consider Wireless-N RangeMax from Netgear. I switched from b/g to that and it cut out the lag that I used to get in games. I have thick walls in my house and the router is far away, so maybe the one Ro55o spec'd is good enough for you.

Yeah, my router isn't that far, maybe about 10-15m away from the card I spec'd, plus walls are quite thin in my house, so as long as that's the case then it should be fine for you. If like icey_haj, then go for a better one that'll have a bigger range.

maxim.mitrokhin · 19 Feb 2009 at 12:50

ro55o said:
With the build just take your time, discharge any static from your body (touch something that's earthed, I touch the radiator before touching any of the components), make sure everything is connected in the right place (pretty much one place for everything anyway) and there shouldn't be any problems. It can be pretty rewarding when you finish and it's all up and running.

There are loads of guides on the internet and a few videos on youtube aswell, just google what you need.

Thanks, also just noticed you have changed the RAM to a slower one that runs on 800Mhz, is it significant speed reduction from 1000, or does it not matter?