Custom Build Gaming PC, Budget £1500

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Hello

I was wondering if the kind staff of overclockers would please price me up and fully custom built gaming PC. My budget is £1500. I would like the machine to be used for gaming on all recent and future games so it would an amazing graphics card. I was thinking some high end NVIDIA?

I would also like to use the machine to run high end video and photo editing programs such as Adobe Photoshop CS5, Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas. So It would need a processor that can handle all that for the rendering.

I was think something like 16gig of RAM. and maybe 300gig SSD hard drive. Also a factor is cooling, just so It wont over heat straight away

At the moment dont include a Monitor in the price

any specs, info and suggestions would be appreciated

Thank you for your time
 
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first of all welcome to the forum, i'm not staff either but just a member like yourself here to help others, but staff are around so may add a comment or 2 if and when needed.

all parts picked are in stock when the spec was done, any can be changed and altered in anyway, just say what you like and what you don't like, cases are personnel choices like keyboard and mice tbh......

1 x Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Edition - from XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7 £44.99
Total : £44.99 (includes shipping : FREE).



option 1, Nvidia

1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Superclocked 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Assassin's Creed III & FTP Currency £409.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - OEM £235.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £189.95
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £169.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit £99.95
1 x XFX Pro Series 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £84.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1155 / LGA1156 / LGA1366 / LGA2011/ AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £76.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £71.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
2 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1450 RPM - 3 Pin £13.99 (£27.98)
Total : £1,431.78 (includes shipping : FREE).



option 2, AMD Video card

1 x Sapphire HD 7970 OC BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £323.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - OEM £235.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £189.95
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £169.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit £99.95
1 x XFX Pro Series 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £84.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1155 / LGA1156 / LGA1366 / LGA2011/ AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £76.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £71.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
2 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1450 RPM - 3 Pin £13.99 (£27.98)
Total : £1,345.78 (includes shipping : FREE).



enough money left in both budgets for a upgrade to win 8 disk if needed

option 3

a pre built i7

1 x "Titan 350i Gelata" Intel Core i7 3770K @ 4.40GHz Overclocked Ivybridge Quad Core Gaming PC £468.00
- 1 x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST3000DM001) HDD £113.99
- 1 x Samsung 500GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD500BW) £266.99
- 1 x NO OPERATING SYSTEM £0.00
- 1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
- 1 x MSI GeForce GTX 680 Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Assassin's Creed III & FTP Currency £439.99
- 1 x 24 MONTH WARRANTY - COLLECT & RETURN £0.01
- 1 x BitFenix Shinobi "Core" USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £46.98
- 1 x Standard Build Systems - Approximately 5-7 working days £0.00
Total : £1,354.94 (includes shipping : FREE).



Why You Should Buy This System
- A guaranteed 4.40GHz performance for the price of 3.40GHz
- Cinematic DX11 graphics
- Precision built and cabled by Overclockers UK expert technicians
- 8 Hours stressed tested and quality controlled
- USB3, SATA 6GB/s, Gigabit Ethernet and WIFI for next gen computing
- All systems with an Windows 7 selected ship out with a pre-installed 180 day trial of Panda Antivirus 2012. Not compatible with Windows 8.

System Specification
- Case: BitFenix Shinobi "Core"
- Power Supply: Corsair GS 600w PSU
- CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.40GHz @ 4.40GHz Ivybridge CPU
- Motherboard: Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
- Cooler: Corsair H80 High Performance Water Cooler CPU Cooler
- RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Primary Hard Drive: Samsung 500GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic
- Secondary Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache
- Graphics Card: MSI GeForce GTX 680 Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- Sound: Realtek 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)
- Optical Drive: OcUK 24x DVD+/-RW SATA Drive (default choice, options available)
- Wireless: Asus USB-N10 Micro USB Network Adapter Wireless-N 150Mbps
- Operating Systems: none selected

to add more ram you'd need to ask when ordering but still under budget and all done for you
 
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hello

Thank you for your reply. and specs, I appreciate it especially as you mentioned you are not staff and just a regular member. Would all 3 of them specs be able to handle all current game releases? for example to play bioshock infinite on ultra settings?

and handle all high end editing programs, been able to render images and videos quickly?

For anybody reading this... what option would you go for any why? 1 2 or 3

Thank you for your time
 
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Hi I have this OC built system and im running everything maxed its very nice :)

My thread - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18494897

Why You Should Buy This System
- A guaranteed 4.40GHz performance for the price of 4.00GHz
- DX11 cinematic graphics providing immense HD visuals
- Precision built and cabled by Overclockers UK expert technicians
- USB3, SATA 6GB/s and eight core processing for next gen computing
- Designed and engineered specifically for Crysis 3

System Specification
- Case: Coolermaster HAF X Case
- Power Supply: Corsair TX V2 850W Modular PSU
- CPU: AMD Piledriver FX-8 8350 4.00GHz @ 4.40GHz Eight Core CPU
- Motherboard: Asus Crosshair V Formula Z AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard
- Cooler: Corsair Hydro H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
- RAM: Patriot Viper 3 "Venom Red" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Hard Drive: Samsung 120GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD and Seagate Barracuda 1TB Storage HDD (Upgrade options available)
- Graphics Card: Sapphire HD 7970 OC BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (Crossfire option available)
- Sound: Onboard 7.1 Channel Surround Sound
- Optical Drive: OcUK 24x DVD-RW (Black)
- Wireless: Asus USB-N10 Micro USB Network Adapter Wireless-N 150Mbps

£1295.96 for the as is built system

I added a second GPU and a 256 GB SSD Drive

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-337-OE&groupid=43&catid=2475&subcat=2488
 
Last edited:

NZB

NZB

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hello

Thank you for your reply. and specs, I appreciate it especially as you mentioned you are not staff and just a regular member. Would all 3 of them specs be able to handle all current game releases? for example to play bioshock infinite on ultra settings?

and handle all high end editing programs, been able to render images and videos quickly?

For anybody reading this... what option would you go for any why? 1 2 or 3

Thank you for your time
Any of his specs would eat games for breakfast and be very quick in the programs you want to use. Personally i'd go for option 2 with the 7970 as it's a little bit faster than the 680 but you wouldn't regret choosing any of them.
 
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Thanks for the input guys. I quite like Option 1. However with the spec given for option 1 would I be able to pick a different gaming case? or is that the only case I could use as its the only one that would house all the components?

Its listed with the option 1:
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99

Or can I pick ANY? like even one of them small boxes?
(I would really like one where you can see inside and the body/case isnt just a dull gray)

Cases from the overclockers website:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=2362

any advice on which cases I could pick to use instead would be nice

Thank you
 
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Right thank you il take a look. But it has to be a tower/case? and not one of them small boxes?

I did have a few more questions. If anybody can answer them I would really appreciate it
Cheers:

1. As I sit with my laptop on my knees, with no obviously place to put my laptop or any keyboard apart from my knees. Is there an solid keyboards that I could also place on my knees that would kind of be like a laptop keyboard?

2. I have a wireless router at home for my internet browsing and online gaming. Would I also need to add a wireless card to the list? or is it built into any of the components?

3. I would link the rig to my 42" 1080p HDTV VIA HDMI, I have 3 HDMI inputs
1 = Xbox 360
2 = PS3
3 = PC (if I get it)
But lets say I was on my PC on the TV and I watched to switch to TV to check the football scores for example... if I pick TV, xbox or ps3 any of them and change the channel would the PC shut down or go into sleep mode as the Signal from PC to TV should have changed? OR when I pick HDMI 3 to go back to PC it will all be how I left it before I changed the channel?

4. Once I am happy with the spec and I contact Overclockers about making it... they would put it all together into the complete rig with the components I chose? Or do I just get all components mailed out to me?

5. If I chose an OS would they install it for me? and also any drivers, like graphics card drivers and or mother board drivers?

erm I think thats it for now. I know some of these questions may seem and sound stupid, but to me Ive lost touch with modern PC components and obviously £1500 is a lot of money so I would at least like to know some things before I would make sure an investment

thank you for your time
 
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Last edited:
Soldato
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You don't really get a benefit going with nVidia for editing programs since their GTX6 series aren't great for CUDA type of work, plus Photoshop uses OpenGL, which any GPU can use.

A 7970 is faster and cheaper than a GTX680.

Are you open to building it yourself? I would say that it's good advice that you should strongly consider building this yourself, as you will need some experience maintaining this sort of PC, and building it yourself would give you a large boost in gaining that experience, and you'll get much more value for your money by building it yourself rather than going for a prebuilt PC.
 
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I dont think I would even know where to start to begin building it. plus installing OS and all kinds of drivers... I have no experience.

So I think it would be safer if someone who actually knows how to build them took it on

Il have a look into the 7970
 
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I dont think I would even know where to start to begin building it. plus installing OS and all kinds of drivers... I have no experience.

So I think it would be safer if someone who actually knows how to build them took it on

Il have a look into the 7970

Everyone's got to start somewhere!

I convinced a friend to build his own PC recently, he came from absolutely 0 experience in anything like building a PC and he managed it fine.

Installing the OS and drivers is very straight forward too, and installing drivers will be something you'll have to do at some point what with graphics drivers being updated regularly for when new games come out.

Building your own PC will be very easy, and if you take it on, I think you'll be very surprised at how easy it was, and happy with yourself for taking it on.

Also, if there's only 20-25 foot of distance between your router and PC, I would consider using an ethernet cable for it if you're happy with a cable, and if you can hide it easily.
 
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Everyone's got to start somewhere!

I convinced a friend to build his own PC recently, he came from absolutely 0 experience in anything like building a PC and he managed it fine.

Installing the OS and drivers is very straight forward too, and installing drivers will be something you'll have to do at some point what with graphics drivers being updated regularly for when new games come out.

Building your own PC will be very easy, and if you take it on, I think you'll be very surprised at how easy it was, and happy with yourself for taking it on.

Also, if there's only 20-25 foot of distance between your router and PC, I would consider using an ethernet cable for it if you're happy with a cable, and if you can hide it easily.

Well first off I have no self confidence to do anything lol. And if I got all the components and its just a pile of boxes il just panic, I would not mind trying to built it if I had somebody who knew what they were doing was with me telling me what to do. But I dont know anybody at all

I have reinstalled Windows Vista and XP before. But for a brand new OS I dont know how to do that from scratch. Ive added new graphics cards on old PC's before and installed drivers etc. So to be honest Ive done a little bit. But nothing the size of building a new PC from the start

As for the Ethernet/wireless I am on a HP Pavilion V7 laptop right at the moment and I get Full Bar 5/5 strength. And its just got a bog standard wireless card in it... so I cant any problems with wireless card on new PC.
 
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Just chiming in on the building it yourself factor.

It's incredibly easy.

Built my first one this weekend and spent a few hours doing it. I followed a newegg youtube video (hoping I can mention them since they're not UK competition? If not delete that reference.)

This is my build below. Not as high end as yours but it was incredibly easy.
My thread is below and you'll see how easy it was (as long as your parts all match up fine). I thought it would take me ages, but it was a few hours.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18498865

Also overclockers have their own guide that can be found here:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18046396

Again, super easy to follow. However I know it's a bit scary at first, so it's up to you.

Hope this helps a bit.
 
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Just chiming in on the building it yourself factor.

It's incredibly easy.

Built my first one this weekend and spent a few hours doing it. I followed a newegg youtube video (hoping I can mention them since they're not UK competition? If not delete that reference.)

This is my build below. Not as high end as yours but it was incredibly easy.
My thread is below and you'll see how easy it was (as long as your parts all match up fine). I thought it would take me ages, but it was a few hours.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18498865

Also overclockers have their own guide that can be found here:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18046396

Again, super easy to follow. However I know it's a bit scary at first, so it's up to you.

Hope this helps a bit.

Thing is... if I mess up I dont know anybody to help me. £1500+ is quite an investment. So I think its best to leave the people who know what they are doing, to do it
 
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