Final gaming build

mart1985

mart1985

mart1985

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27 Sep 2012
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371
I am going to order my rig tomorrow and I would like to run my spec past you experts for some final advice!

I would appreciate people just checking all the components compliment and work with each other and to advise on any missing components or obvious changes.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £319.99
1 x Benq XL2410T 24" TRUE 120Hz 3D Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x CM Storm Stryker Full Tower Gaming Case - White £129.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £94.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128N/EU) £85.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £69.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £68.99
1 x Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler - Blue (Socket LGA 2011/1155/1156/1366/775/AMD AM2/2+/AM3) £66.98
1 x Gigabyte Force K3 Gaming Keyboard £29.99
1 x Logitech G300 Gaming Mouse (910-002489) £29.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £26.99
1 x Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp - OEM £22.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/RSMS 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black/Silver/Biege) - Retail £19.99
1 x Plantronics GameCom 380 Stereo Gaming Headset £19.98
1 x Belkin 8-Socket SurgeMaster Maximum Series with Telephone Protection - 2 Metres (F9M820UK2M) £18.37
2 x Phanteks 140mm White Fan PH-F140TS_WT £16.99 (£33.98)
Total : £1,620.80 (includes shipping : £22.20).




The two additional fans are to go in the roof of the case (moving the stock 200mm to the rear) and the sound card and headset are because I have an old couple next door and can't risk too much noise!
 
Thanks triggerthat :)

I am a noob at this so just want to check my money is being well spent!

I also need to get either a wireless card or USB adaptor as my powerline adpators are not working in my new house.
 
aye, looks nice.

although £30 keyboard on a £1600+ build? It's one of the things that you use the entire time. you've spent the money on the screen, I think you should get a mechanical keybaord to complete the build nicely.
 
I know the keyboard is a bit on the cheap side but are the mechanical keyboards really worth it? Im not fussed about the extra millisecond response times as I am not that hardcore a gamer! I guess it will be a lot more durable but is it worth another £70+?

Thanks SoundDoctor :) Excited about getting my first gaming rig!
 
Nicely styled :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 2011/1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3/FM1) £52.79
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £35.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £104.76 (includes shipping : FREE).



Much faster RAM at a bargain price. Optical drive is faster and can be flashed with the iHAS 524 firmware to unlock the extra features. Heatsink is cheaper but I feel you will stick with what you have for the colour......am I right? ;) Not sure I'd bother with the soundcard, especially a PCI one. If you felt you wanted one you could add one later once you qualify for free P&P :)
 
Hi honosuseri,

I can't find a review for that RAM. Have you used it?

Thanks for the optical drive suggestion, I will switch that in!

I will keep the heatsink for the colour ;)

I did wonder whether the soundcard was worth it due to the headphones being used. I think I will drop it for now as suggested.
 
Not personally no but it's a well recognised brand. We are currently spec'ing it for AMD trinity builds as the IGP favours fast RAM, at £35 it's a bargain, lifetime warranty too remember. I have used the XMS kits, last lot I had didn't have the blue sticker on them if that's what was helping you swing for them ;)
 
I would suggest going for the PCIe version of the sound card. I have the same MB, cooler, and GPU. The PCIe card sits nicely in the pace between the cooler and the graphics card in top PCIe x1 slot.

If you go for the PCI sound card then it will bock you being able to put another 670 in at a later date. Which looking at the motherboard and PSU I guess you would like to do.
 
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Thanks for the advice Fire fly. Would you say the soundcard is worth it if I am mainly going to be using headphones?

That adapter looks perfect Hono. The powerline adapters I had were TP-Link and they were very good in my old house (which makes me believe there is something wrong with the wiring here!).
 
The onboard sound is good for gaming but I found the sound card to give an improvement in some games, the RPGs in BF3 sound much crisper. A lot of it will depend on the quality of the Headset you are using. I use a Turtle Beach Z6a headset. I would also point out the the benefits of a sound card will be subjective on how good your hearing is.

I would also point out that I had a lot of problems with my computer that I traced to a TP link wifi dongle not liking the USB 3 ports. If you start suffering from long shutdown times or random freezes when browsing the net / on desktop then try removing that to a USB 2 port.
 
Hmmm, for the moment my headset is quite cheap but I am sure I will get a better one soon (I don't need a mic so I have just gone for a cheaper set). I think I will try it as its only £27 so can't really go wrong!

Thanks for the advice on the TP link, appreciate the heads up!

My final build now looks like this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £319.99
1 x Benq XL2410T 24" TRUE 120Hz 3D Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x CM Storm Stryker Full Tower Gaming Case - White £129.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £94.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128N/EU) £85.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £69.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £68.99
1 x Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler - Blue (Socket LGA 2011/1155/1156/1366/775/AMD AM2/2+/AM3) £66.98
1 x TT eSports Challenger Pro Gaming Keyboard £46.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £35.99
1 x Logitech G300 Gaming Mouse (910-002489) £29.99
1 x Asus Xonar DGX 5.1 PCI-Express Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp £26.99
1 x Plantronics GameCom 380 Stereo Gaming Headset £19.98
1 x Belkin 8-Socket SurgeMaster Maximum Series with Telephone Protection - 2 Metres (F9M820UK2M) £18.37
1 x TP-Link 300Mbps High-Gain Wireless-N USB Adapter (TL-WN822N) £17.99
2 x Phanteks 140mm White Fan PH-F140TS_WT £16.99 (£33.98)
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £1,664.78 (includes shipping : £22.20).

 
Hon - So a better set of headphones would be better with the inbuilt soundcard than the soundcard I suggested?

Remote Zero - I understand the white is not everyone's cup of tea but I love it! It was either this or the Switch.
 
Onboard audio really isnt that bad. If you had some seriously hifi speakers I would understand wanting a soundcard.

You have 7.1 onboard audio, best to get a set of headphones that can exploit it in my opinion. I'd love to see a build log for this rig ;)

Top tip the underneath of that free gaming surface will be anti-static, nice size or building the rig on too. Once done flip it back over for it's intended purpose :)

Just seen your fans. Are you sure the case can take two 140mm fans?
 
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