First-Timer Gaming Rig - Opinions?

Starky

Starky

Starky

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Hey guys, have been using a Macbook for a couple years now and although I'm loving the OS X, there are just too many games out there now for the PC and having given Windows 7 a look (seems pretty nice!), I'm looking to build myself a gaming rig that will last about 2 years.

Mainly looking for ideas for the graphics card and comments on the drive setup.

Right now I'm looking at the following:

Overclockers Bundle - *OVERCLOCKED* Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz @ 4.00GHz / Gigabyte EX58-UD5 Intel X58 Motherboard / Kingston HyperX 6GB 12800C9 1600MHz DDR3 Bundle

Graphics - Not sure about this yet... need some advice here

Hard Drives -

For the Operating System (might try to find a 16GB one elsewhere for cheaper) - OCZ Solid Series 30GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1SLD30G)

For Applications - Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10000RPM SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3000HLFS)

For Data - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)

Optical Drives -

Reading - Sony BDU-X10S Blu-Ray Reader Serial-ATA Drive - Retail

Writing (don't care about Blu-Ray here) - Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Sound Card - OEM (PCI-Express) (30SB104200000)

Power Supply - Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXUK)

Case - Don't know much about what I'm looking for here either..?

Total cost (excluding case, GPU and stuff like USB ports) is £1160 and could extend the total cost including the other parts to around £1500, I know that this doesn't include a screen!

Opinions? My main worry is that I might be wasting money due to the actual cost/benefit ratios of some of the decisions that I have made
 
Not to worry mate the guys here will certainly give you some advice as to what specs you should go for with a given budget.... speaking of which how much are you prepared to pay out?

Also do you need an O/S, Monitor, keyboard, mouse etc etc
 
for a 1st time gaming rig... it seems a tad... insane?

A core 2 quad and 4GB of fast ddr3 should do you nicely, i'm sure others will agree when i say here. Spend your money on the graphics card.
maybe an ati 4890? The new one from XFX the black edition looks sexy.

also it saves you money to put towards a nice screen, also dont forget, anymore than 3GB or RAM = a 64bit version of windows for you my friend!

Hope that helps!

*edit*
I just read again and saw the 2 year futureproofing... i think most of what i said is pointless now, but i do know windows 7 = DX 11 and if it takes off, you will feel pretty silly spending a large sum of money on a DX10 graphics card...

Maybe a £200 limit on your card, then upgrade in the next 6 months?
 
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I'm fine for OS/Monitor/Keyboard/Mouse - so around £1500 for the whole rig excluding those would be what I'm looking for at a maximum. Yeah I realise that I need the 64-bit Operating System for the extra RAM so that's not a problem!

One thing that was mentioned to me was that the AMD chipsets compete very well with the i7, especially if you're just wanting to use it for gaming. I do some photo/video editing too but nothing that my current laptop can't handle so I don't see that being a problem. Are they as future-proof?
 
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Oh as for a graphics card im using the "XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI" and couldnt be happier.... its a fantastic card for the price!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-120-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939

And as for the case depending on if you want a midi or full tower id say either the Antec 1200 or Antec 900-2... They are both fantastic build quality and are great for cable management, air cooling and are well executed design wise!

Currently have the 900-2 and its the best case ive ever worked with!
 
aries2580 said:
for a 1st time gaming rig... it seems a tad... insane?

A core 2 quad and 4GB of fast ddr3 should do you nicely, i'm sure others will agree when i say here. Spend your money on the graphics card.
maybe an ati 4890? The new one from XFX the black edition looks sexy.

also it saves you money to put towards a nice screen, also dont forget, anymore than 3GB or RAM = a 64bit version of windows for you my friend!

Hope that helps!
Click to expand...

Nah I disagree, if he has a budget that high he'd be insane not to go for an I7 system... Anything else is obsolete and will need upgrading a lot sooner!
 
SSD's are fantastic drives from what ive heard with the read/write times but for me the cost just doesnt justify the storage capacity when for a much smaller price you can get a decent drive over 500GB
 
The drive I put in there was the one on the overclockers site just to keep things similar but will have a look elsewhere too - I mean Windows 7 only takes up around 4GB and if you give it 10GB to itself then it's never going to cause any trouble about that so the 30GB drives on this site are a bit excessive!
 
Nice 1500pounds for a gaming rig...for 2 years. I like the sounds of that! Share the wealth? :p
In all seriousness though for that money it has to be i7, and you can easily run a raid setup of SSDs which will see a lovely boost in loading times at least! Mmmm jealous
 
Hah - 2 words: student loan ;) have managed to survive the last three years without a PC so it's about time
 
Personally id say leave the SSD's for the time being like im doing, with I7, and about 6GB of decent ram your not gonna regret waiting for a price drop.... and if its gaming that you want id put the money saved towards a really high end graphics card!
 
My specs are as follows if interested.... and all came for just shy of a knats knackers under £950 and I couldnt be happier

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail

XFX Radeon HD 4870 xXx 1024MB GDDR5 TV-OutDual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (HD-487A-ZDDC)

Foxconn Renaissance Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Antec 900-2 Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU)

Coolermaster Real Power 620w Modular Power Supply

OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G1333LV6GK)

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD6401AALS)

Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366)

LG GH22NS40 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
 
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