gaming machine £1000-£1200...help please.

[neil pettitt]

hi, I recently ran a post upgrade or new build. Now my situation as changed a. bit so I thought I would start a new post just to get away from the upgrade side of my old post. Basically what indeed is a pure gaming PC plus web browsing of course.

Would like to consent rate the bulk of budget to the heart of the machine. a reasonable price case would be fine ,not bothered about a high end one. An ssd is a must preferably 256mb, good ram min 8 gig I think, b grade HD would be fine 1tb would be more than ample ,a good cooler and power supply. ......just one thing on the GPU, a bit put off by some off the reports regarding the MSI 7950, which is a shame cos I'm using an MSI 570 ATM but this is a very rare chance I get to spend this sort of cash on a pc so want done sure everything will go OK.... ..Would consider a amd build as long as it still rocks my games.. Many thanks...?.......need a DVD drive and cheap sound card as well

 

[anthony566]

Worth every penny IMO ....

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

Changed the build a bit with mine but it runs everything I want it to I have a thread with a few photos here

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

Also OC had this system at the Gadget show this year.

 

[SaTrOx]

In 2 months intel will show their new cpu's i think u should wait until then and see how much powerful haswell is going to be.

 

[neil pettitt]

thanks for that chap,.....was possibly looking to do my first build tho, but still worth considering

 

[Incrauze]

Crossfire compatible,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £269.99
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £251.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £161.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) £109.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black £99.95
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £48.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CML8GX3M2B1600C11) £43.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.95
Total : £1,176.26 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 

[honosuseri]

thanks for that chap,.....was possibly looking to do my first build tho, but still worth considering

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £269.99
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £251.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) £109.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.95
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £73.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £40.00
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.95
Total : £1,169.32 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Xfire capable. Mobo has wifi and bluetooth included with some other nice freebies included. Decent SSD and 2TB of storage. GPU cooler pumps the heat out of the case so is more suited for an Xfire setup if you go that route in the future.

 

[stulid]

Crossfire compatible,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £269.99
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £251.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £161.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) £109.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black £99.95
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £48.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CML8GX3M2B1600C11) £43.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.95
Total : £1,176.26 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Very nice, fantastic board too.

 

[neil pettitt]

a big thankyou to both u guys for the specs. Just a couple of questions'

1...you both go with an I7 but a lot of posters on here say an i5 is OK for gaming ,is there any reason why you speced the i7 instead of the i5?

2..is there any difference between the his 7950 or the gigabite 7950?...or is it just the one of you guys added a gigabit mobo ?

many thanks

 

[Incrauze]

you both go with an I7 but a lot of posters on here say an i5 is OK for gaming ,is there any reason why you speced the i7 instead of the i5?

Since your budget is 1K, it will be a waste to go for a Intel i5 3570K, also later on, games may use hyperthreading which the Intel i7 will come handy

is there any difference between the his 7950 or the gigabite 7950?

I prefer the Gigabyte HD 7950 than the HIS as it has triple fans which will remove heat faster to allow a higher overclock

 

[Fire_fly]

2..is there any difference between the his 7950 or the gigabite 7950?...or is it just the one of you guys added a gigabit mobo ?

If you are seriously intending to go Xfire then go for the HIS card. The cooler will dump most of the hot air out of the back of the case as opposed to the Gigabyte card, where it stays inside the case and will be cycled through the top card.

 

[neil pettitt]

thanks for the explanation chap, just one more thing , both you guys have reccomended fan coolers rather than water coolers, is there any reason for this. Please bear in mind that I'm not that clued up when it comes to most components.

 

[neil pettitt]

If you are seriously intending to go Xfire then go for the HIS card. The cooler will dump most of the hot air out of the back of the case as opposed to the Gigabyte card, where it stays inside the case and will be cycled through the top card.

that sounds good advice ,but would the gigabite card still be a good card to go xfire with and apart from water cooling would there be any other way of keeping them cool.

 

[Fire_fly]

thanks for the explanation chap, just one more thing , both you guys have reccomended fan coolers rather than water coolers, is there any reason for this. Please bear in mind that I'm not that clued up when it comes to most components.

Are you referring to the CPU cooler? If so the the large air coolers offer similar performance to the All-in-one water cooled units (H100 etc) but are cheaper and more reliable.

that sounds good advice ,but would the gigabite card still be a good card to go xfire with and apart from water cooling would there be any other way of keeping them cool.

You can still go Xfire with the Gigabyte cards, but keeping the top card cool may be a problem. You could look at using non matching cards, Gigabyte card on the top and the HIS card on the bottom, but this could* lead to problems and will look a bit odd. Or you maybe try different fan layouts inside of the case.

If you want to get water cooling with a custom loop then the custom PCB the Gigabyte uses may prevent the fitting of waterblocks.

*I'm not sure if using mismatched cards will lead to reliability issues, best have a Google around first to confirm if it is true.

 

[neil pettitt]

Thanks to all the replys. Two nice system specs to think about. just a quick question, both you guys are specing nice but expensive mobos, is this to take full advantage of the i7 ? . I was hoping to get a 256 mb ssd in the build for about the same budget as you guys offered. Would it be possible to get a cheaper mobo or other parts to make the money back for the ssd or would it be more sensible to stick with what you guys said and invest in another ssd later when i get some more cash. Like i said in my first post im really looking at getting the best bits in my new system for my budget so it will hopefully last.Would not want to risk messing a good system up just to get a bigger ssd.....what do you think?

 

[Idleman]

Top end of your budget but does includes a 256gb ssd, which you can claim some cash back.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £269.99
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £251.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.95
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £83.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £56.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CML8GX3M2B1600C11) £43.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,196.35 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 

[neil pettitt]

thanks for that idleman ,really appreciate your input in my other thread swell...thanks

 

[Hicks]

Crossfire compatible,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £269.99
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £251.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £161.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) £109.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black £99.95
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £48.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CML8GX3M2B1600C11) £43.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.95
Total : £1,176.26 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Since your budget is 1K, it will be a waste to go for a Intel i5 3570K, also later on, games may use hyperthreading which the Intel i7 will come handy

Nice spec and good advice.

 

[neil pettitt]

hi , been away from the pc front for a bit. Unfortunately due to issues at ahome my budget as taken a bit of a dent , im now to £1000 max...
I appreciate all the advice ive been given , but i was looking at similar posts to mine and noticed a spec posted by honosuseri i quite liked but it was abit out of budget so ive tweeked t a bit . For all i know the bits ive put in my not besuitable so please advise, critise were needed.
What ive done is go for better gpu but sacrifised the i7 to an i5.
Ive read some good reports about the sandisc ssd what do you guys think...
Please tweek abit more if you guys think you can improve on my choices
ps the post that im basing my build on is on a post by a guy called skyfall titled £1000 build if anybody wants to look at the original by honosuseri..

Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £329.99
(£274.99)

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99

SanDisk Extreme SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (SDSSDX-120G-G25) SanDisk Extreme SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (SDSSDX-120G-G25) £95.99

Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
(£74.99)

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) HDD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) HDD £74.99

Silverstone Strider Plus 500W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (SST-ST50F-P) Silverstone Strider Plus 500W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (SST-ST50F-P) £67.99
(£56.66)

Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
(£45.82)

Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £49.99
(£41.66)

Thermalright HR-02 Macho CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366) Thermalright HR-02 Macho CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366) £39.98

OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
(£16.66)

Akasa USB 3.0 internal adapter cable (AK-CBUB09-15BK) Akasa USB 3.0 internal adapter cable (AK-CBUB09-15BK) £5.99


sorry for the way ive itemed my basket , icant seem to do it like you guys do...

in total it comes to about£1012..

ps idleman, if your still interested in giving me a hand with the build id be most grateful..

 

[honosuseri]

Weekly offers change tomoz bud so unless you order tonight any specs we do might well need to be rebalanced again.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD250BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £139.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £79.99
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G186C9K) £39.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
1 x Akasa USB 3.0 internal adapter cable (AK-CBUB09-15BK) £5.99
Total : £1,012.80 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Cashback on the SSD too Getting the Z77-D3H and a 500W PSU would obviously save spondoolies too. Look HERE to learn how to post your basket

 

[neil pettitt]

Much appreciated Mr honosuseri . Please don't think I'm ignoring your advice but by opting for a cheaper board and power supply like you say and then putting that saving towards a 7970 ,would this be a benefit to the system or in your experience would it be better to stick with the spec you've done for me. I'm just trying to get the max bang for my dollar that's all, once again many thanks.