Gaming PC for Around £600-700

Scottona

Scottona

Scottona

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Hey All,

I was hoping if someone could help me spec a gaming machine for around £600-700, I was hoping to have atleast a Conroe and something along the lines of a 7900GTX or similar, for the GPU id like to stick with Nvidia tbh

I dont need any OS, keyboard, mouse, TFT, just the computer itself.

Any help would be great!
 
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KK, I have so far specced:

Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6600 2.40GHz Retail / Intel 965P LT Motherboard / 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C5 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle - £505.21 (inc VAT)

Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600AAJS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM - £42.29

Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM - £19.96

Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue - £64.61

OcUK MSI GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £170.36

Total of £802.44

Thats roughly what I have so far, id like to keep the conroe and 7900GTO/GTX (happy to clock this higher anyways)! Is there anyway I can strip the price down abit?
 
Yeah dont buy the bundle.

Choose the parts seperately.

Do you want to OC?....... is the e6600 a must?....
 
Buying a 6300 and aftermarket cooler (Freezer 7 Pro or similar) and overclocking is the most obvious way to save a few quid there.
 
After a little browsing on Toms Hardware CPU, maybe a little help to more of what Im after, I currently have a 4800+ AMD x2, 7900gtx machine with 2gb corsair memory, Im after somin of similar performance!

I noticed that the e6300/6400 performs in general better than the 4800+ so Im happy to stick with that, also would I be better to go with 7900gtx or a lower card and get 2 to SLI them?

Basically if I can get somin to perform as good as my current mach as cheap as chips id be very happy! Id like to get on to Intel so in future (probably sometime next year) I can just upgrade slowly the new machine!
 
A 7900GTX on its own should be fine for most things.

If you wanted to go the SLI route you'd ideally need a board that does x16 in SLI mode imo, or its just wasted.

Not too sure which conroe boards do that.

In order to do SLI the cards have to be same models, so if you have a GTX, you'll need another GTX i believe, someone correct me if i'm wrong.

And i'd question wether that PSU would cut it for SLI, you'd need something bigger.

What resolution are you wanting to game at?.....
 
Whoops, Think I missed out a point from my previous post!

Im building a second machine so ill be after all new parts, new CPU, GPU, HD and so on! The machine with the 4800+ and 7900GTX is staying as it is!

So this is a whole new machine to build, ill be gaming on a new LCD screen but have not looked into that, first I just wanted to focus on the build!

So looking at a e6300/6400 at around £110-120 OEM (Should be no issue to overclock tbh)

For the MB im stuck, as it depends on what GPU I decide to go for? Should I aim for a 7900GTX again? or something cheaper and go SLI or overclock?

should I get 1gb or 2 gb of mem?
 
Depends what resolutions you want to run.

Are you running or planning to run anything larger then a 19 inch screen?....

Do you want every game running maxed out?

If you could give more specific info on what you want the PC to do it would help some what.... ;)
 
Sorry sorry,

Ill try to help alittle more, it will be no bigger than a 19" Screen tbh probably 17" though! Id like the games to run maxed out! Half Life 2 onwards, somin like that...

And to keep it alittle future proof to survive into next year :D
 
Ok, then a 512mb GTO should see you good for a while. but a GTX would be better if you want to spend the extra to make it last longer.

You could even get away with a 256mb card, 512mb is better for the higher res, but i'm thinking it will give it a bit more life.

Just buy the highest spec one you can if you want it to last.

My 7900GS can't do all games maxed, but it runs them high enough to look sweet, thats at 1440 x 900 (129600 pixels), compared to 1280 x 1024 (1310720 pixels) which is most likely the highest res you'll run.

Bear in mind, my system is slower with the A64 chip. You could use this as a slight comparison. The conroe will wipe the floor with my system, so take that into account.

I run
CSS maxed out.
NFS:Carbon at high (ultra is highest)
Company of Heroes at med/high
BF2 maxed out
Dark Messiah maxed out, though i do get frame drops is very busy areas
Flatout 2 maxed out
GTA:San Andreas maxed out

Thats the only games installed at the moment.

A friend runs his e6300 at 2.5, 2gb DDR2 and a 7900GTX, he plays anything and everything maxed out on his 20 inch widescreen.
 
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With a single card, a 500W would be fine, if you plan to have more hard drives, optical drives or another card for SLI then ideally 600W +. Just buy a good brand name and you can't go wrong, don't skimp on the PSU, you'll only regret it later.

My buddie has his conroe rig with 3 hard drives and uses the same PSU as i have (see sig).
 
kk,

So this is what im aiming for:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM - £117.49

MSI 975X Platinum PowerUP Edition (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £135.11

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400 - £176.24

OcUK MSI GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £170.36

Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU - £72.84

Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case - No PSU - £31.71

Total: £716.62 (inc VAT & Del)

Im gonna take a SATA HD from my current machine as I have 2 x 250gb WD and also whip out a DVD Drive from there! Think thats a pretty decent spec! Thanks for your help!
 
Im gonna stretch my budget alittle further to make it abit more longer lasting!

So im gonna get a Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail, could anyone recommend an SLI motherboard, im only gonna stick in a 7900GTO/GTX and maybe in a month add a second!
 
Apparently if you buy an EVGA card you can get an upgrade in the future for cheaper... you just pay the difference, rather paying out full whack for another card.
 
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