Gaming PC Specification Advice

xenoin

xenoin

xenoin

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Joined
28 Nov 2009
Posts
6
I have been putting together a PC spec and have the majority of it completed. I was hoping people could look over it and point out my mistakes or things that I could swap out to get more for my money. This was based off of a friends spec and I have my heart set on the Antec 900 case. I am 100% new to this and have been recieving various advice from friends, any help is much appreciated.

Motherboard

- Biostar P43-A7 : Est. £45

Processor

- Intel Quad Core CPU Q6600 2.4GHz : Est. £125

RAM

- 4GB DDR2

Graphics Card

- Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 : Est. £120

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-216-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1515

PSU

- 800W

Case

- Antec 902 : Est. £90


This was the basics of a friends setup with a slightly updated graphics card. I am unsure where to get RAM as there seems to be unbelievable variation in price. I was told an 800W power supply would be the best but there is a variety of opinions on this ranging from 550W to 800W. I am planning on buying a 22" or 24" monitor to use for games whilst keeping my current Dell monitor for internet/voice communication usage, arranged in a dual monitor setup. Does anyone have any reccommendations for a monitor in the £150 range? Does this require any special parts? I am also unsure whether the cooling would be sufficient. I would be looking for a large number of USB ports. Is there anything else I need in general or is everything covered? I could probably scavenge drives from my current PC. I was budgeting £400~ excluding the monitor.

Thanks for the help,

xenoin
 
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Yes sorry I meant the Antec 902. This was the basics of a friends set up from a while back which he was pretty pleased with but like I say I know very little about the hardware side. What is it that makes it not future proof? It was suggested I get DDR3 RAM and a motherboard that supports it along with an i7 processor but that seemed to hike the price up quite a bit.

edit - removed competitor links, sorry!
 
Read the FAQ. No linking to competitors dude.

What's making it not future proof is that it's using the 775 socket as intel moves on to it's 2 newer sockets.
 
Unless you've already got a motherboard/DDR2 RAM (which it seems like you don't), I wouldn't recommend sticking with LGA775. It is a 'dying' platform.

Also, a 800W PSU seemed a bit overkill?
 
I thought an 800W might be a bit overkill but there was a wide variation in opinion so I went for the safe side for the time being. Do you reckon I could cope with a 550 or 600W PSU?

At the moment the main thing seems to be steer away from the 775 socket, changing my processor, RAM and motherboard.
 
Buy based more on brand than anything else.

A 600W power supply will be more powerful (in the real world) than a 800W made by a no brand company. But yes, 600W should do you just fine.
 
What Joshy said. A no name brand may simply lack the power (or amps on rails) to meet the needs or graphics cards. Corsair and Bequiet are good brands.
 
You will have to be careful that you get dual channel ram not tri channel for a start. Go for the corsair 550 or 65 psu. Believe its the TX series , very good performers from most reviewers.
 
How about this. This is about a cheap I5 as i seem to be able to do at min.

Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard [GA-P55M-UD2]
£82.98 inc VAT

Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail [BV80605001911AP]
£149.98 inc VAT

OCZ Obsidian 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 Dual Channel (OCZ3OB1600LV4GK) [OCZ3OB1600LV4GK]
£72.99 inc VAT

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card + Colin McRae Dirt 2 Full Game [21163-00-20R
£119.98 inc VAT

Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) [0761345-08010-1]
£98.99 inc VAT

OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent Power Supply [OCZ500SXS-UK]
£49.99 inc VAT

Total £573.92

I no thats over your £400 budget but if you opted for a cheaper case rather than the overprice antec you could get it down to £500 and would be hugely better than the original spec you were going for. But its up to you.
 
As above, you could always save a bit on the case if you want more bang for your buck or to cut the budget down a bit. I got my NZXT beta for less than half of what you're looking at spending on that 902, and for the price it's a great case.
 
At the end of the day its up to you. Im of the mentality that id rather have a beast of a system in a case that people wouldnt expect, than a mouse of a system in a hugely expensive case.
 
Ok, so after taking onboard advice I have derived two new specs to choose between. They are as follows -


New Spec 1

Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard [GA-P55M-UD2]
£82.98 inc VAT

Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail [BV80605001911AP]
£149.98 inc VAT

OCZ Obsidian 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 Dual Channel (OCZ3OB1600LV4GK) [OCZ3OB1600LV4GK]
£72.99 inc VAT


New Spec 2

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail [ADUHDZ965FBGIBOX]
£145.98 inc VAT

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AMD 770 (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard [GA-MA770T-UD3P]
£69.99 inc VAT

Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Ballistix Memory Kit CL6 1.8V
£60.00 inc VAT


Both would be using :

OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent Power Supply [OCZ500SXS-UK]
£49.99 inc VAT

Coolermaster Gladiator RC-600 Case - Black (No PSU) [RC-600]
£62.99 inc VAT

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card + Colin McRae Dirt 2 Full Game [21163-00-20R
£119.98 inc VAT

Total Spec 1 Cost = £539

Total Spec 2 Cost = £509
 
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