Gaming rig opinions

bongla316

bongla316

bongla316

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Joined
20 May 2011
Posts
53
Hi guys, I'm going to be building my first rig soon and I'm thinking of getting these components.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.60GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £159.98
(£133.32) £159.98
(£133.32)
MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £31.99
(£26.66) £31.99
(£26.66)
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £455.75
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £93.25
Total : £559.50

What do you guys think? I'm fairly new to this and I was wondering if a 500W PSU is enough? And also, how reliable are the MSI motherboards? Because I'm kind of stumped as to whether I should go with the ASUS P8P67 PRO or the MSI one listed above. Any opinions would be much appreciated. Thanks.
 
The 500W will be enough but I wouldnt use it in the future if you want to go crossfire. Wouldn't really be enough then.

Aside from that it all looks pretty good.

I'd stick with MSI as well. Asus, whilst good boards, got a lot of stick with their P67 range from what I can tell. But all the B3 revision boards should be fine.
 
Love my MSI mb got the one up from the one your looking and its great, the interface for overclocking is great and being able to use mouse in BIOS is a long overdue addition
 
Thanks for the help guys! Just two more things. (I'm very new to this so go easy on me :p).

If I do decide to go crossfire in the future, I can swap that PSU for a new one right? And also, (this sounds really stupid), but are all the wires and connectors needed to hook up everything included or do I buy them separately?
 
Ok!

It's best to decide now if you want to add another card later or atleast entertaining the idea. It's more cost effective to do that now rather than later.

Infact I would suggest just buying the 430 case or a different one and add a better psu now. The one supplied with the case only has one PCI-E power connector, that 5830 may well need two (yes im aware it may come with an adapter but it's nice to keep things tidy)

The mobo will come supplied with all you need. You have opted for sata components and it will come with atleast 2 of these cables. When it comes to build day. Come back to us for help/tips.

Good luck with your build
 
Rather than spending an extra £20 on a motherboard that supports x8/x8 CF, and then spending another £20-£30 extra (possibly even more) on a PSU that will be good enough for two graphics cards, my recommendation would be to get a slightly better card now (5850, GTX 460, 6850), and then when it's starting to struggle 3 odd years down the line, buying a new card instead of CFing two old ones.

That said, I wouldn't use the PSU in the 430 anyway, if you plan on using a decent gaming graphics card. Even if you can get the power cables all wired up with adapters, it's still not a very powerful or reliable PSU, when sat next to a Corsair or similar.
 
This is such a good forum! Everyone is so helpful.

So I've taken everything into consideration and modified my proposed setup as shown below:

XFX Pro 550W Core Edition Power Supply

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.60GHz

Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case


Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit


Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache


Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x


Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler
 
Perfect. The i5-2500k at 4.6GHz- is that a guaranteed CPU overclock? I'd be tempted to just take a chance. They reliably hit 4.4 or so, and the performance difference of 200MHz is minimal really.
 
I'm assuming that's a guaranteed overclock CPU (as said above) which is OEM (only 1 year warranty with no stock cooler). It's not actually overclocked, as it's the motherboard that does that, they just tested that it will overclock to 4.6GHz so your essentially paying £10 more for a nod that it will overclock, but you won't find many i5s that won't overclock to 4.6 with good enough air cooling.

Either pay £10 less for the regular OEM or £5 more for 2 more years warranty and a stock cooler, should you ever need to RMA yours, or to sell it on with the CPU when you eventually upgrade.

Also the 430 is out of stock atm, but apart from that everythings goood:p
 
Hi (again), well, it seems my budget has doubled and now I have £1000 to blow on a rig. I would be grateful if you guys could help me decide (again) on what components I should get.

Also, I would really like for the system to be quiet and have a good cooling system.

P.s. this includes NO monitor but DOES include a gaming mouse and keyboard.

Also, an ssd would be nice but is NOT a necessity.
 
If you got a bit extra cash, i'd up your PSU to maybe a 750 Watt...this will give you a bit more headroom in the future as 550 Watt is going to cut it close over the next few years with these power hungry Graphics chips and maybe a small SSD for OS or a better graphics card.
 
Just so you know... Before you go Overclocking away at your PC... I HIGHLY recommend you consider running the CPU at STOCK speed or at least improving the CPU Cooler you plan to purchase. Air Coolers are a thing of the past.

I've just bought a Corsair H60 CPU Cooler. It's an all in one solution that takes in cool air into a radiator behind the fan uses some very cool technology to watercool it and sends it to the processor keeping it nice and cool. All you need to do is Google: Corsair H60 and read some reviews.

But if you plan to overclock it that high on an air cooled CPU then it will almost certainly overheat while gaming and crash. I talk from experience ;)
 
Last edited:
Well Redmint recommended this system. And I think it'll be the one I go for to be honest. And I agree with PrChaos in that I will invest in a better cooler. Most likely a H50 or H60.


MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 Game £205.99
(£171.66) £205.99
(£171.66)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi-Tower - Black (with Fan Controller Repair Kit) £134.99
(£112.49) £134.99
(£112.49)
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** with FREE Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler £124.99
(£104.16) £124.99
(£104.16)
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
XFX 750W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £96.98
(£80.82) £96.98
(£80.82)
G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £69.59
(£57.99) £69.59
(£57.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)

Sub Total : £792.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £161.33
Total : £967.99
 
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