Gaming System

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17 Apr 2009
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Hi all, i plan on building a gaming system for myself. Ive come up with 2 choices but cant really decide which would be better (I dont do any programming or video editing, simply gaming) I would say looking at the specs i choose £900 would be my budget

Spec 1
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Spec 2
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the amd system gives you a good upgrade path and is a good overclocker - i'd probanly go wit that - i think you'd see little difference in the two systems to begin with though
 
I was thinking about buying a 2nd HDD for the AMD spec one to install windows/games on, other for storage. Is this a good idea for what i want the system for? If so what HDD's would be best to get for installations & storage. Without going over £900
 
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If it's a gaming system, don't go for the quad, especially the Q6600, getting a faster, cheaper dual core would be better for your needs. So going for the intel system choose the E8400. But saying that, I'd go with the AMD setup, the tri-core is showing excellent results in gaming and is at a great price. The thing I'd change from that though is the graphics card. For the same price you can get a 4870, rather than the 4850.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-120-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939
 
Ive upgraded the card to the 4870 sapphire http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-188-SP since i plan to order it end of this week (things might change depending on what weekely deals there are)

Ive got £50 spare for a 2nd harddrive, Currently have this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-245-WD for storage. Need one for installations (300gig would be fine)

Im thinking of downgrading the case to something like http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-065-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160 or http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-149-LL&tool=3 which would free up over £50. But i do like the style of the Silverstone/Lian Li cases
 
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Ive got £50 spare for a 2nd harddrive, Currently have this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-245-WD for storage. Need one for installations (300gig would be fine)

Go for the samsung F1 320gb as a boot drive
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-057-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=

Im thinking of downgrading the case to something like http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-065-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160 or http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-149-LL&tool=3 which would free up over £50. But i do like the style of the Silverstone/Lian Li cases

The silverstone is a much better case than the 900, but obviously comes at a premium. I'm not saying the 900 is bad though (own one myself), but both cases are completely different styles.
 
Theyre generally regarded as great quality, whilst from what Ive seen the MSI get mixed reports, some say great others say not so, but as b4 its your call at teh end of the day, whatever youre happy with
N.B. Talking about gigabyte and MSI as brands, not those specific boards
 
Ah right, from the reviews ive read on this site and others regarding that specific MSI board, have all been very good especially with the 720 BE. I think ill stick with the MSI unless the Giga is on offer this week.

Im wondering if its worth getting the AMD Quad core BE instead of the tri core, so when more games become quad compatible ill be able to run them @ quad. I know it would push me closer to £1000 but would it be worth it?
 
The only thing is the 940 is AM2+ would this still fit in the mobo? Would also need to change to ddr2 ram
 
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Well, DDR2 vs DDR3 doesnt give too much benefit to DDR3 really.

As long as you pick a good AM2+ motherboard then if you ever want to add AM3 CPU it should work with a BIOS update.

If you want to stay AM3 then the new Ph II 955 is coming out very soon (thursday), but that is going to cost more than the 940.
 
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-311-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=808

This one requires BIOS 0502 for 940 to work, best bet would be to ring OcUK and ask what BIOS ships with the mobo and then make your buy.

Edit: I don't know if they do this but maybe in case you it needs updating you could ask OcUK to do it for you before sending it to you?

Edit2: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-321-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1377 this one with BIOS 0901, i think its the first BIOS release but again ringing OCuk should be the best bet. This one is newer and more expensive.
 
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