Help speccing a small gaming rig

funguST

funguST

funguST

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18 Sep 2008
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Hi,

Been a long time since i've upgraded and i fancy a small machine that could run something like the witcher 3 at a decent res.

I can get hold of a Intel Xeon E5645 for cheap. Now what would be a decent setup to go with that and keep the case small (mini).

I wont need a monitor, mouse keyboard etc. Would like to be able to stick a reasonable ssd and wack at least 1 3.5" hd drives in. I have a blue ray player/dvd burner drive already .

So would be looking at case, board, graphics card, ram, ssd (i have a 128 ssd in this rig soto ave money i can always butcher this).

Price wise, say £400 max

Any help would be appreciated
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bewyyjNvqYE

That's what you can expect for a £400 budget buying new.

Finding a New or second hand X58 m-ATX motherboard for the Xeon at a reasonable price is no easy task.

Everyone jumped on the 6 core Westmere for cheap band wagon and boards fetch a premium (that's if you can find one at all)

The only m-ATX board I'd buy for one is the Asus Rampage III Gene, you play a waiting game trying to find one though (been there, done that)

If you do source one bump the thread by all means and I'll help you with the rest of the build.

Full size ATX X58 boards are much easier to source though.
 
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Thanks. I'll keep you posted if i do go ahead with this.

Would it be better (possibly cheaper) to just do a build without using the xeon?
 
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The Youtube Vid gives a spec, that's what £400 will buy you, that's why I posted it as an alternative to what you were proposing.

You can do better ofc, a second hand i5 4670k or 4690k around £120.
S/H good quality Z87 / Z97 Motherboard £60+
S/H 8gb ram £30+
S/H GTX 780 £120+ (or AMD Radeon HD 7970 / R9280X 3gb, these will be cheaper) all those cards perform within a few frames of each other ( medium quality settings @1080p) and are a good cheap sweetspot for Witcher 3 when you buy them S/H
The GTX 780 will let you play at high settings at 40+ fps @1080p which is pretty good when you can get one this cheap.

Leaves you some budget for a 500-600w PSU (which I'd suggest you buy new) and a case.
 
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