High end gaming machine - How good it this spec?

mercilesskiller

mercilesskiller

mercilesskiller

Associate
Joined
17 Jun 2011
Posts
15
Hi There,

Apologies for typo in the subject. I'm full of flu and can't edit it. Bleurgh

Been using a high end gaming laptop for a while but want to invest in an upgradeable desktop.

No specific budget in mind, but I want it to play every new game with reasonably high settings and an SSD primary drive is a must. So far I have the following build - Any advice on upgrades/downgrades/sidegrades would be much appreciated before I spend the £1.1k!!!!

Monitor £93ish 24" Widescreen 24" ARIAnet M240 Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black

Motherboard £77ish GIGABYTE GA-Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) ATX Motherboard

CPU £242ish Intel 3rd Generation Core i7-3770K CPU (4 x 3.50GHz, Ivy Bridge, Socket 1155, 8Mb L3 Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0)

RAM £32.93ish (Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R 8GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3 Vengeance Memory - Red

PSU £163ish Corsair CMPSU-1050HX Professional Series HX1050 1050W Power Supply

GFX £220ish Asus GeForce GTX660 TI-DC2-2GD5 Nvidia Graphics Card (2GB, GDDR5, HDMI, DVI-I, DVI-D, Display Port, OpenGL 4.2, DirectX 11, Nvidia 3D Vision Surround Ready, PCI-Express 3.0)

Case £110ish Coolermaster Storm Trooper Case

DVD/BluRay £13ish LG GH24NS90.AUAA50B 24x SATA Bare Internal DVD Rewriter - Black

SSD HDD £65ish SanDisk SDSSDX-120G-G25 120GB Extreme SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5in Internal Solid State Drive

Secondary HDD £70ish Western Digital 2TB SATA 6Gbps Power Saving Internal Hard Drive OEM - Caviar Green

Keyboard £30 Perixx PX-1000 UK, Backlit Gaming Keyboard - USB - Red Illuminated Backlit Keys - Full Size Layout - Windows & Desktop Lock Keys - 40s/60s/80s Fast Input Selection - Piano Black - 3 Level Brightness Adjustment - UK Layout

EDIT: Links removed. Added exact models instead.

Any advice would be great!!!
 
Last edited:
You can change the motherboard around.
Get a cheaper PSU.
Cheaper monitor.
AMD GPU (imo) but you went for Nvidia so I stayed there.
Different HDD of your choice.


YOUR BASKET
1 x ASUS GeForce GTX 660TI Direct CU II DC2O 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Asus VS247H 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x CM Storm Trooper Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £119.99
1 x Seasonic M12II 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £99.98
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £78.98
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £74.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £35.99
Total : £1,097.96 (includes shipping : £20.10).

 
Thanks for that.

In terms of more mid-high range hardware that would play the latest games but maybe not on the top settings, how much would that bring down the cost? I haven't build a machine since the Nvidia 6800 Ultra days (I know...!) - amazing how quickly it all changes!

Not fussed about AMD GFX instead of Nvidia.. My aim is to have a great machine in terms of value that will also last a long time and be easily upgradable when it starts struggling with new games on mid graphics!

Really the games I play day to day are CS GO, Dota 2 and HoN, hardly high end, though I do want to play some more/newer/better FPS games such as CoD, BF and the likes..! Top settings isn't a necessity and it's scary looking at the cost compared to a 360 that plays the same games, eurgh...!
 
Drop the i7 and get an i5-3750k

Get a cheaper PSU (750w 80+ will be fine)

Drop the 660ti and get an 7970 or GTX 670 (or 680 if you budget can stretch there)

Also a good monitor is an extremely important factor, 1920x1080 resolution is a must, and you would definitely want to go for LED Backlit and not LCD.

Again if your budget could stretch, it would be a good idea to get an LED Monitor that supports 2560 x 1440 resolution.
 
new numa hey said:
You can change the motherboard around.
Get a cheaper PSU.
Cheaper monitor.
AMD GPU (imo) but you went for Nvidia so I stayed there.
Different HDD of your choice.


YOUR BASKET
1 x ASUS GeForce GTX 660TI Direct CU II DC2O 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Asus VS247H 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x CM Storm Trooper Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £119.99
1 x Seasonic M12II 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £99.98
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £78.98
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £74.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £35.99
Total : £1,097.96 (includes shipping : £20.10).


Can't spec as im at work.

I would change the gpu to a 7950 £220.
Swap the case for a 300r. £65.
Get a 550-600w Psu, that'll cost about £60.

Put some of the saved £'s towards a decent Cpu cooler.

Click to expand...
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £129.95
1 x CM Storm Trooper Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £83.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 650W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £51.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £35.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x TT eSports Challenger Gamers Keyboard £21.98
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Steelseries Ikari Optical Mouse (62000) £14.99
Total : £1,104.01 (includes shipping : £16.85).



You are going to want to remove the prices from the OP as well, that breaks forum rules as well.
 
Last edited:
That spec I'm afraid is just bonkers.

You have an i7 - waste of money for gaming.
You have a 1000W power supply, absolutely not needed.
You have a 660Ti, severely underpowered for a gaming machine.
You have a cheap crap monitor - get something nicer.
 
Hi All,

Thanks for the advice. And Addicted, I don't doubt it's a bonkers build! Thus asking for help here ;)

Liking the build from FireFly though is te 650W REALLY sufficient when playing games on top settings?

Cheers!
 
mercilesskiller said:
Hi All,

Thanks for the advice. And Addicted, I don't doubt it's a bonkers build! Thus asking for help here ;)

Liking the build from FireFly though is te 650W REALLY sufficient when playing games on top settings?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Depends on the efficiency of the Power Supply;

An Antec 650w Platinum rated PSU would perform a lot better than a generic unrated 650w PSU.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU) £149.99
1 x CM Storm Trooper Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £119.99
1 x BenQ GL2250 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £99.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £78.98
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £74.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 650W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £35.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £1,112.52 (includes shipping : £14.75).


______________
A bit over, but has a 256GB SSD :D 650W is more than enough for any current gen single GPU setup
 
True, but at least it has a black PCB :D seeing as you won't see much of the cooler anyways, having a nice PCB help imo :p

Edit: Actually completely ignore what I just said, both have a blue PCB.. Looks like someone needs to go to specsavers.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all your advice. Some good looking builds in there.

I'll def drop the processor to an i5 and improve the GFX.. will have a think about monitors.. Can't stretch to the 27" right now, so it's whether I go for 24 or 21 :)

Also will get the 650w PSU as recommended...!
 
mercilesskiller said:
Hi All,

Thanks for the advice. And Addicted, I don't doubt it's a bonkers build! Thus asking for help here ;)

Liking the build from FireFly though is te 650W REALLY sufficient when playing games on top settings?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

It's not the games on high settings you need to worry about, it most of the question, can the PSU provide constant power to all the components when under load.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom