Improvements that are possible?

[Smoggie]

Hey, currently have a budget of £770 for a gaming PC,
I was earlier quoted by another member of the forum (olivier renault) this setup:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
MSI GeForce GTX 560 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £131.99
Asrock Z68 PRO3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £105.98
OcUK V-Line 221V2SB 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £83.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £47.99
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £37.99
Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £29.99
Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £29.98
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £25.99
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75
Total : £770.77

Was just wondering if there would be any possible improvements to make without increasing the price, like a different graphics card.

Thanks in advance

 

[hybrid572]

It's a very good build. Personally, I'd get a super-budget mouse and keyboard (save ~£40 or so), upgrade the PSU to the XFX 550W for an extra £7 (it's considerably better and more reliable), and switch the motherboard for a P67A-C45 to save another £16. With that ~£50 you now have spare, I would get yourself a better monitor (Samsung are a good choice), and maybe switch the graphics card to a 6870, as I don't think that 560 is available for £132 any more.

 

[ExRayTed]

That graphics card has gone up in price now anyway so you're out of budget with the original spec.

To be honest at the £130 price point all cards are very similar indeed..they are 'budget' gaming cards after all.

 

[olivier renault]

You can downgrade the mouse a fair bit, for the keyboard, you need to make sure it is suitable for gaming (key ghosting). I find the Ultra X premium (which I use at work) suitable for that. It's got a good 'WSAD' key combination for FPS games with minimal ghosting (at least I haven't noticed some). Can be had for very cheap (£10).

Then you can use the savings on a video card, or get a 5850 which is still £130, and about on par with a 6850, 6870 when overclocked, and competing with a GTX 560 (non-ti).

One of the main things eating the budget are the screen and WIndows 7. There are deal for WIndows 7 for families and student, worth investigating. Cutting out £100 will give you a very decent graphics card and PSU to go with it. You can also get a MSI C45 motherboard, to save another £10-£15. People seem to be happy with them.

YOUR BASKET
1 x asus geforce gtx 560ti directcu ii 1024mb gddr5 pci-express graphics card £173.99
1 x intel core i5-2500k 3.30ghz (sandybridge) socket lga1155 processor - retail £161.99
1 x msi p67a-c45 intel p67 (socket 1155) ddr3 motherboard - (sandybridge) ** b3 revision ** £89.98
1 x ocuk v-line 221v2sb 22" widescreen lcd monitor - black £83.99
1 x microsoft windows 7 bundle - home premium 64 bit £68.40
1 x western digital caviar blue 500gb sata 6gb/s 16mb cache - oem (wd5000aakx) £29.99
1 x bequiet pure power l7 530w '80 plus' power supply £44.99
1 x cooler master elite 430 windowed case - black £37.99
1 x corsair xms3 4gb (2x2gb) ddr3 pc3-12800c9 1600mhz dual channel kit (cmx4gx3m2a1600c9) £26.99
1 x gigabyte m6900 3200dpi gaming mouse & "ghost" mouse pad bundle £17.99
1 x lg gh22ns70 22x dvd±rw sata rewriter (black) - oem £16.99
1 x logitech k200 media keyboard (920-002733) £12.98
total : £782.46 (includes shipping : £13.50).



that's £760 without shipping.

review of the mouse.

No need to say how kick ass the 560ti is at that budget. Cheapest components with a 560ti and 2500k. The PSU will be working hard with that combo, but it should cope. I pull 430W with furmark AND prime95 on a 1055T + 560ti, and that's at the plug. I would expect a draw of under 400W during intense gaming on the lot above. The PSU is certified 80 plus, and it can output 420W at the 12V rails. The OCZ modular would be another one in the 'really tight budget' category that should cope.

You have to make compromises somewhere

 

[hybrid572]

That graphics card has gone up in price now anyway so you're out of budget with the original spec.

To be honest at the £130 price point all cards are very similar indeed..they are 'budget' gaming cards after all.

I think the term 'budget' gaming card is a misnomer for the £130 price point. Sure, it's £50 odd less than we were paying for them about a year ago, but they're still incredibly capable cards in the gaming spectrum.

Most of us play games at 1920x1080 and want details as high as possible, but don't care too much for AA above 2 or 4x, as it's a massive drain on resources for minimal benefit. To this end, pretty much all modern games will give you playable FPS at these settings, with a few outliers (Metro 2033, for example) maybe requiring a notch or two down on the settings scale- or a modest overclock.

An extra £50 on a GTX 560Ti or a 6950 still seems a poor value proposition.

 

[olivier renault]

Now, maybe. It make a difference when you start playing demanding games. I've noticed it a fair bit.

However, if you downgrade to a 5850, the extra £40 can be put to good use for a PSU, case and peripherals.

 

[ExRayTed]

I think the term 'budget' gaming card is a misnomer for the £130 price point. Sure, it's £50 odd less than we were paying for them about a year ago, but they're still incredibly capable cards in the gaming spectrum.

Most of us play games at 1920x1080 and want details as high as possible, but don't care too much for AA above 2 or 4x, as it's a massive drain on resources for minimal benefit. To this end, pretty much all modern games will give you playable FPS at these settings, with a few outliers (Metro 2033, for example) maybe requiring a notch or two down on the settings scale- or a modest overclock.

An extra £50 on a GTX 560Ti or a 6950 still seems a poor value proposition.

I agree..the point I was trying to make was that it really doesn't matter what card he chooses as all will provide adequate performance for his needs.

 

[Smoggie]

Thanks for all the help - I think I'm more confused now than I was at the start! Far too many choices!

I think I'm edging towards going with a HD5850 as it seems like I won't get a lot of extra performance for the extra money spent on a GTX560i. Is it worth spending a bit more on a motherboard that supports xfire so I can upgrade cheaply in the future or is it more likely that it'll just be easier to replace the graphics card when it comes to that point?

I think I'm now going to take Windows 7 out of the requirements as well (and bring the budget down to £740) so hopefully this will help squeeze a bit more out of the budget.

The only other thing I'm not really sure about is overclocking. I've never done it before but think it's something I'd like to give a go to. Will the MSI mobo above (C45) allow overclocking? What's the difference between the C45 and the G45 which is £10 more?

 

[hybrid572]

Xfire is quite popular around here, but I'm not convinced it's great value either. You need to spend an extra £20-£30 to get a motherboard that supports x8/x8 Xfire, and then another £30-£40 extra for a more powerful PSU that will support an extra graphics card, for when you upgrade. After paying the additional for these, the idea of buying an extra graphics card slightly cheaper 1-2 years down the line seems a bit worse value for money than it's pepped at.

The best idea is to buy a graphics card that will comfortably play all the games you want to play right now at top-ish settings (the 5850, 6850, 6870 and GTX 460 are all ideal), then when the majority of games you want to play are no longer playing at *good enough* settings (usually in 3-4 years' time), a single £130 card at that point will likely be better and last longer than two 5850s, in addition to using less power, supporting newer software (DX12 perhaps, or new 3D/multiscreen tech) and meaning you ultimately spend less money.