Need help choosing parts for a new computer. ;)

Qwenty20

Qwenty20

Qwenty20

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Joined
24 Jul 2011
Posts
112
Hello there,

I have roughly £670 to build a gaming PC, can it be done? I am going to bring it to Uni so I will be using it for general use and gaming, playing games such as Civ 5, FSX, and future games at high settings maybe?

My TV is not full HD ready (19" at 720p) but I am going to be getting a full HD ready TV in the future so I am not bothered that my PC might be overkill for my resolution atm.

I have been speaking to my friend and he suggested that I should get the GTX 460 in SLI, what do you guys think about this? I have no past experiences with desktops as I have only ever owned a laptop.

If SLI is a good idea can I fit this into my budget? Is there a better option? Sorry for the essay ;), and would appreciate some help please.

PS:- I have a TV, keyboard, mouse, and Win7.
Thanks. :)
 
stulid said:
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
OcUK ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 PC Game £191.99
(£159.99) £191.99
(£159.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £68.98
(£57.48) £68.98
(£57.48)
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £27.98
(£23.32) £27.98
(£23.32)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £524.06
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £107.31
Total : £643.87

A single fast card.
Click to expand...

I like the look of it, but then again I have no clue what most of the specs mean. In your opinion what do you think? Sorry I value other peoples opinions. :rolleyes: I have been looking at the benchmarks for the GTX 460 SLI and the 6950, why should I choose the 6950 of the SLI?
 
stulid said:
GTX460 in sli will need a much more expensive motherboard, PSU and the cards themselves,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-170-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1906
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-LA&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2057
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-140-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830

Its easier and more in your budget to get a single fast card with 2GB of Vram such as that 6950.
Click to expand...

Damn... Btw, will I be able to overclock my CPU and GFX on this mobo in the future? :) Providing I get better cooling if I need to.
 
stulid said:
Well I already included a gelid cooler which will manage about 4.5ghz+ on the CPU.

To overclock a Sandybridge setup you need a "K" version of the CPU and either a P67 or Z68 chipset motherboard, I have included these things.

There is a ATI overdrive feature in the cards drivers to overclock the graphics card.
Click to expand...

Sorry to ask all these questions, but in your opinion do your prefer nvidia or ati? Also will the PSU be enough for overclocking my CPU? Those specs look great, thanks. :)
 
Greavesy said:
I'm on my iPod so il just do this roughly XD
CPU:i5 2500k (£160)
Mobo: Z68 Asus board ( it's £130)
ram : 4gb xms3 1600mhz (£27)
Hdd: cheapest 500gb or 1tb your choice (£50 tops)
Gpu: Nvidia 560 gti (£170)
Psu: lepa b series 750w (£73)
Case: cooler master 690 II lite (£60)
Optical drive: cheapest rewriter (£16)

That's a really rough guide, il be on later and post some links and get it back down under budget ( most of those prices are off the top of my head so aren't exact :rolleyes: )




Edit: when I started typing this no one had posted, dam lack of keyboard.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks. :)
 
stulid said:
This is the board - http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8P67_LE/

Its decent enough for the price, importantly its a P67 chipset so you can do some overclocking.

The case - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcwlHsyUC20

The heatsink - http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2010/01/20/gelid-tranquillo-cpu-cooler-review/1
Click to expand...

Thanks, it's looking good. Is it worth getting a better mobo for an extra £20ish? Also, just making sure, is everything compatable and will everything fit in the case etc? :p Also apart from a screw driver, is this all I will need to assemble the build?

Many thanks,
qwenty. :P
 
stulid said:
Do you want the option of two graphic cards in the future? (obviously needing maybe a better psu later as well)

If not, then stick with that board.

But £20 extra doesnt get much more, maybe a Z68 board.

Everything fits together fine, and you just need a pair of hands, a screwdriver and some time.
Click to expand...

Well what do you think is best? Single GPU or two? I don't know which is better tbh. Also do you have a price for the Z68 board? My max is £670. Is this board going to be better? :)

Thanks for all your help.
 
stulid said:
Well obviously two cards is better than one, but bang goes your budget.

Single 6950 in Blue, Crossfire in green - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Radeon_HD_6950_CrossFire/21.html



If you really want say two 6950 cards later on then this board - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-169-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1906

But when you come to fit a second card you will be wanting to put a 750w psu in also.
Click to expand...

Ok, well by looking around on the tinternet I think I might be able to get that mobo with everything else. So in the future I could get another 6950 and go crossfire (with a new PSU in the future too). Also I've read that I can only overclock to 4.2GHZ, is this really a big downfall?

Thanks. :)
 
Last edited:
stulid said:
So with that board,


Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
OcUK ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 PC Game £191.99
(£159.99) £191.99
(£159.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
MSI P67A-G45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £27.98
(£23.32) £27.98
(£23.32)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £549.90
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £112.48
Total : £674.88


Thats still everything you need to build it.

This is the sort of PSU you want for a pair of cards - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-LA&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2057
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help man. :) Looks good, going to buy it in 2 weeks or so.
 
stulid said:
It will be slower, a 2GB 6950 is faster than a 1GB GTX560ti.
Click to expand...

Ummm, how about getting the 1GB version and the £105 mobo? Or shall I just stick to the Asus mobo with the rest of the components? I know the mobo is the main frame of the build but will the difference in mobo really be noticed performance wise?

Thanks.
 
stulid said:
Changing motherboards will not affect performance in anyway thats worth mentioning.

Its the CPU and GPU that will give you the frames per second that you will notice, being able to turn up the in game settings, being able to use a higher resolutions with less performance hit because you have 2GB of Vram and not 1GB.

Stick to your budget and stick to a single card, keep the money.
Click to expand...

So just to make sure, get the basket in post #2? I might use the rest of the money to get a better mouse actually. Any suggestions for £30 ish? :)

Thanks for the support.
 
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