New build advice

kebab · 1 Nov 2012 at 23:32

Hi i'm building a new gaming rig so far this is what I have.

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4484/62792747.jpg

My budget is 1k (could stretch a little more but would prefer to stay around 1k). I've been out of the loop for a few years so if you could recommend any changes I would really appreciate it.

Also I was thinking of dropping the SDD, salvaging a HDD from an old machine and using the money to get a 680 instead of a 7970. Not sure which would give me better performance and I will be playing @ 1920 x 1080. Cheers!

mccarf · 2 Nov 2012 at 00:34

You should get the ati 7950 instead, then overclock it. It works out much better value for money than just buying a straight up 7970 because of the overclocking headroom.

Also the i5 you selected is a very good overclocker, so it might be worth dropping the retail version and picking up the OEM version + custom cooler.

Lastly if you're not planning on going crossfire then you can get a 550w PSU, 750w is overkill for just 1 7970.

Idleman · 2 Nov 2012 at 01:15

Do you need everything.

kebab · 2 Nov 2012 at 02:00

Thanks for the replys guys

mccarf - I will look at some bechmarks to see how the overclocked 7950 stacks up against the 7970. I will take your advice on the CPU and get an oem version, could you recommend a cooler (was thinking of the corsair h60). As for the Psu im thinking a lower watted psu would mean cheaper energy bills, or would the system only draw what it need from a much higher rated psu? If a lower watt psu would be cheaper to run i will go with the antec 620 bronze.

Idleman - I dont need the SDD or case, i could source an old hdd and case from an old build. I just want the best gaming performace/ fps for 1k

Idleman · 2 Nov 2012 at 02:14

kebab said:
Idleman - I dont need the SDD or case, i could source an old hdd and case from an old build. I just want the best gaming performace/ fps for 1k

What case do you have?
What hdd is it and what other components do you have that can be reused?
Do you need an OS?
Better still, post the specs of your existing PC, including make and model of Psu. That way we can spec you the components you actually need.

honosuseri · 2 Nov 2012 at 02:18

And for the love of god get the retail CPU. The OEM saves you £5, no heatsink and more importantly has a 1 year warranty vs 3 years on the retail

Once you've replied to Idlemans post we can help you much easier

kebab · 2 Nov 2012 at 02:24

Idleman said:
Do you need everything.

Idleman said:
What case do you have?
What hdd is it and what other components do you have that can be reused?
Do you need an OS?
Better still, post the specs of your existing PC, including make and model of Psu. That way we can spec you the components you actually need.

The hdd is a 1tb seagate barracuda, the case is an old thermaltake full tower (cant remember the model but its huge). The rest of the system is based on the amd 64x2, psu is 450watts, nvidia 8800gt, I dont need optical drives or an OS.

honosuseri · 2 Nov 2012 at 02:31

Like this perhaps then?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III OC V2 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £251.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC256B/WW) £149.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 2011/1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3/FM1) £49.20
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C11 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1866C11D3P1K2/8G) £39.95
Total : £921.58 (includes shipping : £13.75).

If you want we can spec a better rated PSU. (Bronze<Silver<Gold<Platinum). 550W means the max it can supply, it doesn't pull that from the wall 24/7, don't panic about that lol

kebab · 2 Nov 2012 at 02:38

honosuseri said:
Like this perhaps then?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III OC V2 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £251.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC256B/WW) £149.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 2011/1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3/FM1) £49.20
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C11 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1866C11D3P1K2/8G) £39.95
Total : £921.58 (includes shipping : £13.75).

If you want we can spec a better rated PSU. (Bronze<Silver<Gold<Platinum). 550W means the max it can supply, it doesn't pull that from the wall 24/7, don't panic about that lol

I like the look of this system, my only question is would I be better of using my 1tb barracuda instead of the sdd and getting a better graphics card? I would really like an ssd but i'm finding it really hard to justify the price for so little space, are they really worth it? Oh and are the Corsair h60 coolers not much better/ if at all over conventional air coolers?

honosuseri · 2 Nov 2012 at 02:45

Use the SSD for the OS and games. They are MUCH quicker than mechanical drives. You can use the 1TB HDD for storage.

The H100 is the CLC to aim for providing it can fit in your case or the Antec 920, the H60 isn't very good really. The aircooler I used is a good price on offer, cools very well and is quiet to boot.

The antec P280 has sound proofing, comes with 3 fans. If your old case has the PSU mounted at the top of the case and uses smaller than 120mm fans, it might be wise to upgrade.

If you want a 680, consider the 670 instead. It a 680 with a little "cut off", slightly fewer cuda cores and a lower clockspeed but there are overclocked 670s to make up for that. The 7950 is a good shout especially with the free games. If you do video editing or encoding you might find CUDA support useful on the nvidia GPUs

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (N670GTX PE 2GD5/OC) £299.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC256B/WW) £149.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 2011/1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3/FM1) £49.20
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C11 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1866C11D3P1K2/8G) £39.95
Total : £985.08 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Gold rated PSU from seasonic (very good) and I've included a nice 670

kebab · 2 Nov 2012 at 03:03

honosuseri said:
Use the SSD for the OS and games. They are MUCH quicker than mechanical drives. You can use the 1TB HDD for storage.

The H100 is the CLC to aim for providing it can fit in your case or the Antec 920, the H60 isn't very good really. The aircooler I used is a good price on offer, cools very well and is quiet to boot.

The antec P280 has sound proofing, comes with 3 fans. If your old case has the PSU mounted at the top of the case and uses smaller than 120mm fans, it might be wise to upgrade.

If you want a 680, consider the 670 instead. It a 680 with a little "cut off", slightly fewer cuda cores and a lower clockspeed but there are overclocked 670s to make up for that. The 7950 is a good shout especially with the free games. If you do video editing or encoding you might find CUDA support useful on the nvidia GPUs

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (N670GTX PE 2GD5/OC) £299.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC256B/WW) £149.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 2011/1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3/FM1) £49.20
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C11 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1866C11D3P1K2/8G) £39.95
Total : £985.08 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Gold rated PSU from seasonic (very good) and I've included a nice 670

I think I will go with this system (I don't NEED to have an Nvidia card so if the 7970's a better performer I will get that), i'm going to sleep on it and post my final decision in the day. Thanks guys.

Idleman · 2 Nov 2012 at 07:31

This and just use your old case, maybe get some new case fans. Then upgrade the case another time. Just another option to consider.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 680 FTW 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-3686-KR) £371.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 2011/1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3/FM1) £49.2
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
Total : £882.73 (includes shipping : £10.50).

kebab · 3 Nov 2012 at 17:25

Just to update you I placed the order today, it's scheduled to be delivered on Monday, this is the config I settled on what do you think?

Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Socket Retail
Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H Socket 1155 VGA DVI HDMI 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
Antec 620W Modular High Current Gamer PSU
Hanns-G HS233H3B 23"LCD HDMI 3D Monitor
Antec All Black 300 Three Hundred Two Case
Samsung 256GB 830 Series SSD
MSI HD 7970 OC 3072MB GDDR5
Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit

I was going to use an old monitor and get a new one a couple months down the line, but decided to try this HannsG as it was quite cheap. I Couldn't find any professional reviews on it, but most customer reviews were positive. I also decided to stick with the stock CPU cooler for now and get a Thermalright Silver Arrow next pay day.

MAK360 · 3 Nov 2012 at 19:31

The 7970 is a wise - smart choice AND with better performance. People telling you to get the 670/680 over the 7950/7970 needs to get their heads examined.

Thats a nice tasty system