New computer build.

OK then. 2 displays, one eyefinity card, bluray, one SSD, £1000.

Couldn't find a display cheap enough to take a displayport input, but you'll need a cable anyway and there are displayport to HDMI cables and adapters. So if you have a 6870 for £120, considering you will likely need an adapter or cable to go along with the Sapphire 5850, then a 6870 mabe competitively priced. Unless of course your TV has displayport. But price-wise, it's either 5850 / 6950. Anything in the middle in kinda 'meh'.

The Displays are rebadged Iiyamas. Could go with a better 24'' and a cheaper 22'' in support, which is the setup I have (2209WA, 2407WFP).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £161.99
2 x OcUK 24" True HD Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £139.99
1 x MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** with FREE Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler £124.99
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £99.98
1 x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £88.39
1 x XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply £61.98
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £59.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £33.59
Total : £993.95 (includes shipping : £27.55).



I dropped to 4GB, but a antec 100 and 8GB is a little over £1000 (including shipping).

Your second option is to go with the best single monitor setup, and get a second monitor for christmas :) Dual monitor is nice, but a bit of a luxury if I'm honest. So are SSDs. If you want BF3, you'll be better off with a 6950 2GB than a 5850.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 Game £205.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £161.99
1 x Iiyama ProLite E2409HDS 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** with FREE Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler £124.99
1 x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £88.39
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £79.99
1 x XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply £61.98
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £59.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
Total : £1,007.42 (includes shipping : £20.10).



EDIT : Don't worry about the XMS3 :) Everyone and their dogs use them.
 
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Thanks for your response, but what I was thinking is the previous parts I got come to £785. If I buy say I 6870 for now that will take it down to about £700. Then add the samsung bluray for £50. Then find 2 monitors for nearly £250 but can be a tad more if worth it. I have found 2 x 22inch LG Monitors for £244 could just go with them.

Also the TV was going to go into HDMI and just used as an external display.

What do you reckon?

Thanks for all the help!
 
6870 is a decent gaming card. you want to go with that, then go with it. If you have all the connectivity from the card (two DVI + 1 HDMI usually), then you're sorted. The 5850 would be a bit of an uncertainty due to the limited connectivity. If you want to save a bit more, you can go for the Antec 100. There will be no compatibility issues with a 6870.

EDIT : Btw, if the Vertex 2E deal for around £80 is still on, I would take that over the Agility 3. Getting all sorts of reports about reliability issues. No such thing with the Vertex 2E (crossing fingers, I have one :)).
 
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Thanks, one thing though I was just looking at the connections of the 6870 and was wondering if they are different to the 6950? Basically the dvi ports seem to be different, or is this just me reading it? If the connections are the same/fine I will go with that and this is what the order will look like:

1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Shogun 2 Game
1 x Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
1 x MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** with FREE Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler
1 x OCZ 60GB Vertex 2E SSD 2.5" SATA-II Read = 285MB/s, Write = 275MB/s 50,000 IOPS
1 x G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM)
1 x XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply
1 x Coolermaster CM 690 II LITE Version
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) [SH-B123L/BSBP ]

Thanks
 
Well I must admit it looks fine, for the display connectors it says this:

Display Connectors: 1 Dual-Link DVI-I, 1 DVI-D, 1 HDMI & 2x Mini-DisplayPort

Also this is the model:

11179-09-20G

Wondering that perhaps they are just selling it cheap because its rubbish?

Thanks :)
 
DVI-I means you can use them for analog VGA output with an adapter or straight digital output. So DVI-D is digital only and I would be surprised if your monitors don't have a DVI-D / DVI-I corresponding connector on them.

That card is not reference design, and has a bigger fan on it. But I don't think it would be any worse than other 6870. It's not factory-OC, but that's about it. I don't think it's rubbish, at least if it's brand new and not a B-grade / refurb card, there is nothing wrong with it. Maybe not as good at overclockcing as others. Don't push it too much and you should not have any problems.

EDIT : If it's so cheap and not a reputable retailer, I'd stay clear.
 
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Thanks for the responses guys. You know what I'm now thinking perhaps a 5000 series and just getting the best one/most overclocked. It will probably be better?

The 5870 is actually better than the 6870, according to this anyway:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=294

I am not sure just a bit worried about getting this card now. Are there any AMD features that are different between the 5000 and 6000 series?

Thanks
 
Just to add, for the 6870's I have found two other cards.

XFX HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Dual Mini Display Port Out Graphics Card - £138.99

Has 12 5 star reviews, everybody loves it.

Also this one:

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 Twin FrozR II OC 1048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Shogun 2 £139.99

Really cant go any higher than this though or I might as well go back to the 6950!!
 
I would lean towards the MSI (I have their twin Frozr cooler setup and I really can't complain). Just make sure you have twin DVI (I or D), and a HDMI.

As for the 5870, remember that it's a long card, and can cause problems with cases.
 
Specs for the: MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 Twin FrozR II OC 1048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Shogun 2 £139.99

- Boost up to 50%* higher with MSI exclusive Voltage Tweak
- Core Clock: 920MHz
- Memory: 1024MB GDDR5
- Memory Clock: 4200MHz (Effective)
- Memory Bandwidth: ?
- Processing Cores: 1120
- Bus Type: PCI-Express 2.1
- Display Connectors: 1 Dual-Link DVI-I, 1x Single-Link DVI, 1 HDMI & 2x Mini-DisplayPort
- HDCP Capable
- DirectX 11 Support
- OpenGL 3.2 Support
- ATI CrossFire Ready
- ATI Eyefinity Technology
- ATI Avivo HD
- ATI Stream Technology
- ATI HD3D Technology
- Warranty: 2 Years
- FREE Stalker: Call of Pripyat Game Voucher

Sounds like its a done deal, the specs look fine? Plus for £15 its overclocked as well.
 
Does this mean I need to overclock it myself? Or is it predone? I am a little confused about the voltage tweak and what not. Sorry never overclocked in my life! Also I know it says ATI crossfire ready, but will it be easy enough to crossfire this further down the line?

Thanks!
 
Haha that comparison is nice! Right well obviously crossfire is not in my budget now so I will just be getting one. But also what I meant is can it be any 6870 that I can crossfire it with when I do? Or would it have to be the idential MSI OC one?

This is the final order:

1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 Twin FrozR II OC 1048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Shogun 2
1 x Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
1 x MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** with FREE Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler
1 x OCZ 60GB Vertex 2E SSD 2.5" SATA-II Read = 285MB/s, Write = 275MB/s 50,000 IOPS
1 x G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM)
1 x XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply
1 x Coolermaster CM 690 II LITE Version
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) [SH-B123L/BSBP ]

Thanks for all of your help!
 
Will do :) Now I am just looking at monitors. I can't decide whether to go with 2 x 24inch monitors or 3 x 22inch monitors for example. The price would be about the same. I have found the below monitor, for about £100. Could just go with 3 of them and make use of eyefinity? What do you guys think?

Thanks :)

Benq G2222HDL 21.5" LCD/ LED Full HD Monitor

Features
LED Backlit
Screen Size: 22" Widescreen
Resolution: 1920x1080
Contrast Ratio: 5000000:1
Brightness: 250cd/m²
Response Time: 5ms
Viewing Angles (H/V): 170°/160°
Colours: 16.7 Million
Inputs: 1x Analogue & 1x DVI-D
VESA Compliant
Dimensions: 504.6mm x 392.9mm x 175.0mm
Weight: 3.8kg
Warranty: 2 Years On-Site


EDIT: I am aware I would need a displayport to dvi adapter as well. Also if I went with three can I still have my TV connected to HDMI to use as an external device?
 
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