New gaming setup

Alex2722

Alex2722

Alex2722

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Joined
14 Sep 2011
Posts
15
Hey guys! I'm about to create a new PC for gaming, primarily in preparation for BF3 but i also play SC2. I know most of what i'm doing (I think :D) except Mobo and case. Here is what i've come up with so far:


Processor - Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155
Hard Drive - Corsair Memory 120GB Force Series 3 SATA
GPU - 570GTX
Ram - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 XMP
PSU - Corsair TX750
Motherboard - ASUS P8P67 Deluxe B3 (?)
Case - ?


Any suggestions are welcome :).
 
Are your old hard drives/optical drives Sata or IDE ?
If they are IDE, then you will have to replace them aswell.
 
Ohhh, no i'm currently using a laptop which I bought for uni so there are no drives. I guess i need to buy an optical drive but that's like £15 so i'm not concerned. Also i have an External hdd for music and stuff so the SSD should be fine for core programs and OS.
 
So unless I have missed anything out, i could do with a recommended Motherboard, possibly one which will be compatible with Ivy Bridge if it's good value, and also a good value case too. Oh and also any glaring compatibility issues which stand out. Thanks again!
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6870 IceQ Power Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex PC Games **OcUK Exclusive** £157.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £139.99
1 x Asrock Z68 PRO3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £41.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £792.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 "Dual Fan Edition" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex Games £199.99
(£166.66) £199.99
(£166.66)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** LOWEST UK PRICE ** £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £77.99
(£64.99) £77.99
(£64.99)
XFX Pro 650W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £64.98
(£54.15) £64.98
(£54.15)
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Sub Total : £621.57
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 : £126.81
Total : £760.88


This system s much better than above:)

• Crossfire/sli capable motherboard unlike the Asrock Pro3
• 2GB 6950 instead of wasting £160 on a 6870 which is a £130 card.
• The Zalamn case has more fans fitted as standard and includes a fan controller and temperature sensor.
• £40 left in your pocket for a game or two:)
 
Thank you both :). I am curious why you are both choosing the ATIs? I think GPU is going to be quite important, especially for BF3, so if it's just because of the £800 budget i would be happy to exceed it for the card. I have found a 570 GTX Direct CU II for £250 and am seriously considering that, especially because i've always used Nvidia. Any thoughts are welcome!
 
Alex2722 said:
Thank you both :). I am curious why you are both choosing the ATIs? I think GPU is going to be quite important, especially for BF3, so if it's just because of the £800 budget i would be happy to exceed it for the card. I have found a 570 GTX Direct CU II for £250 and am seriously considering that, especially because i've always used Nvidia. Any thoughts are welcome!
Click to expand...

Its Budget really, a 6950 2GB is a good card when its under £200, any more than this then its a ripoff. I am not to sure why Ak!ta suggested a 6870 for £160, when you can get one for £120 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-143-OK

A GTX570 is £250 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-149-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

But I do agree that Nvidia cards are better in the Battlefield games.
 
Ok so i went a bit gun-ho and bought a 570 because i found a pretty nice offer :D. Anyway, how about for the case i use Coolermaster HAF 912 (have heard good things) and also, what are the benefits to using:

Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68
over
ASUS P8P67 Deluxe B3?

Thanks :).
 
Alex2722 said:
Ok so i went a bit gun-ho and bought a 570 because i found a pretty nice offer :D. Anyway, how about for the case i use Coolermaster HAF 912 (have heard good things)
Click to expand...

Good case, keep it:)

and also, what are the benefits to using:

Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68
over
ASUS P8P67 Deluxe B3?

Thanks :).
Click to expand...

The Z68 chipset benefits from,

SSD caching.
Lucid Virtu and Quicksync.

Both motherboards feature SLI/Crossfire running at 8X/8X
 
Alex2722 said:
Am i likely to be using those features?
Click to expand...

Not really:D

Quicksync etc can speed up some video encoding, but your gaming.

SSD caching is for a cheap small SSD to enhance the performance of a normal HDD, you are wanting a dedicated 64GB SSD to run the OS from anyways.


Also, what about this board due to the price? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-448-AS&tool=5
Click to expand...

Good board as long as you dont want symmetrical crossfire? it does it at 16X/4X for the two slots, it does not support Nvidia sli. It will still do a modest overclock 4.5GHz ± a bit, if you add a aftermarket heatsink. The stock intel heatsink supplied with the CPU is fine for around 4GHz.
 
Last edited:
Haha i didn't think so :). Hmm i'm pretty lost when it comes to mobos. I don't think i'll ever want SLI / Crossfire, but i do want it to be future proof to an extent that it could support Ivy Bridge, so i don't really want to get one too cheap and lacking in features i guess.

As for overclocking i won't be doing it straight away but shortly in the future i most likely will.

Thanks for all your input!
 
Alex2722 said:
Haha i didn't think so :). Hmm i'm pretty lost when it comes to mobos. I don't think i'll ever want SLI / Crossfire, but i do want it to be future proof to an extent that it could support Ivy Bridge, so i don't really want to get one too cheap and lacking in features i guess.
Click to expand...

Well this can get confusing.

Gen 3 motherboards have PCI-E3.0 switches to support the next gen graphic cards, but they will still work fine in older type boards.

Its the Ivybridge chip that provides the PCI-E3.0 signal for these new Gen3 boards, when they have a normal Sandybridge they remain at 2.0 spec.

But theres also rumors of the BIOSes of these boards not being able to be updated to Ivybridge anyways despite the new PCI-E3.0 switches,
http://gadgetsteria.com/2011/09/07/sandy-bridge-to-ivy-bridge-upgrade-path-now-in-doubt/
http://vr-zone.com/articles/the-upg...d-by-changes-to-uefi/13513.html#ixzz1XH2htiDR

So it could only be gigabyte and a few MSI mobo's with their "dual Bios" chips that maybe only be able to be updated to support Ivybridge, a lot of rumors with no solid evidence either way.
 
Last edited:
Hopefully this helps?

So with a Gen3 board with the new PCI-E3.0 switches

Untitled-46.png


If its a normal PCI-E2.0 board

Untitled2-2.png


Surprisingly cheaper motherboards maybe at an advantage as the don't do symetrical crossfire/sli or only have one PCI-E slot, such as,
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-448-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1906
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-167-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1906
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-052-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990


Untitled23.png
 
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