New "Mid Level" Gaming PC - Noob needs advice

gas77

gas77

gas77

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9 Jan 2009
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34
Hi guys,

I'm hoping one of you kind souls will help me understand what I need from a new gaming PC. It's been a few years since I tried to understand value vs performance and I'd be grateful for pointing me towards today's "sweetspot". My budget is flexible but I'm thinking of a good "mid level" PC between £500-£700 if possible. I don't need the very best processor / graphics card etc but I want to aim for value without hindering the PC's performance too much. A good healthy jump up from my current PC would be ideal.

My current PC...
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
2mb ram
Intel Core Quad Q6600 @ 2.4ghz
Aspect Ratio Widescreen - 16:10
Native Resolution 1920 x 1200 at 60.0 Hz - I've taken this to mean the best possible resolution possible on the monitor.

I have a nice Acer G24 monitor so I'll stay with that for now.

- Which processer? I read things about "Ivy Bridges" etc, which is most confussing :)
- Which Graphics card?
- How much RAM to get. Is 8 gigs excessive?
- I'd like a quick hard drive (if that makes sense). Is it called a SATA? My old hard drive was only 500mb which was fine. Don't need anything big.

Many thanks!
 
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £167.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £74.99
1 x Samsung 64GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC064D/EU) £59.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £37.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £26.39
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £704.47 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Bacon? said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £167.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £74.99
1 x Samsung 64GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC064D/EU) £59.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £37.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £26.39
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £704.47 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

+1. Solid build.
 
Thanks to Rooster and Bacon for taking the time to do those list. I appreciate it.

I'll go through and come back with any questions.

Erm, I appreciate I'm on the overclockers website but I didn't intend to overclock anything (lack of knowledge / confidence). Does that change any of the advice to any great extent?
 
The processors (and motherboards) spec'd above are able to be overclocked but if your not keen on doing so then just don't bother or alternatively you could get a cheaper motherboard and a non-K (ie non-overclocking) processor and save a wee bit of money.
 
Most of the time these days you can do auto overclocks on motherboards to avoid messing around too much, which may run slightly higher voltage for the speeds they set, but should still work fine (as long as you buy a decent heatsink/water cooler).
 
An alternative.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard with FREE 16GB USB 2.0 PEN £69.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £37.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £721.09 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Better GPU, no SSD.

IMO, you should be ok with the 6850, and you have a SSD which is a great addition, a decent cooler if you ever feel the need to get more performance out of the CPU, and you can upgrade the GPU later if you wish to do so.

Keep the 'K' CPU and motherboard. In fact if your HDD is serial ATA, you don't really need a new one, and you get a (imo) better motherboard.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £103.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128N/EU) £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £26.39
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £725.48 (includes shipping : £12.50).



It's on the upper bracket of your budget though.
 
Last edited:
YOUR BASKET
1 x PowerColor HD 7850 PCS+ Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £103.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128N/EU) £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £79.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9B) £44.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £678.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Instead of 3570K I would suggest you get Intel Xeon 1230, the price is same... While 1230 performs close to 3770K... But cant be overclocked that well...

6850 will bottleneck 3570K in games very very quickly... 6850 is matched with i3 or intel pentium g840
http://ark.intel.com/products/52271/
 
Sorry slightly over:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3450 3.10GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £154.99
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 560Ti 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £74.99
1 x Samsung 64GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC064D/EU) £59.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £37.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £731.09 (includes shipping : £12.50).




Since you said you wont be overclocking I gave you a locked processor (cant be overclocked) but is intel's latest ivy processor so it will still kick anything out there's asses. Much better than an i3 or any AMD CPU.

The 560 ti is midway between the 460/560 and 7850.

You have a nice SSD to put your OS and apps on as well.
 
I thought the non K series processors could still be overclocked up to the CPUs turbo frequency on all cores with a multiplier tweak? Just that the multiplier was much lower than a K series processor... Above build is decent though.
 
Very slightly overclocked, and its more complicated so since he is a "noob" as he put it I doubt he would want to go fiddling around in the BIOS that much.
 
It's a shame you don't qualify for free delivery yet (100 posts) :( Another money saving tip is that you could use the developers copy of windows 8 for now. Then purchase the OS when you have the choice of windows 7 or 8 ;)

If you want to check if you can reuse your drives. Take the side off the case and look at the data cable. IDE is a wide cable (2 maybe 3 fingers wide), if it's small then it's sata :) Assuming you can reuse those drives i would do this (if you want the OS).......

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £103.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £79.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £26.39
Total : £655.51 (includes shipping : £12.50).



There are some good offers this week. This OEM i5K is one, it's difference in price from the retail effectively pays for this great cooler whilst on offer. 8GB of RAM colour coded to the mobo in blue.

Case is a bargain with four 120mm fans, fan controller, digital temp display and cable management (included P4/8 lead). You'll notice I've used a modular PSU to help improve airflow (temps in case).

60GB is really too small for an OS and games in all honesty. As capacity increases on the SSD so does the write speed, so I've gone with this samsung SSD. People might say buy the SSD later but i'd say buy the OS later and enjoy the speed bonus now. Adding an SSD or an OS later both require a reinstall anyway. I've included the OS if you did really want it now.

You'll notice I've left out the GPU. This setup is for SLI/Xfire (7850 or 670s), you could reuse your GPU for now. The Z77 mobo has lucid MVP which will use the IGP to boost your old nvidia GPU. Games really want more than 1GB of VRAM, the 6850 and the nvidia 460 are good cards (i own the later) on a budget but the 7850 has more VRAM (2GB) and can be overclocked very well indeed.

If you continue this thread as you build it (with pics please) you will soon hit free delivery (100 posts) and can "cherry pick" a good 2GB GPU to upgrade to or get the OS seperately later as well minus the dreaded P&P. Ideally hold out till nvidia has it's answer to the 7850.....the 660 ;)

If you really want a GPU now, I'd take my own advice (obviously) and drop the OS for now and lose the SLI feature (so cheaper mobo and PSU) and opt for this

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) £185.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £167.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £74.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £65.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £26.39
Total : £714.50 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I know I've waffled a fair bit lol I think you have enough suggestions now to balance a nice rig together. Hope this has helped, any questions feel free to post ;)
 
Lazder said:
Why does no one react to Xeon 1230 -.- Such a great CPU...
Click to expand...

Because the Xeon CPUs here are not on the 1155 socket and stupid money. We can't link to competitors so it makes sense to order a CPU in stock and balance the build out to get a good cooler and a case with good cooling.
 
honosuseri said:
Because the Xeon CPUs here are not on the 1155 socket and stupid money. We can't link to competitors so it makes sense to order a CPU in stock and balance the build out to get a good cooler and a case with good cooling.
Click to expand...

Please read this http://ark.intel.com/products/52271/

1) It costs exactly same as 3570K around 170-180
2) It is on 1155
 
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