Please avise re. £2,500 spec.

starry_night

starry_night

starry_night

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Joined
16 Feb 2010
Posts
25
Hello,

A coder looking to build a gaming machine. Never built before, so very much looking to be schooled. I am placing an emphasis on getting the best for today, within the 2.5k budget, rather than kidding myself that I'll be using this as my main rig three years from now.

This is OcUK suggestion following telco.:

MOBO
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 £131.91

CPU
CP-280-IN Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366)
Retail £188.08

RAM
MY-180-CS Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (TR3X6G 1600C8£) £148.08

SSD
HD-002-CR Crucial M225 64GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (CT64M225) £148.08

2x HDDs
HD-082-SA Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ)
£110.62

2x GPU
GX-228-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Toxic 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card 2
£459.56

DVD
CD-041-OT Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black)
£14.46

CASE
CA-055-SV Silverstone Fortress FT01B-W Tower Case with Window - Black 1
£130.43

PSU
CA-023-CS Corsair TX 950W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-950TXUK)
£102.12

COOLING
HS-005-PL Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B CPU Cooler (Socket 775/1156/1366)
£39.99

FG-057-AK Akasa AK-FN058 Apache Black Super Silent 120mm Fan - 4 Pin PWM
£11.99

AC-000-AC Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
£5.95

MONITOR
MO-036-DE Dell UltraSharp U2410 24" Widescreen LCD

Notes:
All prices at list and ex. vat
The PSU I had thought of is not powerful enough for 2x 5850s, apparently.




This was my original idea:


1. Cooling

CPU Block

HeatKiller Rev 3.0

Pump
Danger Den CPX-PRO 12 Volt Circulating Pump

Radiator
Thermochill PA120.2 Radiator (15mm Fan Spacing)


Power
Seasonic X Series: X-750


Case
Silverstone Fortress FT02B-W Windowed Gaming Case - Black [SST-FT02B-W]


2. Core

Motherboard

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard

Notes: Really not sure about this one.


CPU
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail

Notes: Plenty for a gaming PC?

GPU
Ati 5850 x2

Notes: Would get a 5970, if I could get 400 watts out of it, or maybe 2x 5870s if they offered better price/performance.


RAM
Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 998691 - Retail.


3. Storage

SSD Kingston SSDNow V+ Series 64GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (SNVP325-S2/64GB)

Notes: Looks to offer good price/performance compared with intel extreme range.

HDD SAMSUNG
2x Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb

DVD
No idea: looking for one that is quiet. Any links to sites with more information or ideas would be great.


4. Monitor
Dell UltraSharp U2410

Would like a lower ms response time, and maybe 120hz, but what's available at 24inch/1920x1200 makes me think this would be a better bet.

EDIT:
Should say this lot is costed at £2k; with some missing parts, probably more like £2.2.
 
Last edited:
You should tale a look at our gaming range. Find a system you like the look of and we can go from there. Most high end systems are overclocked too. We can even watercool
it for you. If you want to discuss it in a bit more personal manner call the sales team tomorrow, they are a clever bunch and will help you out no end.

Phil
 
PhilipB_OcUk said:
You should tale a look at our gaming range. Find a system you like the look of and we can go from there. Most high end systems are overclocked too. We can even watercool
it for you. If you want to discuss it in a bit more personal manner call the sales team tomorrow, they are a clever bunch and will help you out no end.

Phil
Click to expand...

Best spec any one can give you on here ^^
 
Well what you have put together is good but if your spending that amount of money i would be getting OCUK to both spec and build the pc.
 
I think something like this would be ideal, you just need to add in your watercooling set up, which OcUK can help you with (I've no experience of water cooling).

2000spec.jpg


I missed off the OS too and any peripherals. I added the 120hz monitor you mentioned although its on pre-order at the moment.
 
Starry-Night well if you want to build yourself you could buy an overclocked bundle (i would recommend) then you can install it yourself in your case along with your psu e.t.c
 
Thanks Daaveee,

With the monitor: I did think that Acer is the best of the 120hz 1920x1200 capable monitors, but I wondered whether it would be better than the Dell. Something I really need to research a bit more, as monitors are quite a few factors to take into account - if you cannot actually see them first...

Not yet been able to convince myself that 2x 5870s is worth the extra to 2x 5850s, but might yet do so.

Is the Corsair RAM better performance wise than the Mushkin (my understanding is not, but as I say I am looking to be schooled), or is it a better fit to the other components?

I thought the Kingston would be a better bet than the Intel M series. Any information along those lines would be great.

Not seen that Fractal case before, but will check it out - thanks very much.
 
I have just seen the spec done by dave and it looks very good.... The Intel SSD's are the best you can get ;) tbh one 5850 is enough for everything so whichever you go for will be good, another option is 5770 xfire which is better than 5850 i believe...i believe mushkin are good as is corsair, which ever is cheaper i would go for as there both good....the fractal case btw is very good from what i have heard.
 
You really should get a Modular PSU for better cabling and allowing better airflow through the case. This one is good.

Seasonic X-750 Modular '80 Plus Gold Certified' 750W Power Supply £129.99 inc VAT
CA-014-SS_200.jpg
 
Interesting re. the intel ssd's. I understand the second generation m series to be quality, and the extreme series very, very good, but that kingston v+ offered comparable to m series for better price. I'll take another look into this - and of course, I have never owned any of these, so its all theory.

I'll look into that 5770 xfire, as that sounds very interesting.

I understand the mushkin redline's to have much tighter settings - cas 6 etc. Basically, with RAM I am just going for 6-8gb of the best ram possible, given the CPU - which I'll want to OC to just over 4ghz with watercooling. So 2000mhz looks too much, and 1666 with the tightest settings, looks good - the best I have seen (again in theory) is the Mushkin redline.
 
starry_night said:
Interesting re. the intel ssd's. I understand the second generation m series to be quality, and the extreme series very, very good, but that kingston v+ offered comparable to m series for better price. I'll take another look into this - and of course, I have never owned any of these, so its all theory.

I'll look into that 5770 xfire, as that sounds very interesting.

I understand the mushkin redline's to have much tighter settings - cas 6 etc. Basically, with RAM I am just going for 6-8gb of the best ram possible, given the CPU - which I'll want to OC to just over 4ghz with watercooling. So 2000mhz looks too much, and 1666 with the tightest settings, looks good - the best I have seen (again in theory) is the Mushkin redline.
Click to expand...

The Intel X25 is mad fast have one in mine you find non near as fast for that money ;)
 
@Biz.Kid09: so the 5770 is not a dual core (i.e. like 5970), just 2x5770. So I was thinking 2x 5850, 2x 5870, or 1x 5970. And I that competition, I could see the 5870s being the very best performance wise, the 5970 being hobbled by this 400 watts potential being dialled down to 300, and the 5850s being the best price/performance option.

But it seems close between the 5850s and the 5970, and those 5870s do seem attractive.
 
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