Please spec me a gaming computer :)

Sudden

Sudden

Sudden

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In about 20 days from now, I want to start building my first computer, and it's gonna be one for gaming. I've been reading up here and there on hardware for a few months now, but still need your expert advice on it since I have no idea with regards to compatibility etc.

Now the fun part, I have a nice huge budget of 3000 pounds :D For the computer alone. I will buy a 24" monitor later so don't factor that into the cost and I already have a Saitek Eclipse keyboard and Razer Copperhead mouse so have those covered as well. Just need the computer :D Whatever is the best that I can buy with that budget.

With regards to cooling, I'd prefer to go with fan cooling because it's a first build and I don't wanna risk liquid cooling going wrong if I don't fit it properly or something and losing such a lot of money. Also, I don't plan to overclock, at least not right now, so i'm thinking fan cooling should be adequate?

As far as the case goes, I know everyone here sings the praises of Lian Li from the rooftops, but I personally don't care too much for it's looks (personal choice :p) so would rather go for somethign else. The Thermaltake Shark looked pretty nice but other suggestions are welcome as well.


Thanks everyone :)


Edited thanks to the mistake Richdog pointed out
 
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Richdog said:
£3000 for the PCU alone? Umm.... ok... I take it you haven't actually read anything about hardware if you are setting a £3000 budget for a CPU. :p

If you're overclocking, a E6600 Conroe for £250 is all you need, or if you don't want to overclock and waste money go for the E6800 for £780. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Intel_Pentium_Core_Duo2.html
Click to expand...

Sorry >_< That was my mistake :(

I meant everything that goes into that box where everything gets plugged into :p Not just the processor
 
Forum post similar here
There are several others asking the same question, from reading appears that £3000 is just way too much for just a tower, and you'd be better of spending about £1500 and upgrading to newer stuff next year because new graphics cards which fully support games like Farcry Crysis are due to come out in a few months. If you wait longer than 20 days and nearer to around september too you would be able to change some of those ideas in that forum post to SLi as the nforce motherboards are coming out if you prefer that. All I could find out personally hope it helps.
 
1 x Intel Core 2 DUO Extreme Edition X6800 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.93GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-130-IN) £666.00

1 x G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ) (MY-013-GS) £147.95

1 x Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS) £149.95

1 x EVGA GeForce 7950 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 HDTV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-009-EA) £336.95

2 x Western Digital Raptor 36GB WD360ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-095-WD) £137.00

1 x LG GSA-H10NBAL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-043-LG) £20.50

1 x Samsung SH-D162 DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM (CD-002-SA) £11.50

1 x Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 754, 939, 940, LGA755) (HS-003-SY) £26.95

1 x Tagan TG900-U95 900W ATX2.01 Turbojet Quad SLi Silent PSU (CA-011-TG) £139.95

1 x Lian-Li PC V1000 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower (No PSU) (CA-027-LL) £109.95

1 x Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS Edition + HS600 £29.99 Gaming Headset Bundle - Retail (SC-041-CL) £123.50

2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB ST3750640AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-077-SE) £481.90

Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £24.95

Total £2,793.04

With enough left over for Software :) thats if you still wanna spend ;)

Stelly
 
Stelly said:
1 x Intel Core 2 DUO Extreme Edition X6800 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.93GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-130-IN) £666.00

1 x G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ) (MY-013-GS) £147.95

1 x Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS) £149.95

1 x EVGA GeForce 7950 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 HDTV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-009-EA) £336.95

2 x Western Digital Raptor 36GB WD360ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-095-WD) £137.00

1 x LG GSA-H10NBAL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-043-LG) £20.50

1 x Samsung SH-D162 DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM (CD-002-SA) £11.50

1 x Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 754, 939, 940, LGA755) (HS-003-SY) £26.95

1 x Tagan TG900-U95 900W ATX2.01 Turbojet Quad SLi Silent PSU (CA-011-TG) £139.95

1 x Lian-Li PC V1000 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower (No PSU) (CA-027-LL) £109.95

1 x Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS Edition + HS600 £29.99 Gaming Headset Bundle - Retail (SC-041-CL) £123.50

2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB ST3750640AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-077-SE) £481.90

Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £24.95

Total £2,793.04

Stelly
Click to expand...

First of all, thanks for the spec :) just a few questions.


one, I know its a lot to spend, and im the last person to be talking about overkill, but over 1.6 TB of HD space? :p

Not better to get another 7950 instead?
Specially since I was thinkingof getting about 150-200 GB of HD space ^_^

Also, you recommended the G. Skill ram, isn't the corsair supposed to be better? not value for money wise, but sheer performance wise. Same goes for the 7950, you mention the EVGA, is that better or is the XFX one? I've heard some mixed reports about XFX as a company so was wondering about them.

Also, so if i want Quad SLI, it's better to go with that bad axe motherboard rather than the Asus one?

The rest seems nice, well, apart from the case :p I'd prefer a different look ;)


Thanks again :)
 
the g.skill has the same memory things as the 1066mhz modules, it apparently is like a cheap pc8000 ram. that's why it's been sought after by everyone. i think any serial number higher than 0606 is the overclocking one.
(think its micron memory)
 
EVGA are really good, and like you I have also heard mixed opinions about XFX

yes it would be better going for the Intel Bad Axe... I should have changed that sorry :)

I never ever have enough HDD space ;)

Gskill memory is the best you can get.... as you can see from the above comment for why...

Well case is up to you mate, personal preference, but Lian-Li is the best you can get

Stelly
 
woo, more questions for you :D don't I make you happy?


ok, the RAM, i'd like to go with corsair please, as long as compatibility isn't an issue, so could you tell me the best one there? I don't know much about ram, so have no idea which is a good one. 2gb is what I was looking for as well.

Also, the cooler you mentioned, wow, that thing is big :eek: . If I install the supplied fan, which acc. to the description, i'l have to, will it stilll be nice and silent?

Could you also take a look at this spec and see what you think? I haven't included the ram cause I don't know which one so will do that afer one is suggested ^_^

CP-130-IN Intel Core 2 DUO Extreme Edition X6800 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.93GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-130-IN)
£666.00 £666.00
Intel Extreme D975bx-304 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - OEM (MB-010-IN)
£129.95 £129.95
CD-038-NE NEC ND6750 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer Slimline ReWriter (CD-038-NE)
£39.95 £39.95
CD-002-SA Samsung SH-D162 DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM (CD-002-SA)
£11.50 £11.50
HD-069-WD Western Digital Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-069-WD)
£155.50 £155.50
CB-000-WD Western Digital Secure Connect Serial ATA Cable (CB-000-WD)
£4.95 £9.90
HS-019-ZA Zalman FS-V7 Fatal1ty Copper VGA Cooler (HS-019-ZA)
£24.95 £24.95
SY-006-ZA Zalman ZM-2HC2 Silent Hard Disk Heatpipe Cooler (SY-006-ZA)
£16.95 £16.95
HS-014-ZA Zalman ZM-RHS1 Silent VGA RAM Heatsink Kit (HS-014-ZA)
£7.95 £7.95 Are these 3 coolers even needed? and if not needed, would they make it more silent or help? or are completely useless?
CA-008-TT Thermaltake VA7000BWA Shark Aluminium Full Tower - Black (CA-008-TT)
£69.95 £69.95
FG-002-ZA Zalman ZM-F3 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin (FG-002-ZA)
£5.50 £5.50
GX-023-BG BFG Ageia PhysX Accelerator - Retail (GX-023-BG)
£159.95 £159.95 Again, not heard much about these. do they make a difference?
GX-074-LT Leadtek Winfast DTV1000-T Digital TV Tuner Card (GX-074-LT)
£29.95 £29.95 is this a good one? I kind of picked one at random :p
CA-011-TG Tagan TG900-U95 900W ATX2.01 Turbojet Quad SLi Silent PSU (CA-011-TG)
£139.95 £139.95
HS-003-SY Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 754, 939, 940, LGA755) (HS-003-SY)
£26.95 £26.95
GX-009-EA EVGA GeForce 7950 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 HDTV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-009-EA)
£336.95 £673.90
HD-050-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB ST3160812AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-050-SE)
£39.95 £39.95
SC-032-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS Edition - Retail (SC-032-CL)
£122.95 £122.95

I know lian li is the best, but I just don't care too much for the look >_<
Whats the next best one? How doe thermaltake rank? and how is the shark case? if you know anything about it
 
Last edited:
I really don't see why you don't want to go G.Skill. It's great RAM at an amazing price! Better than Corsair imo.

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
CP-130-IN Intel Core 2 DUO Extreme Edition X6800 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.93GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-130-IN) 1
£666.00 £666.00
HD-069-WD Western Digital Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-069-WD) 1
£155.50 £155.50
MB-152-AS Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS) 1
£149.95 £149.95
GX-009-EA EVGA GeForce 7950 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 HDTV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-009-EA) 2
£336.95 £673.90
HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE) 2
£52.55 £105.10
HS-003-SY Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 754, 939, 940, LGA755) (HS-003-SY) 1
£26.95 £26.95
SY-008-ZA Zalman VF900-CU Quiet Copper VGA Cooler (SY-008-ZA) 2
£20.95 £41.90
MY-013-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ) (MY-013-GS) 1
£147.95 £147.95
CA-069-LL Lian-Li PC-S80B Black Aluminium Full Tower Case (CA-069-LL) 1
£148.95 £148.95
CA-011-TG Tagan TG900-U95 900W ATX2.01 Turbojet Quad SLi Silent PSU (CA-011-TG) 1
£139.95 £139.95
SC-031-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro - Retail (SC-031-CL) 1
£163.95 £163.95
CD-035-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE) 1
£19.95 £19.95
Subtotal £2,440.05
VAT £427.01
Total £2,867.06
 
wouldnt bother changing the heatsink on you GPU mate... nvidia HS aint that bad

GX-023-BG BFG Ageia PhysX Accelerator - Retail (GX-023-BG), wouldnt really bother with them at the moment

GX-074-LT Leadtek Winfast DTV1000-T Digital TV Tuner Card (GX-074-LT) I have heard good things about this card :)

and really you should go for the Gskill RAM I use it :)

Stelly
 
you should ask yewen in case central about cases. ^_^ he's really knowledgeable on the topic but obviously it's still your case so you can just pick one that you like the look of.
 
Thanks for the help :) Some more questions though ^_^

Motherboard, which is the best one in terms of performacne that will support Quad SLI? is it the bad axe that Stelly recommended as well or is it the
Asus P5WDG2-WS Extreme Intel 975X (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-140-AS) ?

The asus one that UKTopGun recommended, it's not compatible with conroe out of the box, so i'd much rather get something that was.

Since everyone here is so highly recommending G. Skill - might just try that :p Disregarding price, is it better than any of the others in terms of performance? the one that you guys suggested. Also, out of curioisty, the G. skill 8000 one, wow thats expensive! how come so much more? does it actually make a difference?

The Physx accelrator, would it make no difference to the games? or just such a negligible one that it's not worth it at all. I don't plan to upgrade anything in the computer after this for the next 4-5 years if i can help it :p

As for the case, i looked around case central, what I could make out was asking Yewen means getting lectures on how good Lian Li is :p


Oh and also, the VGA coolers, if I don't add my own and stick with the stock, would it still be silent? or would any difference present be very small? I'd like to avoid changing stock stuff so if it's not worth it, i'd be happier leaving it alone.
 
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Motherboard, which is the best one in terms of performacne that will support Quad SLI? is it the bad axe that Stelly recommended as well or is it the
Asus P5WDG2-WS Extreme Intel 975X (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-140-AS) ?
Click to expand...

Go for the Bad-axe is you dont want a mobo which isnt compatible out of the box I only didnt choose it because I didnt think the Bad-axe was SLI.

The asus one that UKTopGun recommended, it's not compatible with conroe out of the box, so i'd much rather get something that was.
Click to expand...

No problem

Since everyone here is so highly recommending G. Skill - might just try that :p Disregarding price, is it better than any of the others in terms of performance? the one that you guys suggested. Also, out of curioisty, the G. skill 8000 one, wow thats expensive! how come so much more? does it actually make a difference?
Click to expand...

Basically the RAM is recommended uses the same IC as the PC2-8000 stuff so you will be able to get 1000Mhz on it easy. That's why its so heavily recommended as its an absolute bargain!

The Physx accelrator, would it make no difference to the games? or just such a negligible one that it's not worth it at all. I don't plan to upgrade anything in the computer after this for the next 4-5 years if i can help it :p
Click to expand...

I wouldn't buy one atm. It really isnt worth it.

But if you really are planning not to upgrade for the next 4-5 years then I wouldnt even upgrade at all until DX10 cards are released OR buy a cheaper card now then sell them off just before DX10 arrives.

As for the case, i looked around case central, what I could make out was asking Yewen means getting lectures on how good Lian Li is :p
Click to expand...

He's definately your man though ;).

Oh and also, the VGA coolers, if I don't add my own and stick with the stock, would it still be silent? or would any difference present be very small? I'd like to avoid changing stock stuff so if it's not worth it, i'd be happier leaving it alone.
Click to expand...

If your planning on overclocking, dont go stock. Stock stuff usually isnt as silent as well so your better off getting a vf900 for your graphics card and a artic freezer 7 pro for your CPU as they are pretty silent.
 
UKTopGun said:
I wouldn't buy one atm. It really isnt worth it.

But if you really are planning not to upgrade for the next 4-5 years then I wouldnt even upgrade at all until DX10 cards are released OR buy a cheaper card now then sell them off just before DX10 arrives.
Click to expand...

Allrighty then :) I'l get rid of it. plus it'l help keep the cost under 3k :p
I know the DX10 cards will come out, but i'd like to have the computer now. Plus, it's not like these will go out of date. Not to mention, as soon sa they start, they'l keep upgrading and i'l find out that as soon as I buy one, a better one is out the next day :p I'm gonna stick with these ^_^ new things coming out is a neverending cycle!

UKTopGun said:
He's definately your man though.
Click to expand...
hehe, so i've heard. guess i'l wander over there and ask :)

UKTopGun said:
If your planning on overclocking, dont go stock. Stock stuff usually isnt as silent as well so your better off getting a vf900 for your graphics card and a artic freezer 7 pro for your CPU as they are pretty silent.
Click to expand...
I'm not planning to overclock. would stock be sufficient then?



Oh also, it seems the bad axe is available only OEM. does that mean I have to buy a bunch of wires seperately? If so, can you tell me what all I might need?
since it's OEM, no manual either i'm guessing? would installing it be difficult? any ideas? First build :)
 
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ok, now i'm nervous about the motherboard :p
I'm hearing reports of the D975XBX not being compatible with SLI or with conroe out of the box.

I'm investigating more but can anyone confirm these reports as correct or incorrect?
 
revision 304 or above is compatible with conroe SLi can only be done with hacked drivers for now i think
 
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