Returning to building...

thebigfish8888

thebigfish8888

thebigfish8888

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Joined
10 May 2012
Posts
13
Hi Folks,

I used to be quite into building PCs, but it's been a few years! I've spent the last 5 years or so as a software developer, so I'm still tech-literate, just not up to date with current hardware.

I have about £1300 to buy components for a kick ass gaming PC. I've currently listed the following, and I'd really appreciate some opinions, feedback and pointing out of my obvious mistakes ^_^

All constructive feedback very much appreciated! :)

Intel Core i7 3820, S 2011, Sandy Bridge-E, Quad Core, 3.6GHz, 10MB Cache, 130W, Retail
ASRock X79 Extreme4, Intel X79, S 2011, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 3.0 (x16), ATX
16GB (4x4GB) Kingston DDR3 HyperX, PC3-12800 (1600MHz), Non-ECC, Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-27, XMP, 1.65V
240GB Corsair Force Series 3, 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s, SandForce SSD, Read 550Mb/s, Write 520Mb/s, 85K IOPS
1000W PSU, Silverstone Tech. Strider ST1000-P, Modular, 88% Eff', 80 PLUS Silver, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX
Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x Blu-ray BD-ROM & DVDRW Combo Player OEM
Bitfenix Colossus, Monilith Black Full Tower Performance Case Blue/Red Switchable LED USB 3.0 w/o PSU
2GB Asus Radeon HD 7850 DirectCU II, 4840MHz DDR5, 870MHz, DVI-I/HDMI/2 x Mini Display Port
21.5" Acer V223HQVbd Black Full HD LCD Monitor, DVI/VGA, 1920x1080 20000:1,200cd/m², 5ms
 
You'd be better of getting an Ivy Bridge build for gaming. The i5-3750K is the sweet spot in terms of performance/$. If you'll be using the system for software development/video editing or rendering then you may be better off with getting an i7-3770K as it offers hyperthreading.

Put the savings towards a better graphics card where you'll see the returns visually! The 7850 is a a good mid-high end card but with your budget and aim of building a pc specifically for gaming you can and should be looking at a higher end card.

Also, why such a small screen with such a high end system? I wouldn't entertain the idea of anything smaller than 24" unless your looking for a 22"/23" 3D/120Hz monitor.

Blu Ray drive - Go for a retail product and not OEM. The package will come back with Blu Ray playback software which can be expensive to buy afterwards.

No need for 16GB RAM for gaming but why not as you have a good budget and prices are quite cheap (although on the up).

PSU is OTT.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £317.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £189.95
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x IIyama Prolite E2475HDS 24" Widescreen LED Business Monitor - Black £139.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £126.00
1 x BitFenix Shinobi XL Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £119.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £60.98
2 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £37.99 (£75.98)
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £1,351.07 (includes shipping : £16.85).



Also wait until 2pm for NDA to lift so see how the GTX670 performs. Early reports suggest it could be a corker of a card which offers basically GTX680 performance for around £320-380.
 
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Thanks for the feedback!

What sort of graphics card would you recommend?

What PSU should I be looking at getting? I'm not sure exactly how to determine the required wattage.
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £325.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £161.99
1 x IIyama Prolite E2475HDS 24" Widescreen LED Business Monitor - Black £139.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Full Tower Case with USB3.0 - Black £99.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £89.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC4005SP01 Venom Nano CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3) £21.98
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £1,195.56 (includes shipping : £14.75).



Stoner81.
 
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Quad channel kits are more expensive plus they use more RAM sockets which can restrict over clocking since it puts more strain on the memory controller.

Stoner81.
 
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