Spec a Gaming build ~£1400

will0812

will0812

will0812

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23 Nov 2009
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239
Hey, i have a rough idea of what i want, definately intel but what sort of system would you guys put together for around £1300-1400. I have already decided on Case and PSU for definate, Which are Antec 1200 and Antec CP 850W. Apart from that i will need everything else inc OS, no monitor though. Also i have considered getting a pre-overclocked bundle as i dont think i would be able to do it myself. Are these bundles good and worth the money? The only thing that it will be used for that will stress it is gaming really, so go nuts :)

Thanks,

Will
 
Overclocking is pretty easy to do yourself once you've done the right research on it, I struggled at first i'll be honest but i did a bit of reading here and there and I can overclock fairly well now... so i'll suggest overclocking yourself and that'll possibly save more money for your other parts. It'll even build up the experience to help later on with external coolers etc if you decide to go that path.. hope that helps you decide what you want to go with.
 
overclocking is dead simple, put multiplier to around 19 and raise the bclk and voltage from about 1.3v or so.

This is my idea. You can change the 5970 for a 5870 is you want to save money.

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Hard drive was a quick decision, not much thought went into that. A sammy sounds good. I would howerver stick with that noctua if you want things to stay as simple as possible.
 
What about this? If you dont go for that case and PSU, we could get you a much better deal, maybe get an SSD in there, you could also remove the 8GB of RAM

computa.jpg
 
Yea i dont fancy getting involved in watercooling at the moment. Thing im worried about with OCing is, as long as i read loads of guides and stick to them etc, what are the chances of me damaging a component?. Something like the first build, but will probably go for 5870 and an SSD. Only got small monitor :)
 
The H50 isnt a full watercooling system, there really isnt anything to worry about. With overclocking, if you stick to the guides and ask for helop if you're not sure about things, you will be fine and won't ruin anything. What size/resolution are you talking about? if its only small then a 5850 will be more than sufficient, not much difference between that and the5870 so its not really worth the extra money. If you downsize then you can defo get an SSD
 
17" CRT :P Usually game at 1024*768 or 1280*1024 , i know small resolutions but i want stable 250 fps in games such as call of duty + smoothest gameplay possible. However a 5850 should be more than enough. But i really cant decide between i5 / i7 . I may try to overclock myself but i think if i can get a pre-overclocked bundle on deal of the week, ill probably go for that to save hassle. Finally how does the H50 work? as im really not keen on watercooling ... but if it made it possible to overclock slightly higher, then i would consider it.
 
I guess thats a possibility, but i like my CRT. I was previously bought a TFT, which was truely awful and had quite a lot of blur during fast paced games. And i do not want to be shelling out £300-400 for a TFT monitor when really i have no problem using the one i have now. But if you would recommend a 19" or 22" Good TFT for 100-150, 200 Tops then id look into that, but then me being me i would have to get the 5870 :)
 
If you're looking at 22" monitors you'll want this, I have one and it's ideal - I couldn't ask for more, because I wouldn't notice any improvement, but I've also heard this recommended, if you wanna spend the extra.

Why are you so set on such an overkill PSU? Even if you overclock and crossfire at a later date, you shouldn't need much above 650W. I'll keep my opinions to myself about your case, because it's always gonna be subjective and it seems to be a popular choice, but I think you could save £20+ on the PSU if you pick up a good one on the TWO offers, and that could bring your total cost into budget if you plan it right. Of course when I built my new rig, I didn't count on upgrading the monitor, which caused me to upgrade my desk, and then my chair - I didn't realise how crap all my stuff was until my beautiful build sat there casting pretty LED lightshows across their tattered surfaces. Be warned - everything else will look crap by comparison, once you've got it up and running.
 
for a 17" and at that resolution a 5870 would be overkill... I wouldn't even go for a 5850.

I would go for 2 5770s in crossfire... better than a single 5850 and cheaper as well.

Also if your only using the pc for gaming... i would go for the i5 since for gaming purposes it gives better performances.

I'm not too keen on the h50 as well. If you want to keep air cooling the best air cooler is the Prolimatech Megahalems with 2 fans in push/pull config (you can find benchmarks that show that it is the best air cooler).

As for SSD I would suggest at least a 64gb one... They're expensive but the performance is much much better. Also get a samsung 500gb or 1tb for backup as well.

All this should be within your budget i think.
 
I have considered two 5770's but again i dont know anything about setting them up properly, and i dont like making things more complicated than they need to be, probably due to being lazy :( But i guess i could look into this, If i spend less on the gfx card, i can definately afford a SSD which is good i guess. Too much choice is bad for you :)
 
will0812 said:
I have considered two 5770's but again i dont know anything about setting them up properly, and i dont like making things more complicated than they need to be, probably due to being lazy :( But i guess i could look into this, If i spend less on the gfx card, i can definately afford a SSD which is good i guess. Too much choice is bad for you :)
Click to expand...

Hehe... you just have to do some research...

My build (in my sig) was the first time for me and completed it like 3 weeks ago after doing almost 2 months research on the components I wanted to buy.

There is a very good guide on how to build the pc if you don't know how.
 
I have been readings all sorts of benchmarks and reviews dont worry :) And i built the PC im using at the moment, so this will be my second. Although dual graphics cards scares me a little as does overclocking, but overclocking is going to happen and i may try 2x 5770. I suppose really most of it depends if i go i5 / i7. Kinda want to go i7 for futureproof reasons, but i5 is meant to be better for gaming so.. :)
 
If you're going to be gaming, an i5 will be the best, Unless you do lots of CPU intensive stuff (video editing, photoshop with large files etc) you aren't really going to notice much difference because the i5 can handle it's own really well. Dual 5770's are easy to set up and again, if you are unsure about things, just ask.
I'd definately suggest getting a new monitor, if you are going to be running a 17" CRT at such a low resolution, then there's no point in getting a great GPU, 2x 5770 will easily run two large-ish monitors with a great framerate.
 
Ok so say i went for i5, 4gb or 8gb ram? And if i was going to get a TFT, do you have any you would recommend that are Sub £250?
 
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Well 4GB of RAM will be fine but 8GB will make things just that more speedy, if you can afford it then get 8GB if the budget isnt nice to you, get 4GB
A monitor sub £250? well, you're probs best getting a 22" or 24" That viewsonic that Deadbeat suggested earlier would be a good choice. if you're not bothered about the monitor being 1080p then this is a nice monitor, or if you want a 24" i would get something like this. These are all 16:9 monitors, which is good for media and gaming with consoles but many people prefer 16:10 minitors with a resolution of 1920x1200 but its up to you really, go for what you like.
 
Ok so i specced you a new monitor because being an avid css gamer myself i know what u mean by the high hz of CRTs being better for fps so i put the 120hz viewsonic which I have in (its great). Gave you an OCd bundle so u dont have to worry about that , personally i think this is the best spec:

1400incOSmonitor.jpg


however this does come to 1460, you can shave off 100 quid if u downgrade to a 5850 which is still a great card, or what i would do is change the PSU and case but i specced them in still anyway since you wanted them.

If you didnt like the switch from CRT to TFT because of the hz please dont go with the other monitors people are suggesting as you will find it very bad when playing fps on them , this is all going with the fact i think you're quite serious about gaming.
 
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