Spec me - £2000 gaming rig

[ChrisD.]

A friend in work has £2000 to blow on a gaming rig, it has to include everything apart from software. He's giving me £100 to order all the parts and build it for him. I tried to say I'd do it for free but he's refusing. Plus he doesn't want to wait till the Intel price cuts next month, money burning in his pocket I think...

He wants to play the top games at high resolutions and also he said that his budget may stretch another £500 if the extra cost is worth it but he wants to keep it as close to £2000 as possible.

I've been trawling around and have come up with the following, a little over budget but I think it will all go together nice:

*edit he wants it watercooled!*

 

[semi-pro waster]

Pretty much nails the budget but includes 4gb Ram, and much bigger monitor plus the all-important OS. I think it would probably make a more capable overall system.

Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £399.99
(£469.99) £399.99
(£469.99)
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard £81.99
(£96.34) £81.99
(£96.34)
Optiarc NEC AD7170S Serial ATA 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £45.99
(£54.04) £91.98
(£108.08)
Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse - Retail £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink £32.99
(£38.76) £32.99
(£38.76)
Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers - Retail £69.95
(£82.19) £69.95
(£82.19)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Black) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard - OEM £41.99
(£49.34) £41.99
(£49.34)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - OEM £279.99
(£328.99) £279.99
(£328.99)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £244.99
(£287.86) £244.99
(£287.86)
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 Keyboard (B2L-00005) £11.99
(£14.09) £11.99
(£14.09)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £87.99
(£103.39) £87.99
(£103.39)
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-6400C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ) £139.99
(£164.49) £139.99
(£164.49)
Sub Total : £1,660.80
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £54.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £300.26
Total : £2,016.01

 

[ChrisD.]

Cheers, he doesn't need any software mate (including OS).

 

[ChrisD.]

Ah crikey, he wants it water cooled... same budget. Since I don't have a clue about water cooling could someone help me? He's coming around my house in about 45 minutes to order it Nutter!

 

[jaykay]

Get him something like this
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-014-SW&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=193

and change the graphics card to this.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-037-BG&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=877

 

[ChrisD.]

OK. Is it easy to fit? I'm confident with normal PC builds but I've never touched water cooling. I take it that the above kit includes everything that is needed?

 

[ChrisD.]

Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse - Retail £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
Logitech G11 Gaming-Grade Illuminated Keyboard - Retail (967929-0120) £33.99
(£39.94) £33.99
(£39.94)
Samsung SM-226BW 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black £224.99
(£264.36) £224.99
(£264.36)
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £62.99
(£74.01) £62.99
(£74.01)
Western Digital Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM £118.99
(£139.81) £118.99
(£139.81)
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard £81.99
(£96.34) £81.99
(£96.34)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £127.99
(£150.39) £127.99
(£150.39)
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-6400C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ) £139.99
(£164.49) £139.99
(£164.49)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard - OEM £41.99
(£49.34) £41.99
(£49.34)
Optiarc NEC AD7170S Serial ATA 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB Silent WaterCooled GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £419.99
(£493.49) £419.99
(£493.49)
Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra Watercooling Kit (Socket 462/478/LGA775/754/939/940) £134.99
(£158.61) £134.99
(£158.61)
Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers - Retail £69.95
(£82.19) £69.95
(£82.19)
Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Black) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £87.99
(£103.39) £87.99
(£103.39)
Sub Total : £1,662.81
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £54.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £300.61
Total : £2,018.37

 

[syke]

Raptor bit of a waste, could get either smaller raptor for OS or just a bigger hdd.

Is the 8800GTX OC needed?

 

[ChrisD.]

Raptor bit of a waste, could get either smaller raptor for OS or just a bigger hdd.

Is the 8800GTX OC needed?

Suppose so, was thinking boot drive + apps. 76 GB one should be fine thinking about it. Got the OC card as it's a water cooled block.

 

[syke]

Suppose so, was thinking boot drive + apps. 76 GB one should be fine thinking about it. Got the OC card as it's a water cooled block.

Also other HDD change to this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-084-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=768

 

[ChrisD.]

Done. Would it be worth him getting a quad core, or just keep the E6600. With the Rapto 76 and the HDD above the total is now £1,963.14

 

[syke]

Done. Would it be worth him getting a quad core, or just keep the E6600. With the Rapto 76 and the HDD above the total is now £1,963.14

36GB is fine for Raptor - get OS & games on there easy.

Then maybe a Quad, but its not needed tbh. But you could. Or get bigger than 22"?

 

[ChrisD.]

He's just text me, will be here in 15 mins. He's ordering tonight

Can't wait till I build it all!

 

[syke]

He's just text me, will be here in 15 mins. He's ordering tonight

Can't wait till I build it all!

May want semi-pro to give it a once over.

 

[ChrisD.]

I'm fine with normal rigs, been building them for about 5 years now. Just the water cooling stuff. I'll be reading loads of guides on the net tonight and follow the instructions. I doubt it's that hard.

 

[ChrisD.]

Total : £2,145.27

That's with a Dell 24" and a 36 instead of a 76 raptor.

 

[syke]

Total : £2,145.27

That's with a Dell 24" and a 36 instead of a 76 raptor.

To save a bit more, could get a PC7+ if needed.

 

[Ezyryder]

That case is pants for watercooling. Get the 182 is you want Antec (as that one is prepared for WC) or get a Lian Li. IMO much better cases.

 

[squiffy]

I would buy two optical drives, you don't realize how useful two drives are until you have them. Useful if you're a "power user" can install game whilst ripping, burn whilst installing, reading in two discs at once etc etc.

Buy the X-Fi without the X-RAM. And do you need the front panel?

 

[ChrisD.]

That case is pants for watercooling. Get the 182 is you want Antec (as that one is prepared for WC) or get a Lian Li. IMO much better cases.

Cheers mate.