Spec me £900 gaming PC

tjlld

tjlld

tjlld

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Joined
12 Jun 2009
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175
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Tun. Wells, Kent
Hi, my friend is looking to spend up to £900 on a new gaming computer. He also needs an OS. He plays at 1080p and does not need to play the most demanding games at max settings, but is primarily looking at good value for money so that he will not have to spend as much over the next few years.
Thanks for any help in advance.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £179.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128N/EU) £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £82.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £65.99
1 x OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £59.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £32.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £29.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.98
Total : £878.87 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
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had a play, this is what i came up with for the budget +/- 10 quid

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - AMD 3 for FREE Promotion £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £167.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £82.99
1 x OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £52.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £33.59
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.98
Total : £909.47 (includes shipping : £12.50).



better graphics card, but extra 60 quid. comparison here: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/508?vs=548
i know it says 7870 vs 7970, but that is what these cards are like when overclocked
better case imho (but out of stock at the moment, rightly so) comes with 4 fans, temp monitor and a fan controller, best bang for buck
i prefer the true spirit 120 over the matterhorn pure, should perform similarly, but for 5 quid cheaper, i would ;p
some compromises though, the cpu i specced the oem one, what you lose out on is warranty (3 years on retail, 1 year on oem) and the stock heatsink. but lets be honest, what are the odds of a processor failing? imo its a risk well worth taking
and dropped the hdd from 1tb to 500gb
 
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RJCs spec is good, very good for the price. At 100 posts you get free delivery so it's still worth discussing the options and helping you understand why we choose what we choose ;)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7870 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £227.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £167.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £82.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £65.99
1 x OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £59.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £33.59
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.98
1 x Akasa AK-CBSA05-15BK Super slim SATA rev 3.0 data cable with securing latches - 15cm, Black £2.99
Total : £901.45 (includes shipping : FREE).



Ok i've pushed the budget to the max and used free P&P which you dont have yet but it lets you see what's possible for the price. Please note that the mobo will most likely come with only 2 sata cables so as RJC and I have used 3 sata devices (SSD,HDD,DVD) I've added another sata cable in the basket.
 
Actually the mobo has 4 SATA cables :) Two are 6Gbs and 2 are 3 GBS :)

EDIT: Quick side question Hono, when will your reviews on the Bitfenix products be done? Im really wanting to know how those products get along.
 
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Bacon? said:
Actually the mobo has 4 SATA cables :) Two are 6Gbs and 2 are 3 GBS :)

EDIT: Quick side question Hono, when will your reviews on the Bitfenix products be done? Im really wanting to know how those products get along.
Click to expand...

That's good to know, I'll try and remember that mobo does have more than two sata cables supplied.

I haven't even got the kit yet. I'm waiting to hear back from Bitfenix.
 
Oh, I would have thought the products would have been sent by now lol, thats a shame. Are the fans LED though?

Unfortunatley I dont think the manual says which are the 6 gbs and which are 3 gbs, so thats a nuisance but I dont have the manual on me to check.
 
Bacon? said:
Oh, I would have thought the products would have been sent by now lol, thats a shame. Are the fans LED though?

Unfortunatley I dont think the manual says which are the 6 gbs and which are 3 gbs, so thats a nuisance but I dont have the manual on me to check.
Click to expand...

I don't want to sidetrack the thread really fella. So after this post i'm sticking to the topic at hand.

I've requested two 140mm spectre pro fans (Blue LED), I'm receiving the hydra pro fan controller which is simpler than the Recon, so the review shouldn't take as long (the other guys need to fiddle with port forwarding and software aswell to review the recon properly).

I'm looking forward to seeing the other reviews too!
 
I have a few spare sata cables from my previous builds anyway.
Is the 7950 worth an extra £60 over the 7850?
I have found that I can get the Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77, OS and SSD for £230 from elsewhere.
So that would leave me with £670 to spend on the other stuff.
Do you think its worth saving £10 by getting B Grade version of the HDD, isn't the only difference the warranty length?
He could increase his budget slightly if its worth the extra money.
 
tjlld said:
I have a few spare sata cables from my previous builds anyway.
Is the 7950 worth an extra £60 over the 7850?
I have found that I can get the Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77, OS and SSD for £230 from elsewhere.
So that would leave me with £670 to spend on the other stuff.
Do you think its worth saving £10 by getting B Grade version of the HDD, isn't the only difference the warranty length?
He could increase his budget slightly if its worth the extra money.
Click to expand...

The 7850 i would suggest as the minimum for it's 2GB of VRAM and it overclocks well for the price. I used the 7870 above as it's a good price for the card, it has an uprated cooler aswell. The cheap 7950s you'll notice are using the stock cooler, the twin fan editions are even more cash ;)

The Z9 is a great starters case as you should already know. If you can get it elsewhere and some of the other bits cheaper then fair enough. Tell us what you definately need and how much is left in the kitty and we can balance the rest of the build with our suggestions
 
OK thanks. I can get the Z9 elsewhere, its a great case. (I have it myself)
So can you spec CPU, GPU, PSU, Cooler, Memory, HDD, and Optical Drive for £625.
How big of a decrease in noise and increase in overclocking will you get from a twin fan edition?
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7870 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £227.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £167.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £85.99
1 x OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £59.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £33.59
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £29.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.98
Total : £630.52 (includes shipping : £10.00).



£5 over.

2TB eco storage HDD, 8GB of RAM, Modular PSU with enough power for a single GPU setup. The CPU is OEM to save some cash to help pay for the matterhorn heatsink.

I think that 7870 is a good compromise. If you want to pay the lil extra for the reference 7950 I don't think you'll hear too many objections
 
drop the matterhorn to the true spirit and its right on budget ;p
(is it really considered a drop anyway, since their performance are about the same)
 
tjlld said:
He doesn't need more than 1TB storage.
Click to expand...

I dunno bud do I lol I just have to suggest how personally I'd divide the cash.

The truespirit is a good cooler, I don't mind using it if it looks at home amongst the other parts colourwise.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7870 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £227.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £167.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Extreme4 M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £101.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £84.98
1 x CM Storm Enforcer Gaming Case - Black £69.98
1 x OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £59.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM £55.00
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £33.59
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.98
Total : £854.47 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I used the B grade HDD to save a tenner, is it worth the saving for a shorter warranty you'll have to decide. All the parts are in stock, personally i think it looks very nice and is spec'd well......everyone will have a different opinion though ;)

I realise there is no OS but you could let him try the developers copy of windows 8. It's released in october so he could choose between 7 and 8 then so he can concentrate cash on components now ;)
 
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