Spec me a gaming computer - £1000~

Twentyone

Twentyone

Twentyone

Soldato
Joined
20 Feb 2009
Posts
3,276
Ahoy,

I'm looking to build a new computer, just the tower.

It would be used for gaming (specifically SimCity 5 and Sims 3), but I would want it to be future proof for any upcoming games that have heavier graphical requirements.

Budget is around £1000 but I can go higher if worth it (or lower if It's not really needed, not going to spend just to spend!)

Specifics:
- Tower case
- One GFX card would be preferred
- One SSD HD (have got a 2nd one)

Thanks a lot in advance :)
 
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £187.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 256GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-256M5P) £185.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £37.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £956.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Last edited:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £157.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £39.95
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £942.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
This is what I came up with:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Assassin's Creed III & FTP Currency £299.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x Seasonic X-Series 750w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £124.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Plextor M5S 128GB Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5S) £82.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £62.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £37.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £1,005.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).



GTX 670 for an NVIDIA option.
Mobo supports SLI
PSU is a good'un and enough power for SLI in the future
Good SSD from what I have heard
One of the best air cpu coolers for good overclocking.
Not sure about the case, it mostly comes down to personal preference.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7970 IceQ X² 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H797QM3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £329.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x XFX Pro Series 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £84.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Avexir Core Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £1,018.85 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
Twentyone said:
Thanks guys! :)

Is the 7970/GTX670 much better than the 7950?
Will 8GB RAM be enough?
Click to expand...

7950 is a great value card and one of the best price:performance ratios of cards around. It can be overclocked to equal a stock 7970 but having said that, a 7970 can be OC higher too. Both of them come with Bioshock infinite and Crysis 3 so thats a bonus. One problem with the two is that they draw more power than the 670, and plus are louder. Sometimes they can be very loud so if you feel like that is important to you I would suggest the 670.

7950 vs 7970:
www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/550?vs=508
7950 vs 670:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/550?vs=598

Note, these are reference cards at stock speeds.

8GB RAM is enough for gaming and most tasks so that should be fine. After building you can see how much RAM you are using at any time and if you feel like you need more in the future more RAM can be added.
Hope this means something to you.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £187.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.98
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £37.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £984.84 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
Thanks again guys :)

I've decided on:
  • Cooler Master HAF X Big Tower
  • 2x Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 (for the future :p)
  • Intel® Core i5-3570K Processor
  • Samsung SSD 840 PROSeries 128GB 2.5" OEM
  • Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H, Socket-1155
  • Kingston DDR3 HyperX Beast 8GB
  • XFX ProSeries XXX Edition 750W PSU

I have a DVD drive and of course screen.

Does that all look okay? Will it have enough power from the PSU?
 
Last edited:
Twentyone said:
Thanks again guys :)

I've decided on:
  • Cooler Master HAF X Big Tower
  • 2x Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 (for the future :p)
  • Intel® Core i5-3570K Processor
  • Samsung SSD 840 PROSeries 128GB 2.5" OEM
  • Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H, Socket-1155
  • Kingston DDR3 HyperX Beast 8GB
  • XFX ProSeries XXX Edition 750W PSU

I have a DVD drive and of course screen.

Does that all look okay? Will it have enough power?
Click to expand...

With a firmware update the Plextor Pro is just as good as the 840 Pro to be fair and works out cheaper. The Beast RAM isn't low profile which is why I avoided it.

What screen do you have? Having the 7950 in Xfire would make more sense for a 120Hz panel. I'd start with a single GPU but it's nice to know you can add another if needed later. 750W is ok for the small price difference I went for the 850W silver rated XFX to cover dual highend GPUs.

A decent value heatsink would allow you to overclock the CPU. The OEM CPU is cheaper but lacks the heatsink, so use the saving to pick a heatsink you want.

Hope we are helping more than hindering
 
honosuseri said:
With a firmware update the Plextor Pro is just as good as the 840 Pro to be fair and works out cheaper. The Beast RAM isn't low profile which is why I avoided it.

What screen do you have? Having the 7950 in Xfire would make more sense for a 120Hz panel. I'd start with a single GPU but it's nice to know you can add another if needed later. 750W is ok for the small price difference I went for the 850W silver rated XFX to cover dual highend GPUs.

A decent value heatsink would allow you to overclock the CPU. The OEM CPU is cheaper but lacks the heatsink, so use the saving to pick a heatsink you want.

Hope we are helping more than hindering
Click to expand...

Such as:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £187.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
1 x **B Grade** Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £24.98
Total : £257.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Included the B grade, just incase you want to save £7 :)
 
Twentyone said:
Thanks again guys :)

I've decided on:
  • Cooler Master HAF X Big Tower
  • 2x Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 (for the future :p)
  • Intel® Core i5-3570K Processor
  • Samsung SSD 840 PROSeries 128GB 2.5" OEM
  • Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H, Socket-1155
  • Kingston DDR3 HyperX Beast 8GB
  • XFX ProSeries XXX Edition 750W PSU

I have a DVD drive and of course screen.

Does that all look okay? Will it have enough power from the PSU?
Click to expand...

are you overclocking your cpu?

maybe use this instead,

XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply

1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
Total : £110.48 (includes shipping : £8.75).

 
Not at all, I appreciate all the help!

I'm not too bothered about overclocking as I'm sure the i5 will have plenty of power, and if I do in the future I will just get it then :)

My screens are two Benq XL2420T's, which are 120hz.
 
dacads said:
Actually the 7970 I specced is quieter than the EVGA 670 ;)
Click to expand...

Oops yeah true dat :P Sorry I was talking in general, like for like comparison with the same cooler the 670 tends to be quieter. I would have suggested a windforce 670 but budget didn't allow it. I love myself a quiet pc :P
 
Twentyone said:
Not at all, I appreciate all the help!

I'm not too bothered about overclocking as I'm sure the i5 will have plenty of power, and if I do in the future I will just get it then :)

My screens are two Benq XL2420T's, which are 120hz.
Click to expand...

You're welcome. Did chuckle when I noticed Doomed and Zak had just lifted stuff out of the spec I've done already. The aftermarket heatsinks do cool better obviously even ig you leave the CPU at stock and will be quieter but as you say you can upgrade, I just think it's less faff to add a decent value one from the get go.

The 7950 is great bang for buck, If i recall you should get a huuuuge free games bundle for getting twin 7950s for Xfire......so look into that before you order. If you fancy doing 3D with that panel the Nvidia 670 might make more sense. The GPUs are more cash though and you would need the 3D vision kit too which also ups the price.

Would love to see some pics of the rig complete :)
 
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