Spec me a gaming machine

r2d2 · 29 May 2011 at 20:15

I am bit of out of touch with the current cpus/ graphics cards. I currently have a q9650 and a 295 gtx based system and am looking for significant improvement in gaming. Resolution for games is 2560x1600.

I won't need a copy of windows as I recently bought windows 7, and won't need a soundcard. Budget is £1600. No monitor required.

Thanks In advance!

Cookeh · 29 May 2011 at 20:31

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 OC Special Edition 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £399.98
1 x MSI Z68A-GD80 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £175.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £173.99
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £118.99
1 x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £98.99
1 x Cooler Master HAF 922 Case - Black £80.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £79.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £43.99
Total : £1,193.14 (includes shipping : £16.85).

Z68 chipset to let you use the SSD caching.
8GB of RAM, just because you can

GTX580 should easily cope, and you have a board/PSU that can handle SLI.
Not sure if you could re-use case/PSU/HDD but included new ones incase.

Reaper 392 · 29 May 2011 at 20:49

heres something at the top end of the spectrum. i went with the ATI cards for two reasons:
1. they seem to be better at high resolutions (which you will be on)
2. they scale better in crossfire

there will still be one PCIe X1 slot that will be free on this board (unlike the asus board that can also do triple crossfire/SLI

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z68X-UD7 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £279.98
3 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 Twin FrozR II 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £173.99
1 x OCZ ZX Series 1000W '80 Plus Gold Certified' Modular Power Supply £149.99
1 x OCZ Vertex 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX120G) £124.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £35.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £1,587.50 (includes shipping : £22.20).

should last you forever and a day

*edit*
and if you prefer Nvidia:

YOUR BASKET
2 x Gainward GeForce GTX 580 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £349.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £173.99
1 x OCZ ZX Series 1000W '80 Plus Gold Certified' Modular Power Supply £149.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x OCZ Vertex 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX120G) £124.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £35.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £1,512.38 (includes shipping : £13.75).

r2d2 · 29 May 2011 at 20:56

Thanks guys. I did not know the ati cards were better at higher resolutions.

Does the ssd provide siginficantly better performance?

Reaper do the 3x 6950 scale well imo games?

Stoner81 · 29 May 2011 at 21:08

Here is my attempt for you;

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 580 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £349.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68X-UD7 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £279.98
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £173.99
1 x Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850 High Performance 850W Modular Power Supply (CMPSU-850AXUK) £157.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi-Tower - Black (with Fan Controller Repair Kit) £134.99
1 x OCZ Vertex 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX120G) £124.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 920 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM2+/AM3+) £84.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA-II 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EARS) £46.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £1,476.53 (includes shipping : £22.20).

Boot times with a SSD are a lot faster than normal drives so there is a difference yes

Stoner81.