Spec me a gaming PC please :)

nicktay2605

nicktay2605

nicktay2605

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Joined
22 Mar 2007
Posts
3,875
Hi guys,

So it's been a while since I've owned a PC having started using Macs for day-to-day computing and getting a PS3 for my gaming needs. However, having looked at the release schedule for PC this year I feel like I could be missing out on some really good titles if I don't have a decent gaming PC, so I'm looking to buy one within the next month or two.

Ideally I don't really want to spend more than £800-900 and that has to include a keyboard, mouse and copy of windows too. It's been ages since I've specced a system for myself, so I'm a bit behind on the memory and graphics card options, and whether it's worth having an SSD.

I'd really appreciate it if somebody could knock together a decent spec for around that money. Thanks :)
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Lost Planet 2 PC Game - Retail £191.99
(£159.99) £191.99
(£159.99)
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £144.98
(£120.82) £144.98
(£120.82)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £83.99
(£69.99) £83.99
(£69.99)
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply £74.99
(£62.49) £74.99
(£62.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £38.80
(£32.33) £38.80
(£32.33)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse (910-001262) £30.62
(£25.52) £30.62
(£25.52)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £26.53
(£22.11) £26.53
(£22.11)
Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard 3000 (J93-00006) £21.90
(£18.25) £21.90
(£18.25)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
Sub Total : £686.46
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £139.54
Total : £837.25
 
Thanks RJC. A couple of quick questions, is it worth going for tri-channel memory? Also, I've only really ever used Noctua cpu coolers in the past, is the Gelid you've listed a decent cooler? It turns out I don't need the optical drive or mouse so I can save myself some money on those. Oh and I've always had Lian-li cases in the past, so I was looking at the PC-8 midi-tower case, would it be worth spending the extra on that?
 
Don't think Ocuk do the PC-8, but put the one in for a price estimate:

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Lost Planet 2 PC Game - Retail £191.99
(£159.99) £191.99
(£159.99)
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £144.98
(£120.82) £144.98
(£120.82)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £83.99
(£69.99) £83.99
(£69.99)
Lian Li PC-8NB Midi Case - Black £81.70
(£68.08) £81.70
(£68.08)
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply £74.99
(£62.49) £74.99
(£62.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £26.53
(£22.11) £26.53
(£22.11)
Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard 3000 (J93-00006) £21.90
(£18.25) £21.90
(£18.25)
Sub Total : £685.87
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £139.67
Total : £838.04
 
Thanks for the help guys, I'll start getting the money together for this now and update you all when I've put it together. Crysis 2 and Shogun 2 Total War here I come!
 
Thread revival! It's taken me way, way longer than I intended to get the money together for this new build but I'll finally be ordering all the parts next week. Since you guys put together the spec for me, I've made a couple of changes and was wondering what you all thought:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game
Asus P8P67 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION **
Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit ***OcUK Exclusive***
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560Ti SUPER OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FarCry 2 & Operation Flashpoint Games
Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXV2UK)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ)
OCZ Agility Series 30GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1AGT30G)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)

I appreciate that the memory is pretty expensive but I've found it cheap elsewhere and as it's low voltage and has received good reviews I decided to stick with it. I was torn between the GTX480 SOC and 560ti SOC, but decided on the latter based on a lot of reviews I read that all seem to suggest that the performance is pretty similar but that the 560 runs quite a bit cooler and draws less power, and noise is as much of a consideration for me as performance and power. This is also why I've gone with the R3, as I've heard it runs very cool and quiet, and the Tranquilo should help this too.

If there are any parts that you guys can recommend that would be more suitable or would save me a bit of money though, I'll happily take on board the suggestions. Oh and I only need the parts I've listed as I already have a screen, mouse, keyboard, and OS.
 
watch out.for the vengeance ram as the heatsinks are quite tall on it i think so make sure you have enough room under the cooler. also the msi gd65 is very cheap on ocuk at the moment if your buying here :)
 
ASUS P67 boards have quite a few issues atm.

I'd recommend the MSI equivalent, here: click me - but neither boards specced can do SLI/CF, don't know if thats something you'd want?

if so, the MSI P67A-GD65 is your best bet, OcUK have a cracking price on it atm.

As mentioned, the Vengeances heatsinks are very tall, and you won't get them under the Gelid - you'd be better off with some low profile stuff, like the Corsair XMS3

Have you thought about going with AMD re graphics? The Rev1 HD6950s can be flashed to HD6970's.

HD6970 vs GTX560Ti
 
Assuming you have an £800 budget, you can get this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £161.99
1 x MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £99.98
1 x Fractal Design Define XL Full Tower Case - Titanium Grey £84.98
1 x OCZ Agility Series 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1AGT60G) £71.99
1 x XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £39.98
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £812.59 (includes shipping : £14.75).

Larger SSD (faster aswell); HD6950 that can be flashed to a HD6970.

Non-modular PSU, not sure if that's an issue for you?
 
Cookeh said:
Assuming you have an £800 budget, you can get this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £161.99
1 x MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £99.98
1 x Fractal Design Define XL Full Tower Case - Titanium Grey £84.98
1 x OCZ Agility Series 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1AGT60G) £71.99
1 x XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £39.98
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £812.59 (includes shipping : £14.75).

Larger SSD (faster aswell); HD6950 that can be flashed to a HD6970.

Non-modular PSU, not sure if that's an issue for you?
Click to expand...

+1

the only thing I would change is to a modular psu and the Msi gd65 for future CF/SLI but that's only if your budget allows. for 800 that's a solid spec!
 
sk82jack said:
+1

the only thing I would change is to a modular psu and the Msi gd65 for future CF/SLI but that's only if your budget allows. for 800 that's a solid spec!
Click to expand...

Was thinking that myself - but modular equivalent added £11 to it, and the MSI GD65 another £30 and I wasn't sure of the budget :p

Definitely go for those if you have the budget OP.

They can be found Here & Here
 
Ah, if you skimp on the case, you can get the above changes (Gone with 700W - will -just- be enough for overclocked SB and CF HD6970s).

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £161.99
1 x MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £132.00
1 x Coolermaster Silent Pro Modular 700W Power Supply £79.99
1 x OCZ Agility Series 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1AGT60G) £71.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
1 x Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £39.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £39.98
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £810.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).
 
NickM said:
I was thinking about getting an ASUS P67 for my build, what sort of issues are there?
Click to expand...

its just that there has been more complaints with Asus than with any other make. there are plenty of people with perfectly fine Asus boards and with the warranty cover you can always get replacements so if you really want it go for it.

just out of curiosity why would you prefer an Asus board?
 
nicktay2605 said:
Thread revival! It's taken me way, way longer than I intended to get the money together for this new build but I'll finally be ordering all the parts next week. Since you guys put together the spec for me, I've made a couple of changes and was wondering what you all thought:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game
Asus P8P67 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION **
Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit ***OcUK Exclusive***
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560Ti SUPER OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FarCry 2 & Operation Flashpoint Games
Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXV2UK)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ)
OCZ Agility Series 30GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1AGT30G)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)

I appreciate that the memory is pretty expensive but I've found it cheap elsewhere and as it's low voltage and has received good reviews I decided to stick with it. I was torn between the GTX480 SOC and 560ti SOC, but decided on the latter based on a lot of reviews I read that all seem to suggest that the performance is pretty similar but that the 560 runs quite a bit cooler and draws less power, and noise is as much of a consideration for me as performance and power. This is also why I've gone with the R3, as I've heard it runs very cool and quiet, and the Tranquilo should help this too.

If there are any parts that you guys can recommend that would be more suitable or would save me a bit of money though, I'll happily take on board the suggestions. Oh and I only need the parts I've listed as I already have a screen, mouse, keyboard, and OS.
Click to expand...

The fractal design r3 is a great case (don't go for the xl).
 
sk82jack said:
its just that there has been more complaints with Asus than with any other make. there are plenty of people with perfectly fine Asus boards and with the warranty cover you can always get replacements so if you really want it go for it.

just out of curiosity why would you prefer an Asus board?
Click to expand...

No reason in particular, I used 95thrifles sticky thread as a basis for my setup as I didn't really know what I was doing and he recommends the Asus P67 Pro which I couldn't see any reason not to get.

Cookeh said:
Have a search in the Motherboards section :) - here

There also seems to be large amount of end user complaints (not just here).
Click to expand...

Thats quite a few complaints! I'll probably have a rethink :p!

edit: it appears only Asus boards have the Intel (gigabit) NIC, which from what I've read are better than others for maxing out gigabit LAN connections?
 
Last edited:
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