Spec me a gaming PC please :)
- Thread starter nicktay2605
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Soldato
+1
GD65 is a cracking buy at the current price, as already said. Runs cooler than the UD4 as well from the one translated comparison I've seen
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Hi guys, thanks for all the input, really great to see so many suggestions. Currently SLI/CF isn't something I'll be doing but I'd like to have the possibility of doing it later in the year so I think I'll go with the GD65 as suggested. I've heard the R3 is a great case so I'm definitely set on that I think.
I'll try to go for a modular PSU instead, it will make the build neater. Is there a modular PSU that's generally recommended or are there a couple of options?
Is having Windows 7 installed on an SSD worth it? I've heard it does make a difference but is it significant? One last question, I'm borrowing a Dell monitor from a mate for the time being but I need to look into buying one in a couple of months. I've always had Dell monitors and really rate them, but is there another monitor that would be a better choice? I don't really want anything bigger than 24"
edit: how easy is it to flash a 6950?
I'll try to go for a modular PSU instead, it will make the build neater. Is there a modular PSU that's generally recommended or are there a couple of options?
Is having Windows 7 installed on an SSD worth it? I've heard it does make a difference but is it significant? One last question, I'm borrowing a Dell monitor from a mate for the time being but I need to look into buying one in a couple of months. I've always had Dell monitors and really rate them, but is there another monitor that would be a better choice? I don't really want anything bigger than 24"
edit: how easy is it to flash a 6950?
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Soldato
Corsair TX750Wwill cope with CF HD6970s and a heavily overclocked i5 rig.
Other option would be the £4 more expensive XFX 750W Black Edition - it's made be Seasonic so very stable, and it gets some awesome reviews. Looks brilliant as well
SSDs do make a good contribution, but I personally (and I'm massively outnumbered here) don't think they're worth the extra cost that could be spent on more performance altering hardware (e.g. Video editing PC I'd rather have more RAM and a HT processor; Gaming PC I'd rather have a cooler that will let me get more GHz and a faster graphics card)
An example of why everyone thinks SSDs are so awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqnL3jX3dik
(Can someone tell me how to embed stuff?)
Other option would be the £4 more expensive XFX 750W Black Edition - it's made be Seasonic so very stable, and it gets some awesome reviews. Looks brilliant as well
SSDs do make a good contribution, but I personally (and I'm massively outnumbered here) don't think they're worth the extra cost that could be spent on more performance altering hardware (e.g. Video editing PC I'd rather have more RAM and a HT processor; Gaming PC I'd rather have a cooler that will let me get more GHz and a faster graphics card)
An example of why everyone thinks SSDs are so awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqnL3jX3dik
(Can someone tell me how to embed stuff?)
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The difference in boot time there is pretty crazy. It's day-to-day stuff like that that makes an SSD appealing! I'll have a think about it but I'll probably go with the SSD. Thanks for the PSU suggestion, that XFX has got some great reviews so I'll go with that 
There is whole page on it here but the xfx is the only flashable one in stock, and all the new stock coming in will be rev 2 - non flashable.
but on the site i linked it does say this:
Code:
update 2: above method is only for 2 gb hd 6950 reference design cards. if you have a custom design or 1 gb card, then use [url="http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1962/techpowerup_radeon_bios_editor_v1.28.html"]RBE[/URL] to modify your existing BIOS. Save the BIOS from your card, load it into RBE, enable the shader unlock option on the last tab, then flash that modified BIOS to the card instead of the one downloaded from this page.So maybe a 1GB 6950 is ok?
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Just a little update to this thread, I've almost finished ordering the bits for my new build. At the time of ordering, I couldn't find anywhere that had the R3 in stock at a reasonable price so after reading some reviews and looking at alternatives I decided to go for the Coolermaster CM-690II Advanced. It seems like it's still a pretty quiet case and I really like the design and some of the features. The only negative I read about was that the stock cooling wasn't great, so I've bought some Coolermaster turbine silent fans to add to the fans the case comes with. They're meant to be some of the quietest case fans available and should help improve the temps a bit.
After all your recommendations I also decided to go for the 6950 rev 1 and flash it to a 6970 as I think for the same price as a 560ti SOC this will give me better performance, particularly at higher resolutions. I went for the MSI P67A-C45 motherboard in the end because I don't see myself going CF at any point, and I wanted to save the £30 compared to the GD65. Having done some more research on PSUs I decided to go for the Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 600w modular PSU, because it has received excellent reviews. I assume 600w will be enough to power an i52500k, 6950 flashed to 6970, 1 SSD and 2 x 1TB SATA hard drives?
The final parts are arriving on Monday so I'll get some pics up once I've put the system together.
edit: I just want to add, thanks very much for your help in contributing to this thread, I really appreciate the advice and feedback
After all your recommendations I also decided to go for the 6950 rev 1 and flash it to a 6970 as I think for the same price as a 560ti SOC this will give me better performance, particularly at higher resolutions. I went for the MSI P67A-C45 motherboard in the end because I don't see myself going CF at any point, and I wanted to save the £30 compared to the GD65. Having done some more research on PSUs I decided to go for the Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 600w modular PSU, because it has received excellent reviews. I assume 600w will be enough to power an i52500k, 6950 flashed to 6970, 1 SSD and 2 x 1TB SATA hard drives?
The final parts are arriving on Monday so I'll get some pics up once I've put the system together.
edit: I just want to add, thanks very much for your help in contributing to this thread, I really appreciate the advice and feedback
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Associate
Psu should be fine. Nice rig.