Spec me a Gaming Rig

AndrewHK2 · 23 Jun 2009 at 18:20

My budget is about £750 and I've come up with something based on the opinions of some friends below. Feel free to chop and change or make suggestions. This is the first PC I've ever built and it's going to be used pretty much only for gaming. Essentially, I want the best I can get within £750.

At the moment I'm really undecided on the GFX with a lot of different opinions for nVidia and ATI. As well as GFX I've put

Thanks!

CPU: Intel® Core 2 Quad Q8200 - £117
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500A-LED Aero - £34
Hard Drive: Samsung SpinPoint 1TB - £66
Motherboard: Asus P5Q Pro (Intel P45 chipset, Crossfire) - £98
Memory: 4.0GB Corsair DDR2 800mhz XMS2 (2x 2GB) - £48
OR OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz - £38
GFX: ATI Radeon HD 4870 - £115
OR
HD 4870 XXX Edition 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E - £155
OR
BFG GTX260 OC Maxcore Edition 896MB Dual DVI HDTV Out PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E - £160
PSU: 700W EZCool Tornado - £45
Case: Antec 900 - £74

adren · 23 Jun 2009 at 18:25

I wouldn't pay £155 for a 512mb 4870 when you can get 1gig version for £120, apart from that you can't go far wrong with what you've chosen.

wbc1 · 23 Jun 2009 at 18:25

Get a AMD phenom II 720 set up, much better than q8200 for gaming, change that PSU to a corsair 600W, EZCool is pretty crap tbh.

goujon945 · 23 Jun 2009 at 18:29

Go with the Titan Fenrir over the Zalman for your CPU cooler and definitley change your PSU to a Corsair, Be Quiet, Seasonic etc

siumatfung · 23 Jun 2009 at 18:35

your budget is great i could spec about 4 more specs but this one for now i guess

RJC · 23 Jun 2009 at 18:35

How does this look:

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + World In Conflict PC Game £212.98
(£185.20) £212.98
(£185.20)

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £143.99
(£125.21) £143.99
(£125.21)

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £139.99
(£121.73) £139.99
(£121.73)

Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) £73.99
(£64.34) £73.99
(£64.34)

Patriot Viper 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600MHz) Low Latency Tri-Channel (PVT36G1600LLK) £68.99
(£59.99) £68.99
(£59.99)

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD6401AALS) £53.99
(£46.95) £53.99
(£46.95)

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £44.99
(£39.12) £44.99
(£39.12)

Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£15.64) £17.99
(£15.64) Sub Total : £658.18 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £100.79 Total : £772.72

AndrewHK2 · 26 Jun 2009 at 12:48

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback so far it's been very useful but given me more difficult decisions to make!

A friend of mine has pointed out that, if we assume about 5 major games will appear over the next year, they will be utilising quad core power more than that of an i7. The decision I have to make on this with some questions is:

1) Is it worth buying a quad core now but getting a motherboard with 1366 socket and DDR3 RAM?

2) If I do the setup above could I simply upgrade the CPU to an i7 in a years time?

3) Bearing in mind the release of games like OPF2, Modern Warfare 2, BF3 in the coming year, would I be able to buy a cheaper motherboard (without 1336) and say 4 sticks of RAM, then get another 2 sticks later on?

4) How would an nVidia 260 series card cope with the games above? How long would I expect it to be good for?

Jonny Wright · 26 Jun 2009 at 13:59

1) An i7 will unfortunately not fit in a 755 socket so if you buy the motherboard you will have to buy the processor.

3) You could but you would have to buy a new motherboard and memory.

3) I'm not quite sure what you mean.

4) I'd go for a 4890 for £145 get more bang for you buck.

valdai · 26 Jun 2009 at 14:36

3) That's not how it works really. First of all that mobo is about as cheap as they come. Second of all you have to get triple channel with it (3 sticks) and if you buy a non 1336 mobo you will have to replace it and the ram when you want to upgrade to an i7, so get an i7 now.

That said, go for RJC's spec; it's what you should be looking at for your budget.

Dauthi · 26 Jun 2009 at 15:23

RJC spec is pretty much the lowest you can go for an i7 system you can't really lower it by that much.

For comparison a £750 speccd up a AM3 system is below

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
£160.99

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 XT 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Inc. Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
£140.99

Asus M4A78T-E AMD 790GX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £98.99

Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU)
£94.99

Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK)
£81.98

OCZ Reaper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C6 1333MHz Dual Channel (OCZ3RPR13334GKK)
£47.99

Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD5001AALS)
£44.99

Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366)
£33.34

Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99

Sub Total : £628.04

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 15% VAT : £96.08

Total : £736.62

AndrewHK2 · 29 Jun 2009 at 12:40

Just a few more questions before I finalise this build! Thank you all for the advice contributed so far. This is how it currently stands:

1) What is the real difference between the following memory (price difference £13) :

Patriot Viper 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600MHz) Low Latency Tri-Channel (PVT36G1600LLK) £75.99

AND

OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G1333LV6GK) £62.99

2) What is the real difference between these cases (price difference £160:

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £44.99

AND

Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black (No PSU) £28.99

The real question is, what am I sacrificing by cutting some cash back on the cheaper stuff?

cmndr_andi · 29 Jun 2009 at 13:09

Nice build there Andrew. To answer your questions:

1) The patriot stuff is faster and overclocks extremely well. You do get your moneys worth in the Patriot Viper, but the OCZ 1333MHz stuff is not going to slow your system down. Also, if you have no intention of overclocking i'm sure you will not feel the difference between the Patriot and OCZ stuff (that OCZ stuff is what I am using at the moment and its grand).

2) The Antec 300 is by far the superior case. The PSU is at the bottom and the airflow is better. It is definately worth the premium over the coolermaster 335.

Also, may want to have a look at this operating system deal - gets you windows 7 when it comes out.

Oh, and this graphics card is faster, cheaper and comes with a free game.

AndrewHK2 · 29 Jun 2009 at 13:24

That was really helpful, thanks

I've gone for the OCZ stuff because I don't see myself overclocking, stuck with the Antec 300 and switched the graphics card!

And thanks to RJC for giving me this build originally!

AndrewHK2 · 30 Jun 2009 at 17:23

Hello again. This is the final build I'm going with, pending a last check from everyone before I jump in and buy tomorrow morning.

Are -all- these components compatible with one another? Is there anything that won't work with something else and I'll freak out I bought the wrong thing when they come?

Finally, will I need one of these: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-052-GE

Or any other power adaptors/converters for this build?

Cheers,
AndrewHK2

cmndr_andi · 30 Jun 2009 at 17:35

Looks great.

All the cables you need should come with the mainboard, case and power supply. The PSU comes with 8 SATA power cables, so you will not need the adapter.