Spec me: a gaming system

phil-mcc

phil-mcc

phil-mcc

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Joined
8 Oct 2009
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12
Location
Ayrshire
Hi All :)

first post, be gentle

New PC time, built one or two in the past, bought my last from dell about five years ago, time to build again.

Going to be used for gaming only i think as i'll keep my dell running alongside for anything else

budget is 1250 pounds, although if it'd make a substantial difference i could stretch to 1500.

I'll need a good sized monitor, 24" at least, i'll also need an OS including the upgrade to Win7

I've already got a logitech gaming keyboard and mouse, so i'll need a switch to allow these to still be used with the dell, is there such a thing that's allow me to use one set of speakers for both machines?

cheers guys
Phil.
 
Here you go bud, here is a core i7 rig with a 5870

TOTAL: £1,488.11

You could change the case but then you would have to pay more money, also its a large case and cable management is so easy. Plus, its week only deal so :)
You could change the 5870 to 2x 4890's in crossfire, faster than a single 5870 but no dx11.
Also, you could change the PSU to a lower watt or non modular but i thought it will give you headroom for another 5870 and extra bits and pieces and it will look good through your case windows and better air flow :D
 
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Sapphire ati 5870
Samsung 24" SM244BW Widescreen 1920x1200
core i7 920 retail + Operation Flash Point
Corsair H50 Cpu Watercooling Unit
Gigabyte EX58 UD5
Coolermaster HAF 932
Windows 7 Retail home premium, 64bit and 32bit
6gb Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600mhz
Sony optic Dual Layer +RW
500Gb WD Black
Corsair Hx 850w Modular PSU

Thats it mate :)
 
Do you want to spend that kind of money on a SSD just to see windows load faster is the correct way to put it.

I start up my computer and then it's on for the next six hours or more. I'd slap myself with a wet fish if I bought a SSD to save a few seconds on loading Windows.

Anyway it's not just windows usually, you'll stick your favourite programs on there to load faster too. That doesn't mean they'll run any better once loaded but they'll load up from the drive faster.

Not good value when compared to what £60 can get you from the top end of SATA hard drives in my book.

Depends on how much you feel you'll benefit from the faster SSD times.
 
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That's exaxtly the type of answer i was looking for, thanks for that
big SATA it is then

any recommendations on a soundcard? nowt blistering, just something that'll cope with the sound being cranked up for the times when the wife and weans are out
 
The maximus III has its own little soundcard that uses its own PCI slot plus if your not entirely into overcloking theres a one touch overclock feature to allow you to overclock to about 3.4-3.5ghz roughly stable with 1 button press.

Samsung f3 is a quiet fast 2 platter 1TB drive

The I7 860 as 1156 seems more at home to gaming than 1366 in benchmarks plus it has a higher stock clock than a 920 and clocks to 4-4.2 gig like a 920. Plus 1366 updates will be expensive eg gulftown 6 cores.

Gigabyte 5870 as it has 3yr warrenty instead of the 2 on other brands.

With the i7 860 and 5870 they draw less power idle and on load than the equivalents so a 650w psu is fine

655r9k.jpg


If you cant see the pic:

Intel Core i7 860 2.80Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail + Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Game
Corsair H50 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1366) Bracket for skt 1156 available on 12th oct i believe
Asus Maximus III Formula Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
Patriot Sector 5 Viper II 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel + 3D Mark Vantage (PVV34G1600LLKB)
Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ)
Coolermaster HAF 932 Case - Black (No PSU)
Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650HXUK)
Sony Optiarc AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Samsung SM2494HS 23.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail

1455.62 inclusive of shipping
 
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B'jesus, I is confused :confused: not overly concerned about upgrading, as long as it runs all the latest games for the next few years, overclocking sounds a bit scary, so the one touch thing kinda appeals

what about the prebuilt system below?



"Titan Typhoon" Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Quad Core Professional DDR3 System £850.00
(£739.13) £850.00
(£739.13)
Options applied to the above product:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher (66I-03525) £94.99
(£82.60) £94.99
(£82.60)
Options applied to the above product:
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £298.99
(£259.99) £298.99
(£259.99)
Options applied to the above product:
RAID 0 Setup £11.50
(£10.00) £11.50
(£10.00)
Samsung SM2433BW 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor £206.99
(£179.99) £206.99
(£179.99)
Sub Total : £1,271.71
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 : £192.82
Total : £1,478.28
 
The systems fine but for that money prebuilt i'ld personally want it pre overclocked.
The 1156 socket loves games and with the 5870 it will save you some money on those electricty bills.

860 v 920 + other cpus for gaming

Check the next page on that review for power consumption!


Its your choice at the end fo the day and it varies I guess to how confident you are at building a rig.
 
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The more i read, the more i think i'm probably trying to go overkill for my needs, something that'll last for the next, lets say four years

the 860 looks really good on that review

The system you mentioned above HybridX, if it's not too much bother could you explain why you picked each component, every day has been a schoolday for me on here so far, learning heaps :)

not worried about the build, some great tutorials on here, and people to help if i get stuck

Phil.
 
Well here we go :)
for the core i7 920 - Great overclocker (very easy to do aswell)
5870 or 4890 Crossfire (Future proof and can play any game max)
6gb memory (Really fast and cheap also)
Case (Really good air flow plus easily modded)
Watercooling unit (Really good and silet compared to air coolers Best cooler)
850w psu (Its modular so looks very neat in your case + gives you head room to add another 5870 and hd's etc + 7 year warrenty)
500gig Black (1 of the fastest sata hard drive)
Gigabyte ud5 (Great overclocker, true crossfire and sli 16 x 16 where is p55 is 16 x 8)

Tbh, i would say that rig i posted is one you can get for the price, cheaper and way better than buying a prebuilt one. To get a pre built one with the same spec costs around £1.8k
Dont get me wrong, i5/i7 rigs (socket 1156) are good but i would say socket 1366 is better and more future proof
 
No problems at all

Intel Core i7 860 2.80Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail + Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Game
1136 (enthusiast skt) will have an expensive upgrade path if you ever did want to upgrade whereas the 1156 ( a highend mainstream skt) will have a cheaper route.
The 1156 socket chips draw less power saving energy and in thoery should be a bit cooler.
The 860 has a higher stock clock than the 920
860 has hyperthreading like the 920 and unlike the cheaper i5 750
860 overclocks to 4-4.2ghz easily like the 920

Corsair H50 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1366)
Bracket for skt 1156 available on 12th oct i believe
The H50 offers affordable no hassle watercooling, as its a sealed unit theres a lot less chance of leakage and requires no maintainence. Its been shown in a variety of reviews to be a very nice cooler performance wise.


Asus Maximus III Formula Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
Tri pci-e x16 mobo which would allow you to drop in another graphics card for xfire or sli down the line if your heart desires.
It has its own pci detachable 8 channel soundcard.
One touch overclocking via a button on the motherbaord to a stable figure (im hearing around 3.3-3.5ghz) if your not fulyl clued up re overclocking and if you are the board has a wealth of overclocking utiltiies and features.
Note: There are cheaper options if all you want is the 1 touch overclock feature and want to bring the price down a bit eg the MSI GD60


Patriot Sector 5 Viper II 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel + 3D Mark Vantage (PVV34G1600LLKB)
No real reason im afraid over than ive read some good reviews about it, and it has decent timings.


Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Only dx11 card available currently and it matches or beats the GTX 295 in various apps (some it does come just behind the 295).
Considering the 5870 is a single gpu card and the 295 is a dual gpu card it shows the card is a beast. Also the 5870 is on beta drivers and as the drivers mature the cards performance will increase.
The 5870 has a very low power draw when idle and on load compared to other cards.
The gigabyte version of the card has a 3 year warranty while other brands have 2 years

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ)
Dual platter instead of tri platter HD which means less chance of mechanical failure and it has high transfer rates.
Very reasonably priced for a 1TB drive

Coolermaster HAF 932 Case - Black (No PSU)
High airflow case with excellent cable management properties re holes in the mobo tray and room behind the tray and around the case internals.

Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650HXUK)
650w should be ample power for this rig and the power supplies made by a reputable firm.
Modular design means you can only attach the cables you need and reduces the clutter inside the case eg unwanted cables and doesnt hinder airflow

Sony Optiarc AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Fast quiet DVD rewriter.... enough said

Samsung SM2494HS 23.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor
Haing bought a Samsung monitor (T200HD) im impressed by the quality of the picture and the build quality of the monitor.
Ive also chosen the above due to its high contract ratio and reasonable price

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail
Having used the RC version of Windows 7 im immensely impressed. Its as easy as xp with better than vista looks... its what vista should have been!
It runs like butter on any pc, looks great and delivers everything you need from an OS and at £65 preorder you really cant go wrong (ordered mine for £45 2 months ago)
 
Ben-irvine,

Nothings future proof, ever and the upgrade path for 1366 is going to be so stupidly expensive it means you either stick with the 920 until you change the rig completely or spend £600+ to upgrade the CPU.

1156 will have a more affordable upgrade path ("s" versions of the existing 1156 chips to come at least with an even lower tdp)
Tri-channel doesnt really offer a huge benefit over dual
There arent any cards yet than can fully saturate 8x8 on a p55 mobo in sli/crossfire so moving to 1366 for 16x16 has no advantage at the moment.
 
would the cooler in that bundle be up to the job

the bracket to use the H50 on 1156 socket thats due on the 12th, is that on here, or elsewhere?
 
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