spec me a pc for £2500

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hi guys ive been asked to build a pc for a mate of mine, and i have a budget of £2500 for a gaming pc on a 1080p tv that is going in his living room. help??????
i dont know where to start i have never spent that much money in one hit on a pc. the only thing he doesnt want is water cooling.
 
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is he buying the TV in that price? And what is the resolution of the TV? is it actually 1920x1080 as some 1080p screens still don't offer this. Does he want it as a HTPC or tower?
 
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8 Mar 2006
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909
Probably should be looking at spending half that amount.

I've not included a PSU in the list as I don't know (by heart) which ones have a very high efficiency.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - best bang for buck i7
Asus P6T Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard - decent board
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 "Toxic" 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Good GPU considering the resolution; also much quieter than the X2 GPUs
Corsair 6GB DDR3 XMS3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz (3x2GB) Triple Channel DDR3 - 6GB Ram
(£121.99)
Lian Li PC-201B Aluminium Full Tower Case - Black (No PSU) - nice, neat case
Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD10EADS) - very quiet HDD (may load a game level 2s slower but you'll appreciate the lack of noise when watching DVDs!)
Sony BDU-X10S Blu-Ray Reader Serial-ATA Drive - Standard technology now
Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366) - Good (and quiet) cooler

Total : £1,074.22 -inc VAT and Shipping.

Add an extra £150 for a high quality PSU and £70 for Vista 64

What you could change?
Better GPU? but noise could be problem (4870X2 would be a reasonable upgrade)
SSDs? Expensive and limited capacity (unless you RAID / JBOD a few together)
Case? Very personal choice. In my lounge I would prefer a "media centre" style case
 
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OP
Joined
16 Jun 2006
Posts
2,214
Location
Bournemouth, Dorset
Probably should be looking at spending half that amount.

I've not included a PSU in the list as I don't know (by heart) which ones have a very high efficiency.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - best bang for buck i7
Asus P6T Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard - decent board
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 "Toxic" 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Good GPU considering the resolution; also much quieter than the X2 GPUs
Corsair 6GB DDR3 XMS3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz (3x2GB) Triple Channel DDR3 - 6GB Ram
(£121.99)
Lian Li PC-201B Aluminium Full Tower Case - Black (No PSU) - nice, neat case
Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD10EADS) - very quiet HDD (may load a game level 2s slower but you'll appreciate the lack of noise when watching DVDs!)
Sony BDU-X10S Blu-Ray Reader Serial-ATA Drive - Standard technology now
Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366) - Good (and quiet) cooler

Total : £1,074.22 -inc VAT and Shipping.

Add an extra £150 for a high quality PSU and £70 for Vista 64

What you could change?
Better GPU? but noise could be problem (4870X2 would be a reasonable upgrade)
SSDs? Expensive and limited capacity (unless you RAID / JBOD a few together)
Case? Very personal choice. In my lounge I would prefer a "media centre" style case

thankyou, but he is lookign for the best he can buy with the money he has, he has saved up the money specifically for the hardware for this project.
 
Associate
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8 Mar 2006
Posts
909
re: Best he can buy with the money

Then upgrade the processor to the extreme edition (+£600 for little benefit), the GPU to any 4870X2 version and 3 SSD drives. That should just about be £2.5k.

Very limited benefit but it will spend his money for him.

You came on here for advice on specing a very nice PC. It's your choice if you want to take that advice or not. But if you ignore the advice... why did you ask?
 
Soldato
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6 Jan 2009
Posts
6,356
Location
Hertfordshire
pcs get out specced so fast now its hard to build a machine to last these days.

Id advised him to spend a grand then in a year sell it and combine that with the other grand he saved and build again
 
Associate
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4 Sep 2006
Posts
1,843
Location
Bristol
you asked for overkill:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2048MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (102-B50902-00-AT) Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2048MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (102-B50902-00-AT) £336.00
(£292.17) £672.00
(£584.34)
Silverstone Temjin TJ07B-W Aluminium Tower Case with Window - Black (No PSU) Silverstone Temjin TJ07B-W Aluminium Tower Case with Window - Black (No PSU) £287.49
(£249.99) £287.49
(£249.99)
G.Skill Titan 128GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive G.Skill Titan 128GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive £279.44
(£242.99) £279.44
(£242.99)
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £255.29
(£221.99) £255.29
(£221.99)
Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £172.99
(£150.43) £172.99
(£150.43)
Tagan PipeRock TG900-BZ 900w Modular BZ Series Power Supply Tagan PipeRock TG900-BZ 900w Modular BZ Series Power Supply £157.54
(£136.99) £157.54
(£136.99)
OCZ 6GB DDR3 PC3-15000 (3x2GB) Reaper Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3RPR1866C9LV6GK) OCZ 6GB DDR3 PC3-15000 (3x2GB) Reaper Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3RPR1866C9LV6GK) £149.98
(£130.42) £149.98
(£130.42)
Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card £126.49
(£109.99) £126.49
(£109.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ) Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ) £83.94
(£72.99) £83.94
(£72.99)
Pioneer BDC-S02BK 5x BluRay-ROM/12x DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM Pioneer BDC-S02BK 5x BluRay-ROM/12x DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £80.49
(£69.99) £80.49
(£69.99)
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard (920-000375) Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard (920-000375) £54.99
(£47.82) £54.99
(£47.82)
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £23.99
(£20.86) £23.99
(£20.86)
Sub Total : £2,038.80
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £16.85
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £308.35
Total : £2,364.00

first setup was of 2x GTX295 + intel SSD's and it went well over. This time I cut back a little and saved some money elsewhere so can buy some other games. Not suggesting its the best, but still good and total overkill. O wait he'll need a CPU cooler as well.

Coolermaster V8 CPU Cooler (Socket 940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366)

The V8 is Coolermaster's new, award-winning cooler designed for any high-performance CPU featuring 4 separate sets of aluminium fins and is linked by 8 diagonal up-rise heat pipes.
Average rating of 4.5 CoolerMaster 10+ in stock £57.49
(£49.99)

Its not what I would normally suggest, but OCuk are out of stock of Thermaltakes and Noctuas
 
Associate
OP
Joined
16 Jun 2006
Posts
2,214
Location
Bournemouth, Dorset
you asked for overkill:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2048MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (102-B50902-00-AT) Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2048MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (102-B50902-00-AT) £336.00
(£292.17) £672.00
(£584.34)
Silverstone Temjin TJ07B-W Aluminium Tower Case with Window - Black (No PSU) Silverstone Temjin TJ07B-W Aluminium Tower Case with Window - Black (No PSU) £287.49
(£249.99) £287.49
(£249.99)
G.Skill Titan 128GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive G.Skill Titan 128GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive £279.44
(£242.99) £279.44
(£242.99)
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £255.29
(£221.99) £255.29
(£221.99)
Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £172.99
(£150.43) £172.99
(£150.43)
Tagan PipeRock TG900-BZ 900w Modular BZ Series Power Supply Tagan PipeRock TG900-BZ 900w Modular BZ Series Power Supply £157.54
(£136.99) £157.54
(£136.99)
OCZ 6GB DDR3 PC3-15000 (3x2GB) Reaper Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3RPR1866C9LV6GK) OCZ 6GB DDR3 PC3-15000 (3x2GB) Reaper Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3RPR1866C9LV6GK) £149.98
(£130.42) £149.98
(£130.42)
Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card £126.49
(£109.99) £126.49
(£109.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ) Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ) £83.94
(£72.99) £83.94
(£72.99)
Pioneer BDC-S02BK 5x BluRay-ROM/12x DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM Pioneer BDC-S02BK 5x BluRay-ROM/12x DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £80.49
(£69.99) £80.49
(£69.99)
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard (920-000375) Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard (920-000375) £54.99
(£47.82) £54.99
(£47.82)
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £23.99
(£20.86) £23.99
(£20.86)
Sub Total : £2,038.80
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £16.85
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £308.35
Total : £2,364.00

first setup was of 2x GTX295 + intel SSD's and it went well over. This time I cut back a little and saved some money elsewhere so can buy some other games. Not suggesting its the best, but still good and total overkill. O wait he'll need a CPU cooler as well.

Coolermaster V8 CPU Cooler (Socket 940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366)

The V8 is Coolermaster's new, award-winning cooler designed for any high-performance CPU featuring 4 separate sets of aluminium fins and is linked by 8 diagonal up-rise heat pipes.
Average rating of 4.5 CoolerMaster 10+ in stock £57.49
(£49.99)

Its not what I would normally suggest, but OCuk are out of stock of Thermaltakes and Noctuas

this is more like it :) when its being built i will post pics up, thankyou
 
Associate
Joined
4 Sep 2006
Posts
1,843
Location
Bristol
o buy some artic silver, and you might want a 2.5" to 3.5" caddie for the hard drive. Maybe if wanting to be picky few more case fans, or replace the ones in the case, but don't think its possible to replace the fans on the HD4870x2 currently (don't shout if im wrong - im not talking watercooling) so the case isn't going to be quiet anyhow.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
11 Mar 2004
Posts
76,634
I would do this, just add a cooler and any peripherals he needs.
Raid 0 the vertex for the os and 4TB for dvd storage all wrapped up in an excellent htpc case.



No point getting a sound card as I assume he is connecting sound with HDMI to either tv or amp.
You could knock a lot of money of by getting cheaper hard drives.
 
Last edited:
Associate
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27 Mar 2005
Posts
319
Location
Scotland
If your willing to pay, Moncaso is a great media chassis.
Silent with 4 Noctua 80mm and big enough for gaming spec.
Take 4 HDD/SSD drives and bonus of touch control front, I've got mine completely wireless for aesthetics.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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19,325
Location
Somewhere in the middle.
Cant understand why anyone would choose to spend so much. You can build something with similar performance for a lot less.

Then should you decide you want something better next year, spend the same again.

Its just wasting money.

Plain and simple
 
Permabanned
Joined
5 Jan 2008
Posts
1,300
This setup would kick some ass :)
2500rig.jpg


OH if only I had £2500 to drop on this :(
plus I dont think it is over kill really .....The only thing in this setup that is excessive is 2 x 4870x2 and even if you dropped one of those it would still be well over 2 grand
 
Last edited:
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