Spec me, gaming PC ~£1180

Judgeneo

Judgeneo

Judgeneo

Soldato
Joined
15 May 2010
Posts
10,111
Location
Out of Coventry
Right now I own only a laptop, as I presumed I would use the portable aspect at university. As it turns out, I just connected it to a pair of speakers and HDTV and used it as a(n) (underpowered) desktop... So I've decided to sell the laptop and put the money towards a gaming rig.
I picked up a headset and monitor in a recent sale so I don't need them.

So what I need is:
Tower (capable of games on full at 1920 x 1080)
Blu-ray drive
Webcam
Keyboard

Ideally I would like a separate storage drive and boot drive as well.

Heres what I've come up with: (some parts are from local shops are different prices to eclipse)



AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition 3.40GHz - £143.98
Asrock 890FX Deluxe3 AM3, Cfire, SATA3, USB3, 7.1Snd, ATX - £123.96
Asus 1024Mb ATi Radeon HD 5870 v2 - £313.14
OCZ Gold 4Gb (2x2Gb) DDR3 1600MHz - £89.89
Corsair Reactor 60GB 2.5" SATA-II - £99.99
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200rpm - £50.47
Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM * - £49.98
Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler - £32.99
Microsoft LifeCam Cinema HD 720p Widescreen Webcam - £39.99
Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard - £27.99
Xigmatek Utgard Black ATX Gaming Case - £66.39
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w - £73.99
Asus Xonar D1 - £47.02

Total incl. delivery : - £1171.53

This is stretching the budget as it is, so I'm not willing to go much over (hence the weird title :D)

All comments and thoughts appreciated :)
 
Looks like a nice build, the only thing is wouldnt you like a nicer case? I know its personal preference but I think that build would warrant something a bit better looking.
 
thats actually not half bad.

question the need for a sound card?

The 955BE cpu is cheaper, and is so easy to get the 200mhz its got less than the 965 its childs play
 
similar stuff from ocuk

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (Rev. 2) £329.99
(£280.84) £329.99
(£280.84)
Asus M4A89TD PRO AMD 890FX (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £160.99
(£137.01) £160.99
(£137.01)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £143.98
(£122.54) £143.98
(£122.54)
Corsair Reactor 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (CSSD-R60GB2-BRKT) £99.99
(£85.10) £99.99
(£85.10)
OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600LV4GK) £92.99
(£79.14) £92.99
(£79.14)
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £73.99
(£62.97) £73.99
(£62.97)
Xigmatek Utgard Midi Tower Case - Black £67.99
(£57.86) £67.99
(£57.86)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £57.99
(£49.35) £57.99
(£49.35)
Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) £49.98
(£42.54) £49.98
(£42.54)
Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £32.99
(£28.08) £32.99
(£28.08)
Microsoft LifeCam HD-5000 HD 720p Widescreen Webcam (7ND-00003) £31.98
(£27.22) £31.98
(£27.22)
Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard (967929-0120) £27.99
(£23.82) £27.99
(£23.82)
Sub Total : £996.47
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 17.50% VAT : £176.79
Total : £1,187.01


not much in it
 
stulid said:
thats actually not half bad.

question the need for a sound card?

The 955BE cpu is cheaper, and is so easy to get the 200mhz its got less than the 965 its childs play
Click to expand...

I've had bad quality sound for years and wanted something a bit better. If the £50 would be better used for something else I'd happily change it.

What's the difference between the maximum overclocks of a 955 and a 965?

Also I forgot to mention in the OP, the blu-ray drive (from overclockers) is listed as OEM, I presume this means it doesn't come with everything the retail version does, what does it miss?
 
leave your spec as it is then.

the 955 and 965 are very similar, so just pick one.

and the OEM blueray drive probably doesn't have a basic version of nero.
 
My 4890 plays everything at 1080p maxed out aside from crysis and GTA4 (GTA is very badly ported).

I would save yourself £100 and get a 5850 personally. Use the saved money to get a better/bigger SSD. An SSD is the single best upgrade I have ever had.

Whether you get an i5 750 or an AMD equivalent quad/hex it doesn't really matter they are very similar performance wise. Please ensure that if you have an AMD take it to 3.8ghz and the i5 750 to 4ghz.

My brother got a 5870 2nd hand off MM for £260 2-3 months ago. Bargain.
 
Last edited:
I think I'll go for the 955 + OC.

The ASrock motherboard in my spec is no-longer available, so I think I'll go with an asus crosshair IV (£161.56), this puts me well over budget, but dropping the soundcard mentioned puts me ~£30 under.

What would this be best used for? Spending it on a better SSD (doesn't seem like much improvement to me). Would using an H50 instead of the fenrir make much difference? or is it worth investing in a better power supply
 
Judgeneo said:
I think I'll go for the 955 + OC.

The ASrock motherboard in my spec is no-longer available, so I think I'll go with an asus crosshair IV (£161.56), this puts me well over budget, but dropping the soundcard mentioned puts me ~£30 under.

What would this be best used for? Spending it on a better SSD (doesn't seem like much improvement to me). Would using an H50 instead of the fenrir make much difference? or is it worth investing in a better power supply
Click to expand...

luckly for you, the crosshair IV has a x-fi sound card thingy
 
I'd go with a 5850 Vapor-X / Toxic and a Corsair H50 cooler for silence. And a 955 BE. I'd take the Asus crossair as it's got a sound card already. Or fall back to a 890GX board. Then that would leave me with another Samsung F3 in Raid 0 / Raid 1, or some cool toy (fancy mouse, case mods...). :)
 
Intel i5 750 (not overclocked)
HIS Icooler ATI Radeon 5850 (not overclocked)
MSI P55-GD55 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
Patriot Viper 1333MHz DDR3 RAM
Samsung Spinpoint F1 250GB Hard Drive Disk
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case
**** 650W Dual-Rail High Efficiency Power Supply

Windows Experience Index-Score:

CPU-7.3
Memory-7.4
Graphics-7.7
3D Graphics-7.7
Hard Drive Disc-5.6
 
WiryRocketeer said:
Intel i5 750 (not overclocked)
HIS Icooler ATI Radeon 5850 (not overclocked)
MSI P55-GD55 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
Patriot Viper 1333MHz DDR3 RAM
Samsung Spinpoint F1 250GB Hard Drive Disk
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case
**** 650W Dual-Rail High Efficiency Power Supply

Windows Experience Index-Score:

CPU-7.3
Memory-7.4
Graphics-7.7
3D Graphics-7.7
Hard Drive Disc-5.6
Click to expand...

can I play?

AMD phenomII X4 955BE (not overclocked)
Gainward GTX260 (216sp not overclocked)
MSI 790GX motherboard
Corsair Dominator 4Gb DDR3
Samsung F3 500GB
Coolermaster ATCS 840 case
Antec New Truepower 650w PSU

Windows Experience Index-Score:

CPU-7.3
Memory-7.5
Graphics-7.2
3D Graphics-7.2
Hard Drive Disc-5.9

which means I score 5.9, while you only get 5.6! does it mean my machine is faster than yours? probably not.
 
Last edited:
How about going for the 1055T and overclocking? Then knock off a bit on the SSD. I assume you are using it as a boot + software drive, so I would say choose a 30Gb SSD or a cheaper 60Gb SSD. And definatly go with some Corsair Dominator of Kingston HyperX, or any other brand apart from OCZ!
 
Asus ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (Rev. 2) £329.99
(£280.84) £329.99
(£280.84)
Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM £229.99
(£195.74) £229.99
(£195.74)
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £158.99
(£135.31) £158.99
(£135.31)
OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (OCZ3G1600LV6GK) £132.99
(£113.18) £132.99
(£113.18)
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £73.99
(£62.97) £73.99
(£62.97)
Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD5001AALS) £48.99
(£41.69) £48.99
(£41.69)
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £43.99
(£37.44) £43.99
(£37.44)
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£13.61) £15.99
(£13.61)
Sub Total : £880.78
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 17.50% VAT : £156.32
Total : £1,049.60
 
Gdgd, now for a couple of noob questions...

Does the CPU fan come with thermal paste? I think I remember my last amd cpu had the paste applied to the stock fan/heatsink.

As far as I can tell, the power supply wattage should be enough for a couple of 5870s in crossfire, but does it have enough connections? I'm not sure what they need.
 
Judgeneo said:
Gdgd, now for a couple of noob questions...

Does the CPU fan come with thermal paste? I think I remember my last amd cpu had the paste applied to the stock fan/heatsink.

As far as I can tell, the power supply wattage should be enough for a couple of 5870s in crossfire, but does it have enough connections? I'm not sure what they need.
Click to expand...

it does come with thermal paste.

and if your reffering to the OCZ modxstream 700w, it looks like it doesnt have the required pci-e connectors for two 5870.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/power_management/ocz_500w_700w_modxstream_pro_power_supply
 
Yeah I see now... don't really have the spare cash to afford one that can it seems either.

I'll order tomorrow, take some pictures next week. Cheers for you help everyone
 
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