New gaming build ready for BF3 for <£1000

CasualNinja

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May 31, 2011
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Approximate Purchase Date: End of June

Budget Range: <£1000 (Although not too close to the limit :D )

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (such as BF3 and MMO/RPG type games), Internet, Office tasks, Physics work (such as Matlab)

Parts Not Required: Mouse, Speakers, Keyboard, Monitor

Preferred Websites for Parts: scan/novatech (cost of delivery tho), ebuyer (free delivery)

Country of Origin: England

Parts Preferences: No preference whatsoever

Overclocking: Yes but never done it before (current PC not quite up to it)

SLI or Crossfire: Would rather just a single card unless significantly better value for money

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050 atm but will add a 1920x1080 in the future and have 2 screens (only 1 used for gaming tho)


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Case
NZXT Phantom - £105.58


Processor
Intel Core i5 2500K - £154.98


Motherboard
Asrock Z68 EXTREME4 - £139.72
OR
Asus P8P67 Pro - £138.80
OR
Asus Sabertooth 67 - £149.60


Memory
G-Skill 8Gb 1600MHz - £64.63


CPU Cooler
Thermalright Silver Arrow - £55.64


Hard Disk
Samsung Spin Point 1Tb - £41.79


Optical Drive
Sony Optaric 24x DVD+/-RW - £14.99


Power Supply
XFX Pro 750W - £71.86


Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium - £68.15


Total so far is between £717.26 - £728.06

As for the GPU i'm considering between the following types:

Radeon 6950

Radeon 6970

GTX 560Ti

GTX 570


Any help is welcomed, my main concerns at the moment with my build are the Motherboard and the GPU (mainly the GPU).

Thanks.
 
^ The MSI looks better,...
As for the cooler type, if the case doesnt have much airflow, then the blower type cooler like the one on the Gigabyte is better as it blows the hot air outside the case, but the cooling performance is not as good as the coolers that are present on the MSI/ Sapphire but for these cards you need to have good airflow inside the case because they vent out the hot air inside the case itself, but cool the chip better,...
 

CasualNinja

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I'm thinking of adding a tiny SSD to make use of the Z68 feature, however there seems to be very little information about what to look for.

Maybe the Intel 310 SSD but those don't seem to be out yet, do you have any recommendations regarding this?

Thanks
 

shadow1942

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May 16, 2011
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I'd suggest a CM 690 II advanced case if your willing to overlook the looks of NZXT, it does a great job for cooling, noise is minimal, it comes with 3 fans and a window if you want, Mid tower and cheap. You could then spend the extra cash on a better cooler eg: noctua NH-D14

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/reviews/cooling/noctua-nhd14-cpu-cooler-review/

good choice on ram its also compatible with the noctua cooler and is 1.5v so a good choice for sandy bridge.

motherboard is fine since its about the same cost as the PRO which also got good reviews.


For your video card my suggestion matches gkay09's response the 6950 is a good card for a great price and you can flash it to a 6970, there's a thread on here about it, just search for it and it should pop up.
 
The Noctua NH-D14 is not better than the Silver Arrow. I've seen multiple reviews where the Silver Arrow outperformed the Noctua NH-D14 by one to two degrees. Considering that the NH-D14 costs more than the Silver Arrow there's almost no reason to get the NH-D14 rather than the Silver Arrow. SPCR also tested their respective fans and the TY-140 was shown to be better than the 14cm fans used on the NH-D14.

Again I would use the Archon because it isn't as large, it is very tall tho (it can fit in a Phantom or a CM 690 II Advanced - provided you don't use the top side fan) and according to Xbitlabs outperforms the Silver Arrow - who also showed that the Silver Arrow outperformed the NH-D14.

also, why did you underline/boldinate, the word sapphire in your post???
He didn't, it's something going on with these forums at the moment, they automatically highlight and underline 'Sapphire' for some reason.
 

CasualNinja

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Still not sold on the Archon... Different websites are saying different things about the two. Defiantly not the Noctua tho.

With regard to the GPU, is the MSI better than the Sapphire for sure?

Finally, can you guys point me in the direction of the best small SSD for the money, that will make use of the smart response technology.
 

shadow1942

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sorry silvune but most reviews I saw said noctua was an excellent cooler, and still just beats the silver arrow see links below. but I guess it depends on price too if the silver arrow is cheaper then go with that if its not then go with noctua.
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/thermalright_silver_arrow_vs_noctua_nh-d14/3

for casualninja see my previous post you can reflash a 6950 to a 6970 without having to spend extra cash
http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?t=22248
 
^ Am not sure how those got underlined, must be the browser,... MSi is better because it has better cooling,...

As for the SSD, the SSD caching doesnt seem to impress the reviewers much,.. Instead get a 60GB SSD and install the OS directly onto it,...

CPU Cooler - @casualninja how much do you want to overclock ?? Say 4GHz, then I think this discussion about the cooler is not that significant as any decent cooler like say CM Hyper 212+ would easily handle that overclock as the SandyBridge CPUs being 32nm, dont produce much heat,...
But check this cooler - Cogage arrow- Its in the same league as the Silver Arrow and the D14 albeit with a single fan but costs considerably less,... Anyways you can add a fan later on,...
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cogage-arrow-heat-sink-s775-1366-1156-1155-and-amd-754-939-940-am2-am2plus-am3-includes-a-120mm-fan
Am sure for starters this is a solid option,...