First Build Gaming for ~ £800

CasualNinja · May 31, 2011

Approximate Purchase Date: End of June / Beginning of July (Not urgent and so can wait for good deals/new products)

Budget Range: ~ £800

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Internet, Microsoft Office tasks, Maybe more in the future

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers

Preferred Website for Parts: novatech.co.uk

Country of Origin: England

Parts Preferences: Intel / Nvidia (can be persuaded otherwise)

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Unlikely

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 (maybe two in the future)

Additional Comments: Quiet machine would be a bonus but not necessary, Dual OS (Windows 7 and Ubuntu), Needs to be future proof for the next 5 or so years, and it will see me through University.

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I am completely new to building my own PC, and after researching for the past few days this is what i have come up with:

Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz (Sandy Bridge) Socket LGA1155 - £159.98 (Pretty much set on this)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/processors/intelcorei3,i5andi71155socket/intel/bx80623i52500k.html

Asus P8Z68-V PRO Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) Motherboard - £165.00 (Its new and it seems to have a few problems, two questions: Can it utilize both the on board HD3000 graphics and an additional graphics card at the same time in like a SLI/CrossfireX stiuation, and is the SSD cashing worth it or is it better to have two 7200rpm hard drives in RAID)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/motherboards/intel1155z68chipsetmotherboards/asus/p8z68-vpro.html

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 32MB Cache Hard Drive SATA 6Gb/s 8.5ms 7200rpm - £41.99
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/harddrives-internal/sata500gbto1tb/seagate/st31000524as.html

Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit - £79.99
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/memory-pc/ddr3-pc3-12800/1600mhz/corsair/cmz8gx3m2a1600c9b.html

Zalman Z9 Plus Black Tower Case - Black (No PSU) - With Fan Controller - £44.98 (Cheap and looks pretty cool)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/cases/cases/zalman/z9p.html

LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD+/-RW SATA Black - £15.98 (Might get a Blu-Ray player sometime in the future)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/opticaldrives/satadvdwriters/liteon/ihas124-19.html

Asus Geforce GTX 560 1024MB GDDR5 PCIE - £151.99 (This is flexible but seems to be the best performance for the money)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/nvidiageforcegraphicscards/nvidiagtx560fermiseries/asus/engtx560dc2di1gd5.html

OCZ StealthXStream2 700w Silent ATX2 Power Supply 80PLUS - £64.98 (Literally no idea with PSU's: don't know what to look for in one or how much Wattage i need)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/powersupplies/ocz/ocz700sxs2-uk.html

Zalman CNPS9900-LED Dual Flower CPU Cooler - £37.78 (Either this or the Hyper 212+ for £18.98, not too sure if either will fit in my chosen case)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/cooling/cpucoolers/zalman/cnps9900a-led.html

Total: £762.67

With £79.99 for Windows 7: £842.66

Thanks very much for reading and i would like to know you opinions on what i have so far.

michxymi · May 31, 2011

Pretty good..get a better PSU, a better cooler if you plan to overclock, a Samsung Spinpoint F3 for storage, Gigabyte GA-Z68-UD3P for motherboard and a 6950 2gb which is better than 560ti and the best for multiple monitors!

Why_Me · May 31, 2011

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/264750 £64.63 inc. vat Free Delivery
G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/241552 £71.86 inc. vat Free Delivery
XFX Pro 750W Core Edition PSU - Single Rail 9x SATA 4x PCI-E

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/267313 £140.45 inc. vat Free Delivery
Asrock Z68 EXTREME4 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard

or.....

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/261255 £131.46 inc. vat Free Delivery
Asrock P67 EXTREME4 V3 1155 Socket 7.1 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/265918 £132.56 inc. vat Free Delivery
Gigabyte GA-P67X-UD3 P67 Socket 1155 7.1 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard

CasualNinja · May 31, 2011

Thanks so far i have changed the RAM, Hard Drive and PSU:

Samsung Spin Point F3 SATAII 1TB 7200rpm - £40.98
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/harddrives-internal/sata500gbto1tb/samsung/hd103sj.html

G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit - £64.63
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/264750

XFX Pro 750W Core Edition PSU - £71.68 (Literally no idea with PSU's: don't know what to look for in one or how much Wattage i need)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/241552

Therefore now the new total with £70.95 for Windows 7 is £817.25

However i am unsure about the Mobo/GPU/CPU Cooler:

Asus Geforce GTX 560 1024MB GDDR5 PCIE - £151.99 (This is flexible but seems to be the best performance for the money)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/nvidiageforcegraphicscards/nvidiagtx560fermiseries/asus/engtx560dc2di1gd5.html

I don't really want to spend much more than £180.00 on this and the multi-monitor thing is not necessary as the second monitorwould be used for iTunes or the like (not gaming)

Zalman CNPS9900-LED Dual Flower CPU Cooler - £37.78 (Either this or the Hyper 212+ for £18.98, not too sure if either will fit in my chosen case)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/cooling/cpucoolers/zalman/cnps9900a-led.html

Any suggestions for a suitable cooler for occasional overclocking?

Asus P8Z68-V PRO Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) Motherboard - £165.00 (Its new and it seems to have a few problems, two questions: Can it utilize both the on board HD3000 graphics and an additional graphics card at the same time in like a SLI/CrossfireX stiuation, and is the SSD cashing worth it or is it better to have two 7200rpm hard drives in RAID)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/motherboards/intel1155z68chipsetmotherboards/asus/p8z68-vpro.html

Not really much of a clue here, so if somebody is willing to help find the perfect Motherboard it would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance, and bear in mind this will be purchased at the end of June (i can buy some things now if a good deal arises).

Why_Me · May 31, 2011

That XFX psu is manufactured by Seasonic and it's a top tier psu. It will easily run dual 560's or dual 6950's and leave you juice to spare.

As far as a mobo...that Asrock imo.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asrock-z68-extreme4-asus-p8z68-v-pro-gigabyte-z68x-ud3h-b3,2939.html <----- The Asus vs Asrock vs Gigabyte review/benchmarks done on this site

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme4 <----- ASRock Z68 Extreme4

CasualNinja · May 31, 2011

Thanks again, you have convinced me and i have now changed the motherboard to the Asrock Z68 EXTREME4, and so the current total £792.70. (i can't seem to update my first post)

That only leaves the GPU and the CPU cooling if anybody wishes to point me in the right direction.

As for RAM i am wondering if 4Gb at 2133MHz (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/264751) would be better than the 8Gb at 1600MHz from above.

Finally, i am wondering if getting a 60Gb SSD (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225415) for alongside the HDD is worth it for the money. If so would Intel's SSD cashing be a good idea or would it be better to just put the OS and other frequently used applications on it without the software.

Why_Me · Jun 1, 2011

CasualNinja :

That G.Skill 1600hz will take you as far as you want to go imo, as for the gpu cooler...not needed. The cooling on most of these Nvidia cards is good enough to allow for over clocking those cards even more (especially on the MSI and Gigabyte cards). For a cpu cooler...the "Cooler Master 212+" is a solid cpu cooler that includes decent thermal paste. If you looking to go for the big over clock like 4.6ghz and higher then take a look at the Scythe Mugen II for a decent priced cooler that gets the job done.

CasualNinja · Jun 1, 2011

What about the GPU? will a Geforce 560 (non-Ti) be good eneough for 1080P gaming?

Why_Me · Jun 1, 2011

CasualNinja :

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-560-amp-edition-gtx-560-directcu-ii-top,2944.html <----- benchmarks and review of those 560 cards done recently here on Toms.

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First Build Gaming for ~ £800

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