New gaming rig ($800-1000)

[Heluris]

Hello everyone,

I'm putting together a new gaming rig. I would like to play the latest and upcoming games in full glory in a resolution of 1280x1024.

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This week

BUDGET RANGE: $800-1000 (I'd rather keep close to $800)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Case (Coolermaster HAF932), CPU Cooler (Hyper N520), soundcard (Creative X-Fi Fatality), monitor, mouse & keyboard

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: http://www.overclockers.co.uk

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Belgium

PARTS PREFERENCES: I'm open to anything

OVERCLOCKING: Once I notice stock speed doesn't cut it anymore

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes or no. This is where I need some advice

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1280x1024

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CPU:
$242,45
Intel Core i5 760

I think this one will surely cover my needs. Seems quite futureproof too.

MOBO:
$164,24
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3

or

$234,65
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4

I have some doubts here. I'm not thinking of SLI right now, but should I keep the option open for the future? If I do, I would have to buy a more expensive mobo and a more expensive PSU (and an extra GPU, ofcourse). Yet that does augment the price quite a bit.

RAM:
$128,65
G.Skill RipJaw 4GB (2x2GB)

or

$128,65
G.Skill RipJaw 4GB (2x2GB)

This may seem strange, but I don't know which one I should choose. The first one has faster latency timings (8-8-8-24 <-> 9-9-9-24), but the second one has more Mhz (1333Mhz <-> 1600Mhz).
Also, a 32bit OS system doesn't use all of the 4GB RAM. I'm on Windows XP 32bit, is it stupid to buy 4GB?

GPU
$192,97
VTX ATI Radeon HD5770 1024mb GDDR5

This one must cover my needs quite easily, even if I want to upgrade my monitor to a 1650x1050.

PSU
$154,85
Antec Truepower New Modular 750w

or

$88,21
OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W

If I choose for SLI (which I probably won't, but I'm waiting on your advice), I think I won't have enough with 600W. If I stick to one GPU, the cheaper one should cover it smoothly, no?


Also, my OS is Windows XP. Is it worth another $120 to buy Windows 7? I doubt it will increase performance and DirectX11 doesn't seem that special to me.

Thank you!

 

[Heluris]

Anyone? I'm thinking of buying this today or tomorrow, because overclockers.co.uk has some deals running on products I'm buying that end this week.

PS. I'm wondering. I'm buying this from a UK site and I live in Belgium. I know plugs differ in main Europe from the UK, would that be a problem for my PSU?

 

[Heluris]

Waw. I was wondering how much $ I would benefit from shopping in a US store. So I went to CompUSA.com and ordered the same products there (except for my G.Skill Ripjaw, I ordered OCZ Gold DDR3 4GB PC10666 1333MHz instead) and came out at ±700$ instead of ±800$. Yay for the weak dollar!
But I'm still wondering about my PSU, is the power plug compatible for Europe? I don't want to buy a NEMA cord when I need a CEE 7 one (can't seem to find the information).

(btw, sorry for bumping this post again, I'm just keeping you guys up-to-date)

 

[Mark Heath]

I'm not sure about any part compatibility issues, but if you're buying from the US, then get the stuff from Newegg and use a service such as bongous.com

If you're looking for a great gaming experience, consider buying a new monitor with a Full HD resolution. You can get a good quality one for less than $200 US and as low as $150 or so. Everything looks WAY better when there's 4 times as many pixels Unfortunately, you'd also need to up the graphics a bit too, to something like a GTX 460/470 or 5850/5870.

For purely gaming, you'll get similar performance from a Phenom 955 and an equivalent AMD mobo, but this'll save you a bit of money too. For a good Intel 1156 with SLI/CF in mind, get an Asus P7P55D-E PRO. The Gigabyte motherboards can't support USB3/SATA3 when using SLI or CF due to the limited number of PCIe lanes, but Asus has a workaround on some of their motherboards.

 

[Heluris]

Thanks for the reply!

I've bought the UD4 mobo along with a GTX460 768mb and am thinking of buying a new monitor. I don't know which one though, I'm thinking of a 22" with a native resolution of 1680x1050, because with 1920x1080, I won't be able to play everything full detail no?
My budget for a new monitor goes to $200, any suggestions?

 

[Mark Heath]

In terms of playing at the different resolution, it depends what game it is. There won't be a massive FPS difference in most games and if you find that a game isn't running well at 1920x1080, then you could just switch the resolution to 1680x1050 anyway.

 

[Heluris]

Yeah, but I've read that playing a game at a non-native resolution makes the game look quite ugly (except if the monitor has 1:1 scaling). Anyway, I think I'll give 1920x1080 a try if FPS doesn't differ that much. Thanks!!