New Gaming PC

[Guest]

Approximate Purchase Date: This week

Budget Range: up to £1200 before VAT

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming

Parts Not Required:Keyboard, mouse, headset, speakers, hard drive(got one), Optical drive(got one), monitor(got a 27" one)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Any really. ebuyer is good with the next day delivery though.

Country of Origin: UK

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: Intel, Nvidia, Corsair, Coolermaster.

Overclocking: Maybe - not so much that it will drastically reduce the life expectancy of my rig.

SLI or Crossfire: Yes - have 2x GTX 560ti's in mind at the moment.

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Additional Comments:

Already decided on a CM Storm enforcer case - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/262675

Inside the PC

So far this is what I am thinking about:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173124 Corsair 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3 - £80.00
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/260482 Motherboard P8P67 Deluxe - £171.94
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/252535 I7 processor 3.4GHZ SLI - Asus - £234.89
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/253958 2x Nvidia Geforce GTX560ti 1GB - £379.96
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143019 Corsair 1000W Power supply - £165.93
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127553 Creative X-FI Xtreme Gamer Soundcard - £78.26
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168375 Windows 7 professional 32 + 64 bit - £161.71

Including the case, this totals at £1336.93 inc. VAT.

Could you guys let me know whether my choices are good ones and whether there are better options out there or not.

Also I am ordering Windows 7 professional 32 + 64 bit as I am unsure which will run better, if you could let me know then I would be able to save £60.

 

[striker410]

You need 64 bit to take advantage of more than 4GB of ram. Definitely go with 64 bit.
Also, a kilowatt psu is WAY overkill. You will be just fine with a good 750w, like this one. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164950
Check this ram out, cheaper/better. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/262580

Might I also ask why you need a sound card? The p67 pro has very god 7.1 built in audio. Unless you have a VERY expensive headset, you won't be able to tell the difference.
I would also suggest the 2500k over the 2600k, just because of price. Games can't make us of Hyper Threading, and that is the only difference.

That ends my list of recommendations. Looks like an awesome build!

 

[Guest]

I own a Sennheiser PC350 headset so I thought the soundcard would be needed to do it justice.

I thought the kilowatt psu was overkill but I'm worried that I might get one that isn't powerful enough, which would mean a lot of hassle. I did the coolermaster power usage calculator and it gave me 859W and i couldn't find anything between 850W and 1000W.

I want this build to last me a long time, do you think it likely that games in the future will be designed to make use of Hyperthreading?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Guest]

I've read that it is better to have as many ram slots full as possible in order for most efficient usage? Is this true? This is important as the ram that u linked comes as 2 blocks of 4GB instead of the 4 blocks of 2GB that I included above.

 

[striker410]

The soundcard is probably justified.... But as for a PSU, a 750w is just fine as long as it's 80+ You will probably only pull around 500w, so you will be just fine.

I also can't help you with the Hyper Threading question, as I don't know much about it other then the 2500k is the best bet for gaming right now

 

[Guest]

Thankyou for all of your help, what do you mean by 80+?

Also I think I will go for the 2500k as its almost £100 cheaper.

 

[striker410]

I mean that PSU's are rated for their efficiency. If it's 80+, it will run at very close to what it's rated. Sometimes manufacturers make 700w psu's that can only put out 400w. 80+ basically means you get what you pay for.

 

[Guest]

ah ok thanks.

I'm tempted to go for an 850W psu just to be safe.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176413
for example

 

[striker410]

if you look here, GURU3D did a review and they pulled max 450w with a much more power hungry system. http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-sli-review/14
You will have PLENTY of juice with a 750w.

 

[Guest]

Measured power consumption

System in IDLE = 201W
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 449W
Difference (GPU load) = 248W
Add average IDLE wattage ~ 50W
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 298 Watts

I have 2 GPU's however and this article says each consumes 298W. Therefore 2 would mean 600W + the other workings of the computer brings it dangerously close to 750W.

I don't know, I guess I'll take your word for it.

Thankyou for all the help

 

[Guest]

GeForce GTX 560 Ti in 2-way SLI

A second card requires you to add another ~175 Watts. You need a 700+ Watt power supply unit if you use it in a high-end system (800+ to a KiloWatt is recommended if you plan on any overclocking).

Oh I see, however, I do plan to "safely" overclock the GPU's, RAM and processor. Would a 750W psu still be sufficient?

 

[Guest]

Another slightly offtopic question is whether I should buy from newegg.ca instead of ebuyer as most of their prices beat ebuyer due to the exchange rate. Are newegg reliable? ]

EDIT: They don't ship internationally, sucks.

 

[striker410]

" Power consumption isn't really a deal breaker either, we calculated that the reference product consumes roughly *168 Watt* when it's stressed badly in a game, mind you these are peak levels, the average power consumption will tell another story."

That was taken from their gtx 560 ti review (single). I think the confusion come from the fact that they use a standard form since they do SOOO many reviews. It was a mistake. The GPU draw is 298 watts yes, but that was for BOTH GPU's.

Btw, thank you for calling it to my attention. It could have been disastrous. if each did pull 300w lol.

 

[Guest]

Thankyou for all your help,

going to order it in about 3 weeks after my exams are over, don't want to get distracted.

Thanks again,

Charlie

 

[CReeZ]

Hi again,

I am now ready to order my pc and I'm having second thoughts about the case, I've read some reviews and am put off by the plastic door on the front and the bulkiness of the case. I have a case at the moment that had a plastic door and that came off due to crappy plastic hinges.

I am also a regular LAN attender and need a case that will be easy to transport. However I have the dilemma of ensuring that all my components will fit in the case as well as having the mobility I need.

As you can probably imagine, googling my specific components won't help me in the case(excuse the pun).

My updated list of components is:

i5-2500k http://www.ebuyer.com/product/251596 - £159.97
Zotac GTX580 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/246719 - £370.12
Asus P8P67 Pro - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/260185 - £140.07
Corsair 8GB RAM (2x4GB) - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/262580 - £71.61
CM 850W PSU - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176413 - £94.99
Creative X-FI Xtreme Gamer Soundcard - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127553 - £78.26
Windows 7 professional 64bit - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173784 - £99.76


I also need a cooler for my i5, and I am unsure on the pros and cons of coolers in general, please could someone advise me.

You may also have noticed that I am going for a GTX580 instead of GTX560ti's in SLI. Is this the right decision as they price almost identically.

Thanks,

Charlie.

 

[lentyski]

Hey CReeZ just wanted to say your build is looking awesome!

With your Intel I5 your making a great choice...its something I plan to upgrade in the future. From research I have learned the Intel I5 is truly the best for gaming...sure the Intel I7 is more expensive but with gaming the Intel I5 will whip the Intel I7 =D! overclocking the Intel I5 is jaw dropping...

Good choice on the GTX 580 by the way because if you think about it...it will do as wonderful as the two 560s....and in the future you can always SLI the GTX 580 and it will be cheaper =).

For your Intel I5 to overclock it to the maximum and keep it cool from learning on the forum I have learned that this fan : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&cm_re=Hyper_212%2b-_-35-103-065-_-Product will get what you need done!

What I find interesting is the P67 does not have a sound card in it? Maybe you just want to really get some badass sound lol....my motherboard came with a sound card, how good can sound get? lol

Anyways, nice choice and changes! Hopefully my advice and suggestions help.

 

[CReeZ]

Hi lentyski, thanks for your quick reply.

Initially I was going with an i7 but Striker410 told me about the hyperthreading not being effective with respect to gaming. I've never overclocked any component before, is there some advice you could give me?

I went for the GTX580 to future proof as you said, but also because I figured 1 GFX card means half the hastle and half the chance of something going wrong.

Thanks for the link to the fan, I'm a big fan of CoolerMaster and am seriously considering this fan.

I own a pair of Sennheiser PC350s and really want to get the best out of them, they are currently restricted by my onboard sound. At a LAN around a year ago, I experienced a soundcard in comparison to onboard sound and was very impressed. I figure seeing as I'm spending around £1000 on this build £78 for a sound card won't matter too much and I'll always regret not getting one if I don't.

Any ideas on a case, as that is my main problem at the moment. I'm terrified all my parts will come and I won't be able to fit them in the case, however I don't really want to be carting a huge server box around all the time.

Thanks again,

Charlie.

 

[lentyski]

Heya Charlie no problem at all!

Yeah striker is right !

Well with overclocking of course you want to replace the fan as you are doing and you can ask around the forums...overclocking the Intel I5 is heavily suggested...the only cons of it is if it gets to hott but with the proper fan that wont ever happen!. The other con is ..it lowers the life down a bit but then again even overclocked greatly it will last 5-10 years in my opinion, by then ull already be upgrading again I'm sure!

With overclocking I kinda started out from not knowing anything to be honest...my friend gave me the advice to just kinda "experiment" and watch my temps as I did it *Note I have at the moment a Phenom iix4 b55 and I am using the stock cooler* so I had to be a bit more careful. As you overclock I suggest you google it, ull get great info there. But just kinda take it easy when you do it...its not as big of a deal as it might seem.

Its just really increasing the MHZ and unlocking any cores *If there are cores to be unlocked* and increasing the amount of volts *To meet the demand of more MHZ* I suggest you getting SpeedFan if you have not already and CPU-Z *CUPID* SpeedFan will give you your CPUs temp while on your PC...and CUPID I use to see my Core Speed, Core Voltage, Cores etc. You can always see these things in your BIOS but its good to have them on desktop to check up on it once in a while.

What I did with my Phenom II x4 is I took it from 3.2 to 3.6 *Not that big of a leap lol but the processor isent to die for then again* and opened one core haha . But the PC which your building the Intel I5 will overclock so much more.

When it comes to the point of overclock I highly suggest going back to this forum and going in the overclocking section and I am sure they have guides ...if not make a topic and ask some questions!

The thing with cases is...basically their usally good its more of a "How many fans come with it/ how good quality is it" then anything. Big reason why I got my case is because of the 4 fans and the LED lights. Do not worry all the parts will fit lol, I just suggest getting a bit of a bigger case if your worried...ill try to find you some!

Prices will be different then others, but some of the URLs I list...check em out..read the reviews...of course ull run into bad ones on any case you'll get.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=9&name=Computer-Cases

Explore that section! You might find something you like!

 

[lentyski]

Remember dont listen to just ONE person saying what is a con for a case, if a numerous amount of people have the same ISSUE then you stay away.

Honestly I love bulkier cases lol...more room plus it makes your PC look like a godly transformer!

 

[CReeZ]

Thanks so much lentyski, I'll definitely be back for help on overclocking, really love this forum and all the help it gives.

Posted on another forum and this case was suggested: www.ebuyer.com/product/233740

What do you think, I think it looks promising.

 

[lentyski]

Np CReeZ I am still learning more about computers so hopefully the advice I knew helped!

Yeah the forum is great!

Yeah that case looks good . It reminds me of my case *My case has a door in the front* but the window on the side where you can see in *Like I have* its really cool lol, but yeah the reviews check out good and it seems like a good size case! Go for it!

 

[CReeZ]

This case was also suggested www.ebuyer.com/product/175611

I really like the look of it, but I'm not sure whether it will be too big.

 

[lentyski]

Wow thats a beautiful case too! both are really good...I would only worry about it being to big if where you have to put it might not fit as well.
Its a little bigger then the previous one...between these two I say go with which one you like more.