Gaming Rig (completely new)

Approximate Purchase Date: After Christmas (during sales)

Budget Range: Trying to stay under £1000, but I can stretch that budget if necessary.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: PC Gaming, live-streaming console gameplay, and general internet surfing.

Parts Not Required: Speakers

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: [url=http://www.ebuyer.com/][/url] (other alternatives are welcome)

Country: UK

Parts Preferences: 24" monitor MAX.

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe (unsure)

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050 and upwards.

Additional Comments: Been a while since I've had a decent PC for gaming, so I'm not entirely sure what the standard is for top-notch systems is nowadays (hence the cluelessness). I'd like the machine to be quiet. I'm not entirely picky about the look of the case, but I wouldn't mind paying for a reasonably priced stylish case. Also looking for a decent headset, and any recommendations on capture devices, baring in mind I want to keep my Xbox 360 connected via HDMI. All help is greatly appreciated!

2500k - $219

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115072

Motherboard - $76

ASRock H61DE/S3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157254

RAM - $46

Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 memory module 1333 CT2KIT51264BD1339

http://www.crucial.com/store/mpart [...] F1A5CA7304

OS - $108

Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade x64

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Wi [...] 614&sr=1-2

Monitor - $159

ViewSonic VX2253mh-LED Black 22" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor Slim Design w/Speakers 300 cd/m2 DC 30,000,000:1 (1,000:1)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824116477

Keyboard & Mouse - $50

This is generous because I don't want to bother looking these up. You can save most of this allotment.

So far we are at $658 USD from the links I said. A Motherboard, CPU, RAM, OS, Monitor, Keyboard, and Mouse have so far been allotted. That leaves PSU, Case, Hard Drive, and Video Card with about $650 USD remaining.

PSU - $66 after MIR ($694)

XFX Core Edition PRO650W (P1-650S-NLB9) 650W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817207014

Case - $55

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 2011 Reader Choice Award: Best Chassis

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] =haf%20912

Hard Drive - $197

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1502FAEX 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136793

We are at $946 USD now with no video card which is well far away from L1000.

Find those things on your favorite websites then buy whatever video card that makes you happy. You should be able to get a 6850, 6870, or 6950 and have money left over for headset, capture devices, and whatever that other stuff you wanted is.

Not sure if it will fit in the budget, but if you want to go with an excellent crossfire setup instead of one big fat video card (I just stick with 1, but if its your thing) then you might be able to fit in this 2 card 3 core setup

Two 6870 cores on this one card, so you can use the 1x crossfire port to have 3 total cores - $399

PowerColor AX6870X2 2GBD5-2DHG Radeon HD 6870 x2 2GB 2 X 256bit (256bit) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

+

Some other 6870 - $145ish

For $545 that performs very well graphics wise, better than single cards that cost more and much smoother graphics rendering than most dual card setups.

Add win 7 Premium 64-bit to that and you have it.

A couple things if you will allow me Raiddinn,

1. You listed an H61 board that will not overclock and has no USB 3.0. It also is not a crossfire board.

2. He lives in the UK and his budget in in pounds not dollars... helps with the budget

3. Ordering from newegg would not be practical.

Having said that I think there's room for improvement in my build. There are several sites in the UK to shop at:

UK
Microdirect
Aria PC?
Overclockers UK
Misco I need feedback on them... they look good.
Pixmania Just a gadget store but they have some good memory at good prices, and other stuff.
ebuyer
Dabs
http://www.scan.co.uk/

Well, I wouldn't suggest going with 2 video cards anyway. If it is a big deal that they do then they can find a board that supports it easy enough or just say they really want to go that route and I will find one that supports it.

Pounds vs dollars... Dollars are afaik at a trade disadvantage vs pounds so anything I quote in dollars should be easy to get for the same amount of pounds if not significantly less pounds even after VAT and all that.

Newegg... Well, I did mention that they are just example prices and the OP can get stuff from whatever place they find the best deal at.

Anyway, the build itself is pretty solid with a 1x video card setup of the OP's choice and should easily fit in the required budget range no matter how you slice it.

I can't in good conscience suggest a full atx board costing twice as much without knowing that the OP is completely sure they want to go with 2 video cards, especially when I don't feel they should go that route with the budget constraints and performance issues and all that.

As a deluxe board the Gigabyte UD5 is hard to beat at that price. If you want to save some, the ASROCK Pro3 will allow a decent overclock and performs well
http://www.ebuyer.com/267316-asroc [...] d-z68-pro3
Main drawbacks are the number of USB 3.0 ports, no CF or SLI, no fancy heatsinks on the CPU voltage regulation. Oh and the ASRock board has a 2 year warranty while the Gigabyte has 3 year warranty.

As far a game performance they will be identical.

+1.
IMO XFX units are also a great deal for the money..

I'm short on time, is the OCZ unit Sirfa? or FSP? I forget.

The old SXS units, also Sirtech, have been good. I installed a few of them around and never saw an issue.

Actually.... Not to go trolling but.

ModXStream depending on the wattage was made by FSP and the EvoStream was OEM'd by FSP as well.

Ahhh partially right. Yeah, I was just using this source:
http://realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page1373.htm
Didn't have any of the other Modstream models or Powerstream. XD

Could we not get a 60GB SSD boot drive in there somewhere?

A 6950 is probably a fine video card and you can most likely fit it below L1000 as I mentioned before.

The rest of the stuff is probably fine too.

What is the budget at in total without the video card and what does the video card cost in GBP?

Plenty of room for a SSD if you want one then, even with the 6950.

XFX HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Dual Mini DisplayPort HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/267907-xfx-h [...] -695x-cnfc

How's that, Raiddinn?