£1000 ($1590) budget Gaming PC build advice please :)

Forum Systems : New Build £1000 ($1590) budget Gaming PC build advice please :)

Approximate Purchase Date: This month

Budget Range: £800-£1000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Gaming, Gaming, Browsing the net.

Parts Not Required: Monitor

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Open to any recommendations

Country: UK

Parts Preferences: Nvidia, Intel, AMD/ATI, XFX, ASUS, Corsair (Any well known company really)

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: N/A

Hey all. I used the stickied template "How to ask for new build advice" above as you can see.

Basically I don't know what to choose, I want the very best gaming PC I can get for £1000 but I don't know what motherboard/PSU, case/fans to go for...I have a few graphics cards in mind and RAM, but for the rest i'm clueless so I would love some recommendations from you experts as to what to go for

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Add a reply

I just built a rig for under around $1500 using alot of the advice i got from here and couldnt be happier. I can rip though any game and im maintaining a steady 55-60 fps on battlefield 3 on ultra 1080p.

Case - Antec 1100 - $130
PSU - Corsair 850watt - $130
Mobo - Asus P8Z68-V Pro - $204
CPU - i5k 2500k - $160
GPU - Evga gtx 580 sc - $509
HDD - Seagate 1tb - $130
SSD - 64 gb crucial m4 - $100
Drive - Sony DVD - $16
Fans - XIGMATEK - $10x 4 = $40
RAM - 8gb kingston hyper x - $50
OSS - Windows 7 64bit - $100

Total = $1570 US

So you still got 20 bucks to play with.

Not sure about prices in UK but i bought all my stuff from microcenter and newegg.com

Message edited by neal0790 on 02-08-2012 at 04:59:10 PM

Reply to neal0790

Reply to hellfire24

for gpu i would suggest an xfx/sapphire/powercolor 7970/7950, performs well more than gtx580 1.5gb or 3gb

but if your going for more budget since you will be adding a monitor to your budget, then the gtx560ti 2gb from msi will perform well, if not get the 6950 2gb/6970 2gb whichever you can grab, any of those puppies can easily break through any game at 1080p, of course if you want wolves like the 7970/7950/gtx580 then it's another story but performance waise at 1080p the 7970/7950 is a bit much even a gtx560ti 1gb is more than enough

------------------------------ [Intel i7 3960X][Noctua NH-D14][MSi X79A-GD65 8D][Sapphire HD 7970 Dual X 3GB (X3)][G.SKILL Ripjaws Z 8X4GB 1600Mhz][SeasonicX-1250 80PLUS Gold][Cosmos II][Corsair Vengeance K90][Roccat Kone+][Roccat Alumnic]
Reply to Tavo_Nova

for US$1500 and not needing a monitor you can build one hell of a game rig!
proc i5 2500k (games do not use HT, so avoid the i7 proc)
hyper212+ or Evo (I took an Evo and threw on 2 enermax fans; super quiet, and rediculously effective)
ASUS or ASRock mobo of choice with a z68 chipset
8 GB of Ram of choice in a 2x4GB config, DDR3 1600 (really, you will not use more than 4-5GB for gaming, but at least it is room to grow)
120GB SSD, 60GB for OS and oft used programs, 60GB for HDD cache
1+TB HDD for games, music, videos, etc. Use the SSD cache to get better game load times from it
As you do not want to SLI I would suggest getting a GTX580 or AMD 7970, both are ~$5-600 USD, and will be the single most expensive part in the whole rig.
PSU: If not OCing (though you should a little) then go with the suggested 600W power supply. I like the new OCZ ZS series supplies, but there are many quality ones on the market. If you are OCing a lot (past 4GHz) then I would step it up to a 750-800W, anything larger than that is purely for multiple high end GPU builds.
Get a cheap DVD burner, or a middle of the road blue ray player, but don't waste a lot of money on it.
Get the case you want. I love the look of the new Corsair cases, and the HAF series looks pretty sweet as well, but cases are very much an asthetic choice, so pick one that strikes your fancy and that has good reviews from sites like newegg and anandtech (tom's dosnt often review cases, and their reviews tend to be pretty shallow).
Get a solid keyboard and mouse of choice, and possibly a headset to match. Be sure to throw in a gamepad/controller if you are doing any racing games.

Aproximate Prices (USD)
CPU $220
Cooler $25
Mobo $150
RAM $40
SSD $200
HDD $100
DVD $20
Case under $200
GPU $550
PS $75
Keys&Mouse $75

Total: ~$1655
I dont know what kind of deals you have available in your neck of the woods, but I know out here we have Microcenter where you can get the 2500K for $180, plus Ram gets super cheap when rebates are offered. There can be a ton of savings on SSDs with rebates and promotions, and same goes with power supplies as well, so you should have no troubble at all getting that price down below $1500. Also the 580 may be overkill, and you can get a 570 (I LOVE mine) for $300 and not know the difference unless you are running multiple monitors, or running above 1920x1200 on your single monitor.

For aftermarket fans, and cooling (other than the hyper212). Wait until you have your build completed and see if you need anything extra after that, or if a particular fan is simply too loud. After identifying your problem spots then consider extra cooling options.

Hope it helps, sorry I cannot be more specific!

Reply to CaedenV

well i do suggest he gets a 560ti 2gb from msi or a 7970 from sap or xfx, well there really isn't much difference with single monitor besides things you won't notice when you game besides the fps.

it's self satisfaction about having the best gpu or bragging rights and other stuff

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecial [...] ctId=43216 - Core i5 2500k 3.3Ghz Unlocked

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecial [...] ctId=47105 - ASUS P8Z68-V-PRO GEN3 Mobo

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Com [...] ctId=48230 - Powercolour Radeon 7950 3GB

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Com [...] ctId=44336 - 8GB Mushkin Blackline 1600Mhz CL9 DDR3 RAM

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Com [...] ctId=45334 - XFX 750W 80+ Silver Rated PSU - Modular

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Com [...] ctId=47248 - Coolermaster Hyper212 EVO CPU Cooler

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecial [...] ctId=47825 - 1TB Hitachi Deskstar 7200RPM HDD

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecial [...] ctId=48197 - Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced Black Mid Tower

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecial [...] ctId=48004 - Samsung 22x DVD/RW

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Sof [...] ctId=38272 - Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit

Total - £1043.00 Including Shipping

This is for Raw gaming performance - No real emphasis on the Case or the Hard Drive Speed etc. - The 2500k will overclock to 4.5Ghz and the 7950 Should overclock to about 1000mhz.

If you want something prettier or more suited to general use, I suggest you get a 6950 GFX Card instead of a 7950 and replace the Case and/or Get an SSD

Message edited by deadjon on 02-08-2012 at 05:20:12 PM

------------------------------ Core i5 2500k @ 5.02ghz 1.51v 8 Hours Prime95 Stable (@ 4.6Ghz 24/7) w/ Phanteks PH-TC14PE, ASUS P8Z68-V-PRO , 8GB Corsair Vengance White, Sapphire R7870 2GB @ 1250/1450, WD Caviar Black 640GB
Reply to deadjon

@All,OP don't want to overclock so why K cpu?why z68 mobo?a 600~650w is enough so why more power?

Reply to hellfire24

hellfire24 wrote :

@All,OP don't want to overclock so why K cpu?why z68 mobo?a 600~650w is enough so why more power?

Quote :

Overclocking: Maybe

So yeah - he said Maybe.

Z68 Mobos are expandable, new and will have continued support from Intel and the manufacturers much longer than P67

A Quality 750W PSU is for an expandable system. This will power 2 7950s in case he wants to buy another one down the road.

i know pal but he can save money by going with H67 and lower psu and same performance.

Reply to hellfire24

hellfire24 wrote :

i know pal but he can save money by going with H67 and lower psu and same performance.

Yeah and where does that leave him when he wants a quick performance boost?

When someone is spending £1000 on a PC one of the premiums they should always pay for is future proofing.

A quick upgrade 1 year down the line, an extra 7950, or an Ivy Bridge CPU - Or both.

Instead of having to build an entirely new system.

I could've easily stuck with my old Thermaltake Case and 550W PSU back in 2008 - But I upgraded to an Antec 1200 and a CP-850 PSU. When it came to upgrade time almost 3 years later, All I did was whack 2 GTX 460s in there and OC'd the Sh*t out of em. Then 1 Year after that, whacked a 2500k, ASUS Mobo and 8GB of RAM in there. OC'd the Sh*t out of those. And now im getting a Radeon 7950 and OCing the Sh*t out of that. Oh and look. Im still using the same PSU and the same Case from 2008. Excellent.