£500-£600 Gaming PC

[minibeefer]

Hey guys this will be my first Desktop, I got a taster of PC Gaming with laptop capable of playing mid-end games at 25-30FPS, but not ideal. Now I want to move on to desktop gaming. I'm not very knowledgeable about Desktop hardware brands, especially motherboards, so I hope you guys can help.

Budget Range: £500-£600 including VAT

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Internet Surfing, Word processing, Watching Movies

Parts Not Required: Monitor, Keyboard, Speakers

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Any UK site, preferably one that doesn't charge extra for shipping to Northern Scotland. Not Newegg, as they don't ship here.

Country: Scotland

Parts Preferences: would prefer Nvidia if budget allows, but not a necessity.

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe (would like to have the option open)

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080, 1920x1200

Additional Comments: Looking to play games like Shogun 2, Skyrim, Batman Arkham City, Crysis etc. Not necesarily on highest settings, but at stable framerates without
looking ugly. I also require an OS

Thanks in advance.

 

[tlmck]

Not sure about the shipping thing, but I will use Novatech links for convenience. You can compared to other shops like ebuyer, etc.

CPU - Core i5-2500K - £165.98 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/processors/intelcorei3,i5andi71155socket/bx80623i52500k.html

CPU Cooler for overclocking - £19.98 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/cooling/cpucoolers/cm-rr-tx3e-22pk-r1.html

Motherboard - Gigabyte z68 - £89.99 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/motherboards/intel1155z68chipsetmotherboards/ga-z68x-ud3-b3.html

Ram - DDR3 1600 8gb - £34.99 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-pc/ddr3-pc3-12800/1600mhz/bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00ceu.html

GPU - Sapphire 6870 - £136.99 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/atiradeongraphicscards/atihd6800series/11179-09-20g.html

Hard drive - WD 500gb - £67.98 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/harddrives-internal/sata500gbto1tb/wd5000aakx.html

DVD RW Drive - £13.98 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/opticaldrives/satadvdwriters/sh-s222bbbebe.html

Case - £24.98 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/cases/cases/nov-vulcan.html

PSU - XFX 650 watt - £66.98 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/p1-650s-ukb9.html

Windows 7 64 bit - £77.99 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/software/operatingsystems/gfc-02050.html

Total - £674.86

I had to go over budget a bit to include an overclockable processor, cooler, and a PSU capable of future SLi. The result is a very fast system you do not have to worry about upgrading for a while.

Having said that, if you could drop the overclocking requirement and go with this processor. you would still not have to upgrade for a while. You also would not need the extra CPU cooler above.

Core i3-2100 - £87.59 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/processors/intelcorei3,i5andi71155socket/bx80623i32100.html

New total - £576.49

 

[minibeefer]

Thanks for the build. I might use the I3 due to the price, but will a dual core be enough? Is it worth spending the extra money for the 2500k, is there a large performance difference?

Also will the PSU be enough if I add another 6870 in crossfire down the line?

Thanks again.

 

[tlmck]

The i3 is a multithreaded dual core which basically acts like a quad core. I have one and it is plenty for gaming, and will be for some time to come. There is a sizable difference when the i5-2500k is overclocked. I would suggest getting the i3 now and upgrading later if the need arises.

I got my i3 with the intention of the same upgrade, but I just do not see the need. It is much faster than I thought it would be.

The PSU is of very high quality and will be plenty for two 6870 cards. With the i3 and twin 6870 cards, I predict it will be several years before upgrade is necessary.

 

[metal orient]

I think you missed the case when you made the i3 2100 build as i can only get the build to £601.47 (with P&P and VAT).

That said i'd say it's still a great price, the best i can do on ARIA is get £600.80 (with P&P and VAT). But no real difference aside from a slightly better case and a GTX 560 (as it's currently a little cheaper than a 6870 atm).

 

[tlmck]

I think you missed the case when you made the i3 2100 build as i can only get the build to £601.47 (with P&P and VAT).

That said i'd say it's still a great price, the best i can do on ARIA is get £600.80 (with P&P and VAT). But no real difference aside from a slightly better case and a GTX 560 (as it's currently a little cheaper than a 6870 atm).

I actually subtracted the 2500 and the cooler and then added the 2100. Calculator must have slipped a digit. Oops!

At any rate, I did not go with the lowest end 6870 card. I went with a Sapphire which is the best brand on the AMD side. The 560 is also a good card, just slightly more power draw for equivalent performance. The PSU will still run two of those. Best brands for Nvidia cards are EVGA, and MSI.

edit: Two of either video card will be about as far as you want to go on 650 watts. Any higher card will need a bump up to 750w, and the highest end dual cards need 850w. Here is Tom's video card hierarchy chart for reference. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

 

[minibeefer]

Thanks for the quick solutions guys. tlmck I will use the build you gave me and try and tinker with pricing. I think I will go with the I3 and upgrade later if I need too. Metal Orient thank you for your help and the Aria price.

I think my questions have been answered, and most of the build solved.