Help: Gaming Build - £1,000 Budget

[Loader]

Hi there,

I've been out of the PC building game for about 5 years now. Last thing I remember the 7800GTX was the best GFX card ever! I now have no idea what on earth I'm looking at...

After some research I've decided to go for something like this:

ASUS Crosshair V Formula 990FX Socket AM3+ 8 Channel audio ATX Motherboard
AMD FX-4 4100 Black Edition 4 Core 3.6Ghz Socket AM3+ 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V
Seagate 500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6Gb/s Barracuda Hard Drive 7200RPM 16MB Cache
LiteOn iHBS112 12x BD-RE with DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Blu-Ray Drive - OEM Black
Antec TruePower New 650W Modular PSU
XFX HD 6970 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Dual DP Out PCI-E Graphics Card
OCZ 60GB Agility 3 SSD - 2.5" SATA-III - Read 525MB/s Write 475MB/s 80,000 IOPS
Samsung SyncMaster S24A350H LCD LED 24" HDMI Monitor

Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP

Budget Range: £1,000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Case

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: www.ebuyer.com, www.scan.co.uk

Country: U.K

Parts Preferences: AMD / ATI

Overclocking: Don't care

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 22"+

Many thanks,

James

 

[AdrianPerry]

Is there any reason you haven't chosen a Z68 motherboard and i5-2500k?

Far better than any current AMD combinations. Especially in terms of gaming performance.

Even the i3-2100 will out game the FX-4 4100 from the Benchmarks I've seen.

Not to mention getting a better upgrade path from the SandyBridge build.

 

[Loader]

I used to always go for AMD's, that's the only reason I went for it...

I also wanted the AMD so that I could crossfire in future if I wanted to.

Will that i5/Z68 work with everything else?

 

[AdrianPerry]

I used to always go for AMD's, that's the only reason I went for it...

I also wanted the AMD so that I could crossfire in future if I wanted to.

Will that i5/Z68 work with everything else?

i5/Z68 will also allow SLI and Crossfire. (Not all cheaper boards support SLI, but I'm fairly certain they all support Crossfire).

Your going to find considerably more performance from the i5-2500k and the option to over-clock as well raises the performance bar even higher still

A popular, budget motherboard choice is the ASRock Extreme3 Gen3. It supports both SLI and CF card set ups, at a very reasonable price.

 

[Loader]

Thanks for the info... I always thought Crossfire was AMD only (at least I think it used to be!).

I've changed the above to:

Asus P8Z68-V PRO Z68 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard

Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor

Asus GTX 560 Ti Battlefield 3 Edition 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card

I changed the GFX card as this is a little cheaper, yet still performs.

Any good?

 

[rmpumper]

A couple of points:

1. ASUS Crosshair V Formula is a waist of money (I have the version IV myself and regret buying it when I could have bought a good mobo for 1/2 - 2/3 of the price).

2. FX-4 4100 sucks monkey balls - you would be better off with Phenom II X4 960T (~same price)

But the best thing to do would be to get a cheaper mobo and i5-2500K.

 

[AdrianPerry]

Thanks for the info... I always thought Crossfire was AMD only (at least I think it used to be!).

I've changed the above to:

Asus P8Z68-V PRO Z68 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard

Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor

Asus GTX 560 Ti Battlefield 3 Edition 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card

I changed the GFX card as this is a little cheaper, yet still performs.

Any good?

Solid build, and very similar to my own. However, if budget allows, stick with the 6970. You'll find a fairly good (worthwhile) improvement using the 6970 over the GTX 560Ti.

GTX 560Ti (from the benchmarks i've seen), will struggle to run BF3 maxed out at 1920x1080 and only achieve around 25-27fps unless overclocked. That being said, the GTX 560Ti is one heck of a card to over-clock and can perform at stock GTX 570 levels.

Basically I'm saying it comes down to budget, but the 6970 will perform better if its within price range.

 

[Loader]

Many thanks.

I'll see if the missus will let me dip into the wedding fund *cough*...

2 final things:

1. Is there a good Sandy Bridge explanation anywhere that someone less techie can read and understand?

2. Is there a points/reward system on this forum so I can give you some points?

Many thanks again,

James