Good day chaps. Building a rig for my girlfriend and thought id ask your advice for a bit more detailed tweaking, since you guys have been my go-to guys for computers for the last 6 years Its mainly going to be used for gaming, primarily WoW/SW:TOR plus some FPS games like FEAR3 and TF2. Its also going to be used for a lot of photoshop and video editing since she's an arts major, and this is where I have no idea how to tweak it since ive only ever built PCs for gaming. The specs ive got here are more than necessary for the games shes going to be playing, but i want the computer to remain decent for quite a long time, since i dont know whats shes going to start playing in the future.
Approximate Purchase Date: 3 weeks from now.
Budget Range: ~£900
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, photoshop, some video editing
Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, speakers, OS
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: www.scan.co.uk is my go-to place, they're local so i dont have to pay shipping and its always handy to have them there if something goes wrong.
Country: UK
Parts Preferences: I've gone for AMD chipset and mobo simply because thats what im familiar with, but Im not bothered.
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
So first the big three:
MSI 1280MB GeForce GTX 570 Twin Frozr III Power Edition OC NVIDIA Graphics Card - £273.08
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1280mb-msi-gtx-570-twin-frozr-iii-power-edition-oc-40nm-4000mhz-gddr5-gpu-770mhz-shader-1540mhz-plus]http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1280mb-msi-gtx-570-twin-frozr-iii-power-edition-oc-40nm-4000mhz-gddr5-gpu-770mhz-shader-1540mhz-plus]http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1280mb-msi-gtx-570-twin-frozr-iii-power-edition-oc-40nm-4000mhz-gddr5-gpu-770mhz-shader-1540mhz-plus
Ive gone all out of the graphics card, since its top priority that the computer be able to run anything on the highest settings, and continue to run anything on the highest settings for years to come.
AMD CPU FX Series 4100 Black Edition Quad Core Processor Bulldozer - £88.08
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/10-cashback-amd-fx-4100-black-edition-orochi-core-s-am3plus-36ghz-8mb-total-cache-ht-3200mhz-95w-ret
Its been my experience that the CPU rarely becomes the bottle neck in gaming performance, so ive gone with something somewhat cheaper to free up the budget for the graphics card. But as I said above, im not sure if photoshop is going to demand much more CPU performance, so i could go for something better here.
[Edit]Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 £82
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-970a-ud3-amd-970-s-am3plus-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-(x16)-atx
If ill be honest I dont really know how to pick out a motherboard, I honestly cant tell the good ones from the crap ones, so I just picked the one that had the slots I needed and went for something that looked quality. Would especially appreciate feedback on this item.
The secondary stuff:
EditCorsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CAS9 1.5V CML8GX3M2A1600C9B - £37
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-vengeance-lp-cerulean-blue-pc3-12800-(1600)-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-15v
EditXFX Pro 550W Core Edition 80Plus Bronze - £53
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-psu-xfx-pro-series-core-edition-p1-550s-ukb9-85-eff-80-plus-bronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-fan-at
23.6" Acer LCD Monitor Full HD with HDMI ET.UG5HE.019 - £123.89
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/236-acer-g245hqbid-led-full-hd-monitor-hdmi-dvi-vga-1920x1080-2ms-300cd-m-800001-black
23-24" screens are ideal for gaming imo, so i went with a mid-range one. Again, not sure how to tell the good ones from the crap ones so feed back is appreciated.
And the minor stuff:
2TB Samsung HD204UI Spinpoint F4EG, SATA 3Gb/s, 5400rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9ms, NCQ - £103.44
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb-samsung-hd204ui-spinpoint-f4eg-sata-3gb-s-5400rpm-32mb-cache-89ms-ncq
2TB seems a bit excessive, so if i have to cut back id start here.
Seagete 500Gb 3.5" Barracuda Hard Drive 7200rpm 16MB Cache - £59.98
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb-seagate-st500dm002-barracuda-sata-6gb-s-7200rpm-16mb-cache-85ms-ncq
Smaller but faster hard drive to boot the computer from and run apps.
SATA 22x DVD Writer SAMSUNG SH-S222AB/BEBE - £13.67
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/samsung-writemaster-sh-s222ab-bebe-22x-dvdr-12x-dvdr-dvdplusrw-x8-rw-x6-sata-black-oem
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus, Black Chassis - £62.27
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-haf-912-plus-black-mid-tower-case-w-o-psu
Im using a coolmaster on my own PC and im quite pleased with it so i decided to go for one here.
Total - £917.83
The choice of parts comes mainly from looking at a ready-made gaming PC thats roughly in our price range, and then building on from that template, so none of these choices are set in stone. So if you feel that having an entirely different GPU-CPU-Mobo set would be in my best interest feel free to suggest it. Other than that id appreciate feed back on the more indepth technical stuff that im not too familiar with, for example my choice of RAM, the compatibility of the components, the quality of the PSU etc.
Thanks in advanced guys
Approximate Purchase Date: 3 weeks from now.
Budget Range: ~£900
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, photoshop, some video editing
Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, speakers, OS
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: www.scan.co.uk is my go-to place, they're local so i dont have to pay shipping and its always handy to have them there if something goes wrong.
Country: UK
Parts Preferences: I've gone for AMD chipset and mobo simply because thats what im familiar with, but Im not bothered.
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
So first the big three:
MSI 1280MB GeForce GTX 570 Twin Frozr III Power Edition OC NVIDIA Graphics Card - £273.08
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1280mb-msi-gtx-570-twin-frozr-iii-power-edition-oc-40nm-4000mhz-gddr5-gpu-770mhz-shader-1540mhz-plus]http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1280mb-msi-gtx-570-twin-frozr-iii-power-edition-oc-40nm-4000mhz-gddr5-gpu-770mhz-shader-1540mhz-plus]http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1280mb-msi-gtx-570-twin-frozr-iii-power-edition-oc-40nm-4000mhz-gddr5-gpu-770mhz-shader-1540mhz-plus
Ive gone all out of the graphics card, since its top priority that the computer be able to run anything on the highest settings, and continue to run anything on the highest settings for years to come.
AMD CPU FX Series 4100 Black Edition Quad Core Processor Bulldozer - £88.08
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/10-cashback-amd-fx-4100-black-edition-orochi-core-s-am3plus-36ghz-8mb-total-cache-ht-3200mhz-95w-ret
Its been my experience that the CPU rarely becomes the bottle neck in gaming performance, so ive gone with something somewhat cheaper to free up the budget for the graphics card. But as I said above, im not sure if photoshop is going to demand much more CPU performance, so i could go for something better here.
[Edit]Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 £82
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-970a-ud3-amd-970-s-am3plus-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-(x16)-atx
If ill be honest I dont really know how to pick out a motherboard, I honestly cant tell the good ones from the crap ones, so I just picked the one that had the slots I needed and went for something that looked quality. Would especially appreciate feedback on this item.
The secondary stuff:
EditCorsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CAS9 1.5V CML8GX3M2A1600C9B - £37
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-vengeance-lp-cerulean-blue-pc3-12800-(1600)-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-15v
EditXFX Pro 550W Core Edition 80Plus Bronze - £53
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-psu-xfx-pro-series-core-edition-p1-550s-ukb9-85-eff-80-plus-bronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-fan-at
23.6" Acer LCD Monitor Full HD with HDMI ET.UG5HE.019 - £123.89
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/236-acer-g245hqbid-led-full-hd-monitor-hdmi-dvi-vga-1920x1080-2ms-300cd-m-800001-black
23-24" screens are ideal for gaming imo, so i went with a mid-range one. Again, not sure how to tell the good ones from the crap ones so feed back is appreciated.
And the minor stuff:
2TB Samsung HD204UI Spinpoint F4EG, SATA 3Gb/s, 5400rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9ms, NCQ - £103.44
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb-samsung-hd204ui-spinpoint-f4eg-sata-3gb-s-5400rpm-32mb-cache-89ms-ncq
2TB seems a bit excessive, so if i have to cut back id start here.
Seagete 500Gb 3.5" Barracuda Hard Drive 7200rpm 16MB Cache - £59.98
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb-seagate-st500dm002-barracuda-sata-6gb-s-7200rpm-16mb-cache-85ms-ncq
Smaller but faster hard drive to boot the computer from and run apps.
SATA 22x DVD Writer SAMSUNG SH-S222AB/BEBE - £13.67
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/samsung-writemaster-sh-s222ab-bebe-22x-dvdr-12x-dvdr-dvdplusrw-x8-rw-x6-sata-black-oem
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus, Black Chassis - £62.27
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-haf-912-plus-black-mid-tower-case-w-o-psu
Im using a coolmaster on my own PC and im quite pleased with it so i decided to go for one here.
Total - £917.83
The choice of parts comes mainly from looking at a ready-made gaming PC thats roughly in our price range, and then building on from that template, so none of these choices are set in stone. So if you feel that having an entirely different GPU-CPU-Mobo set would be in my best interest feel free to suggest it. Other than that id appreciate feed back on the more indepth technical stuff that im not too familiar with, for example my choice of RAM, the compatibility of the components, the quality of the PSU etc.
Thanks in advanced guys