First Gaming Rig Help £800-£1000+

[jordie240991]

Approximate Purchase Date: September 24th - October 24th 2011


Budget Range: £800-£1000+. I say £1000+ because if it is a little over but is highly reccomended i will buy it.


System Usage: from Most to Least Important: Frequent gaming on games such as Battlefield 3, Dirt 3, Crysis 2 & Call of duty 4 - black ops & For occasional video editing in programs such as sony vegas & Adobe after effects.


Parts Not Required: Monitor (21.5" Acer) Speakers, Mouse. Keyboard

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Good and highly reccomended UK sites such as scan.co.uk & microdirect.co.uk


Country of Origin:England, UK

Parts Preferences:Not sure as i am a total noob with parts. A friend reccomended The intel i5 2500k with a gtx 570.


Overclocking:Maybe if needed

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe if needed

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I would be greatful if you guys could help me as i want to start getting more involved with PC gaming.

 

[jmsellars1]

Yeah GTX 570 and i5-2500k are solid suggestions, i would definitely go with those for your needs. I also recommend www.aria.co.uk for parts, i used to use microdirect but i think Aria is better nowadays. Here are my suggestions for your proposed build:

Intel Core i5-2500k - £164.54

Excellent gaming CPU with insane overclocking capability. Nuff said.

2x4GB Corsair XMS3 1600Mhz - £47.99

This is the 1.65v stuff but personally i trust Corsair and would recommend them to anyone. Also, 8GB is more than enough for gaming.

Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H - £104.53

Cheapest Z68 motherboard with SATA III, USB 3.0 and x8/x8 SLI. Good for upgradability.

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - £39.37

Fast, cheap drive with plenty of storage.

MSI GTX 570 - £238.79

Powerful card that will easily max any game at the moment and probably any game for the next few years. Also, anything more expensive tends to be bad value. The GTX 590 and HD 6990 are good examples.

Corsair TX 850 - £95.89

Nice quiet and reliable unit with plenty of power, the XFX one is probably equally reliable and quiet though and it's a lot cheaper. When that is in stock i would recommend that.

Coolermaster HAF 922 - £75.56

Plenty of space for big coolers and graphics cards and the cooling is great.

Total: £766.67 Prices from www.aria.co.uk

Plenty of cash left over there but i really don't see any need to spend any more than that because that will easily meet your needs. It also has good upgradability, when upgrade time comes i would recommend another GTX 570 and/or a good cooler like a Noctua NH-D14. You could then overclock that i5 to ~4.5 - 5Ghz and get a few more years out of it.

If you are determined to find somewhere on your PC to spend the rest of your budget, you could maybe think about a SSD or a Bluray drive. A Bluray drive for obvious reasons and a SSD because it will make your new build that bit more satisfying when it boots and loads programs quicker. I would go for the Vertex 3 60GB or 120GB since theyre among the very fastest SSD's and don't cost a great deal more than standard ones.

 

[Why_Me]

Everything on here from ebuyer is free shipping. This build allows you to add another one of those 570's later on for SLI.

http://www.ebuyer.com/239757-coolermaster-haf-912-plus-case-rc-912p-kkn1 £68.33 inc. vat
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus Case

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/700-950W/850W+XFX+Core+Edition+80PLUS+Bronze+Power+Supply+?productId=45335 £79.99 inc. VAT
850W XFX Core Edition 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply

http://www.ebuyer.com/267506-gigabyte-ga-z68a-d3h-b3-z68-socket-1155-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-z68a-d3h-b3 £109.36 inc. vat
Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 Z68 Socket 1155 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard

http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-core-i5-2500k-3-3ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80623i52500k £163.71 inc. vat
Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor

http://www.ebuyer.com/245376-cooler-master-hyper-212-plus-socket-775-1156-1155-am2-1366-am3-processor-rr-b10-212p-gp £26.36 inc. vat
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus Socket 775, 1156,1155 AM2, 1366, AM3 Processor Cooler

http://www.ebuyer.com/264750-g-skill-8gb-2x4gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ripjawsx-memory-kit-cl9-9-9-9-24-1-5v-f3-12800cl9d-8gbxl £51.08 inc. vat
G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V

http://www.ebuyer.com/173804-samsung-hd103sj-spinpoint-f3-1tb-hard-drive-sataii-7200rpm-32mb-cache-hd103sj £40.98 inc. vat
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache

http://www.ebuyer.com/220986-sony-optiarc-ad-5260s-24x-dvd-rw-dl-sata-optical-drive-oem-ad-5260s-0b £14.99 inc. vat
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW & DL SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/NVIDIA/NVIDIA+GTX+570+Series/EVGA+GeForce+GTX+570+%22HD%22+1280MB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+%5B012-P3-1571-KR%5D+?productId=45237 £251.99 inc. VAT
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 "HD" 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

http://www.ebuyer.com/259863-microsoft-windows-7-home-premium-w-sp1-licence-and-media-1-gfc-02050 £81.50 inc. vat
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English

Total: £888.29 inc vat

 

[jordie240991]

Thanks to both of you for the help xD These 2 builds have certanly gave me a massive idea as to what kind of rig i could get with my budget =P Keep them coming!

 

[jmsellars1]

Well basically theres not much argument versus i5-2500k/8GB RAM/Z68 x8/x8 Board/850W PSU at this budget, i'd say the only things you would need to think about about which GPU to buy, which HDD to buy, whether to get a SSD and which case to buy and basically the GTX 570, Spinpoint F3 and HAF 922 look perfect for this budget/usage.

 

[Why_Me]

Thanks to both of you for the help xD These 2 builds have certanly gave me a massive idea as to what kind of rig i could get with my budget =P Keep them coming!

Another option is to replace the psu with the XFX 750w, and replace the 570 with two 560 ti's. That also fits your budget, or like jmsellars pointed out, you could also add an SSD. Lots of ways to go.

 

[jordie240991]

Another option is to replace the psu with the XFX 750w, and replace the 570 with two 560 ti's. That also fits your budget, or like jmsellars pointed out, you could also add an SSD. Lots of ways to go.

What would be the better option?
Option 1:
Get another GTX 570 for SLI

Option 2:
Have 1 GTX 570 and then buy either a 60gb or 120gb SSD?

 

[Why_Me]

What would be the better option?
Option 1:
Get another GTX 570 for SLI

Option 2:
Have 1 GTX 570 and then buy either a 60gb or 120gb SSD?

You can flip a coin on that one and not lose.

Myself...I play FPS games...I have never played a MPPORG or whatever they are called, nor have I nor never will I play a RPG game. So I would opt for the 560's in SLI myself for frame rates. More frame rates per second...smoother the game plays and easier to kill other online peeps.

But again you can't go wrong with either choice imo.

 

[jmsellars1]

Option 1: Even higher framerates

Option 2: Faster boot times and load times

Personally i'd go for the SSD because youre already going to have high enough framerates to easily max any game at ultra high anyway and this way you get the fast boot/load speeds too. Especially with a really fast drive like a Vertex 3.

EDIT: And you still have space for another 570, just get it when you actually need it.

 

[jordie240991]

Thanks for all the help guys. I think i will go for 1 GTX 570 with a 120gb SSD. Any reccomendations for SSD's?
Also, my friend said that he will overclock my i5 for me to at least 4ghz. So i was wondering if the stock CPU cooler will be good enough for this overclock or will i need an after market cooler? ( Air only ) If i do is there any reccomended ones? After this final question is answered i will pick a list of parts and see what you guys think =] Again, thanks for all the help you all have given me =P

 

[Why_Me]

Thanks for all the help guys. I think i will go for 1 GTX 570 with a 120gb SSD. Any reccomendations for SSD's?
Also, my friend said that he will overclock my i5 for me to at least 4ghz. So i was wondering if the stock CPU cooler will be good enough for this overclock or will i need an after market cooler? ( Air only ) If i do is there any reccomended ones? After this final question is answered i will pick a list of parts and see what you guys think =] Again, thanks for all the help you all have given me =P

I would stick with that CM 212+ cpu cooler. It comes with decent thermal compound and stock intel h/s suck. Look @ Aria PC, and Ebuyer for the best price on those. As far as the parts go...just pull from jmsellers build and the one I posted for the ones you like.

 

[jmsellars1]

I think you can manage 4Ghz on stock but yeah the 212+ is a good cooler. Think you can reach at least 4.5 on that. Vertex 3 is the best SSD imo, VERY fast and not too pricey.

 

[jordie240991]

I think you can manage 4Ghz on stock but yeah the 212+ is a good cooler. Think you can reach at least 4.5 on that. Vertex 3 is the best SSD imo, VERY fast and not too pricey.

I heard from a friend not to go with OCZ as they have a lot of problems and to go with corsair instead. Is this true? and if so what problems can i expect to have with OCZ?

 

[jmsellars1]

I haven't heard of any problems with OCZ personally, in fact the Vertex 3 series seem quite highly recommended. Check out some reviews to be sure.

 

[jordie240991]

Ok, so with the help from this topic i have decided on my build! Thanks for all your input =P

Intel Core i5-2500k

2x4GB Corsair XMS3 1600Mhz

Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB -

OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD - Solid State Drive - VTX3-25SAT3

MSI GTX 570

Corsair TX 850

Coolermaster HAF 922

CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus Socket 775, 1156,1155 AM2, 1366, AM3 Processor Cooler

Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW & DL SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English

I will be pricing this up closer to the time of purcase but it should be just over my budget.
How would you guys rate this config as a first build? Are there any parts which i can improve on?

 

[jmsellars1]

No, it looks like an awesome build. It should max any game with ease and has good upgradability and a SSD.

 

[jordie240991]

No, it looks like an awesome build. It should max any game with ease and has good upgradability and a SSD.

=] I am so excited to build this! I am currently on a laptop that struggles to run team fortress 2 so this rig will be absolutely amazing for me for many many years.

 

[Why_Me]

=] I am so excited to build this! I am currently on a laptop that struggles to run team fortress 2 so this rig will be absolutely amazing for me for many many years.

I would drop an extra 5 quid on the 1.5v RAM. The board manufactures all recommend low voltage RAM (1.5vor less) for these 1155 mobo's and for a reason. Any RAM that needs more / higher voltage to get it's rated speed and timings means not so good RAM. If your going to do it, do it correct. No reason to take a chance of buggering something up just to save 5 quid when your dropping this kind of money on a new build.

 

[jordie240991]

I would drop an extra 5 quid on the 1.5v RAM. The board manufactures all recommend low voltage RAM (1.5vor less) for these 1155 mobo's and for a reason. Any RAM that needs more / higher voltage to get it's rated speed and timings means not so good RAM. If your going to do it, do it correct. No reason to take a chance of buggering something up just to save 5 quid when your dropping this kind of money on a new build.

Thanks for the advice and i will certanly take it. Could you please give me a link to a good 8gb kit?

 

[Why_Me]

Thanks for the advice and i will certanly take it. Could you please give me a link to a good 8gb kit?

Any CL9 2x4GB RAM 1600hz kit/set. Preferably (and in no particular order) Gskill, Corsair, Mushkin, Kington, Patriot. I linked to a set in that build I posted up above.

 

[jordie240991]

Intel Core i5-2500k

G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V

Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB -

OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD - Solid State Drive - VTX3-25SAT3

MSI GTX 570

Corsair TX 850

Coolermaster HAF 922

CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus Socket 775, 1156,1155 AM2, 1366, AM3 Processor Cooler

Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW & DL SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English

 

[Why_Me]

Nice build m8 !