£700 Gaming PC Proposed Spec

[AlexPritchard]

I'm just gonna go ahead and use the template from the sticky along with my initial spec which will hopefully give you all the information you need. If not then just tell me what I'm missing and I'll add it in. I basically need to know if this build is compatible and if I've made the right decisions, any feedback you can give is great.

Approximate Purchase Date: This week if/ASAP

Budget Range: approx £700 (not including monitor or additional peripherals)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Games such as Shogun 2, Half-life, Fallout and general usage (surfing web, office programs)

Parts Not Required: Already have OS (Windows 7 64 bit), mainly focusing on the components but don't mind any suggestions for peripherals

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: My links are from ebuyer, but I have no preference.

Country of Origin: UK

Overclocking: Possibly in the future

SLI or Crossfire: Possibly in the future

Additional Comments: This is my first build and I want to be as future proof as possible within budget


Mobo - Asus P8P67 Pro R3 £131.00

CPU - Core i5 2500K £164.29

GPU - Gigabyte HD 6950 2GB £184.61

Case - Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus £54.95

PSU - XFX Pro 750W Core Edition £71.86

RAM - Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz 1.5V £36.27

HDD - Samsung F3 1TB £41.79

Optical Drive - Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA £14.99

Total - £699.76

Thanks in advance

 

[gkay09]

^ Some suggestions -
Mobo -
Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3
- SLI and Crossfire capable,....
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/267504

CASE & PSU - If you want your PC to be a bit future-proof, then get a more powerful PSU and a better case as you can reuse these both for more than 1 build,...
HAF 912 Plus
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/239757
XFX 750W PRO
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/241552

Video card - The Gigabyte HD 6950 is cheaper
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/251205

Rest are fine,... So with the above changes, the total should still be within £700

 

[mdd1963]

I think the 6950(2 gb) is a good choice, very good performance for the money. and, excellent performance when paired with a 2nd card in Crossfire later....

 

[AlexPritchard]

Yea I chose the 6950 because of the ability to flash it to a 6970, so seems like a great choice.

Regarding the case and PSU, I chose that bundle as it seemed like a good deal, I won't be doing loads of gaming and probably will not have two cards for a while so thought the 500W would be sufficient for now. As its so cheap (almost same price as the case you listed) it wouldn't be so bad to just buy a more powerful PSU later when I need it, unless you think that the case is not very good (too small or whatever)? I've read lots of good reviews about it and that price seems just too good to miss.

As for the mobo I didn't notice it didn't support SLI (seems to only be Crossfire) so thanks for pointing that out, the one you linked isn't in stock though so would the Asus P8P67 Pro R3 be a good alternative?

Thanks for the GPU link though, I'll definitely be using that!

I'll probably order today or tomorrow if the new build (with that mobo) would be okay.

I also noticed that none of my links wokred, sorry about that I've updated now and thanks for all your feedback, been very useful indeed.

 

[gkay09]

^ No issues with the case, but the problem is with the PSU,... It is not of high quality and also doesnt have the required power connectors to power a single 6950, also when you unlock the 6950 to 6970, it would need more power and I doubt this would be able to provide that,...

Mobo - Even this would be good,...
Gigabyte UD3P
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-z68x-ud3p-b3-intel-z68-express-s-1155-pci-e-20-ddr3-1333-sata-6gb-s-raid-atx

 

[AlexPritchard]

Ah I see, in that case I will go not go for the bundle then. What do you think about the Antec 300 case, just because it's a little cheaper and I've seen it recommended before. It's not that much cheaper so if you think it's not worth it then I may as well go for the one you mentioned before. For the PSU should I go for a more powerful one now, it'll be at least a year and most likely two before I add in an extra card or OC, or just go for it and not need to upgrade later. I'm guessing the latter (and the PSU you suggested) is the better option but I have seen the Corsair 500W CX Series PSU recommended before, though of course I would need to upgrade it if I wanted to add another GPU or something.

Also what's the difference with that mobo, it's slightly more expensive so is it any better? If it's because it's Z68 then is that necessary AFAIK the main difference with them and the P67s is better transcoding and ssd caching.

Thanks again for your help

 

[gkay09]

^ If you want a cheap yet very good case , then get this one -
NZXT Gamma
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/178287
But it comes with only 1 fan, so buy 2 or more fans, then it would perform as good or better than the above cases,...

PSU - IMO the extra £30 is worth it, so that you wont have to change the PSU if you will be buying 1 more card, also this PSU comes with 5 years warranty, compared to the 2 years from the CX, so it would last for more than 1 build,...

Yes, the Z68 is the newer chipset with those added features,... IF you feel it wont matter you, then get the P67,...

 

[AlexPritchard]

Will I need any other fans with the HAF 912 Plus? And would the price of the fans offset the saving in the case (even if the fans are better quality)? If it doesn't need any additional fans (from what I gather it has two) I'll go for the HAF 912 Plus and the XFX 750W PRO just to be safe for the future.

I also think I'll go for the P67 mobo because I doubt I'll ever need those features, and if I do I'll probably be able to afford a new mobo, by that time Z68 will be outdated anyway as I can't see myself needing it in the next year or so.

Thanks a lot for your help, I'll probably go and buy it all today (I'll update my first post to reflect the final build)

 

[AlexPritchard]

Okay so I've updated my first post with the new spec, but I was just wondering regarding the RAM if I should have two sticks? I have heard mixed views regarding this but from what I can tell the performance increase of two is minimal. I intend to add another later which would bring it up to 8GB but I don't really need that now so should I go for two 2GB sticks?

Thanks and I'd also like whatever feedback you may have on the build, I'm going to be ordering it today or tomorrow.

 

[Voozy]

Ye get 2 x 2gb sticks of ram, somebody told me about it being faster that way in my thread. This build pretty much looks like what im going to be building on the week end