Advice Required: Gaming Rig

V

Vinyl Richie

Bronze Level Poster
Hi folks,

Sorry to just launch into a new thread, I did have a good browse of some threads before getting this quote! I don't mind admitting I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to PC hardware, hoping I can get some expert advice here, especially with regards to the GPU. I already have a good 24" monitor and Win7. I am a keen gamer although my current PC has restricted what I can play. I'd like my new machine to be able to handle games like BF3 on high/max settings etc. Also to be easily up-gradable with plenty of room in the case for future upgrades.

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX***SPECIAL***

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Price: £885.00 including VAT and delivery.
Click to expand...

I was hoping a new rig would cost me £800 max, that's the high end of my budget, but if needs must I guess I could push to the £885. Any recommendations or comments? I wasn't sure at all about the graphics card, so added the 2GB thinking it would be one of the best...

Thanks,
VR
 
Teaz

Teaz

Godlike
If its for gaming and everyday use, have you consider an AMD system as they very capable as intel for gaming only that they offer a fair price for the system.

The spec you quoted is good for gaming. You may want to go for the non K variant i5 as the the K version is usually for overclocking purposes along with the high speed ram.
 
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
Vinyl Richie said:
I wasn't sure at all about the graphics card, so added the 2GB thinking it would be one of the best...
Click to expand...

If you're only going to be using one monitor for gaming then a 1GB version of the graphics card would be perfectly fine.

And as Teaz said, you could easily drop to the non-k variant of the CPU and drop down to the Samsung RAM if you're not going to be overclocking (which you generally do not need to overclock for)
 
V

Vinyl Richie

Bronze Level Poster
Thanks for your comments. I will only be using one monitor, for the foreseeable future anyway. I dropped the processor down to the 2500 as I don't plan to overclock. Likewise with the RAM and the GFX card from 2gb to 1gb. Drops the price by £40. Thing is there isn't that much of a saving on overall price and if the Kingston RAM and better GPU would give a significant performance improvement then I guess I would pay the extra. Long term investment and all that! Let me know what you think?

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX***SPECIAL***
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Price: £844.00
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
looks good, :)

try and put in a 6950, due to the new range 7000 coming out, the 6950 may have come down in price and be within ya budget.
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Vinyl Richie said:
The 6950 would add £60 onto the price. Do you think it would be worth it? Actually, I just found this site which is interesting...
Click to expand...

Sorry i didnt think it would add that much, personally i'd go for the strongest single gpu you can afford. if you can get the ti version then I certainly would. also maybe worth adding another ti on the configurator thingy to check how much power two 560 ti's would need? would be a nice boast in the future, esp as you already have a compatible mobo.
 
V

Vinyl Richie

Bronze Level Poster
Thanks fella. Think i'll go for the Ti then. I definitely couldn't afford 2 of them, but what I could do is get another one a few months down the line possibly. Appreciate your input, will prob order this badboy in the next day or two, if nobody else has any more suggestions.
 
V

Vinyl Richie

Bronze Level Poster
Oh right, I see what you mean now. 2 of them would require 680w so the 650W wouldn't be enough. I suppose with future upgrades in mind, the 750W would be a better choice! Btw, I hope this motherboard is 'future proof' as well as there being space in the case for future upgrades? As I will definitely be wanting to add/upgrade as time goes on. :)
 
Last edited:
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Vinyl Richie said:
Oh right, I see what you mean now. 2 of them would require 680w so the 650W wouldn't be enough. I suppose with future upgrades in mind, the 750W would be a better choice!
Click to expand...

good job ya checked, ya i'd go for 750 :)

Not trying to be a pain, but if you could push another 20quid you could get a much better case, the cm690 II Will give ya better cable management which in turns gives ya better airflow, important if ya gonna add another 560 ti. I linked a video on post 6 on this thread for the case.
 
B

brulei

Active member
What about this?

It has the Limited Edition graphics card that comes with BF3.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM ENFORCER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti 448 CORE (Ltd Edition Superfast Card)
Free Item
FREE Battlefield 3 with Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 CORE!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE Barracuda SATA-III 6Gb/s HDD, 32MB Cache (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£44)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £910.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
V

Vinyl Richie

Bronze Level Poster
Thanks Tom, I added that case - it looks good.

brulie, a few questions for ya on that spec..

- what is the difference in the motherboard you posted and the one I had selected? Yours is £50 cheaper but I'm presuming not as good?
- why only a 500GB HD? Not sure that'd be big enough!
- as per previous posts, the Kingson RAM and 2500k are more for OC'd machines (I think)
- 650W PSU prob not enough for future upgrades

I do like that 1.25GB GTX 560 Ti though. It is £40 more than the 1GB GTX 560 Ti, but you get Battlefield 3 free with it, which retails around £25. So I think that is decent value. :D

[Edit: Actually, the "Free Item" thing didn't show up on my quote, do we know if BF3 is always included free with this card?]

Question is if I was upgrading in the future and wanted to add a 2nd card like the 1GB GTX 560 Ti, would it be compatible?

Thanks!!
 
Last edited:
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
the p8z68 v lx, you can crossfire but not sli. So stick with the p8z68 v gen 3 mobo.

also the 560ti 448 core will be hard to sli because its OC'd limited edition and you may/probably will struggle to get another for sli.
 
V

Vinyl Richie

Bronze Level Poster
Hi folks, just doing a last check before ordering tomorrow. Have a couple of questions if someone can help. My quote expired so I had to create one again, pretty sure I have everything that I did before, except for some reason there is no 2TB Caviar Black option available to select.. anyone know why?

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX***SPECIAL***
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£87)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND (£12)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £907.00

- the 2500k processor is only £11 more than the 2500. I know people said before that it's really only needed for OC'ing, BUT if it would give the machine slightly better performance then I'd pay the extra, what say you?
- the 2GB GTX 560 Ti is £28 more than the 1GB. Would it perform so much better than the 1GB that it warrants the extra spend? Or would you stretch to the 1.25GB GTX 570 which is £85 (!) more than the 1GB GTX 560 Ti
- are surge protectors needed? do people generally get them with their PC?

Any other comments appreciated.

Thanks!
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
nice spec, it'd stick with that,

Personally with all the new gpu's coming out recently and more soon, I think it would be worth it going for the 570.

Also i'd get an 850w psu for an extra 570 and other extras, hard drives, fans, fan controllers, lights etc, (750w would be enough for two 570's, but maybe not if you wanted to add loads of extra hardware)
 
V

Vinyl Richie

Bronze Level Poster
tom_gr7 said:
nice spec, it'd stick with that,

Personally with all the new gpu's coming out recently and more soon, I think it would be worth it going for the 570.

Also i'd get an 850w psu for an extra 570 and other extras, hard drives, fans, fan controllers, lights etc, (750w would be enough for two 570's, but maybe not if you wanted to add loads of extra hardware)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I think I will go for the 570 tbh. And the 850w. Is my cooling enough for that? And what about the 2500 for £11 more, worth it or not?

Cheers
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Vinyl Richie said:
Thanks, I think I will go for the 570 tbh. And the 850w. Is my cooling enough for that? And what about the 2500 for £11 more, worth it or not?

Cheers
Click to expand...

yeah the cooling will be pretty good in the cm690 II.

Personally I wouldn't bother with the K version unless you wanted to overclock in the future, bearing in mind if you wanted to do that then you would need the titan fenrir evo.

So my advice on the cpu is stick with the I5 2500,and the triple copper cooler. :)
 
V

Vinyl Richie

Bronze Level Poster
Well, I am back. Had to take care of some unexpected financial business :wacko: so needed to put the PC buying on hold. Ready to order now.. but have a couple more wee questions if someone would be so kind to help? So this is the spec I have in mind:

Case: COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor: Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard: ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX***SPECIAL***
RAM: 8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics: 1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Hard Drive: 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
PSU: CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE
Cooling: SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER
Sound: ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Warranty: Silver
Total: £978

Now, if I add the 120GB SSD as a 2nd drive it makes the price £1138. £160 extra, not to mention over my budget. But is it worth it? Or say I left the SSD for the time being and ordered one in a few months, would it be easy for a newbie like me to install?

I also thought about getting the i7 2600 instead of the i5 2500 but that would be £90 extra. Is it worth it, or as I'm only going to be using the PC for gaming + browsing & general use, would I not notice much difference compared to the i5?

Other mega noob question.. I only need a DVI cable to connect GPU to monitor, right? HDMI is for connecting to my tele or whatever?

Thanks! :)
 
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