Gaming PC - £800 (ish)

[Henno]

Hi all, im new here and close to ordering a pc from PCS Im looking at something which will mainly be used for gaming and i had set myself a budget of £800. I have gone over this initial budget at a push with the spec below but dont want to push the price any higher really. Im not looking to overclock. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 460 - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE Need For Speed™ World Starter Pack with any Nvidia® GTS450 or above!
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 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£72)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 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
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £881.00 including VAT and delivery.


One thing im not so sure about is the case. It might seem strange to some of you but im not too keen flashy lights etc in cases so was looking for something more basic (and also quiet). I dont want to go over the £69 priced cases either. I wasnt sure if some of the plainer cases would have enough airflow/cooling needed for a PC like this so ive been leaning towards the COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE. Is this a good choice? Ive been reading some reviews that say it only comes with 2 fans, but a 3rd at the top would improve it a lot. I did read that PCS do install additional fans if needed? ... am i safe with this case?

Thanks in advance for any feedback

 

[Tom DWC]

This is looking good but I would drop the RAM down to 4GB and use the money saved here to upgrade the graphics card to an NVIDIA 5 series model, such as the GTX 560 Ti.

Regarding the choice of case, airflow and temperatures aren't going to be a cause for concern on a system at stock levels. Any of the tower cases should be absolutely fine.

If you're not a fan of the LEDs then they can always be disconnected.

 

[JSG10]

How about this:


Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE - a good case by all accounts
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H67-M LX SI (NEW REV 3.0): M-ATX, USB 2.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, 2 x PCI
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB) - 4GB is enough for any game for a while and RAM is very easily upgradable and is always getting cheaper and better.
Graphics Card
1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - DX® 11, 3D Vision Ready - A far superior and more powerful GPU than the GTX460. Should last for quite a bit longer gaming wise
Free Item
FREE Need For Speed™ World Starter Pack with any Nvidia® GTS450 or above!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm) - Kept the Black drive but if you want to save a few quid you could change to a Green drive and not actually notice much performance difference.
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£72)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155/1156 STANDARD CPU COOLER - Stock cooler, more than sufficient if you're not planning on overclocking. If you want it as quiet as possible stick with the Copper cooler but a bit pointless IMO given that you're not going for a "silent" case
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 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
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE - Just download MSE and use Windows firewall
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5) - VERY important!
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days

Price: £884.00 including VAT and delivery.


Edit: Also took out the 52 in 1 card reader. I've used mine maybe 5 times maximum in a few months and each time I could have easily just used a USB cable to my camera. Saves a few £ and by not having it less dust will get into your case. I've found it to attract quite a bit of dust through the small gaps around it. Irritating really.