Work / Gaming Build

Fussgangerzone

I use my computer for work, and would like to get back into pc gaming.

I'm a web developer, so I don't have any crazy hardware requirements on that end, but I would like to have a few years of upgrade-free gaming, or as long as possible.

Some obvious omissions which I'm going to salvage from my old rig include the dvd drive, wireless network card, decent speakers, mouse and keyboard.
EDIT: And I like the look of this monitor: Samsung 27" P2770FH but is the res high enough for games?

Is this a sensible rig, or is a bit unbalanced? I built my own six years ago, but with help, so I'm a novice (though I'm up for learning). What would you do differently?

Also I considered using an SSD to boost performance, but after reading around, I think the performance boost isn't that great for the difference in price, and that we're a few years before they offer an advantage for anything other than lightweight mobile computing, as far as the average consumer is concerned. Is that the case, or am I talking out of my hat?

Screenshot of cart attached.

nVital

If I had a budget like yours, I'd go further than the 5770. The 58xx seem to be red hot. Pixmania have the 1GB 5830 for an extra €28.

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4928257/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-5830-1-gb-gddr5.html

Tea_Bag

Anything other than intel i7's run on double channel ram, so 4gb of ram will be much cheaper and work at the same speed, ie go for 4gb or 8gb of ram, but 4 should be plenty unless you render massive pictures in photoshop etc.

id change the graphics card to a GTX 460 1gb / ATI HD 6850 for that money.

the GTX 460 will eat gaming on that monitor no problem.

Tea_Bag

nVital wrote: »

If I had a budget like yours, I'd go further than the 5770. The 58xx seem to be red hot. Pixmania have the 1GB 5830 for an extra €28.

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4928257/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-5830-1-gb-gddr5.html

shamelessly stolen from bargain alerts:

Axe Rake wrote: »

For orders over €150

From 25th until 29th(Inclusive) of October.

Code: H10IE

use code for €10 off pixmania

Monotype

+1 to more on the graphics card. The GTX 460 768MB is only a little more than that 5770 and considerably better. If you can stretch to the price of a 460 1GB, 6850 or 5850 then even better again. Avoid the 5830s.
I'd take the TX650 over the PSU you have.

RAM: What Tea bag says.

Motherboard: Take a look at the 890GX series. Better a lot of areas over the 790FX.
For example - http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=31644
If you think you'll definitely be getting multiple cards, maybe go for the 890FX, but the 890GX boards are also very capable.

Solitaire

€635 including shipping. Don't you need a HDD though? :p

Fussgangerzone

This is all very edjamactional, thanks for the advice. I'm going to see what I can come up with at lunchtime and post it here again.

It definitely looks like I'll be dropping back to 4gb ram anyway, and beefing up the graphics.

Fussgangerzone

Solitaire wrote: »

€635 including shipping. Don't you need a HDD though? :p

<facepalm>
Good point, I left that one out. I have about 500gb in my current box which I'll move over, as well as 2tb external for media/backup.

It's 6 years old, might it be worth my while upgrading, or have hdd's progressed much?

In the bundle you suggest you use Intel. Do you find than AMD, or would you change preference depending on the bundle?

nvus

Depending on your mobo choice you should also look at the nVidea GTX 450's in SLi ! cheap as chips on the scale of things n it might open up the possibility to go with more than the one monitor.

Monotype

6 years old? Did they have 500GB harddrives then? Speeds have roughly doubled since I got my 4/5 year old 250GB drive, so you should definitely get a new drive if it's more than a year or two.

Fussgangerzone

Monotype wrote: »

6 years old? Did they have 500GB harddrives then? Speeds have roughly doubled since I got my 4/5 year old 250GB drive, so you should definitely get a new drive if it's more than a year or two.

Well, really it's two HDDs. The larger of which is maybe 2 years old. So I suppose it would make sense to boot frrm the newer one, and relegate the old one to a supporting role until I need to upgrade my storage, when it might find a home in a low-spec second computer. Or a recycling depot.

Fussgangerzone

I changed the case to NZXT Whisper, because I'd like a quiet case, and it looks like a decent line, Solitaire pointed them out.

I went for the GTX 460 for graphics, it's a bit of a jump in price, but it seems to benchmark well, so I should get a few years out of it. Cheers TeaBag.

I changed up the board to the MSI 890 gsxm, at monotype's recommendation.

Comparing the TX650 and the Amazon 80Plus 550, they both look like good, quiet psu's. I think I'll go for the 550, because it's a bit cheaper, and has more connectors.

What do you folks think?
And thank you for your advice

****
Dangit, uploaded the first spec by accident, changed now

the untitled user

Curiosity led me to have a quick look at the Whisper, and frankly I wouldn't go for it. A couple of reviews suggest it's not half as quiet as the name suggests, but more worryingly the main compartment has no intake fan (wtf?!), only an exhaust. A high end graphics card could find itself starved of air.

Jonny7

Just want to add that I personally think the i5 760 (as per solitaires suggestion) is a tad better than the AMD 965

I've been staring at countless benchmarks for over a year now and even though I have the AMD myself I think the 760 is just a better chip

Not as hot, a little faster for gaming and the overclocking scaling is better (the 760 at 4 ghz seems to be much faster than the 965 at 4ghz)

As for HDD, the 1 tb Samsung F3 is pretty much the best and seriously cheap at the mo - 50 something euros

Graphics card? yeah 460GTX is great but check the new 6850 and 6870 benchmarks

Still.. the PC you have specced is nicely fast anyway

ps - did you consider either of the 6 core amd chips?

Fussgangerzone

the untitled user wrote: »

Curiosity led me to have a quick look at the Whisper, and frankly I wouldn't go for it. A couple of reviews suggest it's not half as quiet as the name suggests, but more worryingly the main compartment has no intake fan (wtf?!), only an exhaust. A high end graphics card could find itself starved of air.

Yikes, you're onto something there. Hmm, maybe something from Antec? Could you recommend a good value quiet case that won't cook chips?

Fussgangerzone

Jonny7 wrote: »

Just want to add that I personally think the i5 760 (as per solitaires suggestion) is a tad better than the AMD 965

Hmm, the internet says you're right, and with the board Solitaire suggests, there's no major price difference.

Jonny7 wrote: »

As for HDD, the 1 tb Samsung F3 is pretty much the best and seriously cheap at the mo - 50 something euros

That's too good to pass up...

Jonny7 wrote: »

ps - did you consider either of the 6 core amd chips?

I hadn't really, I've been told a lot of programs, games in particular, don't typically utilise all 6 cores, so the gain doesn't justify the cost, yet. If I wanted to go "ultimate ninja" I might have.

Monotype

That's DDR 2 RAM.

Solitaire

I never siad anything about the old Whisper, I was talking about the Hades

the untitled user

Fussgangerzone wrote: »

Yikes, you're onto something there. Hmm, maybe something from Antec? Could you recommend a good value quiet case that won't cook chips?

Tbh, I'm not sure. A good quiet case will have a layer of sound insulation, but that seems to be difficult to come across at the sub €100 price bracket, and in those that do air flow seems to be an issue.

Off the top of my head though a few guys here have gotten the Fractal Design R3 and had positive things to say about it. Cheaper again is the Coolermaster Sileo 500 but I know little about it. Another decent case would be Antec P183 but it's a bit more expensive.

Of course you needn't necessarily get a case with sound insulation. A gaming case with a fan controller could do the job if you don't mind bumping up the fans when gaming.

Fussgangerzone

Hmmm, now I've specced a build that I feel fairly confident will do me for a few years, and upgrade well enough when it comes to it.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. For your consideration: