New Gaming System - advice wanted

TouchingVirus

I'm building a gaming machine for a friend of mine and have a budget of €1600 max for everything including a case, psu, monitor, keyboard & mouse. He's currently on a Dell laptop w/17 inch monitor that was top of the range almost 3 years ago so I reckon for that money he's gonna get a serious step up

He wants the computer to last roughly the same lifespan as the laptop has (3 years) and would like one that'll play all the games released/coming out soon at HD resolutions . He wouldn't do much of anything else except browsing the internet so that means I can skimp a bit on hard drive storage space (1TB instead of 2TB) and wouldn't burn data or watch blu-rays often so a regular DVD DL writer would cover that.

24" monitor and 8GB RAM with an Nvidia GFX card are a must.

My main issue comes with the big three (cpu/mainboard/ram), and maybe a little help with the GFX card.

I realise the whole Sandy Bridge thing has just landed, is it worth the jump considering the price/offerings of the mainboards at this stage? If not I'll be looking at the i7-950, thoughts? I'm going to assume I'll require SATA 6Gbps ports and USB 3 ports too, if not for now then for later on.

RAM - DDR3, CL9 seems to be the most coming with price ramping up for CL7. 8GB of CL9 can be had for less than 4GB of CL7 in some places - should I go with CL9 or spend more money on CL7. Also, what clockspeed should I be aiming for - 1600MHz minimum I suppose, but is it worth going for more?

GFX - There is much talk about the GTX 460 OC from PNY and it's currently so cheap that an SLI config is enticing but is my money better spent on a more top of the range single card? I don't imagine the user's going to go dual screen any time soon if the helps.


Cheers folks and for what it's worth the user's a bit afraid of overclocking so there won't be much of that done, much to my disappointment

TouchingVirus

Right so, I spent a bit of time today looking about and came up with this:



Yes, it's missing a GFX card but I'm still thinking of 2xGTX 460 OC in SLI at €300 from Pixmania for that. that'll give me €1500 including delivery for both and will leave €100 for a keyboard, mouse and wireless card.

More savings can be made if I take out the bluray drive in favour of the DVD-RW DL writer, drop the idea of a RAID 1 array (and thus the second drive) and by swapping the RAM for XMS3 CL9 8GB for €92 on Pixmania.

I'm a bit unsure about the case, will it all fit?

My reasoning behind going for the 2500K is that it's unlocked, the locked one saves €10. Maybe down the road I can convince the owner that he'll get more bang for his buck if he OCs, or at the very least it'll provide for a better resale.

I went for the Gigabyte board because it offers SLI in x16/x16 and a myriad of SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 whereas the other one I was thinking of (ASUS P8P67 Deluxe) only offers SLI x/x8 and 4 USB 3.0/2 SATA 6Gbps. If I get a better single GFX card I could save some money on the motherboard at the expense of USB 3.0/SATA 6Gbps ports but I'm not sure if it's worth it.


I'm completely open to suggestions/opinions on pretty much everything in that list, it's been a while since I built a machine and there are many who know more than I do

Jonny7

Processor - good choice

ram - timings and speed are not so important unless u will be hardcore into overclocking

harddrive - samsung f3 good choice, but for that money you could easily fit an SSD into the build as well, single most noticeable speed difference to the whole machine

graphics - well ATI have been top of the hill for a year or two now, but if he insists nvidia, then the 460gtx is an option.. or a higher model that'll play everything now but could be sli'd later (eg gtx 470, will max everything on a 24 inch monitor)

PSU - more powerful if going sli and overclocking, maybe 750 watt corsair

motherboard - ferociously expensive.. usb3 and sata meh, not so important, get a better value board without breaking the bank

TouchingVirus

USB and SATA - Meh. Not so important (now), will most likely be important later, as in probably before 2014 which is the minimum timeframe for the next upgrade. If he can push it to late 2014/early 2015 it'd suit him even better.

I might have a word about ATI cards, I've no idea what his "Nvidia only" policy is about.

As for an SSD, have you got some suggestions as to what I should be looking at. Throughtput isn't the be-all and end-all of the hard drive requirements

cian1500ww

A board like the Asus p67 deluxe would be a better choice, it's over €70 cheaper and has all the same features as the UD67 apart from X16 SLI. It runs two cards in SLI at X8 which should be fine anyway. Also, are you going to be using the factory CPU cooler??

The case should be fine, don't know how it would fair out with the bigger aftermarket CPU coolers though.

TouchingVirus

cian1500ww wrote: »

A board like the Asus p67 deluxe would be a better choice, it's over €70 cheaper and has all the same features as the UD67 apart from X16 SLI. It runs two cards in SLI at X8 which should be fine anyway. Also, are you going to be using the factory CPU cooler??

The case should be fine, don't know how it would fair out with the bigger aftermarket CPU coolers though.

Well I left out the likes of the aftermarket CPU cooler, mouse and keyboard because they're all a matter of taste. I only included the case because I know he likes that one - once again it is a matter of taste

I would recommend he keeps the stock cooler until (if?) he gets comfortable with the idea of an overclock. The money can be used better elsewhere IMO, but if more people recommend the aftermarket cooler even for a stock then fair enough, I'll revise my thinking.

If I were to go for an ATI card, what would be the recommendation for crossfire or single card, just so I can offer up a comparison against the Nvidia offering.

If I did introduce an SSD into the mix (and they are costly against the storage offered) what size would be recommended. At the minute the only one that I can see will fit in with the budget is the 64GB ones and it isn't really big enough to run games & OS off, so it'd have to be maintained as an OS drive only, not sure if it's worth the money unless he could put some games on it

The major concern for me as regards the case is the length, cards these days are long and a friend of mine ended up going for a HAF832 after his SLI config didn't fit into his old Antec 900.

TouchingVirus

Just thinking about dropping the mobo down to the ASUS and dropping the SLI in favour of a GTX 570.

The 460 OC offers a grand solution but it's a bit dead-end if we're buying into SLI on the initial build whereas with the GTX 570 if if it's struggling another card can be picked up (cheaper by then) and a 570 SLI will put it back into contention with the GTX 6xx high-end cards (just like the 460 SLI currently beats a single 570).

Of course by the time SLI 570s are an option I'll be stuck with a mobo with x8/x8 SLI instead of x16/x16 but I suppose it would still be adequete going on what cian1500ww said above.

deconduo

The difference between x8/x8 SLI instead of x16/x16 is tiny, you are better off spending your money for performance elsewhere.

You should get a better PSU as well, CM ones aren't great tbh and you probably need a bit more juice.

TouchingVirus

deconduo wrote: »

The difference between x8/x8 SLI instead of x16/x16 is tiny, you are better off spending your money for performance elsewhere.

You should get a better PSU as well, CM ones aren't great tbh and you probably need a bit more juice.

Yup, I reviewed the PSU in the following cart and made a change to the 570 GTX. The 1000W might be overkill though - my other options were the Corsair HX850W (€1461 total), the Seasonic S12D-850 (€1450 but not modular ) or the Corsair AX850 (~€1500, not available on HWV but is modular, made by Seasonic, very efficient etc).

RoyalMarine

€200 beans on a motherboard is crazy imo.

I have an i5 750 OC to 4.0ghz with a corsair h50 and my mobo is the P7H55D-M EVO.

it only cost me €90 inc postage.

it has usb 2 x 3.0
and 2 x 6gbps ports too.

and yes, i know your after a 1155 socket, but prices are crazy i think. performance doesnt increase doesnt justify it!

edit:

also a 24" hd monitor for €219
when you can get 2 x 23" hd monitors for €219

personally, id go with 2 monitors. whats an inch?

TouchingVirus

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

€200 beans on a motherboard is crazy imo.

I have an i5 750 OC to 4.0ghz with a corsair h50 and my mobo is the P7H55D-M EVO.

it only cost me €90 inc postage.

it has usb 2 x 3.0
and 2 x 6gbps ports too.

and yes, i know your after a 1155 socket, but prices are crazy i think. performance doesnt increase doesnt justify it!

edit:

also a 24" hd monitor for €219
when you can get 2 x 23" hd monitors for €219

personally, id go with 2 monitors. whats an inch?

Models/Reviews for the 23" monitors? A dual-screen setup is not on the cards, he doesn't want one.

There is no changing from an LGA-1555 socket I'm afraid, it's a done deal at this stage and was part of the reason the upgrade was decided upon.

Serephucus

Switch out to a HX850 and save a bit of money. You should still be able to run 570 SLI on an 850. I'd second what someone else said and invest in an SSD boot drive. I myself have a 32GB OCZ Onyx drive. A "value" SSD, but a hell of a lot snappier than my WD Raptor was. (Much quieter too. )

aN.Droid

RoyalMarine wrote: »

€200 beans on a motherboard is crazy imo.

I have an i5 750 OC to 4.0ghz with a corsair h50 and my mobo is the P7H55D-M EVO.

it only cost me €90 inc postage.

it has usb 2 x 3.0
and 2 x 6gbps ports too.

and yes, i know your after a 1155 socket, but prices are crazy i think. performance doesnt increase doesnt justify it!

edit:

also a 24" hd monitor for €219
when you can get 2 x 23" hd monitors for €219

personally, id go with 2 monitors. whats an inch?

I would also like to know the specs of those monitors and where to find em :P

uberpixie

TouchingVirus wrote: »

If I did introduce an SSD into the mix (and they are costly against the storage offered) what size would be recommended. At the minute the only one that I can see will fit in with the budget is the 64GB ones and it isn't really big enough to run games & OS off, so it'd have to be maintained as an OS drive only, not sure if it's worth the money unless he could put some games on it

I will chime in with Serephucus and Jonny7 and say an SSD should be in the build....

Fcuk the games, they will load plenty fast on a Samsung F3/F4, Windows is the important thing you want running on a SSD.

Night and day difference running Windows on an SSD: If my SSD died tomorrow I would order a new one without thinking about it....

A SSD is by far the best upgrade I have popped into a pc over the last 10 years, it is the one part I have popped in that a PC really made using the PC "faster" in daily use.

60gig + is all you should need to spec for just to get windows and core apps running.

marco_polo

No need at all for 8Gb of RAM for the purposes you described (gaming and internet), pair it back to 4Gb and you have saved half the price of 60Gb OCZ Vertex 2 SSD already .

Like the others I cannot stress enough that that there is no way a 16x/16x capable board is worth an extra 70 quid. Exhibit A: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/13276-evga-x58-sli-lga-1366-motherboard-review-13.html