Advice on new gaming build please!

Lafortezza

I want a new PC for mostly gaming, BF3, Skyrim, etc. Apart from that the usual surfing/movies/downloading etc.
Budget is around 1100EUR after keyboard/mouse/monitor which I will be buying myself. I could stretch this maybe another 100EUR or so if there was a good reason for it.

Opinions on these 24 inch monitors? Is there any great 24inch monitor that should be top of my list for 200-230EUR?
One, Two , Three , Four , Five



I'd like
Able to run upcoming games on high detail.
Fairly future proof for most games for the next few years.
Reliable components with minimum chance of conflicts, I'm not very knowledgeable about diagnosing tech problems let alone fixing them myself.
Windows 7
A big enough case so that I can upgrade in future.

Not bothered about
Case size or case/fan noise.
Case appearance.
Overclocking.


Budget of 1100EUR for everything else in the case, sound card, network card, Win7, etc.
Are dual GFX cards the way to go for gaming these days?


Thanks in advance for any help!

deconduo

Total build cost: €1,074.04 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€183.70
ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX|€132.59
Scythe Mugen 3, für alle Sockel geeignet|€33.88
8GB-Kit GEIL Value Plus PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 CL9|€41.81
Samsung EcoGreen F4 2000GB, SATA II (HD204UI) 8,9cm (3,5")|€62.99
Cooler Master 690 II LITE Midi-Tower - PURE Black Edition, ohne Netzteil|€72.41
Club 3D Radeon HD 6970 Dual Fan, 2048MB GDDR5, AMD Radeon HD 6970, PCI- Express|€292.02
XFX PRO750W Core Edition Full Wired Power Supply|€79.56
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€89.24
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€85.84

I know you said you aren't bothered about overclocking, but now you can get pretty decent overclocks without any effort at all.

I'd generally recommend a 6950 for a build like this, but considering that just the recommended graphics card for BF3 is a 6950 it seems like its time to start stepping up. The build is ready to crossfire as well in the future.

Thanks to monotype for the tabled layout

Monotype

Solid build.
Another board looking very good is the new extreme3. Both have various features the other doesn't have so you'd need to weigh them up.
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?adp=0&aid=50900

deconduo wrote: »

Thanks to monotype for the tabled layout

I just used fluffy's script tweaked a bit but tables seem to act funny on boards for me. They only seem to work if you use the table button. Just putting in the code or even editing the post seems to destroy the table.

Lafortezza

Thanks guys. Couple of questions:

1) Will the SSD make the PC noticeably better for gaming? If I leave out the SSD could some other component be upgraded?

2) Any thoughts on monitors for ~200EUR or are they all mostly the same at that price?

3) Do those components include stuff like network card, a bunch of USB ports, a good quality soundcard?

deconduo

Lafortezza wrote: »

Thanks guys. Couple of questions:

1) Will the SSD make the PC noticeably better for gaming? If I leave out the SSD could some other component be upgraded?

2) Any thoughts on monitors for ~200EUR or are they all mostly the same at that price?

3) Do those components include stuff like network card, a bunch of USB ports, a good quality soundcard?

1) Not for any real fps increase in gaming but for everything else it helps a lot. It speeds up boot times, loading times, transfer times etc. Well worth it to put your OS and your most played games on one.

2) Something like this would be fine:
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30854&agid=1650

3) It will have an ethernet port but no wireless. Plenty of USB ports. It does have a good sound card, but if you are into producing music or something you would want better.

4) Just reading over I forgot a DVD drive :P
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=47362&agid=699

Burgo

I know a few people who have the BenQ you listed and absolutely love it, and they use it for gaming mostly.

Lafortezza

Hi again,
I'm going to order these parts next week, just a couple more questions before I do.

1) I've had a quick look at the CPU cooler and it's install manual (6MB .pdf), would the stock cooler be enough if I don't plan on overclocking? Or is there an alternative cooler with an easier install?

2) I've decided not to get the SSD drive, and I've gone for a slightly smaller hard disk as I have a few portable USB HDs that I use for storage of music/films etc. I've never really used more than about 250GB of storage on my desktop.


So the new list of components would look like:

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€183.70
ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX|€132.59
Alternative CPU cooler?|€XX.XX
8GB-Kit GEIL Value Plus PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 CL9|€41.81
WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA 3 8,9cm(3,5")|€90.99
Cooler Master 690 II LITE Midi-Tower - PURE Black Edition, ohne Netzteil|€72.41
Club 3D Radeon HD 6970 Dual Fan, 2048MB GDDR5, AMD Radeon HD 6970, PCI- Express|€292.02
XFX PRO750W Core Edition Full Wired Power Supply|€79.56
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€85.84
Samsung SH-222AB - DVD±RW|€15.98

3) New HD look ok? Opinions on this system in general? Any obvious bottlenecks I'm missing?

Thanks again for the advice.

deconduo

Get the spinpoint F3, cheaper hard drive:
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28152&agid=689

Stock cooler is fine for light overclocking.

Rest is good.

Monotype

That HD is waaay too dear. Last week it was €20 cheaper and even then it was fairly dear.

The F3 is better value but still €10 dearer than last week!
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28152

For the heatsink, how about the Freezer 13 Pro?
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49255

Hal Emmerich

They definitely install this Cooler Master Hyper TX3 if you wanted to go for it.

Blowfish

Monotype wrote: »

That HD is waaay too dear. Last week it was €20 cheaper and even then it was fairly dear.

The F3 is better value but still €10 dearer than last week!
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28152

Nothing like a little flood for people to bump up their prices.

longshotvalue

You have to get an ssd, it makes a huge differance to the general speed of the pc. Id step down the Graphics Card a bit and put in an SSd, you wont be sorry..

battser

OP I would agree with the prvious posters. I would recommend the SSD over the second graphics cards any day of the week. Crossfire will add feck all to your FPS in gaming. Its overrated big time and if you do get them then you'd need another solid fan or two for the case to omit the serious heat from two cards. One card will run future games for 2 years at least on high. I can't even put into words how good an SSD is. Its the best PC purchase I have ever made I would boldly say!

deconduo

battser wrote: »

OP I would agree with the prvious posters. I would recommend the SSD over the second graphics cards any day of the week. Crossfire will add feck all to your FPS in gaming. Its overrated big time and if you do get them then you'd need another solid fan or two for the case to omit the serious heat from two cards. One card will run future games for 2 years at least on high. I can't even put into words how good an SSD is. Its the best PC purchase I have ever made I would boldly say!

An SSD is nice yes, and I would definitely recommend it. However the rest of your post it total bull****. Crossfire makes a huge difference in FPS, almost a 100% increase on average for a 2nd 6970:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/298?vs=292

The 690 II will handle 2x 6970s without the need for extra fans, adding the second card only add ~10C which is fine.

It would be nice to think a single 6970 will max out games for 2 years, but already BF3 has the recommended settings of a single 6950. Future proofing is important.