€1100 Build

spicymchaggis

1. What is your budget? €1100 +/-

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming. Some photography, photo and audio editing and general all purpose computer

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? I have a few 3.5" HDD's

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5a. If yes, what size do you need

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] I have two LG flatron W1942S screens, res 1440 x 900. Prob upgrade these to 2 19" or 20" led screens and also have a 32" LG LED tv screen. Im looking to have to two smaller screens side by side for general use and the tv screen on top for gaming.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Probably but these wouldnt affect my budget, the €1100 is just for the computer. Wouldnt mind some backlit gaming keyboard's / mice. I also have a set of Behringer B2031a speakers as I used to be a sound engineer, making the jump back from Mac to windows after years. Taking that into account I wouldnt mind some advice on good soundcard / speaker setup for music, gaming and movies. I can instantly tell the difference between wav and mp3 and only use wav.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? If it's safe yes, have a habit of modding tech anyways.

8. How can you pay? Visa, paypal and I think my ulster online banking allows online bank transfer

9. When are you purchasing? Mid April to End of April (possibility sooner if funds come through)

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Based in Celbridge but will be building myself as that is half the fun.

Will also need cables / power for 4-6 internal HDD's as I like to keep things seperate such as music, movies, tv shows, photography and backup drive. But will want an SSD as drive for OS.

Any help / comments would be appreciated. Game I have my mind on would be Guild Wars 2 but I'm sure I will end up playing many many more. I am also aware ivybridge is due out the end of next month but not sure if waiting for it will make much of a difference?

kilianmanning

having lurked around here for a good while i think something like this:p

Total build cost: €1,094.49 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €188.78
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9 €34.67
Thermalright HR-02 Macho €33.99
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX €113.38
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse DEFINE R3 Titanium Grey €91.69
Crucial M4 128GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5") €143.84
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €17.84
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 650W €69.86
XFX CORE RADEON 7950 800M 3GB D5 2x mDP HDMI DVI €400.44

somebody else will give you advice on the sound card & speakers. Don't buy a keyboard here because if you buy from hardwareversand it will be in german layout. the 128gb ssd should give you loads of space. cooler is for the overclocking which is very easy to set up by changing the multiplier in the bios & then testing stability with prime95.

spicymchaggis

kilianmanning wrote: »

having lurked around here for a good while i think something like this:p

Total build cost: €1,094.49 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €188.78
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9 €34.67
Thermalright HR-02 Macho €33.99
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX €113.38
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse DEFINE R3 Titanium Grey €91.69
Crucial M4 128GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5") €143.84
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €17.84
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 650W €69.86
XFX CORE RADEON 7950 800M 3GB D5 2x mDP HDMI DVI €400.44

somebody else will give you advice on the sound card & speakers. Don't buy a keyboard here because if you buy from hardwareversand it will be in german layout. the 128gb ssd should give you loads of space. cooler is for the overclocking which is very easy to set up by changing the multiplier in the bios & then testing stability with prime95.

Will this card support two dvi out's for my two smaller screens and a hdmi for my hi-def tv screen?

kilianmanning

spicymchaggis wrote: »

Will this card support two dvi out's for my two smaller screens and a hdmi for my hi-def tv screen?

yes, get a dvi splitter as there is only 1 dvi out, hdmi will be fine

Markd250

Wait a sec, if you want to run three monitors in eyefinity, you will need to use one on a displayport input.

If you just want to duplicate the output, you can use the DVI splitter.

spicymchaggis

essentialy I want three screens. Will have two 19" monitors side by side which I want for my computer work, seperate screens now mirroring and then a 3rd screen aka my hi-def 1080p LED screen on the wall above them for movies and games. Is this possible? They wont be all side by side

Markd250

Should be possible, depending on your monitors. I assume your TV has hdmi. In that case you could run one monitor on DVI, and the other on hdmi - with a splitter going to your tv. If that's your main monitor, it will display on both, so you can game on your TV!

That all depends on your monitors taking both DVI and hdmi.

Hope that makes sense!

(you could just buy one decent 1920x1080 monitor for work and games of course)

spicymchaggis

Markd250 wrote: »

Should be possible, depending on your monitors. I assume your TV has hdmi. In that case you could run one monitor on DVI, and the other on hdmi - with a splitter going to your tv. If that's your main monitor, it will display on both, so you can game on your TV!

That all depends on your monitors taking both DVI and hdmi.

Hope that makes sense!

(you could just buy one decent 1920x1080 monitor for work and games of course)

Not quite following. Will windows pick this up as 3 separate screens under the display settings?

kilianmanning

spicymchaggis wrote: »

Not quite following. Will windows pick this up as 3 separate screens under the display settings?

He means that all of the monitors will each be displaying the same thing. Run one work monitor from the dvi slot (or get a dvi splitter if neither monitors have hdmi & run both of them off dvi.Then just run the gaming tv from the hdmi.
If all of your monitors are supported by hdmi run all of them from hdmi with a hdmi splitter:D

spicymchaggis

So essentially I could have my web browser on monitor one or photo shop while my downloads or something on monitor two and be watching a video through vlc on the HD Tv? I like multitasking. If this isnt possible I may just get a larger main monitor and use the HD TV for gaming / videos.
Thanks for the build. It has the case I had my eye on funny enough, well I'd get it in black. I will take other feedback into consideration of course before I go ahead with it as well

Markd250

So what you will end up with is monitor 1 and TV displaying the same image. If all you want the TV for is gaming, that's ok right?

Using 3 monitors is more complicated essentially.

spicymchaggis

That isnt what I wanted but that would actually suit me grand, what I was thinking was overkill. As long as I can throw games or video up onto the big screen that's perfect. The ram on the build above, that good is there any point going better?

kilianmanning

spicymchaggis wrote: »

That isnt what I wanted but that would actually suit me grand, what I was thinking was overkill. As long as I can throw games or video up onto the big screen that's perfect. The ram on the build above, that good is there any point going better?

8gb is enough for what you will be doing, you could get 16gb but it would probably be a waste of money

spicymchaggis

kilianmanning wrote: »

8gb is enough for what you will be doing, you could get 16gb but it would probably be a waste of money

Sorry I meant brand, would kingston or corsair not be better?

Serephucus

Doesn't really make any odds to be honest. As long as it works, that's about it. Faster RAM, etc. doesn't do anything for performance.

spicymchaggis

Serephucus wrote: »

Doesn't really make any odds to be honest. As long as it works, that's about it. Faster RAM, etc. doesn't do anything for performance.

I know it's splitting hairs but I dont like the look of green circuit boards but would like something that also looks nice.
Any build you would try for that budget?

kilianmanning

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44319&agid=1192

spicymchaggis

Would I benefit much going up to €1200 or €1300?
What way should the OS bet set up on this? Will I need raid and if so any recommendation on a HDD to accompany my SSD.
I'm looking at the Asus Essence STX as well which will not be part of the budget? Any feedback on this? better choices? Looking to order in the next two days
Not using the flatscreen. Going with two IPS Dell monitors

NTMK

spicymchaggis wrote: »

I'm looking at the Asus Essence STX as well which will not be part of the budget? Any feedback on this? better choices? Looking to order in the next two days

The STX is a good audio card i know a few audiophiles that have them and there opinion is that there the best internal SC they've used without going to an external DAC. ive been contemplating getting the stx (if i secure a good mic and headphones) or the xense bundle (if i dont:P)

spicymchaggis

NTMK wrote: »

The STX is a good audio card i know a few audiophiles that have them and there opinion is that there the best internal SC they've used without going to an external DAC. ive been contemplating getting the stx (if i secure a good mic and headphones) or the xense bundle (if i dont:P)

Cheers for that. I want a card that supports 5.1 surround. Any youtube vid of it says stereo only but any online review says 5.1, anyone know for definite?

NTMK

spicymchaggis wrote: »

Cheers for that. I want a card that supports 5.1 surround. Any youtube vid of it says stereo only but any online review says 5.1, anyone know for definite?

Its stereo only unless you buy the xonar h6 (~$80 in the us) only the essense st is compatible with the h6
you could always look into the Xonar d2x (€119) or the Creative sound blaster range.

I dont know much about 5.1 cards so i cant really tell you anymore

spicymchaggis

NTMK wrote: »

Its stereo only unless you buy the xonar h6 (~$80 in the us) only the essense st is compatible with the h6
you could always look into the Xonar d2x (€119) or the Creative sound blaster range.

I dont know much about 5.1 cards so i cant really tell you anymore

its rather confusing. Im reading online that the ST model needs the add-on but the stx has 5.1 as standard and is for express slots.
I think from what im reading here it has 5.1

http://ie.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_Essence_STX/#specifications

NTMK

spicymchaggis wrote: »

its rather confusing. Im reading online that the ST model needs the add-on but the stx has 5.1 as standard and is for express slots.
I think from what im reading here it has 5.1

http://ie.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_Essence_STX/#specifications

OK after looking at the manual it will support 5.1 that runs through a home theatre system but it dosen't support analog 5.1 (I think)
heres the manual (Linky

spicymchaggis

NTMK wrote: »

OK after looking at the manual it will support 5.1 that runs through a home theatre system but it dosen't support analog 5.1 (I think)
heres the manual (Linky

that's perfect, on the list it goes!!!
Just to sort out the rest of the build and possibly order tomorrow

spicymchaggis

any benifit to adding another 100-200 to the build? Any suggestions?

Serephucus

Yes. Change the 7950 to a GTX 680.

ShadowHearth

Serephucus wrote: »

Yes. Change the 7950 to a GTX 680.

was there 7950 in original build? i thought 7950 is a very bad value when you look in to thing like 7870. its better of go 7870 or jump 7970 as with current pricing 7950 is kind of a flop...

+1 680 though, but i would not write off 7970 to, as 7970 perform better in OCed state.

i cant find a damn link to that review and benchmark with hard OC on both cards

spicymchaggis

Serephucus wrote: »

Yes. Change the 7950 to a GTX 680.

Is there much difference above the other card quoted?
Could i possibly ask you to recommend a build for €1300?
Also what way should I set up my system? OS on ssd and programs on a HDD? I would prob need one of these aswell

spicymchaggis

open to and appreciate all recommendations. looking to order tomorrow or thurs

Serephucus

I'm a bit confused as to what specs are at the moment. Can you post what you're thinking of getting as of now? I'll go from that then.

spicymchaggis

Serephucus wrote: »

I'm a bit confused as to what specs are at the moment. Can you post what you're thinking of getting as of now? I'll go from that then.

second post in looked good but then again it's been years since ive built a pc or even looked at the hardware. Moving away from mac and back to windows