Gaming Rig €500 + shipping

..Brian..

1. What is your budget? €500

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming, mostly MMO's like Aion. Maybe Skyrim as well. Aside from that, 24/7 internet surfing, playing music, some photoshopping

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No selling my PC to fund this but have a 1.5TB external Hard Drive so I can hopefully save some money by getting a small internal hard drive

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5a. If yes, what size do you need. n/a

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1680x1050 and no plans to change

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Card reader, dvd rw

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes

8. How can you pay? Any way

9. When are you purchasing? upcoming weeks

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Waterford


I suppose priority is CPU and GPU, I don't know much but i know I want a quad core processor and want the option to have a go of over clocking if i become confident enough! Re GPU, the best I the can afford simply. The budget can be stretched to accommodate this slightly but not much as I want to leave room for shipping.

Thanks in advance!

..Brian..

Is this any good? It's is what I'm coming up with so far by looking through similar threads here. Is everything in order? Can i shave a few quid off anywhere?


Total build cost: €552.80 + €30 shipping
LiteOn iHAS122-18 schwarz SATA €16.68
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W €40.89
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9 €34.67
BitFenix Merc Alpha €32.56
ASRock H61M-HVS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX €40.45
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €188.78
Wintech int.Card Reader 8,9cm (3,5") USB 2.0 inkl. drei Blenden in schwarz, silber €10.43
Sapphire HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express €119.34
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's €69.00

Bonesy.

Looks pretty good only thing I'd change is the mother board to a P67 or Z68 to make full use of the i5-2500k (overclocking) and up the 6850 to the 6870 for an extra 30 euro

Bonesy.

Oh didn't see the 'shave off a few quid' part.. :P

..Brian..

Thanks for you reply. Whats the difference between the 2 below? And would it really be worth the extra €50?

http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=51279&agid=1004

or

http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=53711&agid=1004


there seems to be various versions of the motherboard as well, what should I look for?

Serephucus

Your build above looks good, but I'd swap the motherboard for this:

http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=52888&agid=1601

To allow you to overclock. I'd also maybe swap the 500GB drive for this instead:

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=46113&agid=1145

To give everything a bit of boost in speed. The whole rig is fairly CPU-weighted, but that's ok if you're only playing MMOs, and it's a lot easier to upgrade your GPU down the road than it is to upgrade your CPU and potentially your motherboard. The 2500K will last you for probably three years easily, the 6850, or even 6870, won't.

..Brian..

Total build cost: €626.81 + €30 shipping
LiteOn iHAS122-18 schwarz SATA €16.68
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W €40.89
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9 €34.67
BitFenix Merc Alpha €32.56
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €188.78
Wintech int.Card Reader 8,9cm (3,5") USB 2.0 inkl. drei Blenden in schwarz, silber €10.43
XFX RADEON HD 6850 800M 1GB DDR5 DP HDMI DUAL DVI PCI-E XXX €136.20
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5") €83.99
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX €82.61


Alas it looks like my budget is officially gone out the window. How does this look?
I've changed the MOBO opting for the Z68.

As I have a 1.5TB external HDD here I've replaced the 500GB internal HDD with the 64GB SSD. Will this be enough for windows and 1 or 2 games? Aion is 16 gigs ... ?

Also after reading a load of reviews I've upped the GPU to the XFX Radeon HD 6850, seems to offer a lot of bang for buck, correct me if I'm wrong.

Build €626.18
Shipping €18.99
Total: €645.80


If I start to consider overclocking, (I haven't yet had time to start reading about it) will the above case do? Do I need more room and will I need to start adding cooling systems etc?

FlyingIrishMan

..Brian.. wrote: »

Total build cost: €626.81 + €30 shipping
LiteOn iHAS122-18 schwarz SATA €16.68
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W €40.89
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9 €34.67
BitFenix Merc Alpha €32.56
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €188.78
Wintech int.Card Reader 8,9cm (3,5") USB 2.0 inkl. drei Blenden in schwarz, silber €10.43
XFX RADEON HD 6850 800M 1GB DDR5 DP HDMI DUAL DVI PCI-E XXX €136.20
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5") €83.99
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX €82.61


Alas it looks like my budget is officially gone out the window. How does this look?
I've changed the MOBO opting for the Z68.

As I have a 1.5TB external HDD here I've replaced the 500GB internal HDD with the 64GB SSD. Will this be enough for windows and 1 or 2 games? Aion is 16 gigs ... ?

Also after reading a load of reviews I've upped the GPU to the XFX Radeon HD 6850, seems to offer a lot of bang for buck, correct me if I'm wrong.

Build €626.18
Shipping €18.99
Total: €645.80


If I start to consider overclocking, (I haven't yet had time to start reading about it) will the above case do? Do I need more room and will I need to start adding cooling systems etc?

The case is fine, I have the beta version of it.
But you will need a better cooler than the stock one, the stock one can handle up to around 4.0Ghz, but any more than that is pushing it.
A decent air cooler costs around 30euro, but if you want to do serious overclocking you can spend around 80euro on a water cooling system

For an extra 15euro you could bump up the GPU to the XFX 6870, well worth it.

..Brian..

That's the problem though isn't it, for the tiny amount of "x" extra you can get "y" ..... I've absolutely maxed out my budget to the last and may have to go without heating as some of that was for a gas bill! lol

Will the 64gig SSD drive be enough for Win7 and Aion (16gigs)

And am I good to hit the order button on this now? Is there anything glaringly obvious I should change but doesn't cost any more?!

FlyingIrishMan

..Brian.. wrote: »

That's the problem though isn't it, for the tiny amount of "x" extra you can get "y" ..... I've absolutely maxed out my budget to the last and may have to go without heating as some of that was for a gas bill! lol

Will the 64gig SSD drive be enough for Win7 and Aion (16gigs)

And am I good to hit the order button on this now? Is there anything glaringly obvious I should change but doesn't cost any more?!

You don't need the cooler then, the stock will do just fine.

Win7 64Bit Ultimate is 18GB on a fresh install, then there is updates after that which will take up another few GB but 64GB is enough for Win7, web browsers, a game or two, and other basic stuff.
I have Win7 and all my programs installed on a 64Gb SSD with 25GB of space left.

..Brian..

Will it cause any complications buying and installing the cooler later? I don't think I'm ready to delve into the whole overclocking beast just yet as this is my first build.

FlyingIrishMan

..Brian.. wrote: »

Will it cause any complications buying and installing the cooler later? I don't think I'm ready to delve into the whole overclocking beast just yet as this is my first build.

It shouldn't, it would just be the case of removing the stock cooler and putting in the new one which isn't that hard.

..Brian..

Awesome, now just have to pay stupid rent this week and somehow wait till next Friday to order! Any ideas what the shipping time frame from this German crowd is?

FlyingIrishMan

..Brian.. wrote: »

Awesome, now just have to pay stupid rent this week and somehow wait till next Friday to order! Any ideas what the shipping time frame from this German crowd is?

Around a week. I assume you've never ordered from them before, which means it will probably take a day or two for the money to transfer, but once that happens it will take roughly a week, give or take a day.

..Brian..

Thanks again for the replies.

Is the above RAM ok for overclocking. Doing a bit of reading on it now and that seems to be a factor as well.

Jaafa

..Brian.. wrote: »

Thanks again for the replies.

Is the above RAM ok for overclocking. Doing a bit of reading on it now and that seems to be a factor as well.

From what I understand overclocking ram is not necessary. You just won't see any significant improvement in speed. CPU and GPU overclocking is much more beneficial.

..Brian..

Cool thanks. Was reading some articles about it and they mention overclocking the RAM as well. If I start overclocking and need to add extra cooling with the 450w PSU be up to the task?

For the SSD drive do i need a 3.5" to 5.25" adapter like this?

Also for the card reader do I need this? Although it looks like the case has one 3.5" bay.


EDIT: the more I look at that bracket for the SSD the more it looks like its wrong. What should I use instead?

Serephucus

SSDs don't need anything. I have mine hanging off the cable. You can secure it with screws, velcro, blu-tac, glue, whatever you like. It's not some delicate thing like a hard drive. It's basically just a big USB drive.

If you're going with the Bitfenix Merc, the card reader won't need anything extra; it's got a 3.5 bay on the front.

..Brian..

Velcro, what a rip off! haha

In all seriousness though, cool, nice and low tech. I think I have everything sorted and am ready go, added a 120mm Artic Air fan as well to mount on the front. It was only €2.50 so thought it would be rude not too!

Itching to get this mofo ordered but may wait till Friday as rent got in the way Thanks for all the help guys, will keep ye updated!

..Brian..

Item|Price
LiteOn iHAS122-18 schwarz SATA|€16.68
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€40.99
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€32.50
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€187.99
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€80.84
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€81.59
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€6.32
XFX RADEON HD 6870 925M 1GB DDR5, 2 x MINI-DP, 2 x DVI, 1 x HDMI|€152.98
Cooltek Timaios - Midi Tower, ATX, schwarz, ohne Netzteil|€50.43
Thermalright HR-02 Macho|€33.75
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€703.06


Ok so, this is looking like the final build. All good? Will have to wait another week or two to order due to unforeseen circumstances so there's time to tweek yet.

One thing I have been considering is future proofing re crossfire. If I've understood everything I've read I'll need to upgrade the mobo to this and the PSU to this which adds another €62 onto an already stretched beyond belief budget. Then down the line (maybe as long as a year) I can throw in another 6870 for cross fire. Budgeting €150 for another 6850 that'll be €210 extra (€62 for upgraded MOBO and PSU + 2nd GPU)

The alternative is to go with this set up and then maybe a year down the line sell the 6870 (hopefully for about €100 - have no idea how GPUs hold their value) and spend about €300 on a current high end GPU. Again working out at spending roughly €200 more.

I hope I'm explaining myself ok!

Thoughts?

Eboggles

If you're going to be spending more on a high end GPU, you might want to up the PSU now to 550 watts. The likes of 7870 would be perfect but If you wanted something bigger (GTX 680) and a bit of overclocking a beefier PSU would be preferable.

..Brian..

So your saying upgrade the PSU to 550watts for the above set up now to give it power to upgrade to a high end GPU later on down the line?

Eboggles

..Brian.. wrote: »

So your saying upgrade the PSU to 550watts for the above set up now to give it power to upgrade to a high end GPU later on down the line?

Exactly.

..Brian..

Cool, reckon I can throw another tenner at this thing!

With updated PSU;

Item|Price
LiteOn iHAS122-18 schwarz SATA|€16.68
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€32.50
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€187.99
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€80.84
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€81.59
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€6.32
XFX RADEON HD 6870 925M 1GB DDR5, 2 x MINI-DP, 2 x DVI, 1 x HDMI|€152.98
Cooltek Timaios - Midi Tower, ATX, schwarz, ohne Netzteil|€50.43
Thermalright HR-02 Macho|€33.75
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€52.03
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€714.10

deconduo

That case is out of stock and bad, get something like this instead:
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=52115&agid=631

Cheaper GPU:
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=55103&agid=1004

..Brian..

Yea I was looking at the GPU as well. Is having 2 fans and and being clocked 25MHz higher worth the extra tenner? Will there be noticeable difference? I can try OC it myself if that makes a difference.

Re the case. I thought that would be a decent case as its comes with 4 fans, removable dust filters, 2 USB 3.0 inputs on the front, sideways mounting 5.25" bays, cables management and bottom mounted PSU? Its not much of a looker granted but it's gonna live under a desk. Not too worried about it being OOS now as won't be ordered for another week or so.

..Brian..

Will that PSU run the above system with crossfired 6870's?

I know the linked mobo doesn't support. Just wondering will a 550w PSU handle it?