£950 FULL gaming rig build tech advice

[crcr]

Hey, I've had this computer for about 5 years (Radeon 9000 and AMD 2400+ with 256MB RAM) and I can't really play any new games anymore Therefore I'm speccing a new one!

It'll be a first time self- build with about £900-1000 budget and I need keyboard/mouse and monitor AND OS and all the rest. I'd like a bang for buck mid-high performance machine. Here's my current drawn-up specifications:

[Monitor] 22" Neovo H-W22 V2 Widescreen LCD, 1680x1050, DVI, 2000:1 DCR, 300 cd/m2, 3 ms, Speakers, VESA £152.15

[Keyboard] Saitek PK 02AV Eclipse II Wired Keyboard, BackLit Purple, Red + Blue Keys, USB 1.1/2.0, Black £23.37

[Mouse] Logitech G5 Laser Mouse, 2000dpi, USB 1.1/2.0, 4 Buttons, Silver/Black Retail £31.60

[PSU] 520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty £60.97

[Case] Akasa Eclipse-62 Midi Tower Case - Hi-End w/o PSU - Best Seller £87.88

[Mobo] Abit IP-35 Pro, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £108.68

[CPU] Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail £152.62

[GFX] 512MB MSI 8800GT OC, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1900 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 660 MHz, 2 x Dual Link DVI-I, HDTV £169.16

[RAM] 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18 £86.53

[HD] 400 GB Samsung HD403LJ Spinpoint T166, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms £54.27

[DVD Burner] Samsung SH-S203D/BEBN 20x DVD±R, 12x DVD±DL, DVD +RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM £18.20

[OS] Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £63.91

TOTAL (inc VAT/Deliv): £1,033.87 (All parts from SCAN.co.uk)

This is a bit too much over budget. I was wondering on how to cut the price down. I would appreciate reccomendations for HSF for CPU/GFX. I'm happy with onboard sound(unless I need a sound card?). If any of the components are unreliable/bad cost/performance ratio please say and offer other components instead. Thanks for reading and would be deeply grateful for feedback.

[D.M]

Have you linked your hexus account to your scan account for free delivery?

Also if you check the Scan 'Today Only' section the Abit IP35 Pro is about another £3.00 cheaper.

Could save some money.

As for HS&F for the CPU you cant go far wrong with the Arctic Cooling 7 Pro for price/performance.

Also maybe consider the new Ati Radeon GFX cards, either the HD3850 or HD3870, little cheaper but still great for mid-high range gaming.

The Akasa Eclipse 62 case is a popular case, maybe consider the Antec 900 Gamers case as that too is well received and will also save you some dosh!

Hope some of this helps?

Peace

[D.M]

Forgot to say that if you dont plan on overclocking your CPU then the stock cooler that comes with the 'Retail' version should be enough for you, however if you do want to push the CPU then the AC7pro as i've already mentioned will be good.

Peace

[hovick]

hmm

maybe swap the 2x2gb memory to 4x1gb, should save you £15 or so. Also consider changing the Abit IP35 Pro to the regular IP35. Not that much difference, the non pro is still a great overclocker, thats another 30-40 quid.

I would keep the 8800GT though, just got one, bloody brilliant card

[Lucio]

Looks good

I'd swap the RAM to 4 x 1GB kit and use the money saved to replace the cooler with something better. Also swap out the motherboard for the IP-35 unless you've got a pressing need for the Pro (in my case my pressing need was Scan's stock levels )

[chrestomanci]

I'd swap the RAM to 4 x 1GB kit and use the money saved to replace the cooler with something better.

I would not.

If you go for 4x1Gb then you populate all the slots on the board, so you can't upgrade later without removing some RAM. In the long term I think it is better value to buy the highest density available, so you can upgrade more easily.

I am also planning to build a new system in a few months, and I will definitely be buying 2x2Gb, so I leave two slots free so I can upgrade to 8Gb total ram in a year or so. If I wanted to save money, I would buy 2x1Gb, so I could at least go to 6Gb without wasting anything, and then to 8Gb and only waste 2Gb of Ram.

I know that unused RAM can be sold, or put in another systems belonging to a relative, but you do loose value that way. Also when I say, get the highest density available, I am discounting spending silly money for 4Gb modules when 2Gb ones are available for less than a quarter of the price)

[pepsi_max2k]

just a couple cheaper prices on some stuff...

Exactly same corsair ram @ cclonline.com, £67 or just over £71 shipped on their own:
Buy 4GB Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 from CCL - Online Retailer of the Year 2007

5400 ram could be used instead and you can get 4 x 1gb for about £57 shipped, though all depends on your cpu as to how much difference you'll see, and if you plan oc'ing.

Play.com for the S203, £16 for regular or £17.99 for lightscribe version:
S203
S203N

For vista, if you don't mind 32 bit, ebuyer.com have an educational version (not sure how they verify it, the case doesn't have any documentation to send it but i've not activated my copy yet...) for £55. you can get MS to send you a 64bit CD after for about £8, but that takes you to about your original £63.
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium EDU DVD - Ebuyer


and getting the cpu on ebay shouldn't be too bad, probably cheaper too.

[staffsMike]

I don't think you will need more than 4GB of RAM in this system's lifetime so go with whichever your budget or you prefer

Can't really fault the rest of it.

[Lanky123]

If you need to shave a few quid off, then definitely wait for some good deals on Today Only. Also, check deals on Scan's 'shop offers' and homepage (where that Neovo monitor is currently £140).

Amazon have a Palit 512mb 8800gt for £116 if you're prepared to wait a month or so for it to arrive.

It would help to know whether or not you will be overclocking; if you arent you might save some cash with a cheaper P35.

[D.M]

I don't think you will need more than 4GB of RAM in this system's lifetime so go with whichever your budget or you prefer

Can't really fault the rest of it.

I agree, by the time you need to be running more than 4gb you'll be buying another mobo, cpu and by then DDR3, so 4gb is easily enough.

Also agree with idea about using a lower spec'd abit IP35 mobo if not overclocking.

Peace

[McPhee]

I'd go for something like that, plus an aftermarket cooler for the CPU (either a Sythe Ninja or Arctic Cooler).

I know a lot of people will disagree, but personally i'd rather have quality parts than the highest bang for buck. RAM and Hard Drives are easy and cheap upgrades, so starting smaller makes sense if you can use the money elsewhere. At the end of the day it's another 2GB and another 250GB HDD for £75-ish, less in a few months time.

Popped a 3870 down instead of the 8800GT because of the single slot cooler. The GT i1s noisy, hot running and only gives a few frames per second extra. If you need the performance then put up the cash for an 8800GTS, if not then the 3870 is a cracking card.

[Lucio]

Popped a 3870 down instead of the 8800GT because of the single slot cooler. The GT i1s noisy, hot running and only gives a few frames per second extra. If you need the performance then put up the cash for an 8800GTS, if not then the 3870 is a cracking card.

Have you actually owned an 8800GT or are you simply quoting a random review??

I actually have an 8800GT and it's quiet and runs at a reasonable 75-80 degrees, and it's a single slot design (as are all reference 8800GT's!).

Having used Vista64 for a while now, I personally would keep the 4GB RAM purely because typical performance loads about 1.5GB into memory, going up to 2.2GB odd when I'm running a game or two. It's worth having the flexability and extra capacity for a few extra quid.

[Thorsson]

Totally agreed. 4Gb is best, and good, for Vista, especially 64-bit. Can't see more than 4Gb being needed until M$'s next OS.

DVD - definitely do not get the Optiarc, which is one of the worst of the current DVD drives (probably why it's slightly cheaper). For music/games/films the Asus 1814 is very quiet, for burning the Samsung SH203 can't be beat.

Personally I'd get the modular Corsair for the extra few £s (I see the 520 has dropped £2 since the OP anyway).

[D.M]

Also I would stick a slightly bigger hard drive with 16mb cache as mentioned by the OP, its not alot more but will help system speed.

Peace

[Zathras]

To throw a curveball in here, how about http://forums.hexus.net/pre-built-pc...nit-650-a.html ? For £584 without a monitor, you're getting pretty much the same spec of PC, albeit with Dell components.

[Buzzsaw]

Hmm.
Very similar in spec to my new build - finally got to game with it xmas eve.

[Monitor] 22" Neovo H-W22 V2 Widescreen LCD, 1680x1050, DVI, 2000:1 DCR, 300 cd/m2, 3 ms, Speakers, VESA £152.15
I picked up a 19" widescreen from scan for £111, do you need the extra 3"?
[Keyboard] Saitek PK 02AV Eclipse II Wired Keyboard, BackLit Purple, Red + Blue Keys, USB 1.1/2.0, Black £23.37
Typing on one now
[Mouse] Logitech G5 Laser Mouse, 2000dpi, USB 1.1/2.0, 4 Buttons, Silver/Black Retail £31.60

[PSU] 520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty £60.97

[Case] Akasa Eclipse-62 Midi Tower Case - Hi-End w/o PSU - Best Seller £87.88
You can get a good case for a lot less than this. I'm using an Antec 900 £70
[Mobo] Abit IP-35 Pro, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £108.68
the PRO has very little advantage over the standard IP-35.
[CPU] Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail £152.62
Unless you're planning on doing multiple CPU intensive tasks at once, try a C2D. You'll get one with as much power per core for maybe £100. Quad offers no advantage for gaming, yet. And when it does, the Q6600 will be at the bottom of the list.
[GFX] 512MB MSI 8800GT OC, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1900 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 660 MHz, 2 x Dual Link DVI-I, HDTV £169.16

[RAM] 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18 £86.53
4Gb (1Gb) would also work. I'm using geil, no problems yet, and cheaper than the Corsair.
[HD] 400 GB Samsung HD403LJ Spinpoint T166, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms £54.27

[DVD Burner] Samsung SH-S203D/BEBN 20x DVD±R, 12x DVD±DL, DVD +RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM £18.20

[OS] Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £63.91