Building a gaming rig.

[hsn_]

Hi there guys, I'm currently in the middle of figuring what I want to buy for my new gaming build, it's practically my first build so I'm not as pro as some of you guys out there. I want to build a decent gaming build with an ideal budget of £500.. but this budget may fluctuate between £500 to £600. // I haven't been up to date recently, ideally I will be upgrading this build so this will be the starting point for me.

Does anyone have any good recommendations? Spec me your recommendations

Thanks,

Hassan.

[staffsMike]

Case and PSU
Coolermaster Cm-690 ~£50
Corsair 450W VX Or 400W Enermax LibertyECO PSU Or Xigmatec 650W Modular ~£50 - £65

CPU RAM and Mobo

Option 1
AMD Phenom II 920 ~£165
Asus 780G mobo ~£60
Crucial Ballistix PC6400 ~£40

Option 2
AMD 7750 X2 ~£60
Mobo and Ram as above

Option 3
Intel E5200 ~£60
Biostar P45 mobo ~£90
Crucial RAM ~£40

Option * + Xigmatec tower cooler or Scythe Ninja II ~£30

Media
Samsung or Western digital single platter 320GB HDD ~£35
LG Dvd writer (seem to be quietest for me) ~£15

Graphics

Depends on the resolution of you monitor but a good bet is

ATi HD4850
or
Nvidia 9800GTX+

Both ~£120

Just for gaming either option 2 or 3 will serve you best as there is no need for quad core.
If your needs extend past gaming onto multi tasking while gaming for example, the quad core could very well be the way to go.

The case and PSU options all leave room for upgrading to an extent. The 650W Xigmatec will be best for multiple GPU, the Enermax or Corsair I would say best for noise and stability. My personal choice would be the Enermax due to it's modular design, and choice of cables (including 2 PCIe power's).

I would also probably get a 640GB Western Digital hard drive but a 320GB single platter will be just as good performance.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Do you have a copy of an OS like Vista or XP BTW??

Check this thread out:

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...se-kind-6.html

What we specced for PaulBrum is a good all round computer.

You can save money on not buying the wireless card,going for a 780G motherboard and going for the Phenom II 920 instead of the Phenom II 940. The £60+ saved could be used for a copy of XP home or Vista Basic 64bit.

[PaulBrum]

Check this thread out:

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...se-kind-6.html

What we specced for PaulBrum is a good all round computer.

You can save money on not buying the wireless card,going for a 780G motherboard and going for the Phenom II 920 instead of the Phenom II 940. The £60+ saved could be used for a copy of XP home or Vista Basic 64bit.

Mine should be up and running early next week - I'll let you know what It's like for gaming once I've got Crysis and FarCry2 up and running

Paul

[hsn_]

hey cheers for the suggestion guys! .. What you think of my mobo choices, I was thinking of getting the P5Q Deluxe or either the MSI P45 Platinum, what do you think of either? and would they be a good choice for a really sick gaming rig! ...

[hsn_]

Oh yeah what you guys think of my choice of case.. I'm thinking of Cooler Master CM 690.

[hsn_]

Hey my mates are saying I should go with the ASUS P5Q Pro as a mobo, anyone else think that is a decent one to go with?

[mat-ster]

This has to be your best selection for that price range

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...buy-feb-2009/2

[hsn_]

Cheers for the post those who posted, and from the link you just gave, I adjusted the setup I was contemplating. Here is what I've drawn up from reading what you guys have posted, and from what some friends have adviced me.

Case + PSU // Coolermaster Black CM690 Case With 520W Modular // £112.54
CPU // Intel Pentium Dual-Core, E5200 // £57.37
GPU // 512MB Palit 9800 GT, PCI-E 2.0 // £89.57
Memory // OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 // £43.57
Storage // 500 GB Samsung HD502IJ Spinpoint F1 // £43.76
Heatsink // Thermalright Ultra-120A 120mm // £26.44
DVD Drive // Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE // £15.24
Operating System // MS Vista Home Premium 64bit // £88.03
Motherboard // Asus P5Q PRO // £108.08

Monitor // 19" Acer V193wab Black Widescreen LCD // £85.99

Total = £670.59

It's a pretty budget pc, but I plan to upgrade everything in the near future, I just want a rig that can play all the latest games on max settings without a problem with good performance.

What do you think of this setup and if any advice/suggestion please feel free go give it, I always appreciate it.

Kind regards,

Hassan.

[Ciber]

Hey my mates are saying I should go with the ASUS P5Q Pro as a mobo, anyone else think that is a decent one to go with?

You could save £50 by using this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148802...roduct_reviews
or this mobo: http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=925069


For gaming I would say a better graphics card is more useful than 4gb RAM, so save £20 by getting 2gb: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119279 or this: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...html?OCZ-2GBPT

Then with the money saved you could get a much better graphics card, such as a 4850: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s....html?NOV-4850 or http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146705

I might think about a better CPU on that budget such as an E7300: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...tiplier-Retail £97, but for games I would get a better GPU over everything else.

Hope that helps

[hsn_]

Hey thanks for that, I was going to initially get a 4850, but cause of the budget constraints I opted for a cheaper 9800 GT, but if I can save money on RAM, then I'll opt for the 4850 .

Also, is the mobo your suggesting good for oc'in?.. I don't mind the mobo if it saves me money, 'cause this will be like my base gaming rig, so I'm thinking if a get a cheap but good mobo now, it will last me for a while till I decide to change the mobo.

[Ciber]

Yes both motherboards overclock well I believe. Recommended by custom PC mag and others

Check out these threads on budget blaster PC builds:
http://www2.custompc.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=261752
http://www2.custompc.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=295229

[hsn_]

Hey, what is more bang for buck, the E5200 or, E7300? .. ideally my rig will be upgraded to Quad-Core later on, so sticking with Dual Core for now.

[Ciber]

The E5200 is probably more bang per buck as it's £30 cheaper.

[hsn_]

Cheers mate,

Oh and it the heat sink I opted for nice? Personally I want my rig to be as cool as possible, whilst being as quiet as possible.

[hsn_]

Also I opted for this monitor initially:

19" Acer V193wab Black Widescreen LCD

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/19-Ac...70001-DCR-VESA

but I saw this alternative for slightly cheaper and seems better, but not too sure.

ACER P193W/19 Wide TFT 5ms 2000:1

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/...&sourceid=3266

What would be a better buy? and maybe you guys have other suggestions when it comes to monitors?

King regards,

Hassan.