Need help buying Gaming PC

[Iron Sights]

Hi guys im looking to spend about £650 or less on a gaming pc

Firstly i already got 22'' monitor and i dont need keyboard/mouse, OS
I want it to last a while so im looking for upgradability
perhaps crossfire in the future when its cheaper

i was thinking:

CPU: amd phenom II 955
MOBO: (not sure)
RAM: 4gb DDR3 (ideally)
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F1 750gb
GPU: HD 4870 1gb
Case: Antec 300
PSU: (not sure how much i need)
DVD: (best value)

Thanks in advance
Also is it better to wait for new dx 11 cards or buy now

[Grymdawg]

I am crap on AMD motherboards so i cant help you there.

i would go for 6 gig of DDR3, i think you can pick 1333mhz up for close to 75quid?

If youre planning to go crossfire then you will need slightly more from a PSU than the normal user. I would probably say a 620w by corsair should do the job. Correct me if i am wrong someone please.

Alot of games barely use direct x10.1, itll be a while before they start using dx11. I wouldnt wait personally.

Hope that helps you out.

[Iron Sights]

i appreciate the help but i think 6gb might be out of my price range but thanks for the help.
By the way is it worth waiting for the new "intel i5s" to come out

[DanceswithUnix]

DDR3 doesn't seem to give any performance improvement, and 4GB of DDR2 is cheap.

34 quid linkey

I have the Antec 300 case BTW, and am very happy with it.

Dominant players in the motherboard industry are Asus and Gigabyte, so anything by them tends to be a good bet. The 790 chipsets seem to be the best still. I would say have a look at those sorts of motherboards and see what features you like the look of. 790 chipset means you are looking at around 100 quid for a motherboard, but frankly with a 125W CPU that is a good idea.

[Infinite]

If you can push your budget to £700 you can easily spec yourself a cheap i7 system

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is what I would get:

HD4870 1gb~ £124

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

Phenom II X4 955BE ~ £182

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...he-125W-Retail

ASUS M4A78T-E motherboard ~ £100

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161328

4gb DDR3 ~ £53

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151244

Antec 300 case ~ £45

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854

Enermax 500w modular PSU ~ £76

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500W-...PeakPower-550W

Samsung F1 1tb hard disk ~ £67

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1TB-S...ache-89-ms-NCQ

DVD writer ~ £16

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151999

If you use the free postage from Ebuyer the total should come to around £672.

This should leave you some extra cash to get an HD4890 form Scan or OcUK instead of the HD4870 1gb:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...-DL-DVI-I-HDTV

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-124-XF

The HD4870 1gb is also cheaper at OcUK:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-091-PC

[Iron Sights]

yeah thats pretty much spot on, thanks i was having trouble finding a good mobo and psu but this looks awesome

[Iron Sights]

seems like reasonable build but i was just wondering would the psu work well if i chose to crossfire in the future

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The motherboard I specced runs the two slots at PCI-E 2.0 8x. The much more expensive 790FX runs at PCI-E 2.0x 16x although TBH it should be more than enough as PCI-E 2.0 is faster than PCI-E and unless you are running a pair of dual GPU cards it should be fine.

I would go for the following PSU if you want more power:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/620W-...PeakPower-680W

This PSU is also meant to be good:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150429

[fezfezed]

I recently built a gaming pc, quite similar to your proposed specs.
CPU: amd phenom II 955 SKT AM3, good CPU, upgraded from a x3 720BE
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...he-125W-Retail
MOBO: Asus M3A-78T (Socket AM2+ but compatible with AM3, S790GX).
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...A-RAID-ATX-VGA

RAM: 4gb Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2, PC2-8500, didnt want to invest in DDR3 just yet, so stuck with these quality ddr2 sticks.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-(...d-CAS-7-7-7-20

HDD: WD 500GB Sata 2 can’t recall what model.

GPU: Summer holiday restraints meaning I’m stuck with the 8800gt for now

Case: Cooler master Stacker (picked of brand new off flea bay for £40), but until I pick that up my gears housed in an Xclio propeller.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...d=&mfe=sidebar
Cooler: Scythe Mugen 2 (fantastic cooler). I was in a rush to purchase a cooler so I got this off flea-buyer for £50, and took like 4 days due to 'super saver' delivery to get delivered. Scan didnt have it in stock at the time, but now they have it for £37.94, which is a bargain!
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Scyth...M2plus-and-940
PSU: Corsair HX Series Modular PSU 520w (again some brand loyalty on my part, but Corsair makes excellent PSU).
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/520W-...-year-warranty


DVD: Anyone will do really, although I’ve been using Pioneers since back in the days.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=877414

As you can see, I built my system around the idea of upgradability in the next year or so, when DDR3 becomes more affordable and we see better gains, I will switch the mobo and ram for a DDR3/MOBO bundle. The graphics card ideally I want a 4870, and I will probably get one when I get back from Saudi.
I’m very happy with the case I got; it’s an absolute steal at the price. I heard from some people that but I have owned an Antec 182 and a Cooler master 690 Dominator that where exceptional cases decent cases for around £60.

[shadowmaster]

Case: Cooler master Stacker (picked of brand new off flea bay for £40), but until I pick that up my gears housed in an Xclio propeller.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...d=&mfe=sidebar

Well this is a small world, my friend was bidding for that today. IIRC you slammed a bid in the last 5 seconds!

BTW I have the same case, its great (and I spent £130 on) and considering you bought it for £40 its an amazing bargain.

[Cistron]

I would go with Intel E5x00 and overclock. There are not many games that profit from four cores yet. You could go for a P45 (or similar) motherboard and DDR2 RAM, since there is no gain from DDR3 yet. Should knock more than £100 off the total price. You might want to invest this into a better GPU instead, as the HD4870 is quite a power hog in idle mode.

I don't see a CPU cooler on your price list. I'd go for a Xigmatek S1283 or maybe a Scythe Mugen 2.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Phenom II X4 955 comes with a great stock cooler!



IMHO I would get a quad core as an increasing number of games are taking advantage of multiple cores especially with so many cross platform games coming out.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Repeat of previous post!! Sorry! Moose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fezfezed]

Yeah thats a good choice actually. If your open to both platforms, then the E500 is a great chip for the price and overclocks well. If your looking to splurge into AMD then I would go with a 720BE which overclocks very well.

I had stock cooler but maybe mine was a little faulty, as it used to make a sort of rattling sound every once in a while

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

TBH, I would go with a quad core since the OP has a decent budget. If they want to go crossfire in the future it will be useful too. Also an HD4870 1gb or HD4890 1gb would be enough if the OP is gaming at a maximum of 1920x1200 or 1920X1080 IMHO.

If the OP wants to save some money they can go with a Phenom II X4 940,an AM2+ motherboard and some DDR2 RAM. However AM3 should have a better upgrade path IMHO.