New gaming build - £1000 to £1600 budget

[davely]

I personally think you're nuts for spending that much money on a PC and not buying an Intel SSD.

How much is one of those... couldn't see myself spending £250+ on one, for just 20 seconds faster bootup?

I play games mostly, I don't think I'd install games to an SSD drive due to read/writes of little bits of data?

[nightkhaos]

How much is one of those... couldn't see myself spending £250+ on one, for just 20 seconds faster bootup?

I play games mostly, I don't think I'd install games to an SSD drive due to read/writes of little bits of data?

You didn't have an SSD in that spec? Hmm didn't notice that. They cost about £170, and believe me, they are worth it. The one you want is the 80GiB X25-M from Intel.

Also, and again I didn't notice your HDD (just noticed the Megahalems and case to be honest), you should get 2x of these (where did the 1.5TB revisions go! They were much better!) for storage, in RAID 0.

You were paying £268 for what would been 2TB of storage in RAID 01 (what I would recommend for 4 drives), now you are paying £279 for 2.08TB of storage with RAID 0 and an SSD.

In fact if it wasn't for my tendancy to handle large media files, I would personally get an SSD.

[narz]

But otherwise, pretty much what I was considering so far... except maybe a better moniter, like the HP LP2475W. Anyone know where we can get that cheaper?

Just curious... what makes that HP LCD better then the cheaper Samsung one he listed?

[nibbler]

Just curious... what makes that HP LCD better then the cheaper Samsung one he listed?

Panel type. The samsung one is a Twisted nematic panel and the HP is a more expensive one (E-IPS or pva or something).
Personaly I have absolutely NO problems with my dell TN panel 24".

[nightkhaos]

Just curious... what makes that HP LCD better then the cheaper Samsung one he listed?

The HP panel is S-IPS, and has much better color-definition, input-lag, grey2grey, and... well I could go on, but it might take me a while. That is one of the few moniters worth the extra expense over a standard TN moniter.

Others I would recommend are my own, a 24" S-PVA, £400, or the Dell 22" 2209W E-IPS panel, £220, last time I checked the prices. All 3 of these moniters, including the HP, will be worth the extra when compared to the Samsung.

The Samsung one should be fine with good calibration, correct lighting conditions, and provided you have an understanding of it's viewing angle, but even then the S-IPS will have a much better picture.

When you're spending as much as Dave on one a computer, I recommend spending the extra and getting a better moniter. I would not tell someone to spend another £300 on a moniter just for the kudos. Gamers, althrough generally spend a lot on their rigs, like to save money where possible, and expect to get what they pay for.

[nightkhaos]

Panel type. The samsung one is a Twisted nematic panel and the HP is a more expensive one (E-IPS or pva or something).
Personaly I have absolutely NO problems with my dell TN panel 24".

Nothing wrong with TN. I have however found that almost everyone I hang out with in the gaming scene prefers an S-PVA, S-IPS or E-IPS panel to a TN. But as with anything, YMMV.

[davely]

I've made another revision, i'll be purchasing it at the end of the month when I know about the gfx card situation... added an SSD, increased internal storage to 3Tb.

The games I'll be playing are Supreme Commander, Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty: World at War and Empire Total War. (Made over £4000 playing supcom lol =P)

I like to buy a big system then 2-3 years later do it again. Don't have time to be bothered with researching upgrades.

The budget is over, but I haven't really got one, just don't like wasting money.

As for the monitor, i already have a samsung, i like it :-) And I can't see myself saying the HP is worth that £300 more?



Ok so this is the latest revision:

CPU - £194.99
i7 920 2.66ghz, 8mb cache 20x ratio
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161171

CPU Cooler - £65
Hydro series H50 high performance water cooler

Mobo - £191
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5, Intel X58, Sok 1366, PCI-E 2.0, DDR3 1066/1600/2000, SATA II, ATX

Sound - £42
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Soundcard - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/121761

Case - £152.79
Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos case (great reviews)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142276

SSD HD - £171.12
80GB Intel, SSD, X25-M, MLC-Flash, 2.5", 1 x SATA 3Gb/s, Read 250MB/s, Write 70MB/s
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/80GB-...-s-Write-speed

HD - £161
3 x 1TB Samsung HD103SI EcoGreen F2, SATA 3Gb/s, 5400rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1TB-S...ache-89-ms-NCQ

GFX - £399
EVGA GeForce GTX 295 Co-Op FTW 1792MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card (Single PCB)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-114-EA

Memory - £96.59
Patriot Viper 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Triple Channel kit, CAS 8-8-8-24 Timings
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...tml?PAT-6GDDR3

PSU - £113.56
Corsair 750W HX Modular PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164950

Monitor - £206
Samsung 2433BW 24 inch Monitor TFT LCD 1000:1 300cd/m2 1920 x 1200 5ms VGA DVI
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150970

Optical Drive - £50
LiteOn IHOS104-37 4xBlu-Ray, 8x DVD Reader OEM inc Software

Case Fan £12
2x 120mm Coolermaster silent internal case fan 22db

Operating System - £149
Windows 7 Professional

Mouse - £30.68
Microsoft Habu Gaming Laser Mouse, 2000dpi, USB 1.1/2.0, 7 Buttons, Black
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/118546

Keyboard - £31.32
Microsoft 9VU-00004, Reclusa Ultimate Keyboard, USB 1.1/2.0, Wired, Black + Blue Neon Lighted keys
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127208


TOTAL: £2062

[pav]

Also, and again I didn't notice your HDD (just noticed the Megahalems and case to be honest), you should get 2x of these (where did the 1.5TB revisions go! They were much better!) for storage, in RAID 0.

Are the F2 EcoGreens better than the standard F1's which are £44.99 +Vat on Today Only...

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...-budget-2.html

[nibbler]

I'm on a strict budget for my new build (£900 ideally) so my monitor ahd to be good AND cheap. I reckon for £175 i got a pretty nice one and the viewing angles really are fine. I got the Dell s2490W and its great

[jim]

That's a much better build, you will be very happy PC owner I suspect.

[marshalex]

the intel SSD is on the scan today only page for £160 and should be there until around lunchtime monday. awesome looking system, wish i had money again, sigh

[Vimeous]

I'd be concerned you've only got 80Gb of fast storage there.

EcoGreen's are 5400rpm drives that won't match 7200rpm drives. It'll be alleviated if you keep the games on the SSD but I'd blow 80Gb away with a proper W7 install, all my apps and with WOW eating huge chunks of space.

Also with 3 drives what RAID were you considering? RAID0?
EcoGreen's are best kept for storage and archival so suit RAID5 best. There are better drives such as the WD Black and Sammy's F1's for RAID0 use.

[davely]

I'd be concerned you've only got 80Gb of fast storage there.

EcoGreen's are 5400rpm drives that won't match 7200rpm drives. It'll be alleviated if you keep the games on the SSD but I'd blow 80Gb away with a proper W7 install, all my apps and with WOW eating huge chunks of space.

Also with 3 drives what RAID were you considering? RAID0?
EcoGreen's are best kept for storage and archival so suit RAID5 best. There are better drives such as the WD Black and Sammy's F1's for RAID0 use.

Good point...

3 types of drive below, 1xOS hard drive, 2xgames/app hard drive and 3xstorage

Build amended:

SSD HD - £171.12
80GB Intel, SSD, X25-M, MLC-Flash, 2.5", 1 x SATA 3Gb/s, Read 250MB/s, Write 70MB/s
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/80GB-...-s-Write-speed

HD - £133
RAID 0 For fast games/applications etc.
2x 1TB Western Digital WD1001FALS Caviar Black, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache

HD - £161
3x 1TB Samsung HD103SI EcoGreen F2, SATA 3Gb/s, 5400rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1TB-S...ache-89-ms-NCQ

[nibbler]

5.08 TB nice
if you manage to run out of space you deserve a medal. I have never even HALF filled my 200GB HD

[nightkhaos]

5.08 TB nice
if you manage to run out of space you deserve a medal. I have never even HALF filled my 200GB HD

I, and my friend Andi, will need a medal then. Looking good Dave. Good luck, god speed!

[Vimeous]

Weird thing is I've been looking through this build thinking £2k? Really?!

But then I read it back and can only think of two areas of possible saving without chopping some of the niceties (Cosmos - 832 Stacker | Gigabyte - Asus P6T). Even that saves sub-£100.

Maybe the SSD could be dropped, maybe whatever Ati that costs £200 at the end of the month could take ithe 295's place and I'd be happy with that.
Thing is I'm glad they're there because it helps to make this a pretty stonking machine

davely it'll be mega