New i5/i7 build

[JBURNICLE]

Hey, i am currently building a new gaming rig as a xmas present but have become stuck in buying all of the parts that i need (PSU, GPU etc.) The parts I currently have;
MSI P55 GD-65: £69 (Special offer)
1TB Samsung HDD: £58
LG DVD: £15
Total: £142

I would want to keep the cost as low as possible but to be able to run on a 1680X1050. The rig will mainly be used for gaming and maybe some small overclocking, also i dont know wether to choose the i5 of the i7 so i have come here to seek your help.

[kalniel]

Hi!

Well, gaming doesn't really take advantage of hyper threaded cores, so by going with the i5 rather than i7 you save about £70 which is definitely better spent on a GPU, or maybe just saved.

The best performance for a low cost in terms of GPU is a 4870 - amazing amount of power for the price. The downside is it's not future proof in terms of dx11, however future proofing causes you to pay a premium, especially with such a new and hard to find in stock product. Better to buy the 4870 now and only upgrade that later (with your saved £70) when you actually need to.

PSU wise you only need around 450W to be safe. Just as long as you avoid random brands you should be okay. Good examples include the Silverstone 500W, Antec Earthwatts 500, Seasonic S12II 500W, CorsairVX 550W etc.

RAM wise 4gb is a fairly cheap buy these days (2x2gb). You should be looking for DDR3, 1333mhz or 1600mhz. I've always liked g.skill, but you can't really go wrong here, just shop around for the best price. 1600 will give you more room for simple overclocking, but it isn't a limitation as soon as you start playing with dividers yourself.

Don't forget case (totally a matter of taste - I like the slightly understated Coolermaster ones, great value too) and Operating System (windows 7 home premium 64bit).

Do you need any help with peripherals? (monitor, keyboard, mouse)

[Phage]

^^ What he said.
Personally, I always spend as much as I can afford on the GPU. It's the one piece of kit that dates the fastest. Can you strech to a 4890 ?

[M0nkeyb0Y]

^^ What he said.
Personally, I always spend as much as I can afford on the GPU. It's the one piece of kit that dates the fastest. Can you strech to a 4890 ?

They're around £140 at Ebuyer - money well spent imho

[kalniel]

They're around £140 at Ebuyer - money well spent imho

They are good, but worth almost twice the price of a 4870? Not really, if value for money is the concern. Performance increase is only 10% or so. (A 4870 is only £75 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169206).

[Phage]

I don't disagree - It's a matter of taste at this point.
Mind you, at that price CF 4870 would be my choice.

[M0nkeyb0Y]

They are good, but worth almost twice the price of a 4870? Not really, if value for money is the concern. Performance increase is only 10% or so. (A 4870 is only £75 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169206).

Wow - thought they were £90 at least...

this article is quite good for comparisons

[M0nkeyb0Y]

I don't disagree - It's a matter of taste at this point.
Mind you, at that price CF 4870 would be my choice.

CF 4870 looks like the winner at the moment, but a single 4890 would provide a pretty cheapo upgrade option in 12 months time (as there appears to be a surfeit of 48xx chips at the moment)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

For gaming the Core i5 750 will do the job very well. I would probably go for a single HD4870 and then upgrade at some point next year to a DX11 card. IMHO if you can keep around £75 to £100 a year for a graphics card(or £150 every 18 months) you can pretty play most games fine. Since DX11 looks a genuine step forward I would not go overly mad on spending loads on DX10 cards now. I am holding off buying a new graphics card for this reason and my overclocked HD4830 seems fine for games which I have played at 1440X900 or 1680X1050.

Tessellation looks like it should really make games look better:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/...1_tessellation

The Antec 300 case is on Ebuyer for around £40 so it is very good value for money.

I would also get a modular PSU even if they work out a bit more expensive as the lower cable mess is a boon.

The cheapest modular PSU which I would go for is this Silverstone 500W one for around £50:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500W-...lar-cable-V-10

It has a pair of PCI-E power connectors too.

[JBURNICLE]

Thanks for the responses.
I have put together the rest of my spec, i already have an os, but i will also need a moniter and prehaps a mouse and keyboard if i should get ones for gaming.
So here is the rest of my spec;

Intel Core i5 750: £146
XFX HD 4870: £75
Corsair 550W VX Series PSU: £62
CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 - Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz: £89
Antec 300: £39
Total: £553 (with everything else)

could somebody tell me if the ram i picked will work as a friend of mine had to RMA his ram before because of wrong voltage, also this would be a suitable choice for a moniter: Samsung T220

[nightkhaos]

For the moniter I would personally spend a little extra and get the E-IPS Dell 2209W.

£159.85 + shipping from PC Buy It (VAT inc)

E-IPS panels have faster response rates and better colour definition than TN panels. With calibration they can also provide perfect (i.e. the same as real world results) colour definition. But for gaming the main advantage is response time, and for general use, the deeper blacks will be an advantage.

For keyboard and mouse? Well that's personal perference. I recommend the MX1100 coupled with a G15, but you might not like the LCD display of the G15, want a wired mouse, etc.

[Phage]

Cripes, those Dells have come down in price !
Are you sure they're faster than a TN ? I think they're about the same speed with better colour ?
Of course I could be talking out my... but that was my impression.

[nightkhaos]

Cripes, those Dells have come down in price !
Are you sure they're faster than a TN ? I think they're about the same speed with better colour ?
Of course I could be talking out my... but that was my impression.

Nope. That's S-PVA, like the 2408 (What I have) it has MUCH better colour definition than the IPS panels, but it's response time is hellla slow.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

For the moniter I would personally spend a little extra and get the E-IPS Dell 2209W.

£159.85 + shipping from PC Buy It (VAT inc)

E-IPS panels have faster response rates and better colour definition than TN panels. With calibration they can also provide perfect (i.e. the same as real world results) colour definition. But for gaming the main advantage is response time, and for general use, the deeper blacks will be an advantage.

For keyboard and mouse? Well that's personal perference. I recommend the MX1100 coupled with a G15, but you might not like the LCD display of the G15, want a wired mouse, etc.

Wrong price and link.

The 2209WA is £168 excluding VAT and delivery:

http://www.pcbuyit.co.uk/product_inf...roducts_id=331

Still the 2209WA is the best choice for around £200.

[nightkhaos]

Wrong price and link.

The 2209WA is £168 excluding VAT and delivery:

http://www.pcbuyit.co.uk/product_inf...roducts_id=331

Still the 2209WA is the best choice for around £200.

Whoops. What's the E2209W then?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Nope. That's S-PVA, like the 2408 (What I have) it has MUCH better colour definition than the IPS panels, but it's response time is hellla slow.

I dunno about that. The new E-IPS panels are better than the S-PVA panels IMHO. This is why the LP2475W is considered better for image editing than the 2408 and I have used the latter too. It depends on what generaton of VA and IPS type panels you are looking at.