New Gaming Rig - self build

[PubZombie]

Hi peeps,
I need to build a new gaming rig. my old faithful has died - permanent this time with a fried GFXcard and monitor.
I have been away from pc gaming for a few years but as i need a new system I am going to build a gaming system. I have up to £800max to spend after xmass.
I really want to be able to run The Rise of Flight and have good fps and gfx
http://riseofflight.com/en/about/features
Would consider a slight overclock put really dont want to be pushing it - will save OC for the future when system starts to look old
If anybody has any suggestions would be grateful as I haven't built a new rig for 3.5yrs
thanx guys
PZ.
#edit# I will be using my case and HDD fro the old rig

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is what I would get:

AMD Phenom II X4 955BE ~ £124

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

4GB 1600MHZ DDR3 ~ £65

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173933

Run this at 1333MHZ using lower latencies

Asus M4A79XTD EVO ~ £78

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

1TB Samsung F3 ~ £61

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

OR

500GB Samsung F3 hard disk ~ £36

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

Antec 300 case ~ £40

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

SATA DVD rewriter~ £16

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Sony-...Wx6-SATA-Black

OCZ 600W PSU ~ £50

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

HD5770 1GB ~ £120

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175978

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175731

Dell 2209WA E-IPS LCD monitor ~£200

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179089

Windows 7 Retail Edition ~ £77

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

TBH,it would be better to list a specification after Christmas as prices usually change a lot even over a short period of time for computer components.

To the OP, I would look at getting a new hard disk if you existing one is over three to four years old. Also getting a new case maybe a good idea if the existing is very old as the Antec 300 has good ventilation which is important to keep your components cool and it will be easier to work with and perhaps quieter as the case comes with some new fans. If your old case is also mATX then it would also limit what motherboards you could use.

[PubZombie]

Hi Cat,
thanx for the post
I have always been an AMD man but it just seems the i720 gives more 'bang for the buck' given the 70 quid - perhaps less soon - price difference.
cheers
PZ

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hi Cat,
thanx for the post
I have always been an AMD man but it just seems the i720 gives more 'bang for the buck' given the 70 quid - perhaps less soon - price difference.
cheers
PZ

Try more like over £125 as the socket 1366 motherboards are much more expensive and so is buying three DIMMs of RAM unless you want to stay with 3GB of system RAM.

A Core i5 based build is more appropriate for gaming but even then the socket 1156 based ATX motherboards under £100 cannot do Crossfire at PCI-E 2.0 8x but only with one slot at 16x and the other at 4x. Perhaps there are motherboards under £100 which would do this but I have not seen any on Scan at least unless the specs are wrong.

If you don't need Crossfire then the AMD build is even cheaper as you can use the following motherboard instead:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/GIGAB...770T-UD3P-MOBO

Also the current build I specced is pushing your budget already unless you want to start skimping on parts. The Dell 2209WA which has an E-IPS panel is a fantastic monitor for the price and is much better than the monitors with TN panels you usually get at this price.

Even if you stick with your current hard disk and case the money is better spent on an HD5850 1GB as most games are not CPU limited as much as they are GPU limited. However, a slow hard disk and poor case ventilation can also not help things when you are gaming.

Even the game you linked to requires an 8800GT as minimum!! OTH,the game requires a dual core with 2GB of RAM. Hence any decent quad core with 4GB of RAM would be fine.

Unless the price of a Core i5 750 drops after Christmas I would be looking to increase the budget slightly if you want to go for this option.

[PubZombie]

Hey Cat,
Do I need crossfire? is this dual/multi use of gfx cards? would rather future proof as much as possible with mobo and cpu and ram with the option of over clocking in the future. Then buy a gfx card up to 150 quid? I have never used dual gfx cards, in fact i have only once purchased a high end card and then watched as card prices dropped rapidly.
pz

[brad_whitwell]

Crossfire / SLI is still a bit specialist, and although its getting better you're much more at the mercy of the vendors for decent support (and bug fixes) with multiple cards.

I've never used it, though saying that I always tend to buy Crossfire / SLI motherboards 'Just in Case' hehe

Most of the time you're better off with a single card solution, by the time it gets to upgrade and get the 2nd card, you can useually sell the 1st one and double the performance with sale and the cost of the 2nd one add together and spent on a new card.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hey Cat,
Do I need crossfire? is this dual/multi use of gfx cards? would rather future proof as much as possible with mobo and cpu and ram with the option of over clocking in the future. Then buy a gfx card up to 150 quid? I have never used dual gfx cards, in fact i have only once purchased a high end card and then watched as card prices dropped rapidly.
pz

I would save the money and get a cheaper motherboard TBH. Regarding the graphics card it really does depend on how much gaming you do. An HD5850 will pretty much max out any current game AFAIK at 1680X1050 with a bit of AA and if you can get one for under £200 it would be a good price.

All parts do drop in price over time but until the Nvidia DX11 cards come out early next year the HD5850 will probably be the best card available for around £200.

[PubZombie]

Jeez everything changes so fast - last time i looked the 9000 series of nvidia were tops.
cheers guys
will start watching prices
pz

[vincent.m]

I would save the money and get a cheaper motherboard TBH. Regarding the graphics card it really does depend on how much gaming you do. An HD5850 will pretty much max out any current game AFAIK at 1680X1050 with a bit of AA and if you can get one for under £200 it would be a good price.

All parts do drop in price over time but until the Nvidia DX11 cards come out early next year the HD5850 will probably be the best card available for around £200.

The thing is i want to ask is what is the difference between "maxing out" game settings with a 8800gts than a HD5850?? is it the fps?? im running a 24" and it seems to keep up with the game..

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The thing is i want to ask is what is the difference between "maxing out" game settings with a 8800gts than a HD5850?? is it the fps?? im running a 24" and it seems to keep up with the game..

An example would be Crysis. Unless you manually edit the config files the maximum graphical settings available in Crysis are actually higher in Vista than XP and under DX10 the game runs much slower than under DX9 especially when you engage AA. I have had an 8800GTS 512MB myself too.
Also an HD5850 will last much longer for future games than an 8800GTS 512MB. This is a new build after all and the card should be fine at this resolution for quite a while and also has DX11 too. Unlike with DX10, more developers have embraced DX11 with enthusiasm. You must remember that when the 8800GTS 512MB first came out it was around the same price range as an HD5850. Like I said if you can get an HD5850 for under £200 it would be a great card as it is considerably faster than a GTX285 as well as being cheaper and consuming less power.

Also the minimum specs for the game state an 8800GT.

[Pob255]

I wonder if there's a mistake on the minimum specs

512 Mb, GeForce 8800GT/Radeon HD3500

There's a rather large gap between an 8800gt and a HD3500

If it's especially for this game, then a 4890 1gb for around £130 (currently) would be a good idea.
Yes it lacks DX11 but so does this game.

I'd agree with CAT on this game visa i7/i5, it's not just the cpu cost but also the motherboard, the cheap i5/i7 motherboards lack a lot of features which is no great loss but they also lack the power phase support for decent overclocking.
That gigabyte AM3 770 is cheap, lacks thing like dual graphics card support but doesn't skimp on the key features for overclocking like power phase and south bridge.

PS CAT as the AMD cpu's don't have the low voltage memory handicap of the 1156 i5/i7 we can beat that memory
Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Ballistix Memory Kit CL6 1.8V £60
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166996

However, this is all a bit moot atm as after xmass we could see some massive shifts in price/availablity
not in CPU and motherboard but in other areas
eg currently the high end 4xxx series ati graphics card are currently great value, but this is a combo of reduced prices to shift existing stock and xmass reductions, after xmass I expect quite a lot of these to have sold out and not return.

Also DDR3 memory cost look like they are set to keep riseing atm, and some of the high voltage sets will be dissaperaing for the same reason as the 4xxx series graphics cards.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If it's especially for this game, then a 4890 1gb for around £130 (currently) would be a good idea.
Yes it lacks DX11 but so does this game.

I have seen the HD5850 1GB card available at just £200 for short periods so it would make sense that after Christmas if there is much better availability the prices should be under £200. It is quite possible that a DX11 patch will be released for the game. IMHO,for the added performance and lower power consumption it is worth the extra money. If it is still over £200 though I would go for a cheaper card.

OTH,if the HD5770 1GB drops to around the £100 mark or less it would be a harder choice. Nvidia should also hopefully start releasing its DX11 parts too.

[PubZombie]

Thanx Guys,
I am just starting to order parts and make a list for Santa Any recommendations for i7 socket 1366 coolers and any recommendations for 22 -24 inch monitors?
thanx for your time
PZ

[kmac]

Thanx Guys,
I am just starting to order parts and make a list for Santa Any recommendations for i7 socket 1366 coolers and any recommendations for 22 -24 inch monitors?
thanx for your time
PZ

Well for coolers - the new Noctua NH-D14 knocks the socs off the competition especially if you are considering overclocking. It is however £70 which is a good price considering the fans it inlcudes (the 120mm and 140mm Noctua fans are very good - silent and high flow rate). Next level down you can go for a Prolimatec Megahalems £36 on Scan Today Only with two 120mm Yate Loon fans ( £5 each) http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

Regarding monitors the Dell 2209Wa gets a lot of good reviews and recommendations ( I got one)
It is an E-IPS panel 22" and circa £212 on ebuyer for Silver, £219 for black

[PubZombie]

Hey guys,
thanx again.
I am looking at monitors still. The Dell 2209Wa looks good but i am torn between getting a 24'' or getting a LS22CMFKFV/EN - 22" Samsung SM2233RZ Black, 3D 120Hz, 3ms, 1680x1050, and then the 3d nvidia glasses at a later date. However, I am concerned the resolution may be a little on the low side ? any opinions greatly received.
cheers
PZ

[PubZombie]

Hi guys,
thanx for the advice. Well its been worth the wait as i have had a contractor who has been giving me the run around for over a year suddenly decide that it was cheaper to pay up than go to court. The upside has been that I have loads more dosh to play with at xmass than ever before And all the parts have just turned up this morning. YAY.... So after running around ASDA at double quick speed and annoying the other half its time to build.
Thing is I aint done a build for a long time and usually have Agent on hand as lives close by - he's away for new year atm - but this one is going to be done alone. I am looking forward to taking my time and learning about all the new kewl kit as i go along. Short story - I may need some forum advice now and again please
So can anybody point me in the way of any on-line i7 building guides thay can recommend?
Also how much thermal paste/Arctic silver should I use and how should I spread it? should I let the heat-sink do the dirty work? or is a finger the best way?
also what is the best way to power case fans - off mobo or psu? never bothered with many case fans before [prob why my last rig died ]
right here's my list of components
CASE - Coolermaster RC-1100 V2 Cosmos S (Sport) Black Full Tower Case.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...U-NEW-In-Stock
Couldn't resist this case, just love the way it looks - reckon i could fit the other half in it if i needed.
PSU - 850w Seasonic S12D-850
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/850w-...nt-ATX-EPS-12V
CPU - Intel i7 920, D0 SLBEJ S1366
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...MB-130W-Retail
jeeze this has gone up a fair few quid since i ordered it
CPU COOLING - Cogage True Spirit 120mm PWN Fan and Cooler
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Cogag...ntel-1366-Cpus
dont know why i chose this but i like the look of it
MEMORY - 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/6GB-D...preader-CoreI7
MOBO - Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5, Intel X58
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...00-SATA-II-ATX
had too many bad experiences with cheap mobo's - never again, besides this looks so good too
GPU - 896MB Gainward GTX260 Golden Smple
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/896MB...16-CoresBatman
I thought about this for a while - just couldn't justify the added expense of the 280s,290s for what is a pretty limited performance increase over this card, add to that the new Nvidia cards are out soon too and they will all be yesterdays news. I needed a new card as it was the card that fried my old system - an 8800gts
SCREEN - NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle - Samsung Syncmaster 2233RZ 22" 120Hz LCD + NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Glasses
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/NVIDI...Vision-Glasses
Thats about it - anything else is salvaged from the old rig.
will take photos as i go along
any advice gratefully received
Thanx for your time folks
Steve
*edit*
Hi guys
just done a dry run with these measurements and not sure I will be able to close the side of the case due to the lugs on the top of the cogage true spirit cooler?
anybody know if this is correct and it is incompatible?
cheers