Hexus Monthly PC Build Guide September 2011

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

They're also in stock on scan.

By Jove!! You are also right man!!

+1 many Moo-chous gratious multiple Zathras inspired thankings!!

I see an update to the HTPC build coming.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Out of interest will a decent Seasonic based 650W PSU be capable of running a pair of HD6950 or GTX560TI cards and an overclocked Core i5 2500K?? I think it should be fine.

[kalniel]

However,loads of people realistically don't want to spend more than £500 on a base unit from my experience.

And loads of gamers do in my experience.

As I mentioned, you've done a great job on creating a budget gaming rig, but if you're not specifically designing a budget build then a gaming rig needs to be able to play games that are currently out and near releases, and play them well. Budget gaming rigs can concentrate on older games or dropping the settings.

minimum level should be more like:

i5 2500k
p67 motherboard
overclocked 560
4gb ram

or if we're assuming a 1080p display then the GPU might need to go even higher. Wait for battlefield 3 benchmarks for another good test.

[Terbinator]

Out of interest will a decent Seasonic based 650W PSU be capable of running a pair of HD6950 or GTX560TI cards and an overclocked Core i5 2500K?? I think it should be fine.

Yes. See the specs on the left - ran two 460's and an overclocked i7 870 and the air coming out of the back was warm at worst.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Righty-ho!

I have added a more expensive build for the less budget minded!

The HTPC setup has also been modified too.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Now I need to add the peripherals section!!

[Bagnaj97]

Now I need to add the peripherals section!!

That's easy. Logitech.

Also with RAM prices being so low atm I think the bigger budget gamer build should have 8GB. Otherwise keep up the good work!

[kalniel]

That's easy. Logitech.

Also with RAM prices being so low atm I think the bigger budget gamer build should have 8GB.

Are there any games now or in the near future that show a noticeable improvement with 8GB? I like Cat's thinking that you don't buy something just because you can, but because it gives an actual improvement. That will hopefully set these guides apart from the generic stuff other sites put out.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Well,I could add 8GB into the optional upgrades section but I am trying to keep as close to the set budgets as possible. ATM,4GB seems fine for gaming. However,for some reason the allure of 8GB for my system is getting bigger and bigger....!! Flipping upgradetitus!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Still trying to look though 160 monitors to see which ones look the best!! I am dazzled by the choice!!

[jim]

I've not seen any better than the LG IPS panel you were recommending a while back tbh!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I am making a list of monitors upto £300. It won't be an extensive one but hopefully I can whittle it down to a much smaller number.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Monitor section is now up. I might have missed a few but it would take too long to check reviews for every monitor. I have not listed whether the IPS panels are 6 bit or 8 bit ATM. I will leave that for another day.

Now for keyboards,mice and speakers!

[Biscuit]

Hexus should employ you to write this as a regular article to be quite honest mate. Cracking stuff that you wont find anywhere else.

[Noxvayl]

Great post, I shall be recommending people read one of these before they decide to buy a new rig.

One thing I find odd is that the Seagate Momentus XT can't be found anywhere... I would of thought that was a good compromise for budget builds since the reviews about it show a great performance boost over conventional hard drives and not that much slower than an SSD to warrant the trouble of maintaining a separate Windows hard drive from application/games/storage hard drive.

Also could you please add a column in the Monitor grid for VESA mounting, my next monitor has to have it because I plan on getting one of these> MDM05 Multi Screen Desk Mount Bracket

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

IIRC,the Seagate Momentus XT has had some issues regarding reliability. It is also not that cheap. Scan has the 500GB version for around £84. The problem is that they also sell a Crucial M4 64GB for around £74 and a Samsung F3 500GB for around £31. Some of the older 60GB SSDs are dropping towards the £60 mark too.

Regarding the VESA mounts,if I have the time I will try to add this to the table.