Hi all, im planning on building new computer, budget £1000-£1200. Anyone got an idea of the best components for a powerful gaming system, if my budget allows!
Thanks, Andrew
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Hi all, im planning on building new computer, budget £1000-£1200. Anyone got an idea of the best components for a powerful gaming system, if my budget allows!
Thanks, Andrew
Well, I would go with something along the lines of what I will build.
Core 2 Duo E6600
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 Mobo
2GB G. Skill PC2-6400
Sapphire Radeon X1900XT
250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 HDD
580W Hiper Modular PSU
Thermaltake Armour Jr Case
Arctic Freezer Pro CPU cooler
This comes (with DVDRW and floppy drive etc.) to £988.61. This would give you a system that could take on any game at the moment with ease. However, if I am correct in thinking that you are in the UK, you will have trouble getting hold of a conroe of any sort, due to Intel calling the 24th a paper release date only. Most of the etailors aren't getting anything other than the E6300 and the X6800 until sometime until august and then again the stock will still be limited I expect.
The alternative is to take advantage of the AMD price drops and buy an X2 4600+ and a Fatal1ty motherboard. This would come to about the same price as the conroe and the motherboard and give you pretty decent performance to boot.
Hope that helps.
Go for the 7950gx2 graphics card. It is absolutely awesome.
I would also concur that the Geforce 7950 GX2 is the better option and price wise not a lot more than a Radeon 1900XTX. Also I would hold on and get the Core 2 Duo when it's available, considering that the E6600 outperforms the Athlon FX62 in most benchmarks, particulary games and has loads more overclocking potential. I would also use a Zalman CNPS9500-AT Intel LGA775 Aero Flower Cooler rather than the Arctic Freezer, but thats just me being picky, though that cooler is the finest air cooling solution on the market.
get a 150GB raptor if ur budget allows if not maybe a 74GB. bare in mind they are loud.
agreed with mantis, i have two 150s in raid 1 theyare very nice and quick, and thjey arnt as loud as you may think i mean i have heard louder ones but the performance outweighs the noise issue by a mile, plus they have a window so you can see you platter and such :)
but they are a bit £££ though. if u want soemhtign as bit cheaper and wanna spend more on other stuff i can recomend the 250GB spinpoints.
^^ only reason i bought them is beacuse i get them at trade, otherwise they are a stretch, i hear two spinpoints in the raid setup is still very fast and quiet.
info for you all, dell use spinpoints for there quiet qualitys, im sure you know when a dell is on you cant actually hear it :)
I just put together this spec quickly:
Kick Ass Gaming System - all parts from Scan.co.uk
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 S775, 2.40Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB, Conroe Core, 4M Cache Retail £252.57
Zalman CNPS9500-AT Intel LGA775 Aero Flower Cooler £30.42
Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3, Intel P965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, ATX £98.34
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC6400 (800), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12 £145.28
1Gb XFX 7950GX2 OEM, PCI-E (x16), 1200 MHz GPU 500 MHz, 48 Pipes, S-Video/TV Out 2 x Dual Link DVI-I £292.58
2 X 250 Gb Samsung Spinpoint P SP2504C, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 9.0 ms, NCQ (2X £49.69) = £99.38
Pioneer DVR-111 Black 16x16 x5 RAM DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD Writer (Reduced Length) OEM £25.06
Xclio-II CS-3060 Midi Tower Case 250mm Side Fan Super Cooling Dual Core Ready w/o PSU £35.24
580W HiperPower HPU-4M580 Black SLi Ready Modular 20 + 24Pins P8 Ready ATX2.2/BTX £52.82
19" ASUS MM19SE Silver/Black TFT, 1280x1024, 8 ms, 700:1, 400 cd/m2, Speakers £147.69
Cyber Acoustics A5640RB 5.1 channel Speakers 140W True RMS Hi-End £55.21
Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 1.0 USB PC/MAC OEM £18.79
ZBoard MERC Gaming Keyboard Black £25.84
Total: £1279.22 - a little over budget but very complete
thats pretty much perfect tbh.
brilliant bar the zboard and the mouse, change them for a saitek eclips and a logitech g5 and your on for a winner
The keyboard I wasnt too sure on as I don't use a keyboard for gaming myself (I use an Apple USB keyboard as it's got great feel, compact and looks really cool), the only games I play on my PC are driving sims which I have a Microsoft Widewinder wheel for. I think the mouse is up to the job, it is a high resolution laser jobbie which should be ideal for games although it's not a gaming mouse per se.
Having had a good look at the Logitech G5 I have to say that I agree that it's a very accomplished gaming mouse with very high resolution and some good customisation options, obviously at £45 it is a good deal more expensive than the Microsoft laser mouse but offers features that make it attractive to gamers, so if your likely to be playing a lot of FPS and other mouse centric games then the G5 would be an excellent choice. Also the Saitek keyboard does look good for games and is priced at around the same point.
thanks phillip :P
i have the g7 which is the wireless versiojn of the g5 and its the nuts, couldnt ask for better, and i also know the g5 is just as good, a keyboard is not as important as a mouse but still for thre price the eclipse is good
Cheers guys, think ill wait for the conroe processors and build my pc around that. With the new DX10 cards coming out next year will my system be able to utilize the technology after the kinks and that have been sorted out?
yup always wait a while because things are full of bugs and stuff,just like vista will be :)
I wouldnt worry too much about Direct X 10 for now as the system it's self won't be available until Vista comes out and you'll probably want to wait a while until you adopt Vista anyway (theres always a "running in" period where early adopters discover massive blunders in the OS which are subsequently patched up or updated via service packs). Also as Vista is still a few months off so are Direct X 10 optimised graphics cards and crucially games that actually take advantage of the new features that Direct X 10 has to offer are even further away.
Also would i be able to purchase a wireless card in the future for that motherboard? Sorry for the endless questions!
Ok thanks phil, you've been a great help. Your setup above is pretty much perfect for me!
I take it that your reffering to a wireless network card? The answer is yes of course, it has PCI, PCI-E and USB 2.0, all of which support wireless networking solutions so you should'nt have a problem adding wireless networking capability to it
No problem at all, always glad to help, if you have any other problems or questions I as well as everyone else on these boards are usually about to dispense advice!
Yeh thanks again. As you can tell i know a bit about computers but not alot! Your help has been greatly appreciated, cheers!
It's always worth bearing in mind that internal components of any system, no matter how good, will always go out of fashion and will devalue quicker than 'external' components.
By that, I am talking about: Case; Monitor; Keyboard; Mouse etc
These are the things that you interact with, that you can see and feel, that actually shape the 'experience' of owning and running a PC.
I therefore suggest that you consider, in the example of a £1200 build, allocating the following budget:
Monitor: £400
Case: £100 (maybe inc PSU)
Mouse & keyboard: £60.
Speakers: £100.
That then leaves you over £500 for internal components.
Many people can talk about about a 'kick-ass' system that will fly through benchmarks really well, but if the machine is as loud as a jet engine and you have to use a roller-ball mouse that keeps sticking, i don't want it.
Just a thought.
PS for the record I thought that Phil's suggestions were also quite good, and importantly for me would be nice and quiet.
Yeh thats good advice MSIC. Ive taken out the mouse and keyboard, speakers and the monitor from phils build which has given me a total of just over £1000 on scan.co.uk.
I will probably use my current dell speakers and logitech mouse and keyboard setup in the meantime.
As far as monitors go i have a pretty good 17" dell monitor atm but will probably purchase a new one in the future. After all, i still have around £200 left on my budget.
you can get fantastic 19" monitors for the £200 mark, im gonna be getting a iiyama E483S for £191.81 which i have only seen really good reviews for, and a 19" will still be very good for gaming, espically if your on a budget of £200 like me...
http://www.savastore.com/productinfo...=0&rstrat=3240
£400 for a screen is a bit much i just got my Samsung for £190, 2ms 19" 600:1 is a beauty. and £500 on components in a £1200 system is just silly.
It's fine to disagree, and I do disagree. OK, you can get very good monitors indeed for 200 quid, but a really cracking 20" widescreen display at 1680 x 1050 will cost you.
I'm not in any way saying that anyone needs to spend this, but it's just something to consider when you have a budget to spend on a system. later on down the road when you are happy enough with a 17" monitor that does the job, you might not consider the upgrade worth the difference.
A 20" or 21" monitor would be very nice indeed. I might leave it for a while and once i have more money down the line purchase one. Samsungs scynmaster range look very nice.
Id rather buy my computer parts in the next few weeks so im not constantly distracted by the availiability of new components. Then i'd never get round to buliding one!
Why would you want to spend that much on a system and be lumbered with 1280x1024 resolution, when you've got a top of the range GPU?
Make sure you get yourself a 20" + TFT (20" TFT's can be had cheaply now, they've price dropped a lot), and unlock 1600x1200 and more, for a better gaming experience.
Yeh thats what i was thinking. A monitor in the 20-21" range should be fine?
I would get this monitor http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=355845
Also the case which was mentioned by philipbain is not exactly hi end and authough i dont actually know the case i imagine that there may me cooling/ quality/ noise issues with it.
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=3VTR
That would be a good case and a good PSU too.
Are you sure? The case recommended by phil seems to be acceptable.
Barseman, I strongly agree with the Antec P150. You are correct that the other case is indeed acceptable. But the P150 is brilliant.
Read about it on this trust-worthy site:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article272-page1.html
Make up your own mind.
Also remember that these are just suggestions and opinions, and you can't actually go wrong with much of this whichever you choose, these are just some of our collective experiences.
To be honest I put in the Xclio case because I was doing the spec to a cost, but if your not purchasing the monitor and other peripherals then there is scope to improve certain aspects, case included within the budget that you gave. With this in mind here is a revised spec with RAM with tighter timings and a new case:
All parts from Scan.co.uk unless stated
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 S775, 2.40Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB, Conroe Core, 4M Cache Retail £252.57
Zalman CNPS9500-AT Intel LGA775 Aero Flower Cooler £30.42
Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3, Intel P965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, ATX £98.34
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC6400 (800), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP £194.63
1Gb XFX 7950GX2 OEM, PCI-E (x16), 1200 MHz GPU 500 MHz, 48 Pipes, S-Video/TV Out 2 x Dual Link DVI-I £292.58
2 X 250 Gb Samsung Spinpoint P SP2504C, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 9.0 ms, NCQ (2X £49.69) = £99.38
Pioneer DVR-111 Black 16x16 x5 RAM DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD Writer (Reduced Length) OEM £25.06
Antec P180 EU PC Case Performance One Series £87.26 (www.dabs.com)
580W HiperPower HPU-4M580 Black SLi Ready Modular 20 + 24Pins P8 Ready ATX2.2/BTX £52.82
Total: £1133.06
thats viewsonic monitor is nice. also have a look at the 20" del and also belina.
If you dont want to go really hi end with your case/osu then the p150 is the best choice. Its a good, quiet, cool case with a good quality solid PSU.
How come that 7950GX2 is so cheap? Most I've seen are just under the 400 markQuote:
Originally Posted by philipbain
That Antec P180 looks good. Can you use pretty much any case that supports ATX motherboards? Are there other thing to watch out for?
the P180 is a very nice case, and possibly the one im gonna be getting, but the P150 is aslo very good, and far cheeper as it comes with the psu for around £80 depending where you look
however one issue with the P180 is the cable length with the psu you use due to the unusual position of it, but a cable extendor is easy to get tbh
What about the black version of the Antec P180 i've seen http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=605187
Any advantages to it or is it much the same as the white version?
there some basic changes to the black from the original which are highlighted here...
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article255-page13.html
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=396318
Please Note - This chassis is not compatible with the Tagan, hiper and Tagan Easycon series.
Is that referring to the PSU? If so is the hiperpower psu in phils spec not compatible?
It looks that way, it must be something to do with the layout of the PSU, or the connectors for the various leads. One option would be to get the P150 which comes with a PSU anyway so that would actually save some money or alternatively select a different case, and when it comes down to it cases are a matter of personal tastes and whether the case suits your requirements such as noise, cooling etc.
The P180 has the PSU chamber at the bottom of the case. Most motherboards have the power plug at the top of the board. You therefore need a PSU with long(ish) leads to stretch the whole length of the case. Mine fits well, which is a Tagan.
Overall however, whilst the P180 is no-doubt brilliant thermally and acoustically, it is certainly a pain in the backside to set up. A P150 is nearly as good, alot cheaper (comes with PSU, the P180 doesnt) and alot less hassle.
Sorry, double post
Think ill go with the P180 case. Though am still a little hesitant about the psu cable length.
Just checked hiper website http://www.hipergroup.com/English/news.html
Says that Hiper Typer R 580W series does not support Intel Pentium 4 dual core CPU as it requires EPS12V (i.e. an 8 pin ATX +12V connector)
and
Known incompatible tower: Antec P180.
O dear
Give this PSU a try:
Tagan Easycon 530W for £65.
Don't think the P180 is compatible with the easycon series either. Ahhh maybe i should invest in another case this one seems to have problems.
Im worried bout the hiperpower psu saying its not compatible with the dual core processor.
I'd go with the P150, then thats your case and PSU sorted and theres no worries about compatibility as they come together, plus you save a few pennies.
The P150 is good, but i have a P180 with an Easycon. That's why I'm recommending it. It's in my signature.
I believe both Black & Silver P180s are now same spec... and the P180 is ... probably the best gaming case in the world... great airflow, very quiet.
Ahem. :)
...and the Akasa Eclipse-62 is probably the second best.... but pretty she aint.....