Gaming system and part advice

[Spectoor]

I'm interested in getting a new gaming rig but i'm a bit unsure about what exactly i need to be able to do what I want.
First off, i'm planning to go the Scan Finance route, i've got a bit of money to play with - but if I can pick some slightly better parts now, it saves me a bit of money in the long run by stalling the need to upgrade a bit longer.

I'm hoping to hit a budget of around £1k-£1.3k
I was going to increase it to £1.8k and include a nice monitor, headset and a few odd-bits (extra speakers, extra mouse etc)
but decided to keep to about £1k and grab those when I save more money for them.

I would like to be able to play some of the latest games on the highest settings and still be able to stream/Fraps footage.

As far as I understand it, this means i'd require some of the top end stuff, so these are the things i've chosen

GPU: HD7970 (£300)
CPU: i5 3570k (£170)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer i30 (£30)
RAM: 16gb DDR3 XMS3 (£75) it's overkill, but so cheap, i'll never have to worry about a lack of RAM.

I've opted for a 120gb SSD and a 2TB set of hard-drives. (£80 & £70 respectively)
As far as I know, if I just fraps stuff onto the 2TB harddrive, it won't be limited by the hard drives RPM or anything daft.

I'm curious about the GPU, will i only just be able to Fraps games at a decent 30fps with the 7970? or would even a 7870 be plenty?


I'm also interested in getting a mechanical keyboard, but having had a quick look at the scan page for gaming keyboards, i only saw a few mechanical keyboards.
Even though I tried to do some research first, i'm still lost as to which keyboard i should try to go with.


If it's at all relevant, I can format the entire build in here as well.

[Chadders87]

Are you looking to self build or buy a custom pre-build?

I'd definitly stick to the budget of £1k if self building, you can get all the nice internals + case, accessories and monitor for that and it will be alot cheaper than getting a prebuilt with the same specs.

The i5 is a good choice as it has good overclockability to around 4.79ghz depending on setup (not used the cooler mentioned above so can't comment on its effectiveness when OC'ing). To save cash to invest in the monitor, you can get 8gb of decent ram for £40. 16gb is overkill since most games don't utilise anywhere near that amount.

As for GPU, depends on you budget since both will handle modern games on high settings achiving above 50 fps easily (unless playing farcry!). The 7970 may have a longer life due to the extra number of cores, but in 2-3 years there will be newer technology out replacing both...

[Spectoor]

Are you looking to self build or buy a custom pre-build?

I'd definitly stick to the budget of £1k if self building, you can get all the nice internals + case, accessories and monitor for that and it will be alot cheaper than getting a prebuilt with the same specs.

The i5 is a good choice as it has good overclockability to around 4.79ghz depending on setup (not used the cooler mentioned above so can't comment on its effectiveness when OC'ing). To save cash to invest in the monitor, you can get 8gb of decent ram for £40. 16gb is overkill since most games don't utilise anywhere near that amount.

As for GPU, depends on you budget since both will handle modern games on high settings achiving above 50 fps easily (unless playing farcry!). The 7970 may have a longer life due to the extra number of cores, but in 2-3 years there will be newer technology out replacing both...

I'm looking to self-build, because as you say you can pick all the stuff cheaper

16gb is definitely overkill, but i tend to have 50 tabs up, occassionally open another game in the background (e.g diablo 3, for auction house stuff) so never hitting that wall will be a big help.. then again 8gb should still be plenty.

well, the Monitor I was tempted by was a 120hz BenQ, £250.
Cutting back on the RAM = £40
Cutting back on the GPU = £100. (although it seems counter-intuitive to cut back on frames when I want a 120hz monitor)
Then again, by using a 7970 on its own, a handful of games might reach 120fps (sc2 or something)


cheers for the help ^^

[Chadders87]

If the monitor your talking about is the 3D one... it's a very nice one! Works beautifully with DVD's, BluRays, Games (on and offline), and as a bonus it rotates! Great when showcasing photoshops.

Don't forget the £100 needed to buy the glasses unless your lucky enough to find a retailer that includes them.

[Spectoor]

If the monitor your talking about is the 3D one... it's a very nice one! Works beautifully with DVD's, BluRays, Games (on and offline), and as a bonus it rotates! Great when showcasing photoshops.

Don't forget the £100 needed to buy the glasses unless your lucky enough to find a retailer that includes them.

Aye the BenQ2011t. I'm not fussed about 3D but as the monitor will have it as well, it can be something to look forward to ^^.