Up to £1000 to spend on a new gaming pc

[Azani]

Hello,
As the title says I have up to £1000 to spend on a new gaming pc and i'm looking for some help choosing the parts.
So far I have,

scan.co.uk/savedbasket/4c648dfd17944c8fb13b10f450f221a0

I5 3750K

Asus maximus V gene

8gb corsair vengence

2tb seagate hdd

550W Akasa venom power Ak-PA055AM01

2GB Msi GTX 660 Twin frozr

Zalman z11 plus

Samsung Writemaster

120GB OCZ SSD

Parts I've been looking at,

scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-switch-810-hybrid-black-full-tower-silent-performance-case-with-usb-30-and-side-window-w-o-psu

scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-phantom-410-white-with-blue-trim-mid-tower-2x120mm-1x140mm-with-window-w-o-psu

scan.co.uk/products/630w-be-quiet-bn182-modular-88-eff-80-plus-bronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-quiet-fan-atx-psu

I've built a pc before so I have no problems with just buying the parts and making it myself. The only parts im set on is the I5. The GTX 660 should suit me as i only play at 1980 x 1080 but I have been thinking about getting a GTX 670.

Any help is appreciated Thanks.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you get 20 posts on Hexus you are elligible for free postage from Scan:

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...tup-guide.html

Scan does special offers every weekday which are worth checking:

http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/



The build uses parts from Scan,although you might be able to shop around and get parts cheaper. The PSU has 4 PCI-E power connectors so you should be fine running dual cards off it.

If you are overclocking your graphics card I would get one of the following:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-m...dmi-2x-mini-di

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...95wf3-3gd.html

The Gigabyte is meant to be slightly better. You can get cashback from Top CashBack and Quidco on Novatech purchases.

If you are not overclocking I would get this reference GTX670:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-m...cores-1344-2xd

[Azani]

Thanks for the reply. That build does look good, I wasn't planning on overclocking my graphics card unless i have to but its something I would consider.

How would that build compare to pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/j9Ib

[Willzzz]

What games do you play?

Are you happy to spend the full £1000 or would you like a bit of change?

How far are you aiming to overclock the CPU?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks for the reply. That build does look good, I wasn't planning on overclocking my graphics card unless i have to but its something I would consider.

Out of interest,are you definitely overclocking your CPU?? If not that would drop the build price quite a bit. The motherboard I specified is not only decent for overclocking but can run dual cards(hence the XFX PSU which can run two cards).

You might be able to get away with an HD7870 or GTX660 graphics card,but you might have to drop one or two settings as time progresses. However,both the cards are around £180,so you save some more money.

How would that build compare to pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/j9Ib

Neither here nor there TBH.

[Azani]

Anything really i just recently got boarderlands 2 but it runs fine on my gtx 460, but being able to max out shogun 2 would be good.

Well i have a I5 2500K overclocked to 4.5 so somewhere around that would be good.

And change would be great but i dont mind going to a max of 1.1k but if it is under 1k i would probably get a new mouse and keyboard if i have enough.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Anything really i just recently got boarderlands 2 but it runs fine on my gtx 460, but being able to max out shogun 2 would be good.

Well i have a I5 2500K overclocked to 4.5 so somewhere around that would be good.

And change would be great but i dont mind going to a max of 1.1k but if it is under 1k i would probably get a new mouse and keyboard if i have enough.

Stick with your Core i5?? A Core i5 3570K is barely an upgrade!!

Please list the specifications of your current system!! What PSU,motherboard and cooler do you have??

I would just plonk in a new graphics card. You can get a decent HD7970 or GTX670.

[Azani]

Intel Core i5-2500K + Gelid Tranquillo

MSI P67A-C45

ASUS GTX 460 768mb

8gb of Vengeance Low Profile

430W Corsair Builder Series psu

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Intel Core i5-2500K + Gelid Tranquillo

MSI P67A-C45

ASUS GTX 460 768mb

8gb of Vengeance Low Profile

430W Corsair Builder Series psu

The PSU might do the job,but I would probably consider something with more amps on the 12V line in the long run:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...v-quiet-fan-at

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...12v-fan-atx-v2

What case do you have - just need to know this so I can tell if it can fit a longer graphics card.

I assume you are using Windows 7 64 bit??

I would look at one of the following cards:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-g...ni-displayport

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-m...79mhz-cores-13

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-g...58mhz-cores-13

Alternatively if you want to save some money,and don't mind a shorter upgrade cycle:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-m...098mhz-cores-9

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-m...l-dvi-hdmi-mdp

Regarding an SSD you can clone your installation. The Samsung 830 256GB is quite decent:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/256gb...-write-400mb-s

Samsung were also doing £20 cashback too,but I am not sure if the promotion is still active.

[Azani]

Yeah i am using windows 7 64bit and currently have the zalman z9 case.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Yeah i am using windows 7 64bit and currently have the zalman z9 case.

Your case can take 11.4" long graphics cards. The Gigabyte GTX670 is the longest at 11" but has top mounted power connectors so you should be safe in theory. The MSI GTX670 and Gigabyte HD7970 are 10.5" long and both the MSI GTX660 and MSI HD7870 are under 11" long.

[Azani]

Your case can take 11.4" long graphics cards. The Gigabyte GTX670 is the longest at 11" but has top mounted power connectors so you should be safe in theory. The MSI GTX670 and Gigabyte HD7970 are 10.5" long and both the MSI GTX660 and MSI HD7870 are under 11" long.

Oh ok so no real need to change my case, if I was going to just upgrade my old pc would changing my motherboard to a z77 be a good idea?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Oh ok so no real need to change my case, if I was going to just upgrade my old pc would changing my motherboard to a z77 be a good idea?

It has some added features,but TBH I would not bother if your current system is stable. Your motherboard does use a 4+1 phase VRM,so I would just make sure that the VRMs are not running too hot,but SB does not have massive power requirements when overclocked.

I would just add a new graphics card,a PSU with more headroom and an SSD.

[Azani]

Thanks for the advice, so as that won't make me hit my 1k cap what about a sound card, keyboard and mouse?.

[Willzzz]

Well the MSI 660 is quite capable of maxing out Shogun 2 @ 1080p, coming pretty close to the 7950 and never dropping below 30fps.
Also it is titchy (9.25") and only needs one power connector.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-16.html

Of course since you have a large budget, the 670 will give you better frame rates, and may do a better job in Rome 2 when it is released next year.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-11.html

The 680 is a waste of cash and the 7970 is barely above the 660Ti in that particular title.

[kalniel]

If you get 20 posts on Hexus you are elligible for free postage from Scan:

That's 20 constructive posts Just replying to threads to boost post count might be seen as taking the mickey and lead to corrective action.

Hang around though and you'll hit the quota without even trying