Mid Range Gaming Rig Initial Budget £800

Hello Hexus Community.

I'm a first time poster here and also a first time builder. I'm planning a Mid range gaming rig with an initial budget of £800. I say initial because i want it to cover the essential components for assembly. (Case, Mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU and Boot Drive (SSD))

Once the initial £800 build is assembled and working i intend to add a GPU, HDD, extra RAM and then probably a second GPU and second HDD with RAID 1 for security.

Its also worth pointing out that i wont be building this rig until June when i get home as i am currently living and working away so this project will be under constant review until then.

I've read HEXUS reviews and browsed component specs and have come up with the following:-

Corsair Obsidian 550D Case

Gigabyte UD5H Motherboard

Intel i5 3570k Processor

2x8GB Corsair Vengenance Low Profile RAM

Corsair CX-750W PSU

Intel SSD 128GB 520 Series

and a Plexor DVD-RW drive for installation of the OS and drivers.


The case is personal preference, lots of sound dampening and looks smart (i don't like the overblown stylised cases of other manufacturers).

A feature packed MOBO, a little on the pricey side considering the cheaper D3H does mostly the same thing but i think i'll need the extra features. For example i need a minimum of 3 sata III internal connectors for the SSd and 2 HDDs, the DisplayPort is desirable for a large monitor (eventually), SLI support and the extra internal USB 3.0 headers will be useful for connecting the cases 2 USB 3.0 slots and a USB 3.0 memory card reader. None of the cheaper boards have this combination. Gigabyte because of the brands good reviews.

The processor i understand is the right balance between cost and performance for gaming and its unlocked should i decide to move on to OCing.

2 sticks of 8gb memory, i know this is a lot for a mid system but i think its better to be in a position to simply add 2 more 8gb sticks for the maximum 32 one day then to have to do away with 2x4gb sticks.

A good sized SSD as a boot drive just to get me started with the OS. Intel because of good reviews. A large HDD can be added a month later when my wallet has recovered.

A PSU with sufficiant wattage to take on the planned SLI GPUs.

Comes to £814.59 at the time of posting.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Wait until June as Haswell will be out then.

I would recommend a better PSU such as XFX 650w

16gb of ram is overkill, can't imagine you would need 32gb for gaming ever using ddr3. Might be different with ddr4 which will probably become the standard in the next 3 years.


If silence is important to you then read http://www.silentpcreview.com/section9.html. For case suggestions.
(Mods sorry if posting links to other websites isn't allowed but its specifically for silent cases which the op hinted towards with the soundproofing).

As mentioned above, the next generation intel chipset comes about around June so it would be worth waiting for that. Even if it means ivy bridge comes down in price and you can afford an i7!

As for the rest of the components, things change so quickly that anything I suggest will likely be outdated by June! Crucial might release the m5, as rock have great boards, more platinum psu's will be out etc.

Thank you for the advice.

By the time i get around to adding the extra 2 8gb sticks ill be lookingnat upgrading to DDR4 anyway so point noted.

I like the case and silence is key. especially as i want a mid range system which wont need a lot of fans. I'll take a look at that site.

I'll have to wait and see about the processors, i think it would depend on the cost of the new 1150 mobos which would accompany the Haswells.

I chose the PSU simply because of the brand of case i want, is there a particular reason that makes the XFX better (efficiency etc) ?

Thanks again for the advice.

dont forget to include a better cooler as the stock intel one sux balls.

The xfx ones are well regarded and made by seasonic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dfour

dont forget to include a better cooler as the stock intel one sux balls.

The xfx ones are well regarded and made by seasonic.

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Thank you for that, i've seen seasonic mentioned before, ill take a look at XFX for my PSU.

For cooling ive been looking at the Corsair H100i, mainly (again) because its corsair and is featured in some of the videos ive seen reviewing the 550d. It seems smart compared to the big air coolers ive seen.

in regards to psu's, take a look here. lots of recommendations and links to reviews, as well as ones to steer clear of.

Hi Mr_Jon, i logged in to post that i had discovered the Corsair AX760 is made by Seasonic as per the Hardware Secrets review and here you are with a post that links to a website that recommends that very same review!

With the Corsair branding matching my choice of case and the red 'ax' matching the red colour scheme i'm going for coupled with Seasonic insides its pretty much a done deal. Had this not been available i probably would have gone with the Seasonics own branded equivalent, the x-series.

This is likely to have increased the total cost of the rig beyond my 800 budget, although based on some replies to this forum i expect the cost of the motherboard, the ram and the processor will now be less so all is well.

Thank you for your help.

If silence is paramount consider the seasonic psu. I don't know if the corsair has the same fans but the Sanyo Denk in the x series are top drawer. If your using a SSD and 5.4k storage drive. Research good quiet cooling and get a gentle typhoon 800rpm as a case fan. It's very quiet and reasonably cheap. You could also look at an aftermarket solution for your gpu at a later date. I use inboard graphics but I can't tell if mines on or not just by listening. Careful selection of components is key