Gaming rig build

TheDoc

Friend of mine wanted me to get advice form the pros so I came here.

He is looking to build a new gaming rig for in an around €1300. He has been looking at hardversaand place and working his way round but gets stumbled on certain issues, and I'm just not in touch to give great advice.

The last few threads I made I got sound advice and its been a dream so I'd expect nothing less from you folks


( On a note from previous threads, myself and my father went with antec power supplies and hd 4890's couldnt be happier)

Cheers guys

Leman_Russ

TheDoc wrote: »

antec power supplies

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

That out of the way, with 1300, he should be able to build a nice rig.

Just a few questions, what kind of games is he wanting to play, does he need an OS and does he have any parts he can use from an old build?

All important questions to get the most bang for your buck.

TheDoc

I think he wants it from scratch.

He plays mostly world of warcraft, but plays other source type games like left 4 dead etc, and wants something that will play all games nicely

Solitaire

Leman_Russ wrote: »

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

*slaps Leman*

Oh, and congrats. Read up on "EarthWatts" and "Quattro" and "Signature" and find out why you've just failed at life

er, anyway, by "from scratch" do you mean OS, monitor, keyboard etc.? €1300 is a nice chunky budget to play with

Deano12345

TheDoc wrote: »

I think he wants it from scratch.

He plays mostly world of warcraft, but plays other source type games like left 4 dead etc, and wants something that will play all games nicely

Check this build out,I made it up for a member here a while back,should suit your brother down to a tee

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=461645 - Coolermaster HAF 922 = €92

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=492649 - Corsair 650 Watt PSU = €149

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=452346 - Samsung DVD-RW Drive = €20

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=343055 - Samsung F1 (1TB x2) = €68 x 2

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=487794 - Corsair X32 SSD = €121

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=428330 - Gigabyte UD3R = €163

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=391447 - Intel i7 920 = €240

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=449938 - 6GB 2000MHZ OCZ Blade = €145

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=485310 - ATi 4890 = €203

AlmightyCushion

No need to go with the 2GB 4890, 1GB would do.

Deano12345

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

No need to go with the 2GB 4890, 1GB would do.

I never noticed I put the 2GB one in,nice catch

OP,go with a 1GB 4890

Leman_Russ

What the heck? LGA 1366 are you mad? Get a Core i5 750 on the 1156 platform. 9001 times better price/performance and no hyperthreading to mess up your games.

Another thing I would recommend is not Buying it from Komplett, their Prices are far too high. For example, the PSU there (Which deano has listed at 149 when it's not :P) is €115 before delivery cost from komplett, while from ebuyer it is only £89.96 (€100.66). And eBuyer charge you LESS for delivery from the UK to Ireland than Komplett does for Ireland to Ireland (iirc the most I have paid was £15, and that was for a LOT of stuff) the price of which starts at £9.99.

Deano12345

Leman_Russ wrote: »

What the heck? LGA 1366 are you mad? Get a Core i5 750 on the 1156 platform. 9001 times better price/performance and no hyperthreading to mess up your games.

Another thing I would recommend is not Buying it from Komplett, their Prices are far too high. For example, the PSU there (Which deano has listed at 149 when it's not :P) is €115 before delivery cost from komplett, while from ebuyer it is only £89.96 (€100.66). And eBuyer charge you LESS for delivery from the UK to Ireland than Komplett does for Ireland to Ireland (iirc the most I have paid was £15, and that was for a LOT of stuff) the price of which starts at £9.99.

He's in Swords to he can nip over to the collection point in Blanchardstown and not get charged for shipping at all

And I changed that PSU from the HX850 and forgot to change the price too,my bad

Leman_Russ

Deano12345 wrote: »

He's in Swords to he can nip over to the collection point in Blanchardstown and not get charged for shipping at all

Yeah, but considering that the same PSU that costs €115 (that he actually has to get up off his arse to go collect) from ebuyer is only €111.85 delivered to his door...

Not to mention that if he buys even 1 other item, the price effectively drops down to €106.25

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to badmouth Komplett or any other store, I know it's not their fault, it's the wonderfully "competent" government, who in the biggest recession since World War II, thought "People have less money to spend? Quick! Raise VAT!". I am just trying to help the guy get the most bang for his buck. €5 here and a few bob there adds up to the difference between a 5770 and a 5850

And I still say that the 1156 i5 is a better option than a 1336 i7

jonny72

Heres a novel idea
ask your friend if he wants a case the size of holland
or if he wants something smaller more portable

Leman_Russ

jonny72 wrote: »

Heres a novel idea
ask your friend if he wants a case the size of holland
or if he wants something smaller more portable

Cases the size of Holland have been far too small for modern hardware for weeks! I suggest something closer to the size of Germany.

If he wants portable, he should check out the CM Storm. 'Tis very sexy with its all black insides and excellent A++ cable management (unlike some cases we know) and has very nice handles to lug the thing about with.

Messerschmitt

What the heck? LGA 1366 are you mad? Get a Core i5 750 on the 1156 platform. 9001 times better price/performance and no hyperthreading to mess up your games.

?

Solitaire

I think Leman means the i5 is cheaper and if you're not going to need HT, why pay the premium to have to constantly turn it on and off

IMHO with a high-end system you have the budget to get the i7-860 and it may well be worth it; if you can bear constantly turning it on and off (HT no likey games!) HT will bump up the speed of many apps and the clock speeds on the i7 are much higher when you figure in the souped-up version of Turbo Mode the i7-860 has

The big issue is that due to the CPU-Killer issue LGA1156 mobos are now almost as pricey as LGA1366 mobos as all the cheap Gigabytes are sold out so you have to get a much pricier Gigabyte. Almost every other manufacturer has been using Foxconn sockets which have the potential to nuke CPUs due to defective pins not making sound electrical contact.

phlegms

I just built myself a schweet rig including a 23" monitor for roughly the same cost, got all my parts from ebuyer though.

leninbenjamin

Solitaire wrote: »

The big issue is that due to the CPU-Killer issue LGA1156 mobos are now almost as pricey as LGA1366 mobos as all the cheap Gigabytes are sold out so you have to get a much pricier Gigabyte. Almost every other manufacturer has been using Foxconn sockets which have the potential to nuke CPUs due to defective pins not making sound electrical contact.

said this in the other thread: Gigabyte used Foxconn sockets too. So unless your retailer says otherwise, there's a good chance you'll end up with old Foxconn stock.

Solitaire

Sticking up a build from HWVS... was trickier than I thought. More of a blank template anyway, need to know if a monitor/OS/BluRay/SSD/peripherals are needed... at least you have the guts of €450 to spare for stuff like that



HWVS seems to be in a mess. I chose cheap RAM but you can spend an extra €30 to get a nice CL7 kit if need be. Graphics... was a mess. I wanted to stuff in a cheap HD5850 but there isn't a single card over €200 on HWVS :eek: Storage is also up a bit. Cases were way down like the graphics cards... and the state of stock was equally as bad. No HAF or similar, so it was a choice between the Xiggy + fans (and no Kaze Marus there either!) or a pricier Storm Scout (which is at last an affordable choice coming as it does with a few fans included). And no, I didn't pick a CPU cooler either as there doesn't seem to be anything suitable for LGA1156 :mad: The Mugen2 is in stock, the BARAM and Megahalems monstrosities are also available, but no LGA1156 brackets anywhere to be found

EDIT: Ignore the above build, I'm recommending sticking with AM3 or LGA1366 until Intel and their board partners cop on and switch suppliers from Foxconn :mad:

leninbenjamin

Solitaire wrote: »

HWVS seems to be in a mess.

I noticed too. It was like that too around the time I was building mine. In the end I just took the hit and went for Komplett and I was glad i did tbh.

Solitaire wrote: »

CPU was fine but a suitable mobo was complicated by the lack of cheap-yet-not-exploding ones on offer.

Perhaps someone else can confirm it, but i read in a few forums that EVGA were one of the few companies not to have used Foxconn sockets in any of their lineup. This might be a wee bit pricey but gets decent writeups and possibly worth the extra €30 for the certainty til those v2's come out.

Edit: Bah, dug up the article. Turns out it's only the higher ends that used the LOTES socket exclusively.

Solitaire wrote: »

And no, I didn't pick a CPU cooler either as there doesn't seem to be anything suitable for LGA1156 :mad: The Mugen2 is in stock, the BARAM and Megahalems monstrosities are also available, but no LGA1156 brackets anywhere to be found

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 is one that I know for certain that supports 1156 out of the box on HWS. Ah ****, didn't see it's out of stock too...

Leman_Russ

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! Stop with this bloody Foxconn nonsense!

UNLESS YOU ARE USING DRY ICE OR LIQUID ****ING NITROGEN, IT IS NOT GOING TO AFFECT YOU.

And in any case, all you have to do is tighten the heatsing screws half a turn extra and the problem disappears.

leninbenjamin

Leman_Russ wrote: »

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! Stop with this bloody Foxconn nonsense!

UNLESS YOU ARE USING DRY ICE OR LIQUID ****ING NITROGEN, IT IS NOT GOING TO AFFECT YOU.

And in any case, all you have to do is tighten the heatsing screws half a turn extra and the problem disappears.

that's not what people have been saying. case in point:
http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17351&view=unread

the issue is poor pin connectivity. the CPU still works, but this puts extra power going through the other pins, which is why they burn out for high overlocks. But seeing as the issue is more voltage going through the component than it was designed for then this almost certainly affects the lifespan of the product as well. It'll just take longer to show up.

Anti

Personally i'd hold off till after xmas, as the whole p55 foxxcon isseu should be gone by then.

Also a tip for anyone getting a new p55 mobo, read the memory configuration page before installing ram. It saves you looking like a retard when you send a motherboard back to the manufacturer stating "Faulty dimms"

TheDoc

I think its mad how a thread can go mad without even posting

He is watching the thread himself, and hasnt asked me to ask anything, and really hasnt confirmed if the posts were useful or not, I'll try get some feedback from him.

leninbenjamin

TheDoc wrote: »

I think its mad how a thread can go mad without even posting

He is watching the thread himself, and hasnt asked me to ask anything, and really hasnt confirmed if the posts were useful or not, I'll try get some feedback from him.

well, to try and be useful, let's give this thread a reboot:

I'd build my gaming rig around the Phenom II at the moment, either the 955 or the 965. (Probably the 955, represents better price/performance).

The i7 is great but would be entirely wasted money in this situation.

The i5 is about the same performance as the Phenom II, ahead in video encoding or Adobe products but that's it. However as you can see some of us recommend avoiding LGA1156 until the next revision of boards put the socket issue firmly to bed.