Another gaming rig for newbie

EngTech

Hi all,

I'm currently in the market for a gaming pc.
I have a budget of about €1000 but this can be stretched a bit if required.
The build will have to include all components i.e. monitor, OS, keyboard, mouse, etc.

This will be my first build so I'm fairly new to all this stuff.

I've put together a rough build on komplett but it's way over budget:



Does it look like it would work?

Where could I make cuts without significantly reducing performance ?

I could probably do without the Bluray drive but I thought it would be handy with the HD monitor.

Is the HD monitor worth it or should I go for lower resolution?
Could I then downgrade the Radeon 5850?

I know that case is out of stock and it's probably overkill aswell.
Any other case recommendations?

Thanks for your help!

lmimmfn

looks grand except that cooler doesnt work with the i5 socket, needs to be 1156, the best current coolers are the Notua ND-D14, Megahalem and TRUE in that order.

My thoughts on the above are:
1. Get a 24" screen if you can, youll probably be looking at it for the next 5 years and should only be 50euro extra( single most improtant part of a PC )
2. Komplett are really expensive, i normally go with overclockers.co.uk but the lads here use some german site.
4. Id go for much cheaper ram, GSkill are good.
5. Unless you really need it ditch the BluRay drive, the one you've chosen is horrendously expensive, an LG drive is 90-100euro
7. Youve not really said what exactly you want this PC for?, if its for gaming and you'd like it to be able to play games well in 3 years time i would stick to the 5850, otherwise you could go for a cheaper Nvidia 260 or ATI 4870/4890. The same goes for the PSU, id go for a 550W if you think you might be upgrading stuff in 2 years time, i normally get a case+psu+screen+dvd drive that will last for 5 years and just swap in new mobos/cpu&memory every few years, but a lot of people buy for now and replace everything after a few years.
8. I cant really comment on the case, its more personal choice, however the Coolermaster Storm 'Scout' Gaming Case gets a better review and is cheaper than the HAF 922

24" screen.
Ditch bluray drive for now.(will be ~50 by Q3)
Cheaper ram.
antec 300 instead of HAF.
Get trial version of windows 7 until you can afford retail version.

Mister Man

I dont know if this is 100% True, but if your a student you can get Windows 7 for like 20 Euro or something. I could be wrong....

BadCharlie

Good 24inch monitor
http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=ie&l=en&cs=iedhs1&sku=324819

EngTech

lmimmfn wrote: »

looks grand except that cooler doesnt work with the i5 socket, needs to be 1156, the best current coolers are the Notua ND-D14, Megahalem and TRUE in that order.

My thoughts on the above are:
1. Get a 24" screen if you can, youll probably be looking at it for the next 5 years and should only be 50euro extra( single most improtant part of a PC )
2. Komplett are really expensive, i normally go with overclockers.co.uk but the lads here use some german site.
4. Id go for much cheaper ram, GSkill are good.
5. Unless you really need it ditch the BluRay drive, the one you've chosen is horrendously expensive, an LG drive is 90-100euro
7. Youve not really said what exactly you want this PC for?, if its for gaming and you'd like it to be able to play games well in 3 years time i would stick to the 5850, otherwise you could go for a cheaper Nvidia 260 or ATI 4870/4890. The same goes for the PSU, id go for a 550W if you think you might be upgrading stuff in 2 years time, i normally get a case+psu+screen+dvd drive that will last for 5 years and just swap in new mobos/cpu&memory every few years, but a lot of people buy for now and replace everything after a few years.
8. I cant really comment on the case, its more personal choice, however the Coolermaster Storm 'Scout' Gaming Case gets a better review and is cheaper than the HAF 922

I'll be using it ainly for gaming but I obviously want to be able to upgrade in the future.

I split the order between hardwareversande.de and komplett as the german site didn't have everything in stock, but there are some siginifcant price differences alright.

Can't seem to find any of those coolers but found a 1156 socket Coolermaster one.

I've changed the RAM for g-skill, they're nice and cheap.

david7536 wrote: »

24" screen.
Ditch bluray drive for now.(will be ~50 by Q3)
Cheaper ram.
antec 300 instead of HAF.
Get trial version of windows 7 until you can afford retail version.

The Bluray has been ditched alright, hopefully they'll get cheaper in the near future.
I've also changed to the Antec 300 as recommended.

BadCharlie wrote: »

Good 24inch monitor
http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=ie&l=en&cs=iedhs1&sku=324819

That's seems to be great value. Thanks!

So the build is now looking like this:



So, including the Dell monitor, it all comes to about €1200

Does it look alright now? Anywhere else I could be cutting the cost a bit?

Cheers!

Solitaire

IMHO forget about Komplett; both OS and mobo are much cheaper on HWVS. And that HD5850 is pretty pricey too... get it and the keyboard somewhere else and everything else from HWVS or eBuyer.

EngTech

I didn't put them on the HWVS order because they were out of stock - it might be worth waiting though. I'll see what the price difference is...

Which version of windows 7 should I be looking for SB (System builder?) or Retail?

EngTech

Thanks Solitaire, I've put the entire order on HWVS and it's saving me about €66.
For that saving, I guess it's worth waiting for.

So, as long as the SB version of Windows 7 is ok, this is what the order is looking like:



Combined with the 24" Dell monitor, it's now adding up to about €1125.

I presume the power supply will come with a German lead/plug, is it ok to just replace it with a 3 pin plug/lead or would there be voltage problems?

Solitaire

FOR THE LOVE OF ****ING GOD HOW MANY RANDOM ALPHANUMERIC COMBINATIONS DOES GIGABYTE HAVE ON THE MARKET?!?!?!!!1! :eek:

Forgot about the P55A; saw the P55 was in stock and didn't think about the latest random revision Gigabyte just spawned :rolleyes:

And that's the exact same OS as you were getting in Komplett :P

Any old kettle cord will work on the PSU, just make sure you have one spare. IMHO a 450W PSU is just too light for a 95W CPU and a 160W graphics card; you really need a 550W PSU with that kind of rig. Blame the HD5850 :P

And talking about said card you'd be better off getting it on Pixmania or eBuyer. Not a massive reduction over Komplett but at least they're in stock, unlike HWVS. Maybe eBuyer have the P55A in stock too...

EngTech

It's amazing the money you can save if you look around :eek:

I'm pretty confused at this stage with all the different combinations, hopefully it'll all work together when it comes!

So, do you reckon the SB version of Windows 7 is ok?

The 5850, but including 'Dirt 2' is on eBuyer for about €275 - €25 more than HWVS.

The P55A is on eBuyer for about €125 - €14 more than HWVS.

I suppose if I order on HWVS, I could be waiting weeks for them to get restocked.

Hmmmm, what to do, what to do.......

BazMcG

Hey man, heres a nice 24" monitor that I am getting soon, has had great reviews and I think is cheaper than the dell one

http://www.oyyy.co.uk/product.php/83247/benq-g2410hd-widescreen-monitor-24-inch--1080i1080p--tft-lcd-1000:1-300cdm2-1920-x-1080-5ms-d-subdvi-d--glossy-black-/faeb52352e0c51e62220f5cfed1a5b52?utm_source=WebGai

I'm making a gaming rig for about £900 sterling so similar to yourself, have it all on ebuyer at the minute I find they are very reliable but considering having a look at HWVS too.

lmimmfn

^^ thats some mega value, id be 50:50 between that and the Dell, tough choice.

EngTech wrote: »

It's amazing the money you can save if you look around :eek:

I'm pretty confused at this stage with all the different combinations, hopefully it'll all work together when it comes!

So, do you reckon the SB version of Windows 7 is ok?

The 5850, but including 'Dirt 2' is on eBuyer for about €275 - €25 more than HWVS.

The P55A is on eBuyer for about €125 - €14 more than HWVS.

I suppose if I order on HWVS, I could be waiting weeks for them to get restocked.

Hmmmm, what to do, what to do.......

there should be a load of ATI 58 series cards comming to retailers in the next few weeks, by the end of january there should be plenty but if you order now you should be in line for the next batch. Go with whereever's cheapest, all those 25euros etc. from ebuyer add up, however its good to get dirt 2 with it as its only the 2nd dx11 game released, but only if theres 25euro difference including postage between HWVS and ebuyer and of course you'd like the game lol.

EngTech

BazMcG wrote: »

Hey man, heres a nice 24" monitor that I am getting soon, has had great reviews and I think is cheaper than the dell one

http://www.oyyy.co.uk/product.php/83247/benq-g2410hd-widescreen-monitor-24-inch--1080i1080p--tft-lcd-1000:1-300cdm2-1920-x-1080-5ms-d-subdvi-d--glossy-black-/faeb52352e0c51e62220f5cfed1a5b52?utm_source=WebGai

I'm making a gaming rig for about £900 sterling so similar to yourself, have it all on ebuyer at the minute I find they are very reliable but considering having a look at HWVS too.

Thats great value alright. It looks like it comes at about the same price as the Dell when you include delivery. As both are pretty well rated, I'd say I'll opt for the Dell.

lmimmfn wrote: »

^^ thats some mega value, id be 50:50 between that and the Dell, tough choice.

there should be a load of ATI 58 series cards comming to retailers in the next few weeks, by the end of january there should be plenty but if you order now you should be in line for the next batch. Go with whereever's cheapest, all those 25euros etc. from ebuyer add up, however its good to get dirt 2 with it as its only the 2nd dx11 game released, but only if theres 25euro difference including postage between HWVS and ebuyer and of course you'd like the game lol.

Yea. It looks like good value with the game and the card itself its pretty well rated.

Another question - should I be ordering termal paste with it or does the cooler usually come with a seal/paste?

jonny72

EngTech wrote: »

Thanks Solitaire, I've put the entire order on HWVS and it's saving me about €66.
For that saving, I guess it's worth waiting for.

So, as long as the SB version of Windows 7 is ok, this is what the order is looking like:



Combined with the 24" Dell monitor, it's now adding up to about €1125.

I presume the power supply will come with a German lead/plug, is it ok to just replace it with a 3 pin plug/lead or would there be voltage problems?

Two power supplies? Get some adapters, they cost next to nothing, and there should be no problem with voltage problems.

Does the keyboard come in English or German?

EngTech

Thats a mistake. I'm just going with the 550W PSU.

Good thinking on the keyboard, I better get that from Dell with the monitor

Solitaire

The VX450 isn't quite enough for this build. The Xilence is a whole lot worse. Expect to pay €70+ for a "real" 550W PSU... anything much cheaper is going to be very bad news indeed

EngTech

Oh really?
Would the Corsair VX550W do the job? It seems to be getting good reviews..

Solitaire

Corsair VX550, Gigabyte Odin 550W, Antec Basiq Plus 550W among others (but the "others" are usually more expensive ).

EngTech

Great. I'll stick with the Corsair so.

The only oustanding questions i have before ordering are:
1. Do I need to buy thermal paste seperately or does it usually come thih the heatsink and
2. Is the SB version of Windows 7 sufficient or should I be getting the retail version?

Thanks for all the help!

Solitaire

1. Included tube of goop that comes with the 212+ should be fine if you're not worried about exceeding 4GHz :P
2. AFAIK its just the normal version sans warranties and live support. So no issues there.