Gaming Build

Reku

I'm currently evaluating the idea of building my own PC rather than getting an off the shelf one (seems to offer way better value and of course choice in terms of spec). I've a bit of experience with swapping out RAM, PCI cards and HDs & DVD drives, so I'm far from particularly knowledgible but should hopefully be able to put it all together. As such I wanted to ensure that this build will work and that I'm not missing anything important:

Item|Price
Total build cost: ~ €1921
Cooler Master HAF X - Full tower|€157 *chosen due to it's flexibility WRT motherboard form as well as not having to worry about space for components.
CoolerMaster Silent Pro M700 - Power supply|€99
Intel Core i7 2600K 3.4GHz 8MB S1155|€299
ASUS P8Z68 DELUXE - Socket 1155 -ATX|€213
Corsair Vengeance - 8GB 1866MHz PC3-15000 x2|€146
SONY BLU-RAY WRITER BWU500SWW RETAIL BD-R/DL/RE12X/8X/2X SATA SW INCL IN|€102.09 + €6 delivery
Corsair Force 3 120GB 2.5" SATA-600|€147
Seagate2TB 3.5" SATA-600 5900rpm 64MB|€124
Microsoft Windows Home Premium 7 - English - DVD|€148.83, potentially +€6 depending on combined postage with the Blu-ray/DVD drive
MSI GeForce N580GTX Twin Frozr2/OC- 1.5GB -PCI-E|€479


Obviously the intent is to use it for gaming, I'd hope that this system will be rather future proof, not needing upgrading for a while and then having the ability to be upgraded when the time comes (particularly WRT RAM and GPU).


As such my main concerns would be:

1. Are there any necessary components I've forgotten?
2. Are there any problems with incompatibilities between the parts I've selected (I'm pretty sure they should all be compatible but one of you may spot something I failed to)?
3. PSU - will the 700W module be enough should I at a later time need to get a 2nd GPU?
4. Heat - will the fans built into the case and components be sufficient or will more be needed?

Budget wise I would prefer to keep it to about 2k, as I still have to get a monitor to go with it (current system is a laptop).
I'm open to all constructive input.

Thanks

deconduo

Komplett are pretty expensive, you can get a better build for cheaper from HWVS:

Item|Price
Total build cost: €1,581.45 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€197.91
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€121.37
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€32.53
Thermalright HR-02 Macho|€32.80
Sapphire HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 PCI-Express|€519.52
LG BH10LS38 Blu-Ray Brenner Retail|€74.54
Crucial M4 128GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€175.34
Samsung EcoGreen F4 2000GB, SATA II (HD204UI) 8,9cm (3,5")|€114.90
NZXT Phantom Big Tower - Black , ATX, ohne Netzteil|€132.59
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€87.44
XFX PRO850W Core Edition Full Wired Power Supply|€92.51


The i5-2500k gives the same or sometimes even better gaming performance over the i7. The hyperthreading doesn't actually help at all in games.

Switched the motherboard to the extreme3, similar set of features for less

Added a cooler for nice overclocking

16GB of RAM doesn't help in the slightest over 8GB. You'll never use that much for gaming.

Crucial M4 is a better SSD

Spinpoint F4 is a better storage drive


7970 blows away the GTX 580, especially when overclocked

Cheaper blu-ray drive. Also, you could drop this down to a simple DVD-RW to save money. No one really uses blu-ray anymore, and you especially shouldn't need to be able to burn blu-ray disks.

Switched case to the Phantom, its a bit cheaper and a better case.

Erper

I agree with previous post...
On dabs u can find even cheaper...
Mobo,cpu and ram u can get around 400 quid...
As for the rest of them search for pixmania/dabs/kompleet/elara

TeddyTedson

Would you not be better getting dells gaming PC for 1699?

Erper

My parts
I5 2500k 180e
8gb corsair 1600 55e
P8p67 pro ver 3.1 145e
Case xigmatek 80e
Wd 640 80e
Samsung f4 90e
Psu jeantech 500w 60e
H50 50e
Dvd rw 30e
Ati 6850 140

I dont see point of buying that expensive things cause u will have to change them in a year or so

FlyingIrishMan

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Would you not be better getting dells gaming PC for 1699?

Your never better off buying DELL. Overpriced components, not much upgradable stuff, less warranty.

Deconduo's build is the best one. @Erper, that build won't need to be upgraded in a year, maybe the GPU but if he gets a good one from the start it will do him 2-3 years.

Erper

FlyingIrishMan wrote: »

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Would you not be better getting dells gaming PC for 1699?

Your never better off buying DELL. Overpriced components, not much upgradable stuff, less warranty.

Deconduo's build is the best one. @Erper, that build won't need to be upgraded in a year, maybe the GPU but if he gets a good one from the start it will do him 2-3 years.

I know its better to start with something but than he could wait for ivy bridge

deconduo

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Would you not be better getting dells gaming PC for 1699?

Not even a small bit. My build would absolutely destroy any Dell for the same price.

Reku

deconduo wrote: »

Komplett are pretty expensive, you can get a better build for cheaper from HWVS:

You're right but I'd prefer to stick to those I can deal with by CC as opposed to the more awkward bank transfer, though there's a higher price and reduced options as a result.:(

deconduo wrote: »

The i5-2500k gives the same or sometimes even better gaming performance over the i7. The hyperthreading doesn't actually help at all in games.

:eek:This I did not know but have looked into and you're right, so that's €100 off the price right there.:)

deconduo wrote: »

Added a cooler for nice overclocking

Don't plan to overclock initially but will look into it as the game requirements begin to push the need. Either way I take it that you do recommend adding some additional cooling beyond the fans built into the case so I'll have a looksee at what fans the Irish sites have that might compare to the one you pointed to.

deconduo wrote: »

16GB of RAM doesn't help in the slightest over 8GB. You'll never use that much for gaming.

Kinda suspected as much, so I'll go with just the 8GB, other than the additional cost is there any other reason not to go with the 1833MHz version I'd selected?

deconduo wrote: »

Crucial M4 is a better SSD

The specs seem to put the Cosair as having a better read/write speed, is there a reliability issue or is it something else? The cost of the Crucial is higher so one would imagine there must be a reason they can demand a higher price?

deconduo wrote: »

Spinpoint F4 is a better storage drive

Been talking to someone else who was pimping WD, all seem to have a similar price for a 2TB unit on Komplett so is there anything in particular that would make you pick one over the other?

deconduo wrote: »

7970 blows away the GTX 580, especially when overclocked

:eek:It's actually cheaper too! Save another €200 there it seems.
MSI_Radeon_R6970_Lightning_2GB_PCI_E
I'll scrutinize a couple of benchtests later today (when I've time) but assuming the 7970 is better there's no sense in paying the extra €200 for an inferior product.

deconduo wrote: »

Cheaper blu-ray drive. Also, you could drop this down to a simple DVD-RW to save money. No one really uses blu-ray anymore, and you especially shouldn't need to be able to burn blu-ray disks.

I think you're right, while blu-ray may eventually come in there's no harm in getting a €20-25 DVD drive until then.

I note you also upped the PSU, so my concerns that the output might not have been enough should I add a second GPU were right, I'll take a look over the PSUs available via the Irish sites and see if any look a good match, there is a 1KW version of the 700W one I'd picked but want to see what other brands can offer rather than just move up the same brand.

Thanks for all your input.

Erper wrote: »

I agree with previous post...
On dabs u can find even cheaper...
Mobo,cpu and ram u can get around 400 quid...
As for the rest of them search for pixmania/dabs/kompleet/elara

I've been searching all those 4 sites, hadn't noticed the package deals on dabs though so I'll take a look when I've a chance (they did have a motherboard in their Jan sale that tempted me last night, but I decided the one from Komplett was better value)

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Would you not be better getting dells gaming PC for 1699?

Certainly not the last time I looked anyway.

Erper wrote: »

I dont see point of buying that expensive things cause u will have to change them in a year or so

Same here except I'm buying them to be near top of the range (I don't poop money so there are limits) now so in 2 (better still 3-4) years time they'll still let me play the latest games albeit at lower settings. My current laptop has lasted me ~5 years and it's only in the last year that games have come out that I couldn't play on it.



I'll post an updated build listing later tonight so you can let me know if I've made any facepalm selections.
Thanks folks

Completionist

You are looking at the 6970, Not the 7970:D

The 7970 is around the same price as the 580.

Erper

THIS

And THIS

Go under Buy Used....

Only difference is its z68 chip with only one pcie 16x....

now for option of ur backup drive i would also buy one more with 7200rpm, just in case and buy cheaper gpu cause every year new gpu r coming out so, that would not be that much expensive to upgrade...

Swap ur i7 for i5
Use less Ram cause u dont need 16gb
1600-1866 would not matter that much, if u r using it just for gaming 1600mhz would do just fine as most of users having those 1600mhz...
As for windows, check pc world, they might have option to buy even pro...

Monotype

Reku wrote: »

Been talking to someone else who was pimping WD, all seem to have a similar price for a 2TB unit on Komplett so is there anything in particular that would make you pick one over the other?

Not too much difference. Here's a few quick searches for HD tune around the web. Max and min speeds in MB/s and access times in ms.

Seagate ST2000DL003
http://hdd-compare.com/en/compare/?d=st2000dl003
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=18429703&postcount=39

Max ~139-145, Min ~ 55-60. Access time 15-18.


F4EG HD204UI
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1547827
http://www.storageforum.net/forum/showpost.php?p=138843&postcount=36

Max ~133, Min ~ 61-62. Access time ~16.

WD20EARX:
http://tweakers.net/productreview/45242/western-digital-caviar-green-wd20earx-2tb.html
http://64kbyte.homeip.net/wordpress/?p=134

Max ~123-127, Min ~ 40-50. Access time ~13-17.

Some similar results from the WD WD20EARS too.
http://forum.purepc.pl/Dyski-twarde-cdromy-dvd-pendrive-f55/Jaki-dysk-2TB-3-5-blaszaka-t338342.html


Seagate looks like the fastest for max speed, WD does well for access times (as they often do in most of their drives) but poorer in transfer speeds. Samsung gives you a good balance but there's not tremendous difference between any of them overall.

Reku wrote: »

The specs seem to put the Cosair as having a better read/write speed, is there a reliability issue or is it something else? The cost of the Crucial is higher so one would imagine there must be a reason they can demand a higher price?

Reliability on the Corsair drives have been a bit iffy, but it's mostly sorted now. The listed speeds can not be relied upon. Corsair's speeds are based upon ideal scenarios when data can be compressed to speed up transfer. Crucial's speeds can be achieved regardless of the type of data and easily beat the corsair when it comes to incompressible data. Overall, the Crucial is a better quality drive, unless you specifically want 120GB and don't want to pay for a 128GB M4.

Reku

Completionist wrote: »

You are looking at the 6970, Not the 7970:D

The 7970 is around the same price as the 580.

Well like I said

Reku wrote: »

let me know if I've made any facepalm selections.

:o:o

This is why I'm double checking things as opposed to just buying parts that sound right and going with it.

Erper wrote: »

now for option of ur backup drive i would also buy one more with 7200rpm, just in case

The 2TB will be the backup, hopefully running the OS and games off the SSD as a number of people have told me that the improvement in speed is quite significant. I already have 4TB worth of external hard drives for backup so I should hopefully have enough already.

But anyway....


Item|Price
Total build cost:| ~ €1866.74 + whatever postage pixmania charges for the GPU
Cooler Master HAF X - Full tower|€157 *chosen due to it's flexibility WRT motherboard form as well as not having to worry about space for components.
CoolerMaster Silent Pro M1000 - 1000 Watt|€142 - aren't actually too many units above 700W to pick from.
ASUS P8Z68-V DELUXE/GEN3 - Socket 1155 - ATX|€235 - an extra €22 to have PCIe3 compatibility seemed worth a look, especially looking at the 7970 GPUs
Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz 6MB S1155|€209
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - 120 mm|€37.95 - fits the 1155 socket
SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 7970 - 3 GB GDDR5 - PCI-Express 3.0|€529.90 + unknown delivery cost *though if someone can point to a good reason to go for a different brand of 7970 I'm willing to considering it
Corsair Vengeance - 8 GB 1600MHz PC3-12800|€72.95 - dropped the 1833MHz for lower latency 1600MHz due to the note* regarding RAM on the ASUS
WD - 2TB - 3.5" - SATA-600 IntelliPower - 64MB Caviar Green|€129 - the 3 yr warrenty won me over:P
Crucial M4 SSD 128GB 2.5" SATA-600|€179
Sony Optiarc DVD Brander - AD-7280S SATA connection - DVD±RW|€24.95
MICROSOFT Windows 7 Home Premium|€149.99 since everything listed is from komplett/pixmania and PCWorld is cheaper may as well just make the trip into the city center.

Better build and €80 cheaper, woot.;)

The note I mentioned regarding the RAM:

* Due to CPU behavior, DDR3 2200/2000/1800 MHz memory module will run at DDR3 2133/1866/1600 MHz frequency as default.

Once again please let me know if I've made stupid choices or there are conflicts.
Hopefully the case might live through 2 builds, the motherboard and main components surviving quite a few years with an upgrade (as opposed to complete rebuild) when they start to be found wanting.

Thanks folks

deconduo

Order it all from scan, you can pay with a credit card, no need to get parts from different places, and it saves you €250. Also if you're based in Dublin and want a hand building it, I'd be happy to help out. I'd love to get the chance to work on a top end build like this.

Item|Price
Total build cost: £1,361.81 (inc Delivery £13.98 and VAT £226.97)
Intel Core i5 2500K Unlocked, S1155, Sandy Bridge, Quad, 3.3GHz, HD3000 IGP 850Mhz, 6MB Cache 95W Retail|£172.98
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Quiet CPU Cooler 4 Heat Pipes 120mm Fan Intel S775/AM2/AM2+/AM3/754/939/940|£19.16
ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3, Intel Z68, S 1155, DDR3, SATA 6Gb/s, RAID SATA, PCIe 3.0 (x16), Graphics On Board, ATX|£144.82
3GB Sapphire Radeon HD 7970, 5500MHz GDDR5, 28nm, GPU 925MHz, 2048 Cores, DVI-I/HDMI/Mini DP|£449.75
Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM|£13.07
128GB Crucial M4 Slim 2.5" SSD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, MLC-Flash, Read 500MB/s, Write 175MB/s, 35000 IOPS New 7mm|£148.94
2TB Samsung HD204UI Spinpoint F4EG, SATA 3Gb/s, 5400rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9ms, NCQ|£99.84
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-10600 (1333), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.50V|£35.76
800W Corsair Gaming Series GS800 CMPSU-800GUK PSU, 80% Eff', 80 PLUS, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX v2.3|£83.76
NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Black Full Tower Performance Gaming Case with USB 3.0 w/o PSU|£104.87
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit SP1, Operating System, Single, - OEM|£72.08


Oh also, don't bother with high end RAM. The difference in performance between the cheapest kit and the most expensive is tiny.

davybaby

Hi guys, I'm new to pc building, tech savvy but never built a system end to end. I have an asus p8z68 deluxe mobo in an antec rack mount and the question I never saw coming is which fan terminals power which fans(don't worry I see the CPU one!) I see pwrfan1 and2 and also cha-fan1 and 2. I'm looking to regulate fan speed if I can
Many thanks,
Dave

Monotype

Cha-fan is for the chassis - i.e., the case so use those first.
The pwr-fans are most likely for PSU fans, although most PSUs will regulate their own fans. So you can probably use these too but they might show up in BIOS/UEFI under PSU fans and they might not be regulated in the same way.

davybaby

Thanks a million Krakatoa

Reku

42LK450U - first component bought, will need to set it up over the weekend (wall mount). Got it for €400 in Powercity as they have it on sale until Sunday, hopefully might luck out on some of the components too, but regardless of special offers I plan to order the parts from Scan.co.uk tomorrow or over the weekend so the parts will arrive next week and I can build the system next weekend.

Definitely liking Scan's insurance offer, a nice little safety net for first time builders.:) I also like that I can get all the parts in one place with them as opposed to having to buy different bits from different e-tailors, and in spite of that their prices seem to be on par with/better than the others.

Thanks for the offer of help deconduo but since I'm buying it with the specific intent of upgrading it when the need arises it'd probably be best if I do it myself, make sure I'm comfortable with the hardware when the time to make changes arises. That's why I;m splashing out a bit on the case, motherboard and PSU, try to ensure that I should be able to reuse them as I swap out the other parts for more up to date ones in future years. It should put my current system to shame and then some ( T7600 cpu, 2GB RAM, GeForce Go 7950 GTX and a measly 100GB hard drive. lol:D).

ShadowHearth

Scan is great with deliveries.

Ordered Tuesday afternoon and got my system Thursday afternoon. They might be on expencive side with some components, but I do like to use them.

Nibs05

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Scan is great with deliveries.

Ordered Tuesday afternoon and got my system Thursday afternoon. They might be on expencive side with some components, but I do like to use them.

Hi Shadow,

On the subject of scan, when you create a account with them and try to log in, what do you use in the post code box when logging in.

Monotype

If you live in Dublin, just put your Dublin post code. I think there's a minimum of 3 digits, so just fill in the extra with zeros. E.g., for Dublin 62, put 062.

You live elsewhere, just put a general Irelandy sounding one. Like REP123 or IRL or EIRE. Whatever fits in that the form accepts.
It doesn't matter much as when they see Ireland on the package it will be sent here and our post guys will just be looking at the address.

Serephucus

He's asking about logging in, not postal address information in an order. @Nibs, I haven't a clue, I've never figured that one out, and have had to re-create an account every freaking time I want to order from Scan (which is why I almost never do :P).

Nibs05

Serephucus wrote: »

He's asking about logging in, not postal address information in an order. @Nibs, I haven't a clue, I've never figured that one out, and have had to re-create an account every freaking time I want to order from Scan (which is why I almost never do :P).

Yea Its when i want to log in, I have saved baskets to compare products and different builds but I can never log back in, it worrys me a little when the time comes to order I won't be able to log in and track the order.

Monotype

I didn't have any major problems with logging on apart from remembering all the details.
Taking a look at it, I think left the first box blank for post code and the second one with three digits as I said above.

Edit: Errr... maybe that's not what I did.

Edit 2: I put three zeroes in the first box as well.

Edit 3: Just logged into my old account there after checking emails as to what I used exactly and recovered my password. You just have to be very consistent - both names, the postcode and two passwords which is a bit elaborate for a website security system in comparison to most.

Nibs05

Monotype wrote: »

I didn't have any major problems with logging on apart from remembering all the details.
Taking a look at it, I think left the first box blank for post code and the second one with three digits as I said above.

Edit: Errr... maybe that's not what I did.

Edit 2: I put three zeroes in the first box as well.

Edit 3: Just logged into my old account there after checking emails as to what I used exactly and recovered my password. You just have to be very consistent - both names, the postcode and two passwords which is a bit elaborate for a website security system in comparison to most.

Sorted, thanks Monotype