For Hardcore Gaming, etc

Libertewhite

1. What is your budget? €1000+ and I'll pay extra if I need too, if it means better hardware for an extra couple of Euro.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming, Video editing, Internet. For games: SWTOR and World of Warcraft on full graphics, 65+FPS while 25man raiding. I also need to be able to stream those games too on 1080P.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes

5a. If yes, what size do you need. 20' or 22'

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? N/A

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? I need a keyboard and speakers.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes

8. How can you pay? Debit Card or Laser

9. When are you purchasing? Hopefully in the next 2 weeks.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? South Dublin. Dun Laoghaire.

Brian

I also need to be able to stream those games too on 1080P.

Streaming your own game, or streaming other people's games?

Libertewhite

Brian wrote: »

Streaming your own game, or streaming other people's games?

Streaming my own.

Brian

I see. That is extremely CPU intensive. Not to mention there aren't a great number of 1080P monitors in the 20-22" range, and you will need the 100/8 Mb UPC package to stream without lag, and you will also need a $40 xsplit licence.

Libertewhite

Brian wrote: »

I see. That is extremely CPU intensive. Not to mention there aren't a great number of 1080P monitors in the 20-22" range, and you will need the 100/8 Mb UPC package to stream without lag, and you will also need a $40 xsplit licence.

I have the 100/8 Mb from UPC already. I've briefly looked at monitors and I found a few 24' with 1080P relatively cheap on Amazon.

frozenfrozen

Libertewhite wrote: »

I have the 100/8 Mb from UPC already. I've briefly looked at monitors and I found a few 24' with 1080P relatively cheap on Amazon.

It's a lot easier to find a 1080p 24" monitor than a 20"

Brian

Not so easy to fit it into a ~€1000 budget though.

Libertewhite

I can go without streaming, for now. I'll just have to upgrade parts in a few months. I don't mind doing that.
But for a fact, I need something to handle full graphic 25man raiding, quite soon. Even I had just that I'd be happy.

I can wait to upgrade the other things I need.

I was thinking:
CPU: Intel i7 2600K
Mobo: Asus P8Z68-V
Ram: 8gb G-Skill Ripjaw
GPU: nvidia GTX 560
SSD: Intel X-25M

Is this make any good, do you know?
I hate not knowing much about parts. For all I know, there is better parts, than these, and much cheaper.

deconduo

This should do the job nicely. If you had a bit more to spare I'd throw it into an SSD, but this build will do everything you need.

Type|Name|Price
CPU|Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€188.78
Cooler|Thermalright HR-02 Macho|€33.75
Motherboard|ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€82.61
RAM|8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€32.66
GPU|Club 3D Radeon HD 7870, 2048MB GDDR5, AMD Radeon HD 7870, PCI- Express|€312.79
HDD|Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB, SATA II (HD502HJ)|€70.34
Case|BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil|€54.04
PSU|Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€52.02
DVD RW|LiteOn iHAS122-18 schwarz SATA|€16.65
Windows|Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit (SB-Version)|€79.17
Monitor|BenQ GL2250|€115.00
Shipping||€18.99
Total||€1,056.80

Libertewhite

deconduo wrote: »

This should do the job nicely. If you had a bit more to spare I'd throw it into an SSD, but this build will do everything you need.

What SSD were you considering?

Do you have experience with that site, if so, can you elaborate?

Btw, the build looks so awesome so far. Many many thanks for taking the time to help. I really really appreciate it

deconduo

Libertewhite wrote: »

What SSD were you considering?

Do you have experience with that site, if so, can you elaborate?

The Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 are both good drives.

I've ordered 12+ builds from them and never had a problem.

Libertewhite

Did delivery take long/cost much?

I'm just curious....how did you make those links look like that? Like the full link didn't show, just the item in question.

Monotype

deconduo wrote: »

Windows|Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit (SB-Version)|€79.17

Don't forget to download an English 64-bit disc image to go with that key.

About the formatting in deconduo's post, it's using Fluffy's script. There's a link to it in the 'how to ask for computer build help' post.

Serephucus

In answer to your specific question, it's to do with the link formatting.

Normally: (url)www.google.com(/url) = www.google.com
But: (url=www.google.com)Google(/url) = Google

NB: Replace "(" and ")" with "[" and "]". I used regular brackets because the formatting won't show up otherwise.

Brian

Serephucus wrote: »

I used regular brackets ...

Parentheses

deconduo

Libertewhite wrote: »

Did delivery take long/cost much?

I'm just curious....how did you make those links look like that? Like the full link didn't show, just the item in question.

Delivery usually takes 5-7 days, and is a flat €18.99, I have it included already.

As monotype said Fluffy's script automates most of it, the link is in my signature.

Monotype wrote: »

Don't forget to download an English 64-bit disc image to go with that key.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm based in Dublin and can help put it together for you. I have the right windows disk as well. If you are putting it together yourself, download this and burn it to a dvd:
Win7 Home 64

Basically the cheapest version of windows from that site is the german version, but the license key from it is valid for any version. So you buy the german key and install it from your own english DVD.

Serephucus

Brian wrote: »

Parentheses

I know, but I was going for layman's terms. :P

uncle_sam_ie

This is how to put Windows 7 onto a USB to install instead of DVD. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4CdEZPTPzk&feature=player_embedded#!

Libertewhite

deconduo wrote: »

Delivery usually takes 5-7 days, and is a flat €18.99, I have it included already.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm based in Dublin and can help put it together for you. I have the right windows disk as well.

Basically the cheapest version of windows from that site is the german version, but the license key from it is valid for any version. So you buy the german key and install it from your own english DVD.

I will be taking you up on your offer! If I did it myself, I'd most likely burn something out!

Do you mean paying for the 32-bit, but using a 64-bit version? I'm slightly confused there!

Would http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=48850&agid=1193 be better?

Is there anything that would help overclocking usage? I'm a virgin when it comes to overclocking.

NTMK

Libertewhite wrote: »

Is there anything that would help overclocking usage? I'm a virgin when it comes to overclocking.

If you mean is it useful for your gaming and streaming. i would say yes when i overclocked my i5 i got about 10 more fps in BF3 and i image in a game like SWTOR would help it quite a bit and stabilise the FPS. I haven't played SWTOR yet (Curse you 4th year) so i cant really confirm it for you but MMOs are usually CPU intensive more than GPU so it should help and its really easy to do

Monotype

Libertewhite wrote: »

Do you mean paying for the 32-bit, but using a 64-bit version? I'm slightly confused there!

The disc is a German 32-bit one. You can use the license that you are buying with an English disc and the same key is used for 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
In other words, you are buying the key from there but you probably don't want the German version.
Alternatively,, you can get it cheaper if you're a student until the end of the month.
http://www.software4students.ie/Windows_7-list.aspx

Would http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=48850&agid=1193 be better?

Not much. It's a little faster but the difference is minuscule on these Intel systems. The heatsinks do little apart from look better as RAM doesn't get that hot.

Eboggles

NTMK wrote: »

I haven't played SWTOR yet (Curse you 4th year)

You're doing it wrong, 4th year is the biggest doss year

Libertewhite

NTMK wrote: »

If you mean is it useful for your gaming and streaming. i would say yes when i overclocked my i5 i got about 10 more fps in BF3 and i image in a game like SWTOR would help it quite a bit and stabilise the FPS. I haven't played SWTOR yet (Curse you 4th year) so i cant really confirm it for you but MMOs are usually CPU intensive more than GPU so it should help and its really easy to do

I have yet to play SWTOR but I assume it's more CPU intensive than WoW. I could be wrong.

What I meant was, is there some sort of software to keep on eye on it and other things like temperature, GHz, etc

aN.Droid

Libertewhite wrote: »

I have yet to play SWTOR but I assume it's more CPU intensive than WoW. I could be wrong.

What I meant was, is there some sort of software to keep on eye on it and other things like temperature, GHz, etc

You will get software with your motherboard that does this. Though with a 2500k you could overclock it more than 1ghz on stock coolers and not have to worry about it. Mine is currently on 5ghz with a v10 cooler.

NTMK

Libertewhite wrote: »

I have yet to play SWTOR but I assume it's more CPU intensive than WoW. I could be wrong.

What I meant was, is there some sort of software to keep on eye on it and other things like temperature, GHz, etc

Myself and Tea use HWmonitor.
This will give you cpu core temps and voltages and CPU-Z for clocks

Libertewhite

Limericks wrote: »

You will get software with your motherboard that does this. Though with a 2500k you could overclock it more than 1ghz on stock coolers and not have to worry about it. Mine is currently on 5ghz with a v10 cooler.

How high would I be able to overclock my setup, without damaging it?
For 2 reasons: A)I know the limit and B)Showing off

NTMK wrote: »

Myself and Tea use HWmonitor.
This will give you cpu core temps and voltages and CPU-Z for clocks

Many thanks, NTMK!

deconduo

Libertewhite wrote: »

How high would I be able to overclock my setup, without damaging it?
For 2 reasons: A)I know the limit and B)Showing off

Many thanks, NTMK!

I can help you overclock it as well if you like. Its fairly straightforward with that chip anyway.

NTMK

Libertewhite wrote: »

How high would I be able to overclock my setup, without damaging it?
For 2 reasons: A)I know the limit and B)Showing off

it depends on a couple of things
1) some chips overclock better than others mine reaches most will usually reach 4.3 no problem some will go higher than that mine is at 4.8 and limericks is at 5 which is very rare
it all depends on the chip but ~4.4ghz is a good estimate for what you can expect. temps and voltages are critical to watch to avoid damaging it (i think keeping it under 1.35v is what you want to avoid shortening your cpu's life). but 5Ghz chips are considered "golden chips" and only fraction of chips can actually reach that

2)some motherboards appear to limit overclocking (mine appears to limit it to 4.8ghz (Asrock z68 Extreme IV)) others allow it to go higher

uncle_sam_ie

I haven't even manual overclocked mine yet. The board I have has a performance feature that will overclock it to 43ghz with the push of a button. Most new boards will do this, but manual overclocking is the better option.

frozenfrozen

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

I haven't even manual overclocked mine yet. The board I have has a performance feature that will overclock it to 43ghz with the push of a button. Most new boards will do this, but manual overclocking is the better option.

:OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Libertewhite

NTMK wrote: »

it depends on a couple of things
1) some chips overclock better than others mine reaches most will usually reach 4.3 no problem some will go higher than that mine is at 4.8 and limericks is at 5 which is very rare
it all depends on the chip but ~4.4ghz is a good estimate for what you can expect. temps and voltages are critical to watch to avoid damaging it (i think keeping it under 1.35v is what you want to avoid shortening your cpu's life). but 5Ghz chips are considered "golden chips" and only fraction of chips can actually reach that.

Is there much of a price difference?

I do have 1 or 2 questions. Why go for a sata2 harddrive when I could go for one supporting sata3? Or is that no big deal/difference?

I think 1600MHz Ram would be better than a 1333MHz, but I don't really understand it tbh. I don't know which makes are better :S

Libertewhite

deconduo wrote: »

I can help you overclock it as well if you like. Its fairly straightforward with that chip anyway.

I'll be ordering everything on Monday or Thursday at the latest. I hope to have everything sorted by then - I'm completely lost in all these things!

Do you want to PM me your number and then I can ring you when I receive the components? Also mention what times you'd be free during the week and how much you charge. I assume they will get here anytime after the 26th.

Monotype

Libertewhite wrote: »

Is there much of a price difference?

I do have 1 or 2 questions. Why go for a sata2 harddrive when I could go for one supporting sata3? Or is that no big deal/difference?

I think 1600MHz Ram would be better than a 1333MHz, but I don't really understand it tbh. I don't know which makes are better :S

SATA 6Gbps hard drive makes no difference. It's like having a car that will only do 60kmph on a roads with 120kmph and 240kmph speed limits. It makes a difference to SSDs though, of course.


The RAM is higher frequency but it doesn't translate to 20% extra performance. It's better but even €10 is steep for the difference. There's benchmarks around somewhere...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/6

Actually, in searching around I found some more results where there's a bigger impact.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/sandy-bridge-ddr3_7.html

NTMK

Libertewhite wrote: »

Is there much of a price difference?

I do have 1 or 2 questions. Why go for a sata2 harddrive when I could go for one supporting sata3? Or is that no big deal/difference?

I think 1600MHz Ram would be better than a 1333MHz, but I don't really understand it tbh. I don't know which makes are better :S

Its random depends on the batch of processors

with mechanical hard drives theres no difference (i havent seen a difference anyway) difference only shows up with ssds

I know nothing about Ram really so i couldnt tell ya:o

frozenfrozen

You really won't notice a difference between 1333mhz and 1600mhz ram. You would only really see the difference in benchmarks. Definitely go for the cheaper option

Libertewhite

Okay, so in plain English, "I should ignore the Ram MHz and the Sata 3 drive because it makes no difference?"

My brain has officially melted.

Tea_Bag

Libertewhite wrote: »

Okay, so in plain English, "I should ignore the Ram MHz and the Sata 3 drive because it makes no difference?"

My brain has officially melted.

dont ignore them, just go with whichever is cheapest. I usually get 1600mhz Cl9/8 ram cause i know if i ever go back to AMD it'll make a difference.

as far as intel goes, meh.

Libertewhite

So this is the setup and I think it's finished.

CPU|Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€188.78
Cooler|Thermalright HR-02 Macho|€33.75
Motherboard|ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€82.61
RAM|8GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9|€42.15
GPU|Club 3D Radeon HD 7870, 2048MB GDDR5, AMD Radeon HD 7870, PCI- Express|€312.79
HDD|Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB, SATA II (HD502HJ)|€70.34
Case|BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil|€54.04
PSU|Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2|€78.27
DVD RW|LiteOn iHAS122-18 schwarz SATA|€16.65
Windows|Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit (SB-Version)|€79.17
Monitor|BenQ GL2250|€115.00
SSD|Corsair Force Series GT 120GB SATA III|€143.67
Shipping||€18.99
Total||€1,236.21

Any last changes?

Monotype

You might as well get the crucial M4. It's a bit cheaper and performs better with incompressible data.
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=46110

Brian

Could, um, get a 23" monitor for that price on adverts >_>

Libertewhite

Brian wrote: »

Could, um, get a 23" monitor for that price on adverts >_>

Linky linky?!

Libertewhite

Monotype wrote: »

You might as well get the crucial M4. It's a bit cheaper and performs better with incompressible data.
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=46110

Many many thanks again, Monotype!
I'll just change those 2 around then.

Brian

Libertewhite wrote: »

Linky linky?!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=77735224&postcount=71 (it's mine)

Libertewhite

Brian wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=77735224&postcount=71 (it's mine)

Why are you getting rid of it? :S

EDIT:
"Inputs: VGA, DVI, HDMI"

Yep, It's good!!

Brian

Upgrading.

Libertewhite

Brian wrote: »

Upgrading.

Brian wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=77735224&postcount=71 (it's mine)

Perfect!

Brian

*cough* just make an offer on the ad

Monotype

Just looking at the PSU you selected. 650W is unnecessary unless you plan some big upgrades. You could go with another 550W, or save a few euro with other 650W PSUs such as the XFX or amazon. Alternatively, the golden green is €2 more than what the TXv2 costs.
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=38006

Libertewhite

Monotype wrote: »

Just looking at the PSU you selected. 650W is unnecessary unless you plan some big upgrades. You could go with another 550W, or save a few euro with other 650W PSUs such as the XFX or amazon. Alternatively, the golden green is €2 more than what the TXv2 costs.
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=38006

Monotype, you have been ever so helpful. I honestly can't thank you enough. I truly appreciate all the work you put it.

And thanks to everyone else who has posted and helped me build the perfect rig. Kudos to you all

Tar.Aldarion

Brian wrote: »

Upgrading.

you still haven't gotten a 120hz 1080p 3d monitor?! I want a second one at this stage

Did you get a monitor yet? I would love a nice 27 inch one, oh to dream.

Brian

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

you still haven't gotten a 120hz 1080p 3d monitor?! I want a second one at this stage

Did you get a monitor yet? I would love a nice 27 inch one, oh to dream.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056587214

Bought on Thursday... probably won't see it for a week.