How low can you go? €1100 1440p gaming rig.

BloodBath

Decided to see how cheaply you could make a powerful 1440p gaming rig that would run most games with max settings at 1440p with 60 fps.


Item|Price
ASRock 970 Extreme4, AM3+, ATX|€79.63
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€101.96
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.68
8GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9|€60.71
SanDisk SSD 64GB 6,4cm S-ATA 600|€50.68
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.12
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 650W|€74.01
Samsung SH-118AB schwarz|€12.45
Zalman Z9 Plus Midi Tower - black, ohne Netzteil|€46.70
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€530.93

Windows. €44.

Monitor. Roughly €280 including customs charges.

2 of these graphics cards. €310.

That's a total of €1164 including windows. It would be under €1100 without windows and the dvd drive. There's probably still some small savings to be made with bargain hunting.

NTMK

Remove the ssd if you really really need to €50
Drop the dvd drive €12
Drop the case down to a bitfenix merc €14
cheaper ram €5
cheaper cooler (cant remember the name of it but it was decent) €15
total €96 before taking out windows

€140 with windows out

1164-140= €1024

best i can do but i could probable sqeeze another 5 out of the case but i couldnt deal with working with a case below the merc

Recurve360

BloodBath wrote: »

You could get a small discount on the hwvs order as well to get the price down further.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056907965

Hardwareversand have removed themselves off Geizhals altohether bloodbath, Only happened this morning.

ideleo.de still works though

Gumbi

NTMK wrote: »

Remove the ssd if you really really need to €50
Drop the dvd drive €12
Drop the case down to a bitfenix merc €14
cheaper ram €5
cheaper cooler (cant remember the name of it but it was decent) €15
total €96 before taking out windows

€140 with windows out

1164-140= €1024

best i can do but i could probable sqeeze another 5 out of the case but i couldnt deal with working with a case below the merc

Agreed mosty. I wouldn't want to compromise on the SSD. And I wouldn't go for that cooler (Zalman or something?). We have already compromised on the CPU to sccompdate the dual 7870, and wouldn't want to lose out on the overclocking provided by the 212.

BloodBath

The problem with dropping the case to a merc alpha is that it only comes with only 1 case fan where as the zalman comes with 5. You're going to want that airflow for a dual gpu rig especially if you want to overclock everything which you should since the cpu and cards have a lot of headroom if you can keep them cool enough.

You could drop the ssd and add one later though.

The cooler is the zalman, Still a great cooler for the price that will get reasonable overclocks.

NTMK

Gumbi wrote: »

Agreed mosty. I wouldn't want to compromise on the SSD. And I wouldn't go for that cooler (Zalman or something?). We have already compromised on the CPU to sccompdate the dual 7870, and wouldn't want to lose out on the overclocking provided by the 212.

i wouldnt either but if we're pushing for a 1440p60 under a grand then imo the ssd is not essential

its a coolermaster cooler and it did a great job at cooling an OC'd 6 core 1050T(i think it was a 1050T ill look later)

a big oc wouldnt be essential, the gpus are

Geralt

Nicely laid out and on a budget. Although words 1440p gaming and on a budget dont really go along with each other. The only thing I would buy different is the PSU, never heard of Super flower. Been using cooler master for OCd PC for 6 years and it never went wrong. They are in the similar price bracket as well.

BloodBath

The super flower amazons are highly rated and regarded psus. Nothing wrong with it.

People assume they don't go together but the rig above kind of proves that it's possible. €1100 isn't really budget money but considering that it's a powerful 1440p pc it's very cheap. It's an option for people who come here with that budget who would normally get a 1080p gaming pc.

I don't think I'd stray too far from the original build. There's already a lot of compromises been made but the quality of all the parts is still top notch.

It's definitely possible to knock nearly €100 off though if you put off buying the ssd and cpu cooler until a later date.

NTMK

Geralt wrote: »

Nicely laid out and on a budget. Although words 1440p gaming and on a budget dont really go along with each other. The only thing I would buy different is the PSU, never heard of Super flower. Been using cooler master for OCd PC for 6 years and it never went wrong. They are in the similar price bracket as well.

superflowers are made by seasonic who make the most reliable PSU's same as XFX,Corsair(with a few exceptions) and a few others
1440p can be done under a €1000 but a lot of sacrifices have to be made as it effectively needs to be a €700 with graphics horsepower

I spent €600 on a GPU(s) (twice) to deliver similar performance at 1440p

@bloodbath the merc doesnt have the best airflow but in my experience the 7870's dont generate a lot of heat.

NTMK

BloodBath wrote: »

I don't think I'd stray too far from the original build. There's already a lot of compromises been made but the quality of all the parts is still top notch.

It's definitely possible to knock nearly €100 off though if you put off buying the ssd and cpu cooler until a later date.

i wouldnt either but if i really really had to push it under a grand it can be done:)

BloodBath

At stock speeds sure but those gpus will do up to 1200mhz on the core if you can keep them cool enough.

The zalman is a far superior case for only €13 more. 5 fans with a fan controller. You can't go wrong.

Likewise you could go for an fx 4300 and save €10 but it would be madness when the fx6300 has 50% more cores for €10 more. Games will start making use of those extra 2 cores soon enough anyway.

Geralt

Aaa right its done by seasonic, that makes sense now. Hate when companies rebrand stuff

ShadowHearth

Geralt wrote: »

Nicely laid out and on a budget. Although words 1440p gaming and on a budget dont really go along with each other. The only thing I would buy different is the PSU, never heard of Super flower. Been using cooler master for OCd PC for 6 years and it never went wrong. They are in the similar price bracket as well.

That rang in my head too when i heard budget and 1440p mentioned. I would better go for a Strong 1080p build, which most likely will be able to go easily to 1440p with GPU upgrade (second GPU added cheaply most likely ).
Yes, 1440p is awesome, but I would not go budget to get it. Still, not bad build Bloodbath.

BloodBath

I don't see the problem. If I was buying a rig now with a budget of €1100 I'd be very tempted. The above build is pretty much the maximum price/performance you can get.

Unless you play mainly cpu limited games like starcraft 2 or the total war series. That's entirely down to ****ty programming rather than the cpu though. It shouldn't be a problem with future games using 6 threads.

NTMK

Geralt wrote: »

Aaa right its done by seasonic, that makes sense now. Hate when companies rebrand stuff

Superflower outsoure to Seasonic not rebranding more hiring a company thats better a making power supplys to make them

BloodBath wrote: »

At stock speeds sure but those gpus will do up to 1200mhz on the core if you can keep them cool enough.

The zalman is a far superior case for only €13 more. 5 fans with a fan controller. You can't go wrong.

Likewise you could go for an fx 4300 and save €10 but it would be madness when the fx6300 has 50% more cores for €10 more. Games will start making use of those extra 2 cores soon enough anyway.

1GHz cards do 1440p60 just fine i built a rig with 2 of them last year when they were €310 each

I wouldnt even touch the cpu when trimming i cut the stuff that wont effect performance first

lukepaddy2

BloodBath wrote: »

I don't see the problem. If I was buying a rig now with a budget of €1100 I'd be very tempted. The above build is pretty much the maximum price/performance you can get.

Its a very good setup but I would probably go with the Nvidia graphics cards as less micro-stuttering or has it been fixed. I see people spending 1500 on an 1080P and I just think to myself why? Its a very good build, who cares about having a nice case and a load of peripherals all you want is raw power which is exactly what that PC has.

Also I see people spending an extra 100 on a i5 when there is very very little difference between them in newer games. Also games are going to be optimized for more cores and AMD architecture in the next couple of months.

Also I don't think an SSD is necessary as well tbh. I have an 8320 and I don't really notice the difference with one or without one. PC boots up five seconds quicker doesn't really bother me.

Gumbi

lukepaddy2 wrote: »

Its a very good setup but I would probably go with the Nvidia graphics cards as less micro-stuttering. I see people spending 1500 on an 1080P and I just think to myself why? Its a very good build, who cares about having a nice case and a load of peripherals all you want is raw power which is exactly what that PC has.

Also I see people spending an extra 100 on a i5 when there is very very little difference between them in newer games. Also games are going to be optimized for more cores and AMD architecture in the next couple of months.

AMD have largely addressed CF issues in their latest beta driver, with better things still to come.

lukepaddy2

Gumbi wrote: »

AMD have largely addressed CF issues in their latest beta driver, with better things still to come.

Cool, didn't realise

BloodBath

Are those cards 1ghz at stock?

If you want to add fans to the alpha later it's going to cost you a lot more than the extra €13 for the zalman case though. That's with no fan controller. So you're looking at around €30-€40 minimum to get a similar 5 fan + controller option.

If someones spending over €1k on a gaming pc they can stretch another €13. It is affecting performance as you won't get overclocks as high on the cards or cpu with ****ty airflow.

I wouldn't be without an ssd to be honest. Boot times are way faster than 5s over hdd. More like 30s+, more depending on how many programs start up with windows. The performance and responsiveness of windows and programs is way faster. Not waiting for hdd to spin up or seek. Also things like alt + tabbing out of a game while its loading or whatever takes way longer if you are running off of a single hdd.

NTMK

BloodBath wrote: »

Are those cards 1ghz at stock?

If you want to add fans to the alpha later it's going to cost you a lot more than the extra €13 for the zalman case though. That's with no fan controller. So you're looking at around €30-€40 minimum to get a similar 5 fan + controller option.

If someones spending over €1k on a gaming pc they can stretch another €13. It is affecting performance as you won't get overclocks as high on the cards or cpu with ****ty airflow.

yep they were GHZ editon sapphires no oc as i've no experience ocing GPUS and i didnt want to take the risk on a pc for a friend who isnt the most computer literate esp when im not around the pc to maintain it

i wouldnt drop the case unless i absolutely had to and the zalman sounds like a fantastic deal

lukepaddy2

ShadowHearth wrote: »

That rang in my head too when i heard budget and 1440p mentioned. I would better go for a Strong 1080p build, which most likely will be able to go easily to 1440p with GPU upgrade (second GPU added cheaply most likely ).
Yes, 1440p is awesome, but I would not go budget to get it. Still, not bad build Bloodbath.

Why exactly wouldn't you. What would you change for your 1080P build?

NTMK

lukepaddy2 wrote: »

Why exactly wouldn't you. What would you change for your 1080P build?

SSD
possibly a different case
better processor
strong single GPU

just as an example

marco_polo

NTMK wrote: »

Superflower outsoure to Seasonic not rebranding more hiring a company thats better a making power supplys to make yours



1GHz cards do 1440p60 just fine i built a rig with 2 of them last year when they were €310 each

I wouldnt even touch the cpu when trimming i cut the stuff that wont effect performance first

Superflower are an OEM manufacturer themselves, I don't think they have any relationship with Seasonic at all?

(Or do you mean that SF just make their own designs and get seasonic to manufacture them, if thats the case, and I don't think that it is, I wasn't aware of it)

NTMK

marco_polo wrote: »

Superflower are an OEM manufacturer themselves, I don't think they have any relationship with Seasonic at all?

You're right Superfloower oem for others, must have got confused with how ****ed up psu manufacturing is:o

either way they make fantastic PSUs except for their ugly cabling:pac:

marco_polo

NTMK wrote: »

You're right Superfloower oem for others, must have got confused with how ****ed up psu manufacturing is:o

either way they make fantastic PSUs except for their ugly cabling:pac:

The horrific blue LEDs of the Amazons series are surely worthy of a mention :P

NTMK

marco_polo wrote: »

The horrific blue LEDs of the Amazons series are surely worthy of a mention :P

i can hide the blue by facing the fan down i cant hide the rainbow cables though

BloodBath

They would match the zalman blue led fans at least.

mikom

Has anyone ever done a "How low can you go? 1080p gaming rig."
Possible for a third the price of the 1440p........ approx 400 Euro?

..Brian..

mikom wrote: »

Has anyone ever done a "How low can you go? 1080p gaming rig."
Possible for a third the price of the 1440p........ approx 400 Euro?

That would be interesting incl monitor, windows and peripherals!

mikom

..Brian.. wrote: »

That would be interesting incl monitor, windows and peripherals!

Yep.
I suppose the mouse and speakers could be left out as many will have them hanging around.
It should be able to play a current game at an acceptable level though..... say Bioshock infinite or the new Metro.

BloodBath

I could knock one up in a bit. It's not going going to be anything like €400 though. I'd say about €600.

Bioshock infinite uses the 8 year old unreal 3 engine. It's not really stressful. Metro is a different kettle of fish.

mikom

BloodBath wrote: »

I could knock one up in a bit. It's not going going to be anything like €400 though. I'd say about €600.

Bioshock infinite uses the 8 year old unreal 3 engine. It's not really stressful. Metro is a different kettle of fish.

Will ya throw in the mouse and speakers for that price......... :P

Gumbi

2 7870s for 310 euro is absolutely amazing value. Those coolers are good, too. I had the same cooler on a 7950. On 7870s they barely hit 60 degrees at stock speeds. With good case airflow I'd imagine you'd get 1100mhz plus out of both of them, or more even.