£800 gaming rig idea

WillClarke

Hi everyone, this is my idea for a build.  Been planning for weeks now and will pruchase in a few days.  I don't need a harddrive, optical drive, OS or periphials.

CPU - I5 750 - £150

PGU - XFX 5850 - £250

RAM - 2X2GB 7x8x7x24 £80

PSU - 550W Corsair £70

CASE - HAF 922 £75

MOBO - ASUS P7P55D (Undecided which version) £100 - £125

COOLER - CM212 Plus - £20

Don't know which motherboard to get, i don't want SLI or CF.  Any suggestions on which one from the P7P55D range will be best?

Cleffy

Wait until nVidia launches the Fermi Video card.  It should immediately drop prices on this build by 100 pounds.

I would definetly get a board with atleast 2 PCI-e x16 lanes.  Not for multi-GPU, but for a PCI-e SSD.  They are mind-blowingly fast and should be going down in price while you own this PC.

dfan

 I don't think fermi launch will drop prices radically as they can't really compete against ati thanks to very high manufacturing costs.

Also, pcie ssds are kinda far from consumers still, afaik they are not even bootable. Sata2/3 will be the main port for ssd now and in near future.

The build looks nicely balanced, I'd maybe change the cpu cooler to something better if you are going to oc it, otherwise the stock fan should do just fine.

FearGX

Cleffy

Originally posted by dfan


 I don't think fermi launch will drop prices radically as they can't really compete against ati thanks to very high manufacturing costs.
Also, pcie ssds are kinda far from consumers still, afaik they are not even bootable. Sata2/3 will be the main port for ssd now and in near future.
The build looks nicely balanced, I'd maybe change the cpu cooler to something better if you are going to oc it, otherwise the stock fan should do just fine.

 

PCI-e SSDs are only 20% higher in price per GB as its SATA counterparts.  But its also 3 times as fast.  You can always use more then 1 HDD.  The price is high now for SSDs but should drop over the next few years as all technology does.

dfan

Originally posted by Cleffy

Originally posted by dfan


 I don't think fermi launch will drop prices radically as they can't really compete against ati thanks to very high manufacturing costs.
Also, pcie ssds are kinda far from consumers still, afaik they are not even bootable. Sata2/3 will be the main port for ssd now and in near future.
The build looks nicely balanced, I'd maybe change the cpu cooler to something better if you are going to oc it, otherwise the stock fan should do just fine.

 

PCI-e SSDs are only 20% higher in price per GB as its SATA counterparts.  But its also 3 times as fast.  You can always use more then 1 HDD.  The price is high now for SSDs but should drop over the next few years as all technology does.

The leap won't happen any time soon. As sata is making its arrival there's simply no reason to use more expensive pcie way.

Pcie ssds will remain as professional products at least few years still. I wouldn't suggest normal user getting one unless he is a serious computer slave.

Lasastard

 What about this case? Should be a bit cheaper, is noise reduced (important aspect, for me) and has a very clean look:

www.fractal-design.com/

And maybe this for a cooler then:

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx

MonkeykingZX

 

overclockers.co.uk

thexrated

I would go with a cheaper motherboard. No point paying over £100 for one unless you are really enthusiastic about overclocking. Mainstream motherboards are very good for gamers. I would use that extra £80 you save on either Radeon HD 5870 or SSD drive. 

Also would go with 6GB memory and include the price of Windows 7 Home Premium to the setup.

Only HDD worth getting according to many tests:

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) [HD103SJ]

You might consider SSD for your OS, but that is extra £80-100

And also 750-900W PSU, if you fancy going CF with your video cards later on. Also better for general upgrades to have little bit more power.

thexrated

 

By adding extra £20-40, you can get the even better version of CPU.

thinktank001

Originally posted by Cleffy


Wait until nVidia launches the Fermi Video card.  It should immediately drop prices on this build by 100 pounds.
I would definetly get a board with atleast 2 PCI-e x16 lanes.  Not for multi-GPU, but for a PCI-e SSD.  They are mind-blowingly fast and should be going down in price while you own this PC.

 

I surely hope you are right, but it does not look that way.  The 480 is priced at $700 and is marginally better than a 5870.   At that price nvidia can only hope that their fanbois will buy them. 

dfan

My personal opinion is that fermi launch won't effect the prices. 5800 series prices have been going up, the best time to buy was right after the launch. Nvidia can't compete with pricing, unless they plan to sell fermi with no coverage. 

MonkeykingZX

Originally posted by thexrated



 
By adding extra £20-40, you can get the even better version of CPU.

you went for a worse motherboard, worse cpu, and worse psu just to pointlessly upgrade the case and the gpu because? he can easily overclock the gpu to 5870 levels without spending the extra money lol and a cm690 would easily cool anything he'd stick in that case especialy if he doesn't overclock

 

and to your post before he wouldn't need a 900w psu for crossfire or sli, especially on am3 or lga1556 a decent 600w would be fine

Cleffy

Socket AM3 and LGA1156 do not support Triple Channel Memory.  I don't find anything wrong with an OCZ power supply.  They are definetly one of the best picks brand wise. 

MonkeykingZX

 i know there's nothing wrong with them i have one in my system i just wondered why he chose the 700w non modular over the 600w modular

Cleffy

Non-Modular is better then Modular when we are talking strictly performance.  Also PCI-e SSDs are now bootable.

thexrated

Originally posted by Cleffy


Socket AM3 and LGA1156 do not support Triple Channel Memory.  I don't find anything wrong with an OCZ power supply.  They are definetly one of the best picks brand wise. 

 

Yes, I did click a wrong memory, but that can be easily changed.  Selected OCZ PSU purely because I have one albeit slightly different. It really does not matter which one he selects, as most branded probably perform decently. Suppose it comes down what you value. Not everyone values the same things in their PSUs. I usually look at how quiet they are.  

you went for a worse motherboard, worse cpu, and worse psu just to pointlessly upgrade the case

Sorry, but do not really see a point of spending £150 for motherboard and £150 on CPU, if you are building a gaming rig especially with limited money to spend.  You might be right that there might be a better AMD option, but I checked only the stats at Tom's Hardware and tried to select one with best bang for the buck (albeit dual core could do as well for gaming atm, but price difference was not that huge). I have Intel dual core myself.  If he wants, he could go with Black Edition Phenom II for overclocking ofc (with few extra quid like I mentioned).

The casing of course is optional and a matter of taste. 

Here is a review of that motherboard. Basically it is good quality all around and nearly half the price of Asus Maximus II Gene P55. And it will do fine for most gaming rigs.

And yes, he would do just fine with a stock cooler on CPU.



he can easily overclock the gpu to 5870 levels without spending the extra money lol and a cm690 would easily cool anything he'd stick in that case especialy if he doesn't overclock

Well I was living under assumption that 5870 can be overclocked as well, if we starting to split hairs. I was looking at test scores for these cards and 5870 performance increase in my opinion warrants few extra quid. CPU and motherboard doesnt warrant that extra £125+ Also, if he doesn't overclock why not spend little extra for where it matters more as a gamer? I would personally get the best GPU available and/or SLI or CF setup, but we had £ constraint and he did not want CF/SLI. However, 5970 would not fit the price range ( I did try)

and to your post before he wouldn't need a 900w psu for crossfire or sli, especially on am3 or lga1556 a decent 600w would be fine

Well, he could probably do that. However, extra power is useful for other expandability as well. Also, I said, 750W to 900W.

 

So suppose without a proper cooler (and going with a stock) along with the original casing (which looks good after reading a review), you could shove off about £70-100 from that price. And could either go with SSD or extra 4GB of memory.

MonkeykingZX

 5870's don't overclock too well apparently and the 5850 would be the better choice for this budget

if he went am3 i would still recomend going for a 955 over an 810 and whichever path he chooses he'll need to overclock his chip to get the most potential out of it 

again he'll need 700w at the most psu wise for upgradability as i'm running an oc'd i7 920 and a 5970 off of a 700w psu

 

sorry if i sounded harsh in my other post thexrated

 

to the op i recomend opening a "spec me a build for £800" thread on forums.overclockers.co.uk/ 

the guys here do sometimes know what they're talking about (more than me a good chunk of the time)  but the guys on the overclockers forum have a much larger base of knowledge between them and may find a better solution than the rest of us have

dfan

700 watt psu isn't required, a modern 500 watt psu can run almost any sli/cf configuration excluding dual gpu cards. 

Rayx0r

Funny, I have almost the same build in mind. 

The i5 750 is a really nice cpu, the only thing holding me back from buying right now is we're only a couple months away from AMD's six core cpu with some of the same tech as the opteron.  Im confident they'll put out a chip to directly compete (and possibly best) the i5 750.

at any rate, when the amd chips do come out in may Id expect intels chips to dip including the i7.  Maybe consider holding off til AMD puts their chips out?