New gaming PC

[Stabby_Dave]

Im currently thinking of buying a new PC. Im building a custom one but would like some advice from some more tech savvy people than me. The build below comes to £979. If people want to make suggestions or amendments, they would be much appreciated, just try to keep the total cost under £1000 . If you follow the link at the bottom you can come up with your own build.


Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)

Graphics Card
1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£72)

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)


Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/

[Vibe]

Completely depends on how hardcore do you want to go, you want it for games like Battlefield 3 or dx9 ones like Warband and stuff? In the case of "Battlefield 3" I'd suggest a better video card, with 2 GB video ram.

[Stabby_Dave]

Thanks for the reply. I will be playing stuff like bf3, shogun 2 and probably SWTOR.

I was going to go for the Radeon 6970 but it hasnt reviewed so well and performance wise is pretty much the same compared to the gtx 570.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/12/15/ati-radeon-hd-6970-review/12

[[ptx]]

How about going for a 120GB SSD in the "Memory - 1st Hard Disk" for a system drive and that HDD you chose as 2nd?

[Stabby_Dave]

How about going for a 120GB SSD in the "Memory - 1st Hard Disk" for a system drive and that HDD you chose as 2nd?

I would but it would push me quite a bit over my 1k limit

[[ptx]]

Do you really need a 2TB HDD?

[Stabby_Dave]

Do you really need a 2TB HDD?

The 1GB one is weirdly more expansive so I went for the 2tb one instead.

[[ptx]]

Well, you can always try and put that PC together by buying the stuff off ebay or something, might just be cheaper enough to afford that SSD or something ;)

[Tor!]

HDD's are costly at the moment, but I'd definetly recommend a ssd!

[Magikarp]

Nice build, I practically used the same case for my build (Storm Enforcer=Haf 912plus with other looks)

I must say things did get a little tight in there, so be prepared to do some good cable management.

Your setup will be able to max out everything easily. I see however that you made one big mistake: be sure to pick the i5-2500k, not the regular 2500. The 2500k is unlocked, meaning you can overclock it (as I see you are intending with the cpu cooler).

[Stabby_Dave]

Nice build, I practically used the same case for my build (Storm Enforcer=Haf 912plus with other looks)

I must say things did get a little tight in there, so be prepared to do some good cable management.

Your setup will be able to max out everything easily. I see however that you made one big mistake: be sure to pick the i5-2500k, not the regular 2500. The 2500k is unlocked, meaning you can overclock it (as I see you are intending with the cpu cooler).

No, I wont be overclocking, hence the 2500 rather than the k version.

[Mtemtko]

Get the 2500K version of i5 so you can OC it, also spend a few more bucks on the CPU cooler, worth it. Wouldnt say this if you were going to get a GTX560 ti.

[B3RS3RK]

First of all, ditch the 2tb hd, they can cause problems with your system atm.Better get 2 1 tb hd´s.

Otherwise, yeah, its pretty good.

And you will NEVER Need 2gb of Vram on a card unless you are using a bigger resolution than 1920x1080, which is hardly achievable at the present time, only if you would use more than one Monitor.

[Stabby_Dave]

First of all, ditch the 2tb hd, they can cause problems with your system atm.Better get 2 1 tb hd´s.

Otherwise, yeah, its pretty good.

And you will NEVER Need 2gb of Vram on a card unless you are using a bigger resolution than 1920x1080, which is hardly achievable at the present time, only if you would use more than one Monitor.

2 1tb hdd's cost about £150 more than a single 2tb one so i can't afford to go down that route. As for what Tor said about SSD's. Again, purely for price reasons, Ill have to leave it out I think.

Get the 2500K version of i5 so you can OC it, also spend a few more bucks on the CPU cooler, worth it. Wouldnt say this if you were going to get a GTX560 ti.

I wont be Overclocking so i dont think ill need the extra cooling will I?

[Banok]

(edit just realised its pre build so explains half the high cost, can read my post anyway if u want)

when budgeting a pc for gaming, most of the money should be on gfx card. does kind of seem like your wasting alot of cash on bottlenecked/optional extras. i mean you can build a pc which will get the same fps for near half of what you are spending. as long as you are aware of that.

if your not overclocking the stock cooler does more than enough. plus you dont need super case.

I bought a 320gb hd 5 years ago and dont think i've ever filled it. surely if 1tb is enough.

I really cant ever see my self needing ever even needing all of the 500w on my psu, but i guess thats a tiny difference.