29 replies to this topic

[DV McKenna]

Right my turn now .

The Current Build

CoolerMaster Elite Case
Biostar 890FXE AM3 Mobo
AMD Phenom X6 -Overclocked to 3.7ghz (Only has an Arctic Freezer 7 v2 cooler)
8 Gb Gskill RipJaw 1333mhz
1Tb Samsung HDD
Powercool 850W PSU (Cheap cheerful not recommended for overclocking but ya know....cheap ;p)
1GB XFX HD 5850 Black Edition.

The Budget
800GBP = 1200USD

The Aim

This Build was put together on the very cheap i think at the time it cost me 400 pounds, and i replaced a few things as i went, Ram,HDD etc.
I want to rebuild obviously making use of the HDD,Ram and possibly the case which are all ok, but im looking to build something that will see out the next 4/5 years as a mid/high end gaming machine.
Im no fan boy i have owned Intel/AMD/Nvidia and really am not interested in the ethics of the company, but how good their hardware is.

I Have a few builds mapped out of various different routes, but im undecided as to which would be best ;p so im after other peoples ideas to help out.

[John Clavell]

DV^McKenna, on 11 February 2012 - 01:52 AM, said:

Right my turn now .

The Current Build

CoolerMaster Elite Case
Biostar 890FXE AM3 Mobo
AMD Phenom X6 -Overclocked to 3.7ghz (Only has an Arctic Freezer 7 v2 cooler)
8 Gb Gskill RipJaw 1333mhz
1Tb Samsung HDD
Powercool 850W PSU (Cheap cheerful not recommended for overclocking but ya know....cheap ;p)
1GB XFX HD 5850 Black Edition.

The Budget
800GBP = 1200USD

The Aim

This Build was put together on the very cheap i think at the time it cost me 400 pounds, and i replaced a few things as i went, Ram,HDD etc.
I want to rebuild obviously making use of the HDD,Ram and possibly the case which are all ok, but im looking to build something that will see out the next 4/5 years as a mid/high end gaming machine.
Im no fan boy i have owned Intel/AMD/Nvidia and really am not interested in the ethics of the company, but how good their hardware is.

I Have a few builds mapped out of various different routes, but im undecided as to which would be best ;p so im after other peoples ideas to help out.

It might be worth waiting for Ivy Bridge, which is what I am doing. Also While ATI's next gen video cards are landing now, NVIDIA is being tight lipped. Leaked specs of Kepler have showed up, looks good so far. However if you don't want to wait. I'd suggest the following.

• Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz LGA1155 6MB
  
• Asus P8P67 DELUXE REV 3.0 LGA1155 Intel P67
  
• Corsair 120GB Force GT SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" SSD (Primary HDD. Use your other one for storage)
  
• Asus GeForce GTX 560 Ti 900MHz
  
• Antec 750W High Current Gamer 80plus Bronze PSU

Something along these lines should be pretty sweet. If you want to make sure your going to get the most out of it for next few years, you might want to wait however for the next-gen CPU's from Intel to land, and also see what Kepler has in store, or the mid-end new AMD video cards.

[Vincent Vascaul]

Those leaked specs on kelper are totaly unverified and should not be looked at as anything but rumor/fanboy wishing. For 1200 usd I would do the following

Keep:
Proccessor (its going to be fine for the next few years hell I still love my 1100T)
Ram, 8gb is all your going to need, only reason to replace this is if you want to overclock more
Case, If you like it dont change it
HDD, no reason to get another HDD if you dont need to just buy a SSD boot drive and call it good.

NEW stuff, First off dont get a 2500k theres no reason you have a proc thats just as good if not better in certain respects (anyone who wants to pull benches I really dont care I have owned and abused a 965, 1035T, 1090T, 1100T, i5 750, i7 920, i5 2500k ,2600k and 2700k and all of them with the exception of the 965 and the 2500k could handle my insane encoding/multitasking monitor madness.)

Product Description Savings Total Price

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS Item #: N82E16813131736 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$15.00 Instant $199.99 $184.99


ASUS HD7950-DC2T-3GD5 Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card Item #: N82E16814121489 Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy

Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$499.99
1
AMD Gift - Dirt3 Game Coupon - OEM Item #: N82E16800995114 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$49.99 Saving $49.99 $0.00


CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified ... Item #: N82E16817139010 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$20.99 Instant $10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card $169.99 $149.00


Thermaltake Frio Overclocking-Ready Intel Core i7 (six-core ready) & i5 Compatible Five 8mm Heatpipes Dual 120mm Fans Intel ... Item #: N82E16835106150 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $54.99


Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Item #: N82E16820148442 Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy

Protect Your Investment (expand for options)

-$25.00 Instant $199.99 $174.99
Subtotal: $1,063.96

[Vincent Vascaul]

Now if your only running one monitor at 1080p I would just say skip the 7950 and buy a second 5850 as it should handle everything you throw at it and then planfor a piledriver and GPU upgrade later.

I use both a Crucial 64gb SSD and a Intel 160gb SSD both are great but intels are hella expensive so go crucial super stable (way better than my OCZ or Kingston was)

I am currently running a HX1000w PSU and its fantastic, dont go antec as some of there stuff on the PSU side has been a little sketchy.
I recommend the Thermal Take Frio cause once again I have used it and really love it the best part is that it ises normal 120mm fans so you can always throw on some better high flow fans to increase cooling capacity/decrease noise.

The Asus Sabertooth 990x cause you get at least 2 more generations of Procs and its a truly fantastic board and will let you get the most overclocking life out of that Thuban.

If you just wanna go with a new card the 7950 seems to be the sweet spot and the asus should have good overclocking ability combined with great cooling. Otherwise just get a second 5850 and call it good as that PC will handle everything you throw at it for the next 2 years

[Vulpesveritas]

Vincent Vascaul, on 11 February 2012 - 08:27 AM, said:

Now if your only running one monitor at 1080p I would just say skip the 7950 and buy a second 5850 as it should handle everything you throw at it and then planfor a piledriver and GPU upgrade later.

I use both a Crucial 64gb SSD and a Intel 160gb SSD both are great but intels are hella expensive so go crucial super stable (way better than my OCZ or Kingston was)

I am currently running a HX1000w PSU and its fantastic, dont go antec as some of there stuff on the PSU side has been a little sketchy.
I recommend the Thermal Take Frio cause once again I have used it and really love it the best part is that it ises normal 120mm fans so you can always throw on some better high flow fans to increase cooling capacity/decrease noise.

The Asus Sabertooth 990x cause you get at least 2 more generations of Procs and its a truly fantastic board and will let you get the most overclocking life out of that Thuban.

If you just wanna go with a new card the 7950 seems to be the sweet spot and the asus should have good overclocking ability combined with great cooling. Otherwise just get a second 5850 and call it good as that PC will handle everything you throw at it for the next 2 years

I would say the investment should go to the 7950, a single card tends to be a better setup for a single monitor, and is better for older games, also unless you're running DX10/11 Crossfire doesn't do much anyhow.
I would say the following;
PSU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817171057
Mobo: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157267 (Better value that the sabertooth, does quite well in all reviews I've seen.)
Alternate SSD boot drive: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820139601 (has good reviews all around that I've found)
And then i recommend going for the 7950.

[DV McKenna]

Forgot to Mention i am running a duel monitor setup

[Vulpesveritas]

DV^McKenna, on 11 February 2012 - 08:59 AM, said:

Forgot to Mention i am running a duel monitor setup

If you're only gaming on one then the 7950 is still a better option. Now if you were running three in eyefinity, then it would be a tossup.

[Barbaric Soul]

Vincent Vascaul, on 11 February 2012 - 08:19 AM, said:

Those leaked specs on kelper are totaly unverified and should not be looked at as anything but rumor/fanboy wishing. For 1200 usd I would do the following

Keep:
Proccessor (its going to be fine for the next few years hell I still love my 1100T)
Ram, 8gb is all your going to need, only reason to replace this is if you want to overclock more
Case, If you like it dont change it
HDD, no reason to get another HDD if you dont need to just buy a SSD boot drive and call it good.

NEW stuff, First off dont get a 2500k theres no reason you have a proc thats just as good if not better in certain respects (anyone who wants to pull benches I really dont care I have owned and abused a 965, 1035T, 1090T, 1100T, i5 750, i7 920, i5 2500k ,2600k and 2700k and all of them with the exception of the 965 and the 2500k could handle my insane encoding/multitasking monitor madness.)

Product Description Savings Total Price

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS Item #: N82E16813131736 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$15.00 Instant $199.99 $184.99


ASUS HD7950-DC2T-3GD5 Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card Item #: N82E16814121489 Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy

Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$499.99
1
AMD Gift - Dirt3 Game Coupon - OEM Item #: N82E16800995114 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$49.99 Saving $49.99 $0.00


CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified ... Item #: N82E16817139010 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$20.99 Instant $10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card $169.99 $149.00


Thermaltake Frio Overclocking-Ready Intel Core i7 (six-core ready) & i5 Compatible Five 8mm Heatpipes Dual 120mm Fans Intel ... Item #: N82E16835106150 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $54.99


Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Item #: N82E16820148442 Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy

Protect Your Investment (expand for options)

-$25.00 Instant $199.99 $174.99
Subtotal: $1,063.96

I can agree with this build. No reason to upgrade a Thuban right now. They may not always be the fastest, but they are plenty for now.

About the GPU, as the owner of a 5870 crossfireX set-up, a second hand 5850 or 5870 wouldn't be a bad option. People can say what they want about dual card problems. I haven't seen them, even when playing MW4(well ok, the main menu page flashes, but that's it). I can fix that by simply going into catalyst control center and disabling crossfireX when I'm going to play MW4(not like a single 5870 can't handle MW4). My 5870 crossfreX has no problems at 2550*1600 with any game I play, and that includes BF3 on mostly ultra settings.

[DV McKenna]

I wish prices here were as cheap as the US .
Pricing that list up with 1 change - i swapped the Frio for the Corsair H60 - (Im pretty sure i can overclock my CPU higher with a better CPU cooler and in the future CPU upgrade it will be better i think.)

It came too 825 GBP and according to the converter that makes it around $1300 (hence the US prices must be a fair bit cheaper ;p)
I am thinking to downsize your recommended PSU to a 650 Corsair Enthusiast model and that brings it back into budget at bang on $1200

Thoughts?

Edited by DV^McKenna, 11 February 2012 - 10:06 AM.

[Seth Deathstalker]

DV^McKenna, on 11 February 2012 - 01:52 AM, said:

Right my turn now .

I want to rebuild obviously making use of the HDD,Ram and possibly the case which are all ok, but im looking to build something that will see out the next 4/5 years as a mid/high end gaming machine.

If it fits into your budget and you decide to get a new case, here is what I am going for:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811112336
(To be precise I will have the pc-k9x with black interior. )
Unless, of course, you want to do heavy oc or are "a cooling nut" like Vulpesveritas. The case has enough space even for the biggest GPUs.

[Seth Deathstalker]

PS: I know how you feel about pricing. Same here in Switzerland :/

[Vincent Vascaul]

How is the Asrok a better setup its a worse brand with a much shorter warranty, the Sabertooth is good for 5 years so you will be good until the socket is obsolete. And yeah with dual monitors I vote 7950 as well

Edit: I have not had a kingston hyper my self but I do have a kingston SSDNoW 100 and its def not on par with my crucial that thing is just brutal.

Edited by Vincent Vascaul, 11 February 2012 - 12:44 PM.

[Vulpesveritas]

Vincent Vascaul, on 11 February 2012 - 12:43 PM, said:

How is the Asrok a better setup its a worse brand with a much shorter warranty, the Sabertooth is good for 5 years so you will be good until the socket is obsolete. And yeah with dual monitors I vote 7950 as well

Edit: I have not had a kingston hyper my self but I do have a kingston SSDNoW 100 and its def not on par with my crucial that thing is just brutal.

"Worse brand?" While it is true the Sabertooth has a good warrenty, the AsRock board has great reviews, and is one of the best AM3+ motherboards. It also has teaming for internet should you want to use that. Also, AsRock is no longer owned by Asus, and has since come on par as many Asus boards.
http://www.vortez.ne..._review,15.html
http://www.tweaktown...ew/index13.html

[DV McKenna]

So Currently i have the following in my wishlist for upgrades.

Mobo - Asus Sabertooth 990FX
CPU- Keeping the 1075T for now.
PSU- Corsiar 650W Enthusiast
Cooler - Either the Corsair H60/H80 Liquid Coolers
SSD- Crucial 120GB

GPU wise, im going to wait i shall be making purchases middle/end of March so will wait and see the final set of AMD GPU's before choosing, if they turn out to be good, i will prob get one of them and put the money saved into a Bulldozer chip and skip Piledriver.

[nubnub]

Wait for MWO to come out and save maybe 20% in depreciation

[Vincent Vascaul]

Valid point but heay not have the cash then

[DV McKenna]

nubnub, on 15 February 2012 - 04:49 PM, said:

Wait for MWO to come out and save maybe 20% in depreciation

Your assuming im upgrading this rig just for MWO, which is not correct if you read the opening post.

[Big Willie]

Here is my rig, prices based on time of build (around First of year)

$219 CPU Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core
$329 Monitor Dell UltraSharp U2412M (e-IPS, 16:10, 1920x1200, 8ms GtG, 9ms input lag)
$369 Video Card MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr III PE/OC GeForce GTX 570 (1.25 GB memory)
$364 Hard Drive Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
$149 Motherboard Asus P8P67 (Rev3.1)
$69 Case Antec Three Hundred Illusion
$129 Power Supply CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
$18 DVD Burner ASUS 24X DVD Burner
$44 RAM G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
$1,690 Total

For a $1,000 PC I would look at the following.

$219 CPU Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core
$129 Monitor Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight
$209 Video Card GIGABYTE GV-N560UD-1G GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB
$139 Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
$149 Motherboard Asus P8P67 (Rev3.1)
$69 Case Antec Three Hundred Illusion
$59 Power Supply Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 630W
$18 DVD Burner ASUS 24X DVD Burner
$44 RAM G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

$1,035 Total

The best place to save money will be the Monitor (if you can tolerate 1920x1080 there are lots of inexpensive options). Video card, I almost purchased the Nvidia GTX 560 ti it is a real workhorse, don't forget that 'ti' at the end. Since the SSD drive is a luxury item, an inexpensive mechanical hard drive is a great way to cut costs. And finally the 750W power supply is overkill, especially with a video card downgrade, so moving to a 630W is a good option, but be sure to use a power supply calculator (http://support.asus....px?SLanguage=en))

EDIT I didn't notice the part about a dual monitor setup. Are you planning on using the second monitor for gaming as well? I ask because in MWO the targeting recticle may be between your monitors, I think a single large monitor or 3 monitors would be better.
If you are going to actively use both monitors for gaming the 1GB (or 1.25GB) memory may not be sufficient, and you may want to look at a 2-3 GB video card or go SLI/Crossfire. Of course if you go SLI/Crossfire you will need a motherboard that supports it (preferably 2x8 pcie or better) which means a motherboard upgrade and definately a powersupply upgrade.
Alternately if you just go with a beefier video card to handle 2 montiors then a power supply upgrade may be in order.
Or if you only plan on gaming with one monitor and having the open for web browsing etc, then either of the cards listed above should be fine.

Edited by Big Willie, 17 February 2012 - 02:50 PM.

[DV McKenna]

I only game on the one monitor the other currently i have open for web,forums,youtube etc etc, i will be reusing my current Ram,HDD and case as outlined in the top post.

I currently have 2 builds in mind (you have no idea how many times i have chopped and changed) neither currently have a GPU picked im waiting on seeing the next set of AMD cards which should be released around March time for the Mid range cards and will take a look at those vs 560ti.

Intel Build

Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z /Gen3 - £146
Core I5 2500k -£172
Corsair H80 Hydro Series Cooler - £80
650W Coolmaster GX RS650 -£59
120GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD -£129


Total £586 - $927

AM3+

Asus Sabertooth 990FX £122
AMD FX8120 £162
Corsair H80 Hydro Series Cooler - £80
650W Coolmaster GX RS650 -£59
120GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD -£129
Samsung LS23A300BS Class 300 LED Monitor Slim FullHD VGA/DVI 5ms £122
OR
Monitor Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight £122

Total £674 -$1067

With the AMD build it looks like i'll be able to afford a new or third monitor i don't really think i need a third so would probably replace my old Acer monitor.
The Intel build no new monitor will fit into budget seeing as the GPU is still outstanding in both builds.
I do plan on overclocking both chips so im wondering if 650W would be enough.

Edited by DV^McKenna, 18 February 2012 - 02:52 AM.

[Vincent Vascaul]

You can prolly get by with 650 but 750 is a small jump and you would def. be ok there. The AMD build looks sweet I am really diggin it.