# Building Gaming PC (Any Suggestions?)



## tatsumaru (Apr 1, 2005)

Hi,

Okay so I'm sorting myself out with a new pc because my old one is on its way and I can hardly play games from 2005 with the lowest settings, let alone play any new ones.

So, I already have a DVD-RW and a monitor, and now I'm looking to get the rest.

1: A case with good airflow. I've been looking at several cases, but can't decide.

2: A hard drive (500gb would be good, as I'm a bit of a media freak, Sata II looks nice also.)

3: A motherboard. 

4: A CPU (mainly for games and media programs such as Adobe Audition, and Photoshop... I multi task a lot on the pc) 

5: AT LEAST 2gb of RAM

6: A new power supply which will be capable of powering 2x graphics cards in SLi, 

7: A single PCI-e graphics card. (When the games get more demanding, I'll buy a second and SLi.)

So I'm wondering what you guys recommend... I have a budget of £700, that works out as $1,428, but I've found that the prices in the UK tend to be higher than that of the US, so it realistically works out as about $1,200.

I want this pc to last me a long-ish time, because I'm not likely to come into any money to buy a new one in the coming years. The one I have now has lasted me roughly 5 years, and has only had one or two minor upgrades.

Thanks!


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## tatsumaru (Apr 1, 2005)

I didn't notice the "READ BEFORE POSTING" thread. So here goes!

1. Budget: How much money are you willing to spend on the new build?
£700 (Maybe more, but it would have to be in January, if you think it would be worth the wait, then my budget is £1000)

2. Brands: Are there any brands of components you want or don't want?
I'm open to suggestions, I've had AMD for 5 years, but I'm not going by brand, I'm going by quality and performance.

3. Multitasking: Will you be multitasking with this computer and if so, how much?
Yeah, I usually like to have several (like 7) IE windows open at the same time, with a program and a game even sometimes media player too, but of course, I can't do that all on this machine.

4. Gaming: Will you be gaming and if so, how much and how new are the games?
Yeah I mainly game on my pc, and I like to play old games as well as the new ones... Looking forward to Crysis and UT and games like Assassins Creed, which will probably get released on pc eventually.

5. Calculations: Will you be doing any intense calculations or media encoding?
I do like to work with audio and video, converting formats when I need to.

6. Overclocking: Do you plan on overclocking and if so, how much?
If I can, I will... I want to have a computer which can keep up a bit.

7. Storage: How much storage will you need and what will you be storing?
Large preferably, 500gb would be great.

8. Legacy Support: Will you need support for older hardware like parallel, serial, or PS/2 devices?
Nah. I do have a PS/2 mouse at the moment, but I will most likely get a new one.

9. Operating System: Do you want Windows XP or Vista, or Linux compatibility?
I wouldn't mind XP and Vista, incase I wish to go to vista at a later date.

10. Case: Do you want help selecting a case and if so, how big do you want it?
Big enough to fit all my stuff  with good airflow

11. Accessories: Do you want a keyboard, mouse, or other items included?
Nope.

12. Recycled Components: Will you be reusing any components you already have?
Keyboard, DVD-RW, Monitor.

13. Monitor: If you want a monitor, what size do you want and should it be widescreen?
N/A

14. Stores: Do you have any online stores that you prefer to purchase from?
Ebuyer.com Microdirect.co.uk

15. Location: What country do you live in?
United Kingdom


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## tatsumaru (Apr 1, 2005)

oops double post.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

If you want a gaming PC you should get 3 GB of RAM instead of 2 GB


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

Do you have Black Friday over there?


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## tatsumaru (Apr 1, 2005)

tosh9i said:


> Do you have Black Friday over there?


Nope  But the closest to it are the January sales.


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## tatsumaru (Apr 1, 2005)

tosh9i said:


> If you want a gaming PC you should get 3 GB of RAM instead of 2 GB


That's exactly what I was thinking, but someone insisted that I only needed 2GB, so I thought I'd follow along with that, but I still had my doubts. Now you've backed up my thoughts!


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

Well, nowadays, it's not just about what you need when it comes to RAM. Prices have dropped dramatically, an extra GB of RAM would cost you around $10-$15 after rebate. In other words, what's the big deal if it's only cost an extra $10-$15. LOL


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Take a look at this:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz 1333FSB Socket 775 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor - £97
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130484

Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R Socket 775 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard - £63
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131173

Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4(4-4-4-12) E.P.P. Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty - £47
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/111439

Seagate ST3250410AS 250GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache x 2 - £74
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131301

Video card - Pending 8800GT release.

Thermaltake Toughpower Modular 850W PSU 14cm Fan 12v ATX 8x SATA 24pin - £84
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/133811

----

Antec Nine Hundred - Gaming Case with 200mm Top Fan - No PSU - £60
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/118268

The extra 3 GB of RAM in Windows will likely go unnoticed, and a video card upgrade is the better way to go about improving gaming performance.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

Are you planning on purchasing new system

or

are you planning on building a new system


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## tatsumaru (Apr 1, 2005)

tosh9i said:


> Are you planning on purchasing new system
> 
> or
> 
> are you planning on building a new system


Building. I love building pc's, this would be my 4th one so far.



TheMatt said:


> Take a look at this:
> 
> Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz 1333FSB Socket 775 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor - £97
> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130484
> ...


Okay, hmm, a few questions... I like the hardware you've specified. The motherboard leaves for upgrades to the Quad, and there's room for DDR3. but one question about the motherboard. If I get that one, which has 1 PCI Express x16 slot, I'm not going to be able to go SLi, am I? 

Also, the 2x 250GB hard drives, would it be possible to set them up in RAID, and would this be a better option than getting a 500GB one?

I know you might not know all of this, but could you try to explain what you would consider the pros and cons of this system setup? Also, how well could I overclock the hardware?

The case is great, I had it in my 1st choice for cases. And I had looked at the RAM before also as an option!

Thanks


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

No, however with today's GPUs you really won't need to go SLi because by the time you need to upgrade or replace the video card you will be better off with a new one. If you do want an SLi board I would look at something like this:

MSI P6N Diamond Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX - £145
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129036

As for RAID, what I would personally do is setup the two disks in RAID 1. You will only have 250GB of storage, but if one disk does fail then you won't loose your data.

The main pro of this system is that it is very high quality. The con of course is that you pay a premium for high quality parts.

For overclocking, it really ranges. It depends on what products you get. Some E6750 processors overclock better than others. You will have to play around, but on the P35 board you should be able to get at least 366 MHz FSB stably without changing any of the voltage settings.


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## tatsumaru (Apr 1, 2005)

TheMatt said:


> No, however with today's GPUs you really won't need to go SLi because by the time you need to upgrade or replace the video card you will be better off with a new one. If you do want an SLi board I would look at something like this:
> 
> MSI P6N Diamond Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX - £145
> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129036
> ...


How much will the 8800GT cost roughly? I done a google and someone said $230-$250 for the 512 one, is this about right? If so, I estimate about £140-£150. If this is the cost, (which would take the total cost to £648) what do you think the other £50 should go towards? And if I had another £50 (making my total £750) what would you add/change?

What's the next best CPU new to the E670?

How long would the processor and the GPU last? (I tend to take my computer to the point where I can only play the latest games on the lowest settings) 

Which CPU cooler would you recommend? 

Sorry if I'm asking a lot!!! And thanks for your time! Once I've got all this sorted out, I'll definitely donate! because this site has helped so much in the past!


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

1. It was expected to go for about £100 for the 256MB version and £125 for the 512 MB version, but I have seen some sites have it for lower.

2. The next best CPU is the E6850. The thing is you probably won't notice a difference between that and the E6750. I would spend the extra money on a better motherboard.

3. All of this should last a long time, definitely at least 3 years before any of the hardware starts to degrade (assuming you got all good parts and have not done any overclocking). With the P6N you can even take another 8800GT and run the two in SLi.

For the CPU cooler, take a look at the Zalman 7700 as a starter but you can bump up to the Zalman 9500 for ultimate cooling performance.

Keep the questions coming. :smile:


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

Maybe when the 8900GT comes out, the price for the 8800GT will drop


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

nVidia announced that it was going right to the G90 and that the 8900 would be dropped. Notice that even the 8800GT is codenamed the G92.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

The 8800GT is the one I meant when I said "new card", which of course, you already noted as pending.

Nvidia has 50,000 boards for 8800GT launch
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/10/23/nvidia-boards-8800gt-launch

I just get so confused with the GT, GTX, GTS and 8800, 8600, 7900 etc. In other words, which one is better, the one with the higher number (8800) or the one with more letters (GT) or less letters, or "higher or lower" letters?


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

The GT generally refers to a card of lower performance than GTS, but nVidia got it reversed with the 8800GTS and 8800GT.


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## tatsumaru (Apr 1, 2005)

Well, I've been thinking about it today, and I've been contemplating increasing my budget to £1000+, but for purchase in January. Mainly because I want to make sure my PC does not disappoint.

I've been having a little look around and this is what I've come up with, but it's just a list, so please give some opinions on my choices. Some of it is the same as in your previous list.

*CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - £140*
Quad core at the moment hasn't much use, but I think Crysis makes use of it, and so I'm guessing it's going to get more popular with games. Also I can OC it, try and get 3ghz out of it.
_http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131950_

*Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 - £120*
This mobo seems to be good for the rest of the hardware.
_http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132264_

*Case: Antec Nine Hundred - £70*
I've heard it has great airflow and it's not too pricey.
_http://www.ebuyer.com/product/118268_

*PSU: Seasonic X900 900W PSU - £140*
I was gonna stick with the one you chose originally, but ebuyer says it's out of stock, so I looked around on the site and found this, bit more expensive, but I thought the 85% more efficient sounded good! and also the extra 50w might come in handy if I am OCing!(not that I know much about OCing.) I also found a review on it which praised it.
_http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132063_

*RAM: 2x Crucial 1GB DDR2 PC2-6400/800MHz - £60*
I've heard that these are great performers! Tad more expensive than the Corsair ones you selected though, but I was thinking that maybe, I should get 3 of them, which I couldn't with the Corsair ones, as they were a 2gb kit. But I don't know... Maybe 3gb would be going too far... as you said, it will go unnoticed. So possibly these.. But maybe just go with the Corsair RAM instead.
_http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119273_

*HDD: 2x Seagate Barracuda ES 500gb - £178*
The same hard drives you selected, but at 500gb.... I've heard the Barracuda are good and I think I'll run through 250gb quite quickly (20gb+ of music, 20gb+ of Video files, 20 odd games 3-10gb each plus software windows and then just my random files, which I think go into 20gb) But tell me what you think.
_http://www.ebuyer.com/product/113437_

*Cooler: ZALMAN CNPS 9500 - £24*
On your advice.
_http://www.ebuyer.com/product/116413_

*GPU: 8800GT 512mb - £125 *
Also on your advice. But I'm unsure if the mobo will be okay with SLi, because if it was, then I'd get two. But I have a feeling that i'd have to go ATI for SLi with the P35 board... But I'm not really sure.

----
So that's what I've come up with so far, but of course, I'm all ears for suggestions as to how I can make it better. Let's say that my max budget is £1200. But also remember that this is not going to happen till January, so there might be some new stuff to come before then.

:grin:


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

"Hellgate: London 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First game to recommend 3gb ran and a 8800 gtx for the recomended req?
"

http://www.techsupportforum.com/gaming-forum/pc-gaming-discussion/190789-hellgate-london.html


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

Pharoah posted and is running 2gb ram high res maxed at ~40fps i think srtest.com messed up on that one


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## wicked13 (Sep 8, 2007)

tatsumaru,

The mobo you listed in post #19 (Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 - £120) uses an Intel chipset, so you'll have to use 2 ATI cards in crossfire if you want dual cards (but 1 nvidia card should work just fine). To use SLI you'll need a mobo with an nvidia chipset.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

tatsumaru said:


> Well, I've been thinking about it today, and I've been contemplating increasing my budget to £1000+, but for purchase in January. Mainly because I want to make sure my PC does not disappoint.
> 
> I've been having a little look around and this is what I've come up with, but it's just a list, so please give some opinions on my choices. Some of it is the same as in your previous list.
> 
> ...


Looks very nice. Personally though I would just stick with the P35-DS4. You could also look at offerings from MSI or Asus that do not try to make chipset cooling a form of visual art. :laugh:


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## tatsumaru (Apr 1, 2005)

wicked13 said:


> tatsumaru,
> 
> The mobo you listed in post #19 (Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 - £120) uses an Intel chipset, so you'll have to use 2 ATI cards in crossfire if you want dual cards (but 1 nvidia card should work just fine). To use SLI you'll need a mobo with an nvidia chipset.


Aha! Yeah that's what I was thinking! Alright then, so really, it would be better if I went for an ATI card then (or two) So should I be looking at something like the 2900 XT? Or have ATI got some new tricks up their sleeve before January?

_http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127550_



TheMatt said:


> Looks very nice. Personally though I would just stick with the P35-DS4. You could also look at offerings from MSI or Asus that do not try to make chipset cooling a form of visual art.


Okay! Yeah, I see, they are both exactly the same except the price... Or at least that's what the specification says.

Alright, so I'll go with the DS4

_http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132263_

---

Are there any good 120mm fans out there which you'd recommend? The Antec Nine Hundred case can take another 2 fans, I can see one goes on the side, but I cannot see where the other would go.

Any ideas?

Cheers!


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## tatsumaru (Apr 1, 2005)

Hmm, well looking at the ATI cards on the market at the moment, they are said to overheat more than the Nvidia ones.. So would it be better if I got an Nvidia SLi Mobo? I've been looking at one, tell me what you think.

Link Here.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

The P5N32-E SLi supposedly had some bugs with it. I would stick with the P35 since you probably won't need SLi. By the time you want to upgrade, it would be more cost effective to get a new card.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=640081


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

8800GT
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?threadid=642018


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