# Gaming Pc medium/high spec



## namenone (Oct 8, 2006)

Hey, Im looking to build a new gaming pc which will be able to play most current games (Fps,strategy mainly) and some future ones. with medium to high graphics.

So far i have come up with this, can anyone recommend what to change and keep? My maximum is around £550

Case
Galaxy Black Mid Tower Case with Blue Bubble Light LED Strip - 450W PSU £27
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136491

Hard drive
Samsung EcoGreen F2 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 32MB Cache – OEM £55
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164282

Ram
Crucial 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory CL4 2.0V
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143844 £38

Motherboard
ASUS P5QL PRO iP43 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149274 £64

Processor
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed Processor £155
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131950 

Cd Drive
LiteOn 20x DVD±RW Dual Layer & Ram IDE Black Bare Drive 
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134324 £15.50

Graphics card
Club 3D 8800GTS nVidia GeForce 80 320MB
http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=32810 £170


(dont know much about recent graphic cards so help would be appreciated, something that can play COD4, crysis at medium/high etc) 

Thanks


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

I would go with a WD hard drive.
I've seen a lot of issues with Ballistix RAM. OCZ-Corsair-G.Skill-Patriot are reliable.
Foe a gamer, a P45 chipset Mobo and a Dual Core CPU would be a better performer. 
I don't see a Power supply in your list.


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

As Tyree says, there doesn't appear to be a power supply on your list. You do have a doorstop in there, but you need a real psu. Something like the Corsair TX650 for 72 pounds, though for anything over the GTS250 (rebadged 9800GTX) the TX 750 would be a better choice.
650TX - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135514 

The 8800GTS is not a good deal, or card, for that matter. The 320MB had a G84 gpu, you definitely want at least a G92 gpu. Look at this GTS250 for example, it also comes with an Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo. For roughly a hundred. Cheap like borscht, as they say. I use the twin turbo on a 9800GT and it's excellent, quiet and dropped the video card temps by at least 20C. There are a lot of more suitable cards at ebuyer than the 8800GTS, take a look around there.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169149 
And if you really want to spend more, get a GTX260, or 275 if you can find one in that range.

I also agree on the ram, I too have had issues with Ballistix. There's a 1066Mhz kit from Corsair for essentially the same price.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166818 

For hard drives, the green drives are power savers, use less power, but with a cost, performance. The Caviar Black are a good series, the 1TB model costs 66, but much more suited for gaming. The smaller models are less expensive, depends on how much storage you need.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146082 

Finally, I'm also in agreement with Tyree on the board and cpu.


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## namenone (Oct 8, 2006)

Wow thanks for all the input! 

The case does have a 450W power supply, but i have been hearing that i should get a better PSU anyway.

Regarding graphics cards, what are your thoughts on the

EVGA GeForce GTX 260 (216 Core)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?evg-266ss

and the

Sapphire HD 4870 512MB GDDR
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/153311


The GTS250 does look great and cheap! Plus the cooling will allow me to overclock it without having to buy extra cooling equipment no?

CPUwise, How about Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139971

is 3.0GHz more than enough?

Thanks about the ram, harddrive and mobo, i will change all of these.


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

The 216 and the 4870 are relatively equal in respect to performance, either one will handle just about anything that you throw at it. Both very nice cards. The ATI are better in the "bang for the buck" category, but I'm kind of a nVidia guy, though I do use ATI too.

The E8400 is a very good cpu, runs cool and overclocks well. Very few games are optimized for quad cores yet, there are some that will use 4 cores, but not efficiently. The clock speed with the core 2 duos makes them crunch through games.

On the motherboard front, the P5Q full sized atx line are good boards. Either Asus or Gigabyte is the way to go, both top quality manufacturer's. I use both, but prefer Asus, that's just personal preference though. 
Asus P5Q Pro Turbo - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/16539


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

The PSU's included with cases are rarely good quality. grimx133 has guided you in the right direction for a quality one.


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## namenone (Oct 8, 2006)

What are your thoughts on the Palit GeForce GTX 275 896MB?


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

I've never used any Pallit graphics cards so I don't know about there quality or support.
For Nvidia chipped cards, I prefer EVGA, Gigabyte or Asus.


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

^ I've had good experiences with BFG as well, they're a solid brand.


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

I've use Palit, no problems with it, but generally buy evga for nVidia cards.
The GTX275 is a fine card, very close to mine, and a whole lot less expensive.

One thing to keep in mind is the warranty, longer is better. Some companies are 
also better at customer service when things happen.


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## namenone (Oct 8, 2006)

Gainward GeForce GTX 260 golden sample. what are your views on this?

And my budget for a graphics card is now £140. any recommendations? something that cna play crysis on high?


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## namenone (Oct 8, 2006)

Sorry for the double post, i dont think i can edit?:|

Is this power supply good? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124927 im trying to cut down costs so i can spend more on a GPU


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

The power supply is NOT the place to cut costs, especially if you're cutting costs for a bigger graphics card. If you had a high-end Corvette that required 98 octane gas, would you run it on 95 octane? Would you run it on gasohol? No. It might *run*, but it isn't good for the car in the long run. And it might just cause it to die right away. Would you want your brand new Corvette to die because you wanted to save a few bucks on gas? Would you want your new computer to die because you wanted to save a few bucks on the PSU? Go for one of our recommended brands: Corsair, SeaSonic, PC Power and Cooling.


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## namenone (Oct 8, 2006)

I never thought of it that way! Thanks =] ill deffiently invest in a good one


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## namenone (Oct 8, 2006)

So far ive come up with this

Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, S775, Wolfdale, 3 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB Cache, 9x Ratio, 65W, Retail

Hardrive
1TB Western Digital WD10EADS Caviar Green, SATA 3Gb/s, IntelliPower, 32MB Cache, NCQ

GPU
896MB Gainward GTX 260 GS 55nm, 2200MHz GDDR3, GPU 625 MHz, Shader 1242 MHz, 216 Cores, + 3D/Batman

RAM
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2, PC2-8500 (1066), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-6-6-18

MOBO
ASUS SKT-775 P5Q SE2 S/L 1600FSB

Corsair HX 450W Power Supply (Should that be enough W?)


Will all this work correctly together? thanks for all the help! very much appreciated


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

No, the HX450w is a good unit, but it doesn't deliver enough juice. You really need a 650w for a GTX260. Try this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=Corsair 650
If that's too expensive you can drop back to a GTS250 or Radeon 4850 without a huge drop in performance. Another place to cut would be to drop the 1TB drive down to a 500GB... I'm using a 320GB and I'm fine, even with multiple operating systems on it. Unless you're storing hundreds of songs, pictures, or movies you really won't need a 1TB.

Also, I'm not familiar with Gainward as a source for Nvidia cards, we usually recommend EVGA, BFG, Asus, or Gigabyte for Nvidia cards. MSI and XFX are ok, but their quality control and customer support isn't as good as the four mentioned above.


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

Agreed there, 450 just doesn't cut it for a big card. And speaking of big cards, you need a lot of room in the case to fit it in. The large cards can also block sata ports etc, on some boards, but no worries, yours aren't in the cards path. 

Gainward has been around for quite a while, I recall first hearing of them 8 or 10 years ago, but their cards either aren't available, or very had to find in north america.


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## namenone (Oct 8, 2006)

I just put my order in for the 450W one =[ i checked on their website too and used the recommendation tool based on GPU AND CPU and they recommended me this and the two above it. So fingers crossed it should work fine


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

It will work, but not for long. Cancel that order and get an appropriate PSU, and read the advice people give you before you order expensive hardware.


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