Help a Brit build his PC!

[Pride]

1. What is your budget and does that include shipping/taxes?
£1000 - £1500,$1600 - $2300 (Including shipping/taxes)

2. Where do you live (Please list if possible town, state, and country)?
Sheffield/South Yorkshire/England

3. What do you need this computer to do (like gaming, Photoshop, and so on)?
Gaming and Web Browsing.

4. What parts will you need for the computer? Please list what parts specifically.
If possible can I get a quote for a PC built from scratch and a quote without the hard drive,disk drive and case.

5. Are you reusing any parts for this computer? If so please say what parts.
See previous question

6. What kind of monitor/resolution do you have or want to get to use for the computer?
I currently have and will be recycling a 1680 x 1050, 22" Dell monitor.

7. Do you have a legit OS? If so what OS and is it 32-bit or 64-bit?
Windows Vista 32 bit, If possible I'd like to upgrade to a better OS

8. What are you looking for the motherboard to have feature wise? Like SLI, Crossfire, Firewire, USB 3.0, Sata 6.0 Gb/s, and so on.
I'm not too tech savvy when it comes to the specifics of hardware, hence why I made this thread, pick a motherboard with whatever features you recommend and feel would improve PC gaming.

9. Any plans to overclock the CPU or GPU?
Yes, i'd like to get the most out of my system.

10. What time kind of time frame are you planning on ordering these parts?
Anytime over the next 2 or 3 months. (To clarify this means anytime from tomorrow to September, I'll be grabbin' this PC when I pass my driving test and know that the leftover money wont be used for anything)


Current Specs, in case you feel this would be better recycled

Operating System
MS Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2
CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 @ 2.33GHz
Yorkfield 45nm Technology
RAM
4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (6-6-6-18)
Motherboard
Dell Inc. 0TP406 (CPU)
Graphics
DELL E228WFP (1680x1050@60Hz)
ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series (Dell)
Hard Drives
488GB Seagate ST3500418AS (SATA)
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRWBD GBC-H20N
Audio
SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC

[Rbstr]

Well I don't know what website to dig though to give you specific links, but here's something that'll probably be in budget:

i5 3750k
Z77 motherboard (I like asus)
8gb (2x4gb sticks) of DDR1333 (I like corsair...don't bother with faster ram..you may just go for 16gb with all 4 sticks if you really want)
geforce GTX 670
An SSD will fit in if you want.
~650w Power supply

that's a ~$1200 computer maybe enough left over for a 1080p monitor.
Honestly, I wouldn't really recommend anything more expensive than that because of diminishing returns unless you really wanted super high resolution or had a very specific application.

[Ailos]

The i5 3570k and GTX 670 is pretty much a must at that price point regardless of whatever else you order (and obviously, a mobo to suit). But before I dig through sites to give any specific builds, how serious are you about overclocking? By that, I mean: are you interested pushing the 3570 to something like 4.5 GHz (from its stock 3.4) or are you interested in putting it at 5 GHz or above?

I ask because Ivy Bridge is known to run into thermal issues beyond 4.6 GHz, and if you're wanting to push it beyond that, water cooling is a must.

[Pride]

The i5 3570k and GTX 670 is pretty much a must at that price point regardless of whatever else you order (and obviously, a mobo to suit). But before I dig through sites to give any specific builds, how serious are you about overclocking? By that, I mean: are you interested pushing the 3570 to something like 4.5 GHz (from its stock 3.4) or are you interested in putting it at 5 GHz or above?

I ask because Ivy Bridge is known to run into thermal issues beyond 4.6 GHz, and if you're wanting to push it beyond that, water cooling is a must.

Honestly, if it comes to the extent of needing to buy water cooling i'm not too bothered, i'd probably push it up to the 4.5 mark and leave it there.

[Pride]

Just a quick note, i'm going to be away from the computer for the next 4 or 5 days, if anyone asks me a question in the time obviously the response will be delayed.

[Pella]

Just check overclockers.co.uk

There bundles are second to none.

You can purchase overclocked bundles if you want.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=43&catid=2040

[Vancha]

Just check overclockers.co.uk

There bundles are second to none.

You can purchase overclocked bundles if you want.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=43&catid=2040
Really? Buying the parts individually (including Windows), with a better GPU and CPU cooler, I can buy the rig separately for £65 less than the combo they offered (Battlefield War Rush).

Overclockers has always been known as a bit of a rip-off merchant, so I was surprised to see someone advocating them. Do any of their bundles actually save you money?

[Bags]

Really? Buying the parts individually (including Windows), with a better GPU and CPU cooler, I can buy the rig separately for £65 less than the combo they offered (Battlefield War Rush).

Overclockers has always been known as a bit of a rip-off merchant, so I was surprised to see someone advocating them. Do any of their bundles actually save you money?

Hey, to be fair $100 markup is a lot cheaper than any decent pre-built site in the US that I've found. ;)

[Ailos]

I'm not too familiar with what sites are available in the UK, but here's my build based on your budget (and overclockers.co.uk pricing, including VAT):

CPU - i5 3570K - £180 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-418-IN)
Motherboard - MSI 77A-G43 - £78 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-202-MS)
GPU - MSI NVidia GTX 670 - £312 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-164-MS)
RAM - 8GB Patriot (DDR3 1600) - £40 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-052-PA)
Storage - Corsair Force 3 SSD + Seagate 1TB HDD - £95+ (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-021-CS)£75 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-257-SE)
PSU - 750 W Corsair Enthusiast Series - £90 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-047-CS)
DVD Drive - LG DVD-RW - £19 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-090-LG)
CPU Cooler - Arctic Cooling Xtreme - £30 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-038-AR)
Case - Corsair Carbide Series - £60 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-063-CS)
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - £80 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-127-MS)

Total: £1059 incl. VAT but before shipping.

As always, the case is rather aesthetic and you should feel free to swap it out for one that you like best. However, given your intent to overclock, I recommend to look for cases that allow plenty of airflow, and possibly have the PSU mounted at the bottom.

You could re-use your old monitor, but there's still room in this build to buy a 1080p flat panel. If you don't want to lose your data, you can also just plug in the hard drive from your old PC into this one, but you really can't re-use too much more from the old PC, so maybe you would want to keep that in there.

This list is also based on what is in stock right now. There were quite a few good parts that were listed out of stock, but that I'd normally recommend (the case and CPU cooler being a perfect example of that), nor did I include any prices that are on "This week-only" specials, but you should feel free to do so when you order. So your actual total at the time of ordering may be a little less.

What to do with the extra budget? Could go for a bigger SSD, more fans, noise-dampened case, or an even beefier PSU. I'd see what everyone else can suggest here.

[Exmortius]

well if this game runs like ps1 which if you had 3 gig of ram it ran like a million times better than with less than 3 gig. i'd recommend a ton of ram in your pc. my new bulldozer amd chip has 16 gig of ram atm. running a fatality board and honestly i've never had to reboot it once while running ubuntu or windows....i forget off hand what video card i have atm but i may save up for a better card. i wanna see how the first few days of beta go with this 1gig ati card i have does. it seems to do ok on battlefield 3 so it probably will be able to handle ps2 ..... but ya the amd bulldozers seem solid might not be the most high end but works well for me on bf3. and stack ram and video :P i haven't gone crazy and tried a ssd drive yet but i may try to get one of those as well... it's all speculation though til beta happens just how much of a performance boost any of these things will provide. ssd drives are kinda stupid expensive still imo.

[Ailos]

Intel systems do not necessarily benefit from more RAM the same way AMD's bulldozer architecture does. But that IS another thing you could do, too. That build fills only half the RAM slots, you could double up on the RAM to make it 16 GB, esp. since it's only £40 more.

[Vancha]

Seriously, avoid OCUK.

3570k - $167.90 (http://www.ebuyer.com/367824-intel-core-i5-3570k-3-4ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-oem-processor-cm8063701211800)
MSI 77A-G43 - £76.47 (http://www.shop.bt.com/products/msi-z77a-g43-s1155-intel-z77-ddr3-atx-80KS.html?refs=50050&src=3)
Palit GTX 670 - £294.99 (http://www.ebuyer.com/367979-palit-geforce-gtx-670-2gb-gddr5-displayport-hdmi-dual-dvi-pci-e-graphics-ne5x67001042-1042f)
RAM - £34.00 (http://www.ebuyer.com/342352-crucial-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ballistix-sport-memory-bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00ceu)
Crucial M4 SSD - £86.99 (http://www.ebuyer.com/266526-crucial-128gb-m4-ssd-ct128m4ssd2?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products) + Seagate 1TB HDD £64.99 (http://www.dabs.com/products/seagate-1tb-barracuda-sata-6gb-s-64mb-7200rpm-hard-drive-7XD5.html?refs=56330000-52450000-50410&src=3)
580w 80+ Gold PSU - £77.93 (http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/580W+be+quiet!+STRAIGHT+POWER+E9-CM+80PLUS+Gold+Modular+Power+Supply+?productId=501 87)
LG DVD-RW £13.98 (http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/opticaldrives/satadvdwriters/gh24ns90.html)
Dark Knight CPU Cooler - £24.74 (http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/Xigmatek-Dark-Knight-PWM-CPU-Cooler--S1283W-pid-13310.html)
Corsair Carbide 300R - £53.49 (http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/Corsair-Carbide-300R-Mid-Tower-Gaming-Case-CC-9011014-WW-pid-15251.html)
Win7 Home Premium - £67.43

Total: 965.31

Better SSD and PSU to boot (though hell, you might as well get a Dark Power Pro 10 550W (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies+-+PSUs/Modular+650W+or+less/550W+be+quiet!+DARK+POWER+PRO+P10+80PLUS+Gold+Modu lar+Power+Supply+?productId=50250) with your budget). You could bump the CPU cooler to a Xigmatek Prime or Dark Rock 2 (not pro 2), which are both decent and very quiet. I'd also get a different case, but that's down to personal taste (personally, a Fractal Arc with Silentwings 2 fans, one side intake, one rear exhaust and one front intake for the HDD+SSD sounds nice).

[Symmenix]

There's a thing called pcpartpicker.com, its useful for finding the lowest price on the best stuff. (Automagicaly searches the internet for that product)

[Vancha]

There's a thing called pcpartpicker.com, its useful for finding the lowest price on the best stuff. (Automagicaly searches the internet for that product)

That's awesome. Personally I can find cheaper prices (/brag), but as a way of finding out what exists, verifying prices and for people like Goku/Ailos trying to help UK users, it's fantastic (just put /uk, /ca or /au after the URL for English, Canadian and Australian prices respectively).

[Ailos]

Seriously, avoid OCUK.

3570k - $167.90 (http://www.ebuyer.com/367824-intel-core-i5-3570k-3-4ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-oem-processor-cm8063701211800)
MSI 77A-G43 - £76.47 (http://www.shop.bt.com/products/msi-z77a-g43-s1155-intel-z77-ddr3-atx-80KS.html?refs=50050&src=3)
Palit GTX 670 - £294.99 (http://www.ebuyer.com/367979-palit-geforce-gtx-670-2gb-gddr5-displayport-hdmi-dual-dvi-pci-e-graphics-ne5x67001042-1042f)
RAM - £34.00 (http://www.ebuyer.com/342352-crucial-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ballistix-sport-memory-bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00ceu)
Crucial M4 SSD - £86.99 (http://www.ebuyer.com/266526-crucial-128gb-m4-ssd-ct128m4ssd2?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products) + Seagate 1TB HDD £64.99 (http://www.dabs.com/products/seagate-1tb-barracuda-sata-6gb-s-64mb-7200rpm-hard-drive-7XD5.html?refs=56330000-52450000-50410&src=3)
580w 80+ Gold PSU - £77.93 (http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/580W+be+quiet!+STRAIGHT+POWER+E9-CM+80PLUS+Gold+Modular+Power+Supply+?productId=501 87)
LG DVD-RW £13.98 (http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/opticaldrives/satadvdwriters/gh24ns90.html)
Dark Knight CPU Cooler - £24.74 (http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/Xigmatek-Dark-Knight-PWM-CPU-Cooler--S1283W-pid-13310.html)
Corsair Carbide 300R - £53.49 (http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/Corsair-Carbide-300R-Mid-Tower-Gaming-Case-CC-9011014-WW-pid-15251.html)
Win7 Home Premium - £67.43 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-OEM-software-intended-builders/dp/B004Q0PT3I/ref=sr_1_1?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1339519265&sr=1-1)

Total: 965.31

Better SSD and PSU to boot (though hell, you might as well get a Dark Power Pro 10 550W (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies+-+PSUs/Modular+650W+or+less/550W+be+quiet!+DARK+POWER+PRO+P10+80PLUS+Gold+Modu lar+Power+Supply+?productId=50250) with your budget). You could bump the CPU cooler to a Xigmatek Prime or Dark Rock 2 (not pro 2), which are both decent and very quiet. I'd also get a different case, but that's down to personal taste (personally, a Fractal Arc with Silentwings 2 fans, one side intake, one rear exhaust and one front intake for the HDD+SSD sounds nice).

I don't claim to be knowledgeable about the best UK retailers, OCUK just came up as one of the top Google results, and I've seen it mentioned here before. And the CPU is out of stock at that site.

Also, since he is overclocking his rig, and wants to get the most out of it, I'm going to assume that he isn't going to overclock just the CPU. I would recommend more than 580W PSU for that - if you hit your PSU's limit, the best case scenario is instability; the worst case is that the PSU dies, and takes a few other components along for the ride. This is one situation where overkill is a good thing.

Other than that, I don't see too much difference in what you recommended. And I will be paying attention to the partpicker site in the future.

[Bags]

My PC under full load + 2 monitors and speakers doesn't draw more than 350w through my surge protector/battery backup.

With OC'd CPU and GPU.

[Ailos]

My PC under full load + 2 monitors and speakers doesn't draw more than 350w through my surge protector/battery backup.

With OC'd CPU and GPU.

Fair enough.

[Bags]

But there's always future proof for sli desirability soo...

[Ailos]

True, an extra 200W (175W if not OCd) would put that pretty close to a 500 W PSU's limit... that thing would make quite a bit of noise at such a load.

[Vancha]

I don't claim to be knowledgeable about the best UK retailers, OCUK just came up as one of the top Google results, and I've seen it mentioned here before. And the CPU is out of stock at that site.

Also, since he is overclocking his rig, and wants to get the most out of it, I'm going to assume that he isn't going to overclock just the CPU. I would recommend more than 580W PSU for that - if you hit your PSU's limit, the best case scenario is instability; the worst case is that the PSU dies, and takes a few other components along for the ride. This is one situation where overkill is a good thing.

Other than that, I don't see too much difference in what you recommended. And I will be paying attention to the partpicker site in the future.
I know, I wasn't trying to slight you, I was just saying it's a bad site. Also, it wasn't out of stock when I linked it, albeit there weren't many left.

As for the OC, the be quiet! PSU calculator on their site puts his rig at 68% load at stock for the PSU I recommended. I figured 12-22% headroom for a PSU of that calibre would be sufficient, but admittedly I'm not partilcularly knowledgeable when it comes to overclocking.

Edit: And obviously he'd probably want a higher-powered PSU for SLI, but considering how long an OC'd 670 would last him, by the time he felt he needed the additional horsepower, the 700/800 cards would probably be out, being even more powerful and even more efficient, making 670 SLI look like a complete power hog by comparison...Not to mention the temperatures (can you tell I'm not a fan of CFX/SLI?)

Oh I forgot to say, I was mainly just trying to find better prices for what you'd posted, but apart from the things I changed I would recommend the same things, except for the case (personal taste) and possibly the motherboard.

[Pella]

Really? Buying the parts individually (including Windows), with a better GPU and CPU cooler, I can buy the rig separately for £65 less than the combo they offered (Battlefield War Rush).

Overclockers has always been known as a bit of a rip-off merchant, so I was surprised to see someone advocating them. Do any of their bundles actually save you money?

People seem to forget warranty.... and there returns policy.

Most People/Gamers i know buy direct from OCUK for that reason.

[Vancha]

People seem to forget warranty.... and there returns policy.

Most People/Gamers i know buy direct from OCUK for that reason.
Most of their policy just seems to be following the sale of goods act and distance selling regulations?

[Pella]

Most of their policy just seems to be following the sale of goods act and distance selling regulations?

That yes. But if your mobo fried after you installed it, Other firms would make some of excuse or tell you to contact the manufacture.

OCUK you just send you gear back no hassle and they will ship a replacement.

[Vancha]

That yes. But if your mobo fried after you installed it, Other firms would make some of excuse or tell you to contact the manufacture.

OCUK you just send you gear back no hassle and they will ship a replacement.
Which firms? Also there's plenty of horror stories about OCUK.

It also just occurred to me, that if my mobo fried after I installed it, I could buy a new one out of pocket and still have it work out cheaper than buying the whole lot from OCUK. In fact, the same thing applies to all but the CPU and GPU. I could even receive broken ram, a broken optical drive and the CPU cooler sans fans, and replacing them all would still be cheaper than if I'd gotten my rig from OCUK.

I'm not saying they're terrible, but a £100 premium is a lot to ask for a slightly higher chance of a good returns experience on the off-chance that you get particularly unlucky.

[Pella]

What i linked was there Overclocked bundles. Which have to go through lots of tests for 3 days before they ship it to you. So expect to pay a premium. Also if a member of there forums you get free shipping.


Honestly out of all the gamers i know. They soley use OcUk.

But have a look at Scan.co.uk there main competitor.

[Mutant]

I have not used OCUK for about 8 years, they are never the cheapest and i have now spoken to a couple of people who know the owner and say he is a total prick; so I avoid them now.

I would have to say ebuyer is the no1 uk site atm.

[Vancha]

What i linked was there Overclocked bundles. Which have to go through lots of tests for 3 days before they ship it to you. So expect to pay a premium. Also if a member of there forums you get free shipping.


Honestly out of all the gamers i know. They soley use OcUk.

But have a look at Scan.co.uk there main competitor.
I was talking about the rig Ailos linked.

[Pride]

I'm back from my trip, thanks for all the advice. If you have any questions i'd be glad to get back to you.

I did take a look at those overclockers bundles, this one (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-254-OE&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat=) didn't seem too bad but i'm sure I'd be able to get the components cheaper elsewhere.

But at the moment Ailos's recommendations with Vancha's upgrades seem pretty swag and are probably what i'll end up getting. My parents said they will buy my current computer off me for an additional £300 so I should definitely be able to grab those extra upgrades to boot.

[Vancha]

With the even larger budget and your plans to overclock, you may well want a better motherboard, but I don't know much about them.

The CPU cooler, GPU and HDD could all probably be improved too.

CPU Cooler - Xigmatek Prime,
Thermalright HR-02 Macho (http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/Thermalright-HR-02-Macho-CPU-Cooler--HR-02-MACHO-pid-14735.html) (buy this from Scan if you don't get the case at Specialtech) or be quiet! Dark Rock 2 (http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/be+quiet!+Dark+Rock+2+Quiet+CPU+Cooler+?productId= 49503)

Prime will be quietest but cool the least, Dark Rock 2 is still nigh-silent but cools better, while I think Macho would be the coolest, but louder at load.

GPU - I'd suggest the ASUS 670 (avoid the "TOP" version), it's the quietest of the third-party coolers and it cools better than reference, but the Palit one's so cheap it kind of makes all the third-party coolers look extortionate by comparison. Kikatek might have a Gigabyte one for £320 that's slightly cooler, but louder (still quieter than reference), but the site's down so I can't make sure.

HDD -
Better 1TB (http://www.ebuyer.com/173804-samsung-1tb-spinpoint-f3-hard-drive-hd103sj?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products)
Fast 2TB (http://www.ebuyer.com/319641-seagate-2tb-barracuda-hard-drive-st2000dm001?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products)
Balanced (possibly quietest?) 2TB

Low-power 2TB (http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/harddrives-internal/sataover1tb/hd204ui.html)

Keeping in mind, you probably don't have much use for "faster" in the HDD scheme of things considering you have an SSD, though if you think you might end up using the HDD for games as well as the SSD, avoid the Western Digital (or get the 256GB SSD (http://www.ebuyer.com/267107-crucial-256gb-m4-ssd-ct256m4ssd2?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products) if you think it's worth the extra £58).

Edit: Why the hell does linking to Amazon mess this forum up so badly?

[Ait'al]

I know you said you were reusing your monitor. But if you can afford it... This is my dream monitor. I have the normal 60hz version. This is the 120hz 3d version! Have to look at reviews to compare to other 3ds. I just drool over it. Pricey though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236206 Asus 27" 120hz 3d monitor with glasses.
Newegg TV: ASUS VG278H VG Series LED LCD NVIDIA 3D Vision Ready Monitor Overview - YouTube Youtube preview
ASUS VG278 3D Vision 2 Lightboost Ready LED Monitor Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips - YouTube

Side note: I ran into this problem... If you are upgrading check for compatibility with non SATA stuff in the computer like HDDs and CD/DVD etc on the motherboard. I found that out the hard way. It was the one thing I didn't catch when I updated my hardware last. They have switched to non EIDE as a standard for SATA hookups internally now, commonly. Though you may be able to find EIDE/parallel hookups as well.

[Vancha]

I'd be curious to hear if anyone with a 120hz monitor gets frustrated when they come across games they can only run at 60FPS.

I figure a low latency IPS monitor might be better until 120FPS becomes the standard target for gaming. At least that way you get the benefit from then on, instead of occasionally having to experience non-120hz smoothness.

[Pride]

If I have any budget left I'm definitely considering getting a swag new monitor however i'm not bothered about a 3D one. The 3D screens in both the cinema and on the 3DS hurt my eyes :L I can't imagine 6 hour gaming sessions without going blind by the end of the week :O

[Vancha]

If I have any budget left I'm definitely considering getting a swag new monitor however i'm not bothered about a 3D one. The 3D screens in both the cinema and on the 3DS hurt my eyes :L I can't imagine 6 hour gaming sessions without going blind by the end of the week :O
Not that I'm advocating buying one, but the point of a 3D monitor is the 120hz in 2D rather than the actual 3D. A 120hz screen means 120FPS can actually be utilized to make gameplay look smoother than at 60FPS.

[Pride]

Not that I'm advocating buying one, but the point of a 3D monitor is the 120hz in 2D rather than the actual 3D. A 120hz screen means 120FPS can actually be utilized to make gameplay look smoother than at 60FPS.

Ah I didn't consider the other benefits attached, even if 120fps seems a little overkill considering the eye perceives movement at around 30fps. I was actually considering getting some Razer gear to go with the computer, but I've heard mixed reviews, I have friends who swear by Razer and friends who have nothing but hatred for the products. What peripherals and Manufacturers do you recommend?

[Vancha]

Ah I didn't consider the other benefits attached, even if 120fps seems a little overkill considering the eye perceives movement at around 30fps. I was actually considering getting some Razer gear to go with the computer, but I've heard mixed reviews, I have friends who swear by Razer and friends who have nothing but hatred for the products. What peripherals and Manufacturers do you recommend?
Uh oh.

Firstly, never get anything sound-related from any gaming company. The only exception is ASUS sound cards.

For keyboards, I'm a mech-head, so I'd suggest companies like Filco, Leopold, Ducky, Noppoo, KBT, WASD (a company called WASD) keyboards etc.

However, if you like the idea of TKL (no numpad), the best deal going is actually a CM Storm Quickfire Rapid. Avoid the Pro though and avoid the Trigger. Also avoid the Razer Blackwidow and the Corsair mechanicals. Rosewill's will be decent, but apparently the connector can be dodgy, so you might want to avoid it if you constantly replug your keyboard.

You'll also want to learn about the different types of switches (Cherry red vs cherry blue and such). Visit Geekhack for your proper keyboard needs. They'll set you straight. :p


Mouse-wise I could make suggestions, but I'd suggest asking these guys. (http://www.overclock.net/t/1139543/the-mouse-suggestion-thread) I could throw out some names, but there's so many variables that even the highest regarded mice could be completely wrong for you (some will even be good at certain DPI and bad at others).

[Mutant]

If I have any budget left I'm definitely considering getting a swag new monitor however i'm not bothered about a 3D one.

ISP screens really are that much better in quality than TN.

I have one of these on my workstation: Dell U2711 Ultrasharp 27 inch
Prob one of the better value highish res ISP screen about £526 at Amazon atm.

I don't use it for gaming but looking on the net it seems the input lag is ~ 30ms which is ok.


But for that money you can have 3 x 24" TN panels. (more or less what im running on my gaming machine atm)
Acer S240HLbid 24 inch looks like a nice model for multi montor setups.
On Amazon atm for £123 (3 for £369)


Any input lag under 50 ms should not be a problem if you don't play at the highest levels of competition (ie for cash).
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/images/dell_u2711/input_lag.jpg

[Ait'al]

The other monitor option unless it changed may be when the new eLCDs come out but that may be years. Or did they cancel that? I'm assuming those will solve every issues with haveing to run anything like 120hz by actually running at everything in general higher. I just wish they had done that for the past 10 years with LCD and everything else. I hate how cheap they make everything... 8( they could put so much more into everything if they wanted to.

I don't have much experience with mouses. but I have a cheap 24 dollar Gear head wireless that is nice. But it only has 2 extra buttons for basically web surfing(back and forward functions on web pages. but it's nice. I use rechargeable batteries with it. I'm guessing not enough buttons for more convenient gaming stuff unless that is not an issue. It's kind of small though.