Need a proper gaming machine. Please help.

[cryhavoke]

I am currently gaming on my laptop which is dreadful for gaming, time to get a proper machine.

1. Are you building this computer yourself or having one built for you (Like HP, Alienware, or even a small shop)?
Gather parts myself then local store will assemble

2. What is your budget and does that include shipping/taxes?
~£1000 all inc

3. Where do you live (Please list town, state, and country)?
Uk

4. What do you need this computer to do (like gaming, Photoshop, and so on)?
Planetside 2

5. What parts will you need for the computer? List what parts specifically, saying you need everything will not do.
Built around HAF X case and overclocked i5
*GPU
*RAM
*motherboard
*cooling
*Hard drive
*sound card

6. Are you reusing any parts for this computer? If so say what parts (make and model).
No

7. What kind of monitor/resolution do you have or want to get to use for the computer?
1920 x 1080

8. Do you have already have a OS or do you need one? What OS is that?
Have windows 7

10. Any plans to overclock the CPU or GPU?
Yes

11. What time kind of time frame?
As long as it takes

My thanks for any help.

[therous]

so for a cpu i would can recommend two, either the i-5 2500k which is a overclocking beast and can be brought to around 4.8 an air (if your case has good air flow) and a little over 5 if a decent closed loop water cooler is used (at least a corsair h70) for ten dollars more you can get a i-5 3570k which preforms amazingly, i have one and it crushes planetside 2. if heat is a problem i'd go for a 2500k, they tend to run a lot cooler but a [email protected] can match a [email protected].

for a gpu i would say get a msi 600ti twin frozr IV. i could spend hours explaining why but its easier to simply google it for yourself and see what it has over the other 660ti's.

i have found that ram does not matter that much as long as it is at least 1600mhz and 8 gigs.

if you do go intel as i roccmended (AMD is severally outperformed by intel in ps2) get a z77 motherboard from MSI, ASUS or ASrock as they are the prominent motherboard manufacturers for intel sockets. the reason i say get a Z77 is because of their outstanding overclocking capabilities.

for cooling i would say go liquid, air is on its way out and water coolers such as the corsair h series that i mentioned above are dropping in price. also, rupturing the reservoir (water containment) is a rarity unless personal stupidity is involved.

only two companies i would even consider buying are seagate or western digital. both are very reliable and have great customer service. i would go for a 1 tb drive as these tend to have more cache, in the 32-64 MB area which will help your load speed in game.

the funny thing about sound cards is you don't really need one, motherboards come with integrated 7.1 audio which sounds as crisp as any mid range sound card so save yourself the cash and put it into another piece of hardware.

i hope i helped you with this, if i left anything out or you have any further questions i would be glad to help you.

[therous]

oh, and it is not hard to assemble everything as long as all necessary precautions are taken, once again you can save some money and invest it elsewhere.

[Rbstr]

The 2500k does not put out less heat than the 3570k

Ivy Bridge hits a higher temperature because it has a smaller die. It actually puts out less heat.

[Mutant]

Originally Posted by Rbstr

The 2500k does not put out less heat than the 3570k

Ivy Bridge hits a higher temperature because it has a smaller die. It actually puts out less heat.

I don't know how people get this wrong, heat is basically listed in the specs; 95W for 2500K vs 77W for 3570K



and

VAT is 20% in the UK but part-picker normally pulls it in with the total price.

[Ailos]

Originally Posted by Mutant

VAT is 20% in the UK but part-picker normally pulls it in with the total price.

Well, then, that's good, my builds are actually under-budget, and I honestly can't recommend any other components that would really improve the experience in PS2 all that much. If the money must be spent, add more storage maybe? Or a blu-ray drive? Or just save it for some upgrade you'll no doubt want within 12 months (like I did).

[cryhavoke]

Thanks for the response,

I'm looking on scan.co.uk who do overclocked packs.

Intel i5 3570k overclocked to 4.5 ghz
Corsair H70 liquid cooler
Asus P8Z77-V LX
2x4gb corsair vengeance LP, 1600mhz

Sound like a good place to start?

[Rbstr]

Sure...but why pay someone to do something you can do for free once you've bought the parts?

[Ailos]

IF you don't feel comfortable putting the pieces together and overclocking them, I understand why you'd want to have it done professionally, but if you're going to do that, read the fine print in the little liability form you'll no doubt need to sign to have them do it. If they do not provide a 100% working guarantee and perhaps some sort of a warranty (even for 6 months), then you might as well do it yourself. In other words, if you're paying someone 50-100 quid to "professionally" put it together in the same way you'd do it at home... well, that's money you could put forward to getting a large-enough SSD rather than having a hybrid system or sticking with platters, for instance. Or alternatively, towards PS2's premium membership.

Now, here's the first build I have for you:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/GoTD
Total before tax: ~880.

Why I chose some of the parts:
First of all, Air cooling is definitely NOT on its way out. Dedicated cooling systems with external radiators are what can let a CPU go to 5+ GHz, but pushing anything that far will really shoot down your efficiency, not to mention shortens the life of most chips no matter how well they're cooled. I have a close-loop liquid cooler, and although nice, it's not actually that much more powerful than a good air cooler, like the one I have in your build. You're presumably buying this rig in the near future, not several years from now, and in the near future, air coolers will continue to offer superior value. Why would I buy a closed-loop liquid cooler? I travel between my houses and will occasionally bring one of my desktops to the other house, and having the liquid cooler allows the 3-pound radiator to be bolted to the case instead of the delicate motherboard. If you're in a similar situation, you can opt for a closed-loop liquid cooler instead (see build below). Yes, my system is overclocked, but I reached the overclock on the aircooler first, and when I swapped in the water block, the temperatures didn't really drop that much.

A 2500K is not something you should buy today. Ivy Bridge struggles to go as high as Sandy Bridge did because Intel swapped out thermal paste for soldier on the actual inside of the chip, but Ivy Bridge also doesn't need to go as high as Sandy Bridge to deliver the same performance, saving much energy in the process.

At the end of the day, the CM Hyper 212 Evo will get your i5 3570K to 4.3-4.5 GHz just as easy as any closed-loop cooler might. Going beyond 4.5 GHz depends just as much on your luck of the draw and the exact number of defects your piece of silicon has as it does on your cooling.

The GTX 670 is in your build because you stated that first and foremost PS2 is your intended use for this rig, and I think you'll enjoy the PhysX effects (I have them on and they are niiiceee); however, if you're into GPGPU or care about getting the biggest bang for your buck, you can also get a 7970 for 30 pounds more.

The same is true for the -2133 memory, which will help keep your frames much more consistent once you overclock. Personally, I do not recommend going below DDR3-2133 if PS2 is your main intended use.

When you're overclocking, having a very good power supply becomes important. The SeaSonic I have in there isn't modular, but it's extremely well-build and should last through years of torture.

With all that out of the way, I'd found that after a 1 TB HDD, the total was still just above 800 quid, so I threw in an SSD. If you don't need to store much data on your PC, you can put the money from the HDD together with the boot drive to go pure SSD.

Last but not least, the case is largely a cosmetic purchase (the one in the build is the one I personally have). Any case in the 35-50 pound range will satisfy your needs, so pick one that you think looks best.

The website doesn't show anything in the tax column, and I'm not sure what the situation is with VAT over in the UK, so I don't know how much more actual room there is in your budget. But, given some of the above considerations, here are some alternate builds that I can recommend:

Liquid Cooler: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Gplc (Total: ~901)
Radeon HD 7970 instead of GTX 670: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Gpd6 (Total: ~911)
SSD-only option: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Gpix (Total: ~882)