Advice about pre-built gaming system

[mwtoms]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Anything from this week to a month away

BUDGET RANGE: £1000-£1500 (possibly can go more, but that is the sweet spot)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming (multi-boxing)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: OS, keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor (basically just looking for the core of the system)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Need somewhere in the UK, possibly overclockers.co.uk

PARTS PREFERENCES: none

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Not sure

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I want to use the system for multi-boxing WoW, but with the strong possiblity of playing more demanding modern games


Hello,

I'd like some input on the following ready built systems from overclockers.co.uk. I've built my own PC before, and had a bit of trouble due to selecting parts which were a bit unstable together. It's now 4 years old and time to upgrade. I'm very busy with work, so was looking at getting a ready built (and ready overclocked) system, but I'm also not averse to building my own if I gain a lot by doing so.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-065-OE
With the GeForce GTX 285 1024MB option, price comes to £1066.49 inc VAT

- Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz Overclocked to 3.66GHz
- Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
- OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel
- Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
- LG GH22NS40 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
- Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound professionally hand installed by our technicians
- 1yr Onsite Collect & Return Warranty

I'd appreciate input on the value of this system. I'd prefer the 295 graphics card, but doesn't seem to be an option on the list. If it's better to build my own from scratch then that's fine, and would ask for some complete system advice if that's the case.

Thanks!

 

[Helloworld_98]

you could do a bit better if you built is yourself, about £900 would give you a PC with pretty much the same specs but a bigger and better case and a 4870 X2 which is easily the most powerful graphics card for under £250. And you'd probably end up with a nice 1TB hard drive.

 

[mwtoms]

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 295 1792MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £436.99
Corsair Dominator GT 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C8 (2000MHz) Tri-Channel With Airflow Fan (TR3X6G2000C8GTF) £269.99
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £225.39
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £203.99
Coolermaster Silent Pro Modular 700W Power Supply £90.99
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD1001FALS) £81.98
Antec 900 Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £79.99
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA775) £45.99
LG GH22NS30 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.99
Western Digital SureConnect SATA Cable - 0.5m (WDCA030RNN) £6.89

Total: £1,461.18

Thanks for the input. For what it's worth, I thought it might be useful to provide a tenative build for some comments. Here is what I selected, some (or a lot) of it is guesswork on my part. Basically, go wild with the comments, since I'm looking for info about pretty much everything. Do I need to add fans to this, is it better to go for SLI with two lower spec cards, is the CPU cooler decent, is the PSU ok, etc.

However, if people recommend the pre-built system as a decent option then I am ok going with that instead of building my own.

Thanks again

 

[fullmetall]

I'd get a 850tx if possible.

and look at better options for ram, cheaper i suppose. CL: 8 or CL:7.

Not to familiar with the gtx 295's, just the gtx 285's and they rock.

 

[Helloworld_98]

1) with current 4870 X2 prices being so low and benchmarks putting it so close to the GTX 295 I see little point in spending the extra £120.

2) that ram isn't really worth it, it might shave a few seconds off of video encoding but not enough, the 3x2GB G.Skill 1333mhz will do the same job.

3) the motherboard choice is yours but if you follow what I suggested and go with a 4870 X2 you won't need SLI so go for a P6T SE.

4) swap this PSU for a Hiper 1000w or Corsair 1000w.

5) swap the WDC black for the samsung F1, because the F1 is cheaper and faster.

6) for the cooler look at the titan fenrir, it is currently the best cooler you can buy over here, and if you want it to be even better then get a scythe slipstream 1900rpm.

7) with those modifications I should have just about saved you enough for a second 4870 X2.

 

[mwtoms]

Thanks. Please excuse my ignorance but why would I not need SLI if I buy two 4870 X2 cards? How does this work? Also, I wasn't sure which memory you referred to exactly, so I went with OCZ for the moment. I have several options on the graphics card with varying prices.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=56&sortby=nameAsc&subid=1235&mfrid=

Gainward, Powercolor, Sapphire, XFX. Is there one that would be the better brand? I went with the cheapest (XFX) for the moment.

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2048MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £248.99

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £225.39

Corsair HX 1000W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-1000HXUK) £189.98

Asus P6T SE Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £159.99

OCZ 'FlexEX' 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (OCZ3FXE1600C7LV6GK) £114.99

Antec 900 Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £79.99

Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ) £68.99

Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366) £28.98

LG GH22NS30 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.99

Western Digital SureConnect SATA Cable - 0.5m (WDCA030RNN) £6.89

Total: £1,165.87

 

[Helloworld_98]

the 4870 X2 is crossfire, and all X58 motherboards support crossfire. Go for the XFX, there's little point in paying £60 extra for a 30mhz overclock.

and with the amount I saved you, you can now add another 4870 X2 and maybe another HDD to run in RAID 0, and maybe some other extra's too.

 

[mwtoms]

I see about the crossfire, thanks. Regarding adding another 4870 X2, is this going to cause a lot of heat in the system? Do I need to buy fans for the case to cater for this, or add some other cooling options?

I don't think I'll go raid 0 though, not sure I get too much benefit out of it with gaming, I think I'll save the money and look at SSD in a few months time.

 

[fullmetall]

OCZ's are fine, look into ddr3 1600mhz, ocz golds or platinums

 

[fullmetall]

adding a second 4870x2 wouldnt be needed for a long period of time.
When you mentioned WoW I was like ugh..

Wow utilizies such a small portion of the gfx card. A $500 setup would run the game at High settings. I was able to run it just fine on a 256mb card, 6200oc.

Anyways, if your going to end up with 2 of those beasts, your looking at alot of powerflow through the computer and heat. Thats alot of amps being thrown around.
+ dual monitors

 

[mwtoms]

Yeah, I realise WoW is an old game, but my current PC with a 4 year old CPU and a 9800 Pro struggles with WoW on full settings in the expansions. I don't even get the 30 fps framerate sometimes. And playing with two instances of WoW open really drops this. I'm planning on trying out 5 x WoW instances and you need a decent machine for that. Since I need to upgrade anyway, I thought I'd spend a bit extra and make sure I can play contemporary games and future proof a bit.

But as you say, I won't need the second 4870 X2 for the moment, so a bit of money saved. Cheers

 

[fullmetall]

Yea. If you plan on quadfire, then plan on Dual monitor.