Gaming rig advice(£2300)

[sean2mush]

hello, i recently came in to some money and i am wanting to get a gaming pc. I've never really own a gaming rig and would like peoples advice on what to get. i'm not a noob when it comes to computers but without having owned an expensive piece of kit before i reckoned it was a good idea to get advice from from people on what is good value or whats good for performance. i have £2,300 to spend but that includes a moniter, keyboard and mouse.
Was thinking about the intel core i7 920 for the processor or q6600 and overclocking. as for motherboards i don't really know what is good and what is bad, for the case i'm not really bothered what it looks like i just want what performs well. i would like the monitor to be at least 24" and a resolution of 1920 x 1200 what would be a good the graphics card for playing at this resolution? For the keyboard and mouse is important to have the logitech g15, what do they give you over a standard keyboard?

tell me what you think and if there is anything i've missed.

 

[aevm]

With that budget, I'd look at something like this:
24" monitor (Samsung, LG, Viewsonic)

i7 920 253 GBP

Asus P6T (excellent overclocker) 207 GBP
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-320-AS

3x2GB DDR3-1333

NH-U12P SE1366 cooler 57 GBP
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-005-NC

XFX GTX 295 449 GBP - two of them (try one first, add another later if you want)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-XF

Corsair 1000HX 196 GBP
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-012-CS

WD 640GB 63 GBP
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-244-WD

Coolermaster Haf 932, 103GBP
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-157-CM

Vista Home Premium 64-bit 92 GBP
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-037-MS

 

[aevm]

RAM: 101 GBP
Corsair 6GB DDR3 XMS3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz (3x2GB) Triple Channel
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-164-CS

SH-S223F DVD/RW 16 GBP
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-099-SA

I think this leaves you with about 760 pounds for monitor/mouse/keyboard and maybe a second video card.

 

[aevm]

Samsung T240HD 24" 299 GBP
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-104-SA

If you add the second video card right away you're left with only 12 pounds for mouse and keyboard. If that's a problem just skip the NH-U12P and go with the stock cooler.

 

[xthekidx]

I agree with aevm on all accounts except for the GPU. I would say get 2xGTX 285's, which will do very well on that monitor for a long time to come, and you still have room in your budget for the CPU cooler and decent mouse and keyboard. You will lose a lot of GPU horsepower due to scaling with 2 gtx 295's and the price won't justify it IMO.

 

[aevm]

Yeah, well, I went a bit overboard there
It depends on the games he prefers.

Check these STALKER 1920x1200 benchmarks out:

70 fps for two GTX 295, 37 fps for one
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/863/8/

33 fps for one GTX 285, 55 for two, 77 for three
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1727/8/nvidia_geforce_gtx_285_in_tri_sli_tested/index.html

Mind you, the reviews are for different card flavors. Also, tweaktown had a faster CPU (i7 920 OCd to 3.8 GHz, while legitreviews had an i7 965 at stock 3.2 GHz). Let's ignore that because it won't change facts much, except in FSX or other CPU-intensive games, not in STALKER.

In games like this, two GTX 285 cards are indeed the best solution, because they're close to the monitor's limit of 60 fps and cheaper than two GTX 295 and faster than one GTX 295 and you can even add a third card later if needed.

The problem is, you can't make an intelligent decision based on a single game unless you're a maniac and play that game only for years. sean2mush, I think we've pointed you in the right direction, but now you need to do your homework. Search for more reviews and see what makes most sense for your favorite games.

 

[Helloworld_98]

Get a HannsG 28" instead of that 24", they only cost £260 if you get the monitor off of misco.co.uk, wouldn't recommend you getting the components off there though.

Or you can get a 23" 2048x1152 for £140 which will give you a better resolution but it's 16:9.

 

[aevm]

@sean2mush: how's your vision? If it's excellent, that 23" would be good for you, I think. If not, get that 28" because it has larger pixels.

 

[Helloworld_98]

the 23" is £140 on CCL online and the 28" is £255 on misco.co.uk.

If you look anywhere else for the 23" it's £180 though and the 28" is normally £310-400.

Also CCL will build it for you if you pay them £50 and with a £2300 budget that's nothing.