Hello! I'm new here.

[me2hat_head]

Hello everybody!
Over the past few weeks I have been sifting through websites (mainly this forum) getting advice on my soon to be gaming rig. I currently use my laptop for gaming due to its phenomenal specs, but unfortunately it gets rather hot running crysis on gamer settings. Thats where the desktop build comes in. After a week of searching, this is what I have come up with:

GPU - Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 5770 (Supports crossover, push for two?) £80
CASE+PSU - Raidmax Smilodon Extreme Black w/PSU from newegg £50
MEMORY - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB 1600 DDR3 £62
CPU - Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition £92.50
MOBO - ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard £73
MAIN HDD - 150GB VelociRaptor 10,000rpm for OS £50
DATA HDD's - 2x WD Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s (RAID0) £62
DVDR/CDR - ASUS Black 24x DVd+R/8x DVD+RW etc. £11

£480/$770 from newegg.com w/out peripherals.

What do you think guys?
Lovely Forum by the way

Liam

 

[bigdfootball89]

Okay here we go.
For the graphics card get something in the 6xxx series, this is kinda like the new 57xx series.

Don't get a case psu combo. The psu is a vital piece in a computer, u dont wanna skimp out on it. Get like a corsair 450/500 watt.

The blacks in raid0 probably out perform a raptor, so ditch the raptor and with the money u save from that get a like a 64gb ssd.

What are the timings on that ram. They look like their 9's. Try to get some...well first of all u don't need 8gigs of ram for this computer considering it's gonna cost 700 bucks, and be used primarily for gaming.
Check this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1351&cm_re=4gb_g_skill-_-20-231-351-_-Product

 

[me2hat_head]

Thanks for the reply. I thought about ssd but wasn't sure how big it should be (i dual boot 7 and ubuntustudio). With the ram i just thought more was better lol
Thanks a lot for the advice!

 

[bda1967]

I would get a HD 6950 video card or a GTX 560Ti. Maybe even get a little newer MB like one with a 890FX chipset. EDIT: Oh and

 

[David]

Welcome to the forums!

Hello everybody!
Over the past few weeks I have been sifting through websites (mainly this forum) getting advice on my soon to be gaming rig. I currently use my laptop for gaming due to its phenomenal specs, but unfortunately it gets rather hot running crysis on gamer settings. Thats where the desktop build comes in. After a week of searching, this is what I have come up with:

GPU - Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 5770 (Supports crossover, push for two?) £80

As suggested, I'd look at a 68xx series card or a GeForce 560 Ti, if you can afford it.

CASE+PSU - Raidmax Smilodon Extreme Black w/PSU from newegg £50

The PSU in that will probably be ... questionable. I'd look for a good branded 600W+. Corsair, Antec, Fortron, etc.

MEMORY - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB 1600 DDR3 £62
CPU - Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition £92.50
MOBO - ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard £73

That board is a generation behind (790-series chipset) so I'd look for something based on the 890-series. I think Asus do an M4A89-range of boards as well (my brother has an M4A88-series board).

MAIN HDD - 150GB VelociRaptor 10,000rpm for OS £50
DATA HDD's - 2x WD Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s (RAID0) £62

Raptors are not worth it any more, a small SSD costs only a little more. Using RAID0 for a data drive is risky if you have any important data on it - it doubles your risk of failure.

I'd look at a 64 GB or 128 GB SSD and a single 1 TB black. You can always add more HDDs later (I find myself adding HDDs at the rate of one a year, lately).


Also: if you're in the UK I'd check prices against Scan.co.uk and Ebuyer.com, as that's where I tend to get most of my stuff. Scan often have some decent deals of the day.

 

[me2hat_head]

Right, based on all of your advice I've had a rethink. 64gb ssd for the OS. Keep the two blacks as raid0 (all my important stuff is on a 1tb external anyway). Same CPU, only 4gb RAM rather than 8. A corsair tx750 psu. An asus 880g motherboard and I have just been offered a 6870 radeon for just over £100 off a friend. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129092 <-- This case is just epic!
Haven't proced it up yet but I have 750 to spend so I should be fine.

 

[bigdfootball89]

750 is alot for that setup. 550 would be fine

 

[Knufire]

650TX would be my pick, gives you a little more headroom. Also, Corsair's TX series is better then their VX.