So, I want to build my first gaming PC

[Mike Laserbeam]

Oh man, way to double post!

May as well use this one to ask what anyone thinks of this slightly updated version of my list
http://www.ebuyer.com/lists/list/8539?%20UGC

The monitor is out of stock but it was good that you got an E-IPS monitor. I would recommend a Super-IPS 20" Square Dell monitor but it shot up from £170 to £200 so I'd be a bit wary of telling people to get it now especially as you are just at your budget.

Still, just having an IPS monitor will improve image quality by quite a bit.

It's good you downsized your PSU. 650W is fine, you could do with less but at least it's not as much as 750W so that's fine.

You may be changing the 7870 to a 7950 so that's still on the cards.

I assume you will be overclocking the i5, I see no reason why not seeing as you have the paste and the cooler.

You could go with a cheaper case (there is a decent case you can get for £30, only 1 fan and not 4). It wouldn

http://www.ebuyer.com/172779-casecom-6788-all-black-case-km-6788-black

This is it, just in case you have to shave some cost out of the build. It wouldn't cost £35 for 3 more fans anyway.

Can't say I'm surprised, there was only one of those monitors left, my backup was this [http://www.ebuyer.com/281269-aoc-i2353fh-lcd-ips-23-hdmi-monitor-aluminium-enclosure-i2353fh].
Any thoughts?

I think I'll stick with the 650W PSU, just to be on the safe side. Although I do realise that I should be safe with less, I want to be a little careful!

I'll stick with my case too, simply because I quite like the extra fans... and the way it looks haha

But you're sure the 7950 will be better than the 7870? I know it may seem like a stupid question, but I want to be sure.
I would definitely prefer to go with Amazon, but apparently it could take a month or two to dispatch, and I don't want to wait that long!
So I'll probably go with this [http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/VTX3D+Radeon+HD+7950+3072MB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+w%2F+3+FREE+Games%21+?productId=50264], unless you think any of the other 3 are a lot better?

I'm assuming the 7950 I've chosen will fit my PC?


Seriously, thanks for all your help

 

[Bvenged]

Stick with the i5, it's fine.

Might be spending a bit much on the motherboard but as you have £1000 it's fine.

I would drop to a 7850, the extra power for £50 isn't worth it in my eyes.

750W is hilariously overpowered. Drop to 500W, crossfire isn't worth it.

Change to an IPS monitor.

You may want to get a cheaper motherboard and change to a 670.

Matt's nailed it. No point me typing the same thing.

From past experience don't go with eBuyer, I've only ever been ripped off by them. But that's just me.

The computer you'll end up with following Matt's advice will have you running the latest games on the highest settings at 60+fps, but it's not future proof and while it will age well, it won't stand the test of time as much as a more powerful but costly computer.

Final note, grab the Intel i5-3570 3.4GHz and not the 3570k. The 3570k benches lower than the 3570 and costs more. It's not a deal-breaker, but it's nicer to have a more powerful processor for less. You might have to look at over-clocking the 3570 yourself though in a few years. Don't ask me why the 3570 is better than the 3570k whilst being cheaper; I have no idea, but it is.

 

[Bvenged]

Stick with the i5, it's fine.

Might be spending a bit much on the motherboard but as you have £1000 it's fine.

I would drop to a 7850, the extra power for £50 isn't worth it in my eyes.

750W is hilariously overpowered. Drop to 500W, crossfire isn't worth it.

Change to an IPS monitor.

You may want to get a cheaper motherboard and change to a 670.

Matt's nailed it. No point me typing the same thing.

From past experience don't go with eBuyer, I've only ever been ripped off by them. But that's just me.

The computer you'll end up with following Matt's advice will have you running the latest games on the highest settings at 60+fps, but it's not future proof and while it will age well, it won't stand the test of time as much as a more powerful but costly computer.

Final note, grab the Intel i5-3570 3.4GHz and not the 3570k. The 3570k benches lower than the 3570 and costs more. It's not a deal-breaker, but it's nicer to have a more powerful processor for less. You might have to look at over-clocking the 3570 yourself though in a few years.

The thing is the non-K models cannot be overclocked due to having a locked multiplier. I assume you know this?

I was unaware of this, cheers for letting me know! But my point still stands, the 3570 still bench higher and cost less dough.

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

So basically, if I don't want to overclock, go non-K
If I do, K?

It's not a massive difference in price.

Is the non-K really that much better without being overclocked?

This has really thrown me!

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

I was unaware of this, cheers for letting me know! But my point still stands, the 3570 still bench higher and cost less dough.

In that case you may not know this either.

The 3570K can hit 4.5Ghz easily just by raising the multiplier, it's really that easy. You may have to raise the voltage a bit but it's extremely easy from what I have seen.

Could you provide a source for what you are saying?

So basically, if I don't want to overclock, go non-K
If I do, K?

It's not a massive difference in price.

Is the non-K really that much better without being overclocked?

This has really thrown me!

If you are going to invest in the cooler and the paste, go for the K model.

I would go for the K model. You can get a 1.1Ghz boost (or more, depending on how good the chip and cooler are) at minimal effort which will add a lot of life on to the CPU (power wise).

To be honest I wasn't aware there was any difference. As far as I know they are the same chip but the K is unlocked.

We'll see if Bvenged can show us where he heard this.

Oh man...

Well, I've had a little crisis of confidence.

I may have to look around for places other than eBuyer (apparently it isn't very reliable) so I'm going to sleep on this!

I think the K model does sound better though, so I think I'm going 3570K and 7950.

Thanks again!

 

[Bvenged]

snip

snip

I use sites that have recorded the Passmark software for benchmarking all the time when it comes to high-end CPU's. It's proved itself first-hand to me on a number of occasions.
http://www.passmark.com/

But the page I was referring to specifically is a 3rd party site's AMD/Intel high-end CPU benchmark page. They use Passmark to list CPU's, including prices, and by simply "Ctrl-F"ing you can find the CPU you are curious about; seeing how it fares to surrounding models.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

EDIT: So you'll notice there's not much between the two processors, not even the price, but if Matt is right about the over-clocking and you want to splash out on the cooling gel, grab the K variant. At core speeds it's less powerful, but allows for simple over-clocks later on in it's life.

 

[Wolfram23]

My 2 cents. Get the i5 K version for sure. Get a GTX 670 if you can, otherwise a 7850 is best value. Go with a decent 2.1 sound system, PC surround speakers are a bit crap most of the time (how are you going to put the rear speakers behind you?). Maybe invest in a good headset instead/in addition.

Also, HDDs are almost always the slowest part of any PC. If you can get an 80 to 120gb SSD, do it. It will make the PC way faster. Then use an HDD for games/media. On that note I suggest partitioning the HDD, 50% for programs on the front, 50% for media on the back (change ratio if you need more). Media doesn't meed much in terms of speed but it's nice to have programs load fast.

 

[Evil Smurf]

why not get a set of headphones instead of speakers? The sennheiser hd 518 really do sound fantastic.
http://www.headphone.com/headphones/sennheiser-hd-518.php

*reads post* I sound like a spam bot, damn it I am not. I am recommending these to you Mike.

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

why not get a set of headphones instead of speakers? The sennheiser hd 518 really do sound fantastic.
http://www.headphone.com/headphones/sennheiser-hd-518.php

*reads post* I sound like a spam bot, damn it I am not. I am recommending these to you Mike.

A good point, but I already have a pair of Sennheisers that I forgot to mention!

My 2 cents. Get the i5 K version for sure. Get a GTX 670 if you can, otherwise a 7850 is best value. Go with a decent 2.1 sound system, PC surround speakers are a bit crap most of the time (how are you going to put the rear speakers behind you?). Maybe invest in a good headset instead/in addition.

Also, HDDs are almost always the slowest part of any PC. If you can get an 80 to 120gb SSD, do it. It will make the PC way faster. Then use an HDD for games/media. On that note I suggest partitioning the HDD, 50% for programs on the front, 50% for media on the back (change ratio if you need more). Media doesn't meed much in terms of speed but it's nice to have programs load fast.

Also a very good point! GTX 670 is pretty expensive though, so I think I'll go with the 7950.
Any 2.1 recommendations? I only chose the current ones because they were reviewed well

Interesting point about the HDD, I might look into that.

 

[Ardure]

Easiest way of building a pretty damn good gaming comp is just go to your local computer parts store... THIS IS NOT A BEST BUY! Usually they look something close to a warehouse and have very little stuff on display. The usually have pretty helpful people and know what they are talking about.

Now... what you want to do in general is look at the price breaks. The way this stuff works in short is like this... on a list of bits there will be prices and there will be a long list of stuff that is very closely priced, you know at the price where you might as well buy the best one because the difference between that and the one below it is like 10-20... Now you find where it jumps from really tight again that 10-50 to a gap of ~100+ .. thats the price break. Overall you can buy your comp's bits by buying everything at the price break... and it will run everything you want pretty good if not on the highest or close to highest settings for the first year or two.. but after that assuming you don't upgrade bits in it you can get another 2-6 years depending on what you're playing.

Though slowly upgrading can prove to be pretty nice also. Hope this helps... pretty much how I built my two comps and right now I have not found a game that I haven't been able to run at very nice settings.