My Planned New Build..

[Flyboy583]

Hi All,

Just joined this forum and this is my second post.. As mentioned in my first I am busy planning my gaming PC. It will be a self build (My first attempt)

I am not a PC engineer of any description but comfortable enough around a PC to attempt the build (with the help of a few manuals)

I am on a budget (around £600) and have been researching what to buy and after a view posts on various forums have come up with a wish list of what I think will work.

I intend to mainly fly flight simms (IL2, Lock On ect) on this rig and hope that this machine will have enough grunt to run these simms with ease.

I would welcome any feedback to what I intend to buy and build...

Here is the list

Description

Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3Ghz 6MB i5-2500K - 157 - http://www.ebay.co.u....ht_2126wt_1139

Motherboard Asus P8P67 REV 3.0 LGA1155 Intel P67 DDR3 ATX - 99 http://www.ebay.co.u....#ht_4401wt_905

Corsair 8GB Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B 1600MHZ Memory - 46.25 http://www.ebay.co.u....ht_1976wt_1037

Hitachi 3.5" HARD DRIVE 1000GB/1TB SATA II 32MB - 37.99 http://www.ebay.co.u....ht_1898wt_1270

Sound Blaster X-Fi - 29.99 http://www.ebay.co.u....ht_1798wt_1037

Nvidia GTX 550 - 100 http://www.dabs.com/....hdmi-7DQV.html

Corsair TX650W 650 Watt PSU ATX - 59.98 http://www.dabs.com/...tm_content=Q200

Inwin Griffin Midi Tower Gaming Case" - 34.99 http://www.ebay.co.u....ht_2033wt_1270

WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM 64BIT - 49.99 http://www.bargain-m....T-OEM-SP1.html

The total system comes to £615

[PropNut]

Hi Flyboy! Dont forget to plan on flying Rise of Flight (They are giving the game away now, but an awesome flight sim of WWI)

I just built a system for a buddy that is very similar to what you have listed with a couple of exceptions.

First, the motherboard has built in 7.1 surround sound support so why bother with the Soundblaster card? That would save you 29.99.

Second, you might want to consider getting the best GPU that you can afford, perhaps a GTX 560Ti or AMD HD6950? Slightly more expensive but well worth it in performance. Perhaps the savings with not getting the soundblaster would be the difference?

Whatever you decide on, welcome to the squadron and I hope to see you on comms!

David

[fruitbat]

I agree with Propnut, defiantly worth the extra to get a GTX560Ti, imo the best bang for buck card out there at the moment, and more than capable of playing CloD, the most demanding sim around at the moment.

[PropNut]

I would argue that the HD6950 2gb is the best bang for the buck, faster than the GTX560ti and with twice the memory. Plus you can run 3 monitors in eyefinity mode without the need for a second card. But that is just me

[fruitbat]

I would argue that the HD6950 2gb is the best bang for the buck, faster than the GTX560ti and with twice the memory. Plus you can run 3 monitors in eyefinity mode without the need for a second card. But that is just me

Defiantly the better card, but 25% more expensive over here......

[PropNut]

Ouch....it is only 10% more here, depending on which brand/extras that are included.

[Snacko]

Welcome Flyboy, I see you made it!!

[DD_Arthur]

Hello Flyboy, welcome here. Here's my (un)reliable opinion. As others have said, do you really need a dedicated soundcard these days? I'd definitely save on the sound card and put it towards the most expensive graphics card you can afford. You're gonna need something a bit better than a gtx550 to make the most of the rest of your system. I'd also go for a slightly bigger power supply to be a bit more future proof and if you've got the room I'd go for a full size case rather than a midi-tower. Better for cooling and graphics cards seem to be getting bigger and bigger these days.

Oh yeah, did you know Rise of Flight is a freebee?

[Flyboy583]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

You are the second person to suggest a GTX 560Ti today... I have to be brutally honest I have no idea who makes this card... Google came up with a couple of makes.. (Zotac, Palit, MSI ect) I am assuming it is the MSI brand? http://www.google.co...iw=1366&bih=673

What card would you recommend between the GTX & HD6950?

I was wondering about the sound card and see your point. The £30 will now go towards the graphics card

Thanks again for your post and welcome Hope to see you online soon!

Rgds

Leon

Hi Flyboy! Dont forget to plan on flying Rise of Flight (They are giving the game away now, but an awesome flight sim of WWI)

I just built a system for a buddy that is very similar to what you have listed with a couple of exceptions.

First, the motherboard has built in 7.1 surround sound support so why bother with the Soundblaster card? That would save you 29.99.

Second, you might want to consider getting the best GPU that you can afford, perhaps a GTX 560Ti or AMD HD6950? Slightly more expensive but well worth it in performance. Perhaps the savings with not getting the soundblaster would be the difference?

Whatever you decide on, welcome to the squadron and I hope to see you on comms!

David

[Flyboy583]

thanks for the advice It seems that everybody prefers the GTX 560 Ti, so will most probably go this route!!

I really appreciate the advise!! You guys have just saved me about £100 by not buying the wrong bloody card lol

I agree with Propnut, defiantly worth the extra to get a GTX560Ti, imo the best bang for buck card out there at the moment, and more than capable of playing CloD, the most demanding sim around at the moment.

[Flyboy583]

Thanks for your reply... I have to be honest this is where my lack of knowledge shows No idea what eyefinity is, but assume from your post multiple monitors with one card.. I though you can only run multiple monitors in MS flight simulator?? How would you set the monitors up?? what would be displayed on each screen?? Sorry for all the questions, but really intrigued!

I would argue that the HD6950 2gb is the best bang for the buck, faster than the GTX560ti and with twice the memory. Plus you can run 3 monitors in eyefinity mode without the need for a second card. But that is just me

Hey Snacko!!

Yes made it Bloody happy!!

Welcome Flyboy, I see you made it!!

Hi and thanks for your reply!!

I was wondering if 650w is enough, but as you say future proofing is never a bad idea.. How about an 800W?? Or should I go for 1000w??

Thanks for your comment on the case.. I have read about graphics card sizes being on the increase.. Can you suggest any cases? Appreciate your help!

Hello Flyboy, welcome here. Here's my (un)reliable opinion. As others have said, do you really need a dedicated soundcard these days? I'd definitely save on the sound card and put it towards the most expensive graphics card you can afford. You're gonna need something a bit better than a gtx550 to make the most of the rest of your system. I'd also go for a slightly bigger power supply to be a bit more future proof and if you've got the room I'd go for a full size case rather than a midi-tower. Better for cooling and graphics cards seem to be getting bigger and bigger these days.

Oh yeah, did you know Rise of Flight is a freebee?

[Flyboy583]

Just googled Rise of Flight and assume this is what you are referring to??

http://riseofflight.com/en

Looks good and free for a while!! Ill download it then

[fruitbat]

Just googled Rise of Flight and assume this is what you are referring to??

http://riseofflight.com/en

Looks good and free for a while!! Ill download it then

yup its awesome, you'll find some screenies of it in our rise of flight sub forum

[PropNut]

Hi Flyboy,

GTX 569ti is a reference to the graphics processing chip on the video card, which is made by Nvidia. There are many video card makers who use this chip, and others. To make it simple, manufacturers refer to their cards by the graphics chip rather than unique names (although some add unique names as well). The two main graphic chip makers for gaming purposes are Nvidia (who make the GTX 560ti) and AMD (used to be called ATI until AMD bought them, and they make the HD6950).

Some of the more popular video card makers are EVGA, XFX, Sapphire, MSI, Diamond, PNY, PowerColor, Sparkle, ASUS, HIS, Gigabyte, and many more. Pretty much go with the best price divided by the best reviews. Newegg.com is a great place to read reviews even if you cannot order from them. (Is there a Newegg.uk?)

I like the AMD cards only because of the value-added feature of eyefinity on one card.

Eyefinity allows you to plug three monitors into one card and stretch the screen across all three (there are restrictions such as all three must have matching resolutions such as 1680x1050..which is only an example, or be able to be configured in such as way as the resolutions match). With three 22" monitors you can have a gaming screen that is 5040x1050, or three 24" monitors that give you a game screen of 5760x1200, etc. This massive resolution does come at a cost in performance but so far all games play very smooth with the combo of the i5 2500k and the HD6950 (either the 1gb version or the 2gb, but the 2gb is better). To do this with an Nvidia card (such as the GTX560ti you would need two cards and have them running in SLI mode, so twice the cost).

There are several members who run in this mode with PCs similar to what you are building or older systems, MadTrooper is running three 22" monitors on an older AMD HD5870, I ran three 22"s on my Core i7 920 with a single HD5850. Others who run Eyefinity might chime in here and let us know how it is working for you. You will need an adapter to run three non Display Port type monitors as the card only has two DVI outputs but the adapter to go from Display Port to DVI is really cheap (about 20.00 here in the U.S.), if you lived closer I have an extra in a drawer you could have but shipping that far would be more expensive than just buying one.

Some FAQs that have excellent info on Eyefinity and Nvidia's Surround system:

http://widescreengamingforum.com/article/amd-eyefinity-faq

http://widescreengamingforum.com/article/nvidia-3d-vision-surround-faq

This does not mean that the GTX 560ti is not a great card, it really is, but to do three monitors like I do I would need an extra card rather than just the one HD6970 that I am using. (The HD6970 is the big brother to the HD6950).

As to power supplies...I personally think you will be just fine with a 650w PSU, I have another computer running a Q6600 with an HD5850 8gb of ram two hard drives and a DVD (plus a bunch of lights, etc) using an Antec 450w PSU......650w would be plenty for one or even two quality GPUs and the rest that you are using. The Intel Core i5 2500k is much better on power consumption that most CPUs and the GTX560ti and HD6950 are both very good as well. If you can get a larger capacity PSU (Power Supply Unit) for not much more money than do so but dont worry otherwise. As bigger and better units become available prices will drop and you can upgrade when you actually need to probably for the price difference of current units, if you need to at all. If you are looking to add several Raid drives, BlueRay, and Tri SLI you might want a larger PSU, but if not then you are on the right track for cost/efficiency.

Also, I googled the case that you listed and that thing is HUGE inside, you will have no troubles fitting even the longest GPU in there, and there is plenty of room for expansion (RAID drives, etc if you so feel in the future).

David

(notice the two full syllables on the name..not Dave...Dave was my dad, short guy, dark hair..I look nothing like him but my mom gets really upset when I ask about the mailman)

[Rico]

lol @ Prop.

All looks good, Flyboy. Like the guys said, ditch the soundcard (I used to work for Creative, and I love their stuff, but it's really not needed in this case).

I like GIGABYTE motherboards better that Asus, but I had a bad experience with Ass-us, so I'm a little bitter.

I think both suggested video cards are good, and I don't think you'll hate either. The ATI is a little more horse-power, but the nVidia has better drivers. Either is a win for their own reason, so just get whichever you like better.

Everyone else has said what I would have said, so that's all I got. =)

[B16Enk]

LOL and I have had bad experience with Gigabyte and prefer Asus..

Horses for courses as they say.

I think your shopping list looks good, haven't followed the links you possted so not sure about a hard drive off Ebay there are some good deals to be had on Samsung drives, and they are quick too.

Check overclockers.co.uk for current offers..

[Flyboy583]

Hi David

Thanks again for your extremely detailed post! I have read a view reviews and think in terms of future upgrading my system, going down the HD6950 route is going to be the way... after all there seems to be a couple of guys on here running the HD6950 on multiple monitors with good results.. that is enough for me

I did a quick search for for HD 6950 cards and like you mentioned there is various manufacturers... I think I will go with Sapphire http://www.cclonline.com/product/56171/11188-00-40R/Graphics-Cards/Sapphire-AMD-Radeon-HD-6950-2GB-Graphics-Card-/VGA0192/

Or do you recommend another manufacturer?? Would be good to hear the make of card is used by members. Is Sapphire the most cost effective card in the HD6950 range??

Glad my PSU and case will suffice ( I was getting worried as the cost started creeping up) Once the build is out of the way I can start planning my upgrade ( 2 new monitors!!)

Thanks again for a very detailed post! You advice is of great help!!

Rgds

Leon

Hi Flyboy,

GTX 569ti is a reference to the graphics processing chip on the video card, which is made by Nvidia. There are many video card makers who use this chip, and others. To make it simple, manufacturers refer to their cards by the graphics chip rather than unique names (although some add unique names as well). The two main graphic chip makers for gaming purposes are Nvidia (who make the GTX 560ti) and AMD (used to be called ATI until AMD bought them, and they make the HD6950).

Some of the more popular video card makers are EVGA, XFX, Sapphire, MSI, Diamond, PNY, PowerColor, Sparkle, ASUS, HIS, Gigabyte, and many more. Pretty much go with the best price divided by the best reviews. Newegg.com is a great place to read reviews even if you cannot order from them. (Is there a Newegg.uk?)

I like the AMD cards only because of the value-added feature of eyefinity on one card.

Eyefinity allows you to plug three monitors into one card and stretch the screen across all three (there are restrictions such as all three must have matching resolutions such as 1680x1050..which is only an example, or be able to be configured in such as way as the resolutions match). With three 22" monitors you can have a gaming screen that is 5040x1050, or three 24" monitors that give you a game screen of 5760x1200, etc. This massive resolution does come at a cost in performance but so far all games play very smooth with the combo of the i5 2500k and the HD6950 (either the 1gb version or the 2gb, but the 2gb is better). To do this with an Nvidia card (such as the GTX560ti you would need two cards and have them running in SLI mode, so twice the cost).

There are several members who run in this mode with PCs similar to what you are building or older systems, MadTrooper is running three 22" monitors on an older AMD HD5870, I ran three 22"s on my Core i7 920 with a single HD5850. Others who run Eyefinity might chime in here and let us know how it is working for you. You will need an adapter to run three non Display Port type monitors as the card only has two DVI outputs but the adapter to go from Display Port to DVI is really cheap (about 20.00 here in the U.S.), if you lived closer I have an extra in a drawer you could have but shipping that far would be more expensive than just buying one.

Some FAQs that have excellent info on Eyefinity and Nvidia's Surround system:

http://widescreengam...d-eyefinity-faq

http://widescreengam...on-surround-faq

This does not mean that the GTX 560ti is not a great card, it really is, but to do three monitors like I do I would need an extra card rather than just the one HD6970 that I am using. (The HD6970 is the big brother to the HD6950).

As to power supplies...I personally think you will be just fine with a 650w PSU, I have another computer running a Q6600 with an HD5850 8gb of ram two hard drives and a DVD (plus a bunch of lights, etc) using an Antec 450w PSU......650w would be plenty for one or even two quality GPUs and the rest that you are using. The Intel Core i5 2500k is much better on power consumption that most CPUs and the GTX560ti and HD6950 are both very good as well. If you can get a larger capacity PSU (Power Supply Unit) for not much more money than do so but dont worry otherwise. As bigger and better units become available prices will drop and you can upgrade when you actually need to probably for the price difference of current units, if you need to at all. If you are looking to add several Raid drives, BlueRay, and Tri SLI you might want a larger PSU, but if not then you are on the right track for cost/efficiency.

Also, I googled the case that you listed and that thing is HUGE inside, you will have no troubles fitting even the longest GPU in there, and there is plenty of room for expansion (RAID drives, etc if you so feel in the future).

David

(notice the two full syllables on the name..not Dave...Dave was my dad, short guy, dark hair..I look nothing like him but my mom gets really upset when I ask about the mailman)

Thanks Rico!!

I know what it is like having a bad experience...puts you off and makes you bitter Ill stick to Asus and hopefully can restore your faith... if not, you can say "I told you so"

Yes, the on board sound will suffice I am sure so sound blaster has been ditched..

Appreciate your post!

lol @ Prop.

All looks good, Flyboy. Like the guys said, ditch the soundcard (I used to work for Creative, and I love their stuff, but it's really not needed in this case).

I like GIGABYTE motherboards better that Asus, but I had a bad experience with Ass-us, so I'm a little bitter.

I think both suggested video cards are good, and I don't think you'll hate either. The ATI is a little more horse-power, but the nVidia has better drivers. Either is a win for their own reason, so just get whichever you like better.

Everyone else has said what I would have said, so that's all I got. =)

Hi Rog,

Yes a couple of people have told me the same, so I will shop around before I buy... I am also considering buying a SSD (50gb or so) to run my OS and some games on. I will then have a HDD for programs, music, photos ect... Just an idea at this state though

LOL and I have had bad experience with Gigabyte and prefer Asus..

Horses for courses as they say.

I think your shopping list looks good, haven't followed the links you possted so not sure about a hard drive off Ebay there are some good deals to be had on Samsung drives, and they are quick too.

Check overclockers.co.uk for current offers..

[B16Enk]

SSD..

Did a long post on this when Cold_Gambler was thinking off SSD too.

In short you are better of spending the premium on a decent SATA drive, unless booting a few seconds quicker is really important to you!

To get real gaming performance benefits and reliability/longevity your spend will need to be many hundreds of pounds.. like into the thousands!

Samsung Spinpoints are cheap and quick, Raptors are quicker but much more expensive.

[Jabo]

I agree, I now have a spinpoint drive as the boot device, and it's quite fast enough for me.

Jabo

[BluBear]

This discussion is all rather interesting for me, also looking at building a fresh gaming rig on a similar budget.

Kudos to you Dogz for being helpful as always!

[PropNut]

Good morning Leon,

I have no real preference for video card manufacturers, my current GPU (HD6970) is a Sapphire but my last two were XFXs and the two before that were EVGA, and before that they were BFGs (Stands for Big Fucking Gun, I wonder how many people in the buying public ever figured that out?Although that is not officially the companies acronym). There are too many to say that this one or that one is best. Like I said, I would look at the review ratings on Newegg.com (even though you cannot buy from them) and balance that with the cost of the card, this is what I do. I chose the Sapphire this time as the specific card that I purchased is actually an HD6950 but it unlocked to become an HD6970. Most HD6950s will not do that anymore...but that is another story. Gustang, Joebob, and I think one other person here have purchased the XFX HD6950 2gb and are very happy with it. I am pretty happy with my Sapphire card. Read the reviews and then choose. Do a search on Newegg.com for HD6950 2gb and scroll through them to see how many "eggs" each has been rated and then click on the eggs to read the specific reviews.

On the motherboard debate: I will throw a vote in for my favorite maker: EVGA I have had their 680i, 780i, and now their X58 Tri SLI, great motherboards with huge overclocking potential (irony: I hardly ever overclock). But they are very expensive. The computer that I have sitting here that I built for a buddy (just waiting on his new memory to arrive, in the meantime it is using 8gb out of the spare parts drawer) is using a very cheap Biostar Crossfire board. Cheap boards but they also have one of the best review ratings on Newegg.com No issues with it running 24/7 (well for the last week anyway) playing RoF, IL-2 CLoD, L4D2, and Metro 2033 (I left the metro 2033 benchmark program running on 40 run loop with no issues).

Just to let both of you know, Intel plans on releasing their Enthusiast grade Sandy Bridge CPUs in the next couple of months, (November 17 last I heard) I am not sure how that will effect prices but there might be a lot of used 2500k CPUs and motherboards on the market at that time. And of course one of the enthusiast CPUs will be priced just above (around 280.00 USD) the current prices of the Core i5 2500k (currently around 215.00 USD). The new motherboards are going to be the X79 by Intel.

[Flyboy583]

Ok SSD are very expensive and if I will not get any real benefit, a faster SATA drive makes sense Should I be looking at a SATA 3 drive?

How about this..

http://www.dabs.com/products/samsung-2tb-spinpoint-ecogreen-f4eg-sata3-32mb-hard-drive-74TD.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product+search&utm_content=Q200 2TB for £60

I think the reality I am not that bothered about fast loading... as long as it does not take as long as my Commodore 64, I don't mind

Hi, I have just bought on of these seems to work fine also just bought this graphics card the 560 version is also recommended.

[Snacko]

I also was looking a maybe upgrading my 2 year old ATI 4870x2 2gb card, but from what I have read on Tom's Harddrive here, they recommend it's not worth doing right now...

What do you think?

[Crash]

[Ok SSD are very expensive and if I will not get any real benefit, a faster SATA drive makes sense Should I be looking at a SATA 3 drive?

How about this..

http://www.dabs.com/products/samsung-2tb-spinpoint-ecogreen-f4eg-sata3-32mb-hard-drive-74TD.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product+search&utm_content=Q200 2TB for £60

I think the reality I am not that bothered about fast loading... as long as it does not take as long as my Commodore 64, I don't mind

Hi, I have just bought on of these seems to work fine also just bought this graphics card the 560 version is also recommended.

[Flyboy583]

Once again, thanks for a great post!!

I have had a look at newegg.com and quite like the Sapphire range . Looking in the UK I can get it for around the £210 mark

http://www.overclock...rodid=GX-273-SP

Now need to add this to my "wish list"

Regarding the motherboards... I dont think I can wait that long lol... I can hardly contain my excitement!! I am going through torture at the moment but will not buy any parts untill I am 100% satisfied!!

I am sure this setup will run IL2 like a dream, and that is good enough for me!!!!

Once again thanks for all your support!!

Good morning Leon,

I have no real preference for video card manufacturers, my current GPU (HD6970) is a Sapphire but my last two were XFXs and the two before that were EVGA, and before that they were BFGs (Stands for Big Fucking Gun, I wonder how many people in the buying public ever figured that out?Although that is not officially the companies acronym). There are too many to say that this one or that one is best. Like I said, I would look at the review ratings on Newegg.com (even though you cannot buy from them) and balance that with the cost of the card, this is what I do. I chose the Sapphire this time as the specific card that I purchased is actually an HD6950 but it unlocked to become an HD6970. Most HD6950s will not do that anymore...but that is another story. Gustang, Joebob, and I think one other person here have purchased the XFX HD6950 2gb and are very happy with it. I am pretty happy with my Sapphire card. Read the reviews and then choose. Do a search on Newegg.com for HD6950 2gb and scroll through them to see how many "eggs" each has been rated and then click on the eggs to read the specific reviews.

On the motherboard debate: I will throw a vote in for my favorite maker: EVGA I have had their 680i, 780i, and now their X58 Tri SLI, great motherboards with huge overclocking potential (irony: I hardly ever overclock). But they are very expensive. The computer that I have sitting here that I built for a buddy (just waiting on his new memory to arrive, in the meantime it is using 8gb out of the spare parts drawer) is using a very cheap Biostar Crossfire board. Cheap boards but they also have one of the best review ratings on Newegg.com No issues with it running 24/7 (well for the last week anyway) playing RoF, IL-2 CLoD, L4D2, and Metro 2033 (I left the metro 2033 benchmark program running on 40 run loop with no issues).

Just to let both of you know, Intel plans on releasing their Enthusiast grade Sandy Bridge CPUs in the next couple of months, (November 17 last I heard) I am not sure how that will effect prices but there might be a lot of used 2500k CPUs and motherboards on the market at that time. And of course one of the enthusiast CPUs will be priced just above (around 280.00 USD) the current prices of the Core i5 2500k (currently around 215.00 USD). The new motherboards are going to be the X79 by Intel.