New Rig please

[SexuallyAbusedPanda]

Hey guys,

Well i finally managed to get some money together and am now looking for a 'new' Value for Money rig. I have about 300-500 to spend but would prefer to spend as little of that as possible.

Must be able to...
Run all the games i play on medium settings without major fps drops, looks are not everything for me when fragging everyone. Just as long as i can see well enough to kill everything.

Games i play are:
TF2, WoW, HoN, Total War series and I want to be able to play Portal 2 on it.

I currently own/can get myself
Monitor
Keyboard
Mouse + Pad
2x 250gig WD internal HDDs SataII
1x500gig External WD My Passport HDD
And all Software is available to me inc Win 7 etc...


I need
Everything else including Case

Wants/Likes
i Series chips, i5?
Small Solid state HDD to run windows and maybe steam (optional extra just depends on costs)
Quiet cooling (not water)


The rig doesn't have to be upgradable as I will hopefully have a job and money by the time i need to get a new one

Many thanks

Panda

[DeathByDribbling]

i5 750 - cheapest i series quad.  Should o/c well and hence last quite a while so pretty good value imo.

An after marker cpu heatsink for lower noise + o/c.  Something like a ThermoLab BARAM.  Doesn't hurt to buy a tube of better quality paste too if you haven't got any (e.g. Artic cooling MX-4).

An asus P55 motherboard - you can get cheaper motherboards but personally I've always found asus reliable.  I tend to get the deluxe ones as they have extra features I like (for example you can control the speed of fans plugged into the motherboard using speedfan).  Might be a bit expensive - you can get gigabyte ones cheaper but my only experience with gigabyte was bad so wouldn't touch one with a barge pole personally.

Radeon 5770 graphics card - if you really want to keep noise down you can probably find one with a low noise cooler on it.  Wouldn't go cheaper then that if you are serious about gaming.  Next step up is really a 5850 which is pretty expensive (although a lot faster).

2*2Gb DDR3 PC3-12800 - whatever's cheap.  I tend to buy OCZ given a choice.

A powerful psu - say 650W - don't need that today but if for example you wanted to put in a high end card like an nvidia GTX 480 one day it would become necessary.  I personally find antec a good compromise for cost/quality.

A case big enough to fit an 11 inch graphics card (now that even mid range cards can be huge).  Personally I like Antec P183's as they are a good compromise in cooling/size/noise/dust control but a little pricey.

Keep your HD's for now, perhaps buy a cheap 1 gig one if you need the space.  If you want an SSD might have to wait a year for the price to drop a bit more as the ones of reasonable size (e.g. 250Gb) cost a fortune.

That's probably more like £650 I'm afraid but you can use it for ideas ...

[ErnieCool]

cpu: AMD Phenom II X4 945    € 136,81    
fan: Cooler Master Hyper TX3    € 14,13    
mobo: MSI 770-G45    € 59,95    
memm: GeIL GV34GB1333C9DC    € 92,90    
graf: Club3D HD5770 (CGAX-57724I)    € 139,90    
case: Xigmatek Asgard Zwart    € 28,17
psu: Corsair CX400W    € 41,30    

This is what they suggest in a dutch best buy guide for a budget gaming rig.
This adds up to about 520 euro.

If you want to get an i5 you're gonna have to spend more.

[Zeus]

well I did the i5 route and got a rig thats faster than anything running at STD ( unless you need six cores OFC)

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - OEM     1     £139.57
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard    1    £110.63
G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-16000CL9D-4GBRH)  1      £102.12

here

and was the best rig I have every done and would recommend it.

I have used ASUS and Gigabyte mobos b4 and have been happy with both.

I did have to RMA an ASUS mobo before after about a year and never got it back - but i would still go for an ASUS mobo again.

I would say dont go for the deluxe mobos unless you need the features - get what you need yes they do have fancy looking coolers on the mobo but the cheaper mobos have good coolers too on most of the P55 mobos too.

As for a SSD I have two one at home 160GB and one at work 40GB and there great for quick booting and opening games/apps - but only if the program is installed on them. I would say get the best GPU first only go for a SSD if you have the spare cash ( you could always go for one later) you could always setup your 2x 250gig WD internal HDDs SataII in a raid array that way you will get better FPS or res

also think this is a good summary too (thanks to 'Masaai_Warrior' at Titan) and well worth a read

[DeathByDribbling]

I see nvidia has just released the GTX 460 which has instantly become the upper mid range graphics card of choice.  Hence 5770 is now only for those that can't afford a GTX 460, which is for those that can't afford a 5850 (although the GTX 460's aren't that much slower, and o/c very well so 5850 isn't a big step up).

[lifeless]

I've not had a look at the 460, but the 5830 is worth a look. bridges the gap between the 5850 and 5770. Scan have the 5830 for ~£158

[Humbug]

i've ...just this second purchased...

 1 x BenQ G2222HDL 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black  @ 117.49GBP
 1 x Arianet ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card  @ 199.74GBP

from aria...

the reason for the monitor is cos my crappy 19" is playin up.  i didnt want anything swish or ought but a decent one and have seen this one in action in RL.  I dont need the HDMI port as only the pc will be hooked up to it so..

[Ryan]

i have also just ordered the same graphics card as humbug as my old 8800gtx died last night

[frymaster]

it's insane how cheap monitors are these days... when ryan gets his new card, I've got first dibs on trying to repair his old one and use it for more monitors

[Enef]

Fry's going for 3 monitors at once now?

[frymaster]

well my brother's never here, so I have a 20" widescreen TFT sitting doing nothing...

(as well as a 14" 4:3 crappy TFT)

[lifeless]

Fry's going for 3 monitors at once now?

I'm temped too as well.  I moved my 2nd monitor at the weekend (see here and here) so I could get at least another one in using the same holes as before

1 x BenQ G2222HDL 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black  @ 117.49GBP

not a Samsung!!!!! OUTCAST!

[Humbug]

no couldnt justify the extra expense for a samsung LED monitor.

thought that just over £100 for an LED monitor was a good price


EDIT - although i did try and cancel the monitor and get the 24"... it was already on the truck though   ahh well that'll do

[lifeless]

heh. i justed checked ebuyer and that monitor is 136 inc vat.

[Humbug]

aye.. so a good price at aria