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Advice on new gaming PC

Tyracuse

Likes # 0

Posted June 3, 2012 at 4:37PM

Hi! I've been scouring the Internet for the past week reading reviews and comparing hardware as I'm building a new PC! I found Cougar Extreme after a link someone had given on here and they seem the best value.

I have gone for the following system:

• Intel Core i5 2500k Quad Core,
• Asrock H61M-VS Motherboard,
• 8GB DDR3 Corsair 1600 (2 x 4Gb),
• Integrated Sound Card,
• Manufacturer Supplied Cooler,
• DVD+/- RW - 22X Samsung SATA,
• 1000Gb SATA Hard Drive SATA 2,
• No Secondary Hard Drive,
• 2 x ATI HD 6850 1024MB,
• No Monitor,
• CiT Vantage Black Midi Gaming Case HD Audio Black Interior 4 Fans Card Reader No PSU,
• Powercool 650W High Efficiency Black PSU,
• No Operating System,
• No Additional Software,
• 12 Months Warranty,

The reviews said that for gaming the i5 2500k was as good as the i7 2600k so I downgraded and went for the i5.

If anyone has any recommendations or changes that I should make it would be much appreciated! My budget is £600 (I already have mouse, keyboard, monitor and speakers)

The 2 things specifically that I got stuck on was whether to get 2 x 6850 or 1 x 6950, and whether the motherboard is OK for this? Also is it worth adding a proper soundcard - they are only £30?

I would like to run games like Diablo 3 and Skyrim - will this system be good enough?

Thanks a lot if anyone can get back to me on this!

Leigh

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KRONOS the First

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Posted June 3, 2012 at 5:57PM

I would change the motherboard to a Z68 rather than the H61, I would look at getting a better brand of PSU than a Powercool. Case is pretty naff in my opinion. I personally would not bother with a separate sound card, but that is your choice. Your motherboard is m-ATX and can only handle one card there is no SLI so you cannot put to 6850's in that board.

Have a look here,Page 2. There is a few set ups you might like to look at.

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Tyracuse

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Posted June 3, 2012 at 6:04PM

Thanks Chronus

I adjusted the system to the following, it's bumped the price up to £700 but I'd rather pay a little more and get a better system

• Intel Core i5 2500k Quad Core,
• 1155 Gigabyte Z68AP-D3,
• 8GB DDR3 Corsair 1600 (2 x 4Gb),
• Integrated Sound Card,
• Manufacturer Supplied Cooler,
• DVD+/- RW - 22X Samsung SATA,
• 1000Gb SATA Hard Drive SATA 2,
• No Secondary Hard Drive,
• ATI HD 6950 1024MB,
• No Monitor,
• Inwin Maelstrom Full Tower Gaming Case E-ATX 22cm LED Fan,
• OCZ 600W PSU - STEALTH XTREAM 2,
• No Operating System,
• No Additional Software,
• 12 Months Warranty,
• In Store Collection,
• Payment by Debit Card,

In your opinion is the 6950 better than the GTX560Ti?

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Tyracuse

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Posted June 3, 2012 at 6:09PM

I checked out your link to Dino PC and built a similar system, it comes in at £664 compared to the £700 on Cougar Extreme:

CPU: NEW! Intel Core i5 3450

CPU Cooler: NEW! Xigmatek Loki SD-S963

Motherboard: NEW! Asus P8Z77-V LX

RAM: 8GB DDR3 1333mhz (2x 4GB)

Hard Drive: NEW! 1TB S-ATAIII 6.0Gb/s

Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA

Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB

Sound card: Onboard 7.1 Audio

Case: NEW! Zalman Z11 Plus

PSU: NEW! 600W Xigmatek

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KRONOS the First

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Posted June 3, 2012 at 7:15PM

Both reasonable setups, here is a comparison of your GPU choices.GPU Compare. but overall I would go for your first choice above with the 6970 GPU.

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