Building an awesome gaming PC for around 1K (that's also optimised for Windows 8)

[skidawgz]

Here I played around with an i7 build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/nikF

I don't know if you need a monitor, keyboard/mouse, or where the OS is coming from so I left room for more items to fit in budget. What programs do you use?
Also if you have a keyboard mouse monitor I am going to bump my suggestions up in price with a GTX 670.

[Bogus Dude]

you may find cheaper by shopping around the net but i like to use these guys www.cclcomputers.co.uk just give em a ring tell em what you want and your budget, they'll see what they can do for ya. Excellent after service and no quibbles. I had a short on my Corsair 750W PSU after 10 months rang up they said yeh no worries either bring the system in and we'll swap it or remove the PSU yourself and bring it in and refit the new one (i'm only 10 miles from them). Very good reputation, i know a few guys who build PCs and use them for the hassle free experience.

[Edward M. Grant]

Do you agree with skidawgz, do you think it's worth me upgrading to an i7?

For current games, no: I've yet to see my i7 get above 25% CPU usage in any game I've checked. For future games, 3D rendering and video editing, probably, since you will be able to run twice as many threads, even if they won't all run as fast as a real core.

[Toc]

With advice from here I just recently built a gaming rig...
1. i5 (top one, I think a 360?)
2. Asus mb
3. Samsung 1T HD
4. Windows 7 (didn't trust win8 yet lol)
5. nVidia 650 TI over clocked
6. 8g store brand ram
7. Awesome case with 4 240mm fans
8. Corsair 700w PSU

All for just over $700 at MicroCenter, they had all kinds of in-store deals, like buying an Asus MB with i5 CPU and get $50 off type of things.

The people were awesome and it was almost plug-play easy.

Thanks techy GWF peoples !

[skidawgz]

With advice from here I just recently built a gaming rig...
1. i5 (top one, I think a 360?)
2. Asus mb
3. Samsung 1T HD
4. Windows 7 (didn't trust win8 yet lol)
5. nVidia 650 TI over clocked
6. 8g store brand ram
7. Awesome case with 4 240mm fans
8. Corsair 700w PSU

All for just over $700 at MicroCenter, they had all kinds of in-store deals, like buying an Asus MB with i5 CPU and get $50 off type of things.

The people were awesome and it was almost plug-play easy.

Thanks techy GWF peoples !

dude.... he's from the UK :P

[crimsonnight]

Here I played around with an i7 build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/nikF

I don't know if you need a monitor, keyboard/mouse, or where the OS is coming from so I left room for more items to fit in budget. What programs do you use?
Also if you have a keyboard mouse monitor I am going to bump my suggestions up in price with a GTX 670.

Thanks for this! Do you think I'll get a significantly better deal from pcpartpicker as opposed to scan.co.uk? I'm only asked because I've never built a PC from scratch before so the fact that scan.co.uk build it for you definitely appeals to me, I'm also guessing they'll provide some level of support afterwards...

The fact that an i7 will make my PC more future-proof for not a great difference is cost is a bit of a no-brainer really

[skidawgz]

Thanks for this! Do you think I'll get a significantly better deal from pcpartpicker as opposed to scan.co.uk? I'm only asked because I've never built a PC from scratch before so the fact that scan.co.uk build it for you definitely appeals to me, I'm also guessing they'll provide some level of support afterwards...

The fact that an i7 will make my PC more future-proof for not a great difference is cost is a bit of a no-brainer really

Since I don't know your retailers well, I can only apply some general advice to your question. PC part picker finds the cheapest prices... but it also lets you know what site you are ordering from. I would generally tell you that I like to have my parts come from one to three sources total. Here we have Amazon, Newegg, TigerDirect. In the UK, try to find the place that has the best shipping times and rates so that it doesn't drive the price up again.

Scan.co.uk can do the whole thing, they seemed to have a lot of the parts on that list. Try and see if you know an IT guy, friend, or fam who can help you build it. Its really easy once you've been shown properly once.

edit: I realized you are talking about Zerk's link from last page. Um.... I don't necessarily approve of overclocking this system. If you've never built one before I'd not rec shooting for an overclocked system at the start. I'm not insulting your intelligence, as overclocking is pretty easy, but it increases power consumption (slightly) and generates more heat. It probably will never even be necessary, you can always buy it with the option to OC. That would require a i7-3770k, instead of just the i7-3770 that I have in my pcpartpicker link. Also you would want better cooling for the CPU, Cooler Master 212+ and Artic Silver 5.

[Zerk]

I would never spend money on a PC that can not be overclocked for future proofing unless its on a low budget.
The one I picked will come in a box with the ram, CPU, and cooler already installed, BIOS preset, already overclocked and 24 hour burn test.

[Toc]

dude.... he's from the UK :P

OOOHHH ya, that would be a long swim...

[skidawgz]

I would never spend money on a PC that can not be overclocked for future proofing unless its on a low budget.
The one I picked will come in a box with the ram, CPU, and cooler already installed, BIOS preset, already overclocked and 24 hour burn test.

I would make the argument that overclocking is best for a low budget. A faster clock speed is not going to future proof a system. An i5 can now spank Intel Exteme chips from years ago. Every few years certain technologies come about that simply can't be achieved with old chips. Overclocking can't increase cache, or any physical properties of the chip.

Old video cards may not have certain shaders or texture tech that are used today. There's no future proofing any of that.

Again, OCing is cheap and easy. However, for a PC with an i7, I'd rather him buy better parts than a OC chip