Hi all,

Well, as a few of you remember around 2 and a half years ago I bought a nice gaming laptop, and apart from the intervals when it has been away for repair, it has been good. Sadly it has fried itself again, and now out of warranty, I'm rather undecided about getting it fixed (it seems to break every 6-8months due to either mobo or gpu burning). I can't live without a fast gaming computer (I'm using an old G3 to write this... the pain), and need your suggestion for parts!

Budget: ~￡850 - if you see a large performance boost by going a bit over this, post a suggestion anyway, I'm always open to finding a bit more money
When am I buying?: The moment I have a set of parts that are reasonable.
What am I using the computer for: Overclocking and Tweaking until I can run Skyrim maxed.
What do I need?: Everything other than peripherals and a monitor.


I live in the UK therefore I do not want parts and prices from newegg etc. If there is a significant discount from shipping from the US via a reputable company, I'll consider it, otherwise I would rather not (same goes for EU). And, of course, I'm building the computer, prebuilt suggestions are welcome if they are at a good price:power ratio.

Finally, I'm not going to come to you with a list of 'what I have found', as my laptop fried around 2 hours ago, so I don't have one. I'll just be sitting here looking so feel free to chuck in some ideas.

I would like a mobo with USB 3.0 support, I'm not interested in a very large HDD, or a solid-state drive, a 250gig HDD would do fine in all honesty. So that's about it - please aid me in my search for the most powerful computer I can build for ~￡850.

Many thanks,
Wampbit

[EDIT]: I worded my thought regarding importing rather badly. I'm entirely willing to import from the states, in fact I have done so in the past as things are normally cheaper that way, but I don't know the reputable supplies that ship overseas, and hence would require advice on this.

Happy to help! Alot easier for me to help when dealing with pounds.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-haf-x-black-full-gaming-tower-case-inc-side-window-usb3-w-o-psu
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p7p55d-e-intel-p55-express-s1156-pci-e-20-%28x16%29-ddr3-2200%28oc%29-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid-atx
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-i5-655k-oc-unlocked-s1156-clarkdale-32ghz-dmi-25gt-s-4mb-cache-24xcore-ratio-73w-oem
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-evga-gtx-460-sc-super-3800mhz-gddr5-gpu-763mhz-shaderclock-1526mhz-336-cores-dvi-i-minihdmi
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/blu1tb-western-digital-wd10eals-caviar-blue-sata-3gb-s-7200rpm-32mb-cache
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lg-gh22np21auaa50b-22x-dvdr-12x-dvddl-dvdplusrw-x8-rw-x6-dvd-ram-x12-ide-black-oem
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/950w-powercool-modular-80-plus-80-eff-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-fan-cooling-dual-12v-rails
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cyborg-v7-gaming-keyboard-tri-backlit-with-tru-vu-mood-illumination-12-programmable-keys-plus-more!
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/logitech-g9x-laser-gaming-mouse-silver-5000dpi-custom-leds-weights-changable-grips-and-more
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/216-hkc-2219a-black-widescreen-monitor-2-ms-1920x1080-50001-speakers

All that comes to ￡904.07, hope it kind of gives an idea of what you might need though.


I feel like I have forgot something on the list, tell me if I have.

You forgot fans/cooler

Thanks for your list though, I'm not in need of a monitor, of peripherals (keyboard/mouse), I have plenty of those, and a nicely functioning g9x . Right now I'm trying to build something around http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-023-OB. Lets see if I can stretch the pounds a bit and work something out .

Sorry, I should have read the first post more thoroughly And the coolers, of course of course!

Well, from that bundle you could probably push the graphics card up to a 470

Yes, I'm considering it - working under a budget it shockingly hard (if only this computer hadn't broken at such an awful time - right after Christmas, all gifts you could call on have been given, all money you could call on has been spent on gifts ).

I'm finding it a tad hard to decide between:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-137-GW&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-106-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=
gpu - I'd expect the second to be better really, but I can't say I've kept up with GPUs since the 280s ...

Here, this ranking list should help you decide on a graphics card:


http://techfrom10.com/2010/12/graphics-card-rankings-list/

I have the Asus 768mb 460, and that runs all new games at around high settings fine for me.


But to push it that little bit further and to be that extra bit future-proof, I'd get the 470. The only advantage I can see really with getting the 460 is lower price and it has a benchmark which can come in quite handy.

You really shouldn't be settling for anything less than Sandybridge if you're going for a new build and an Intel one. LGA 1156 socket is a dead-end socket as of this point with LGA 1155 out for Sandybridge. With your budget, I'd rather be looking at maxing out your hardware capabilities rather than getting things like an expensive case and a 900W modular power supply. Try this for power:

CASE: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/118268
CPU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/251596
MOBO: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p8p67-intel-p67-express-s-1155-pci-e-20-%28x16%29-ddr3-2200%28oc%29-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid-atx
RAM: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/240501
HDD: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/ss1tb-samsung-hd103sj-spinpoint-f3-sata-3gb-s-7200rpm-32mb-cache-89-ms-ncq-oem
GPU: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-xfx-hd-6950-pci-e-21-%28x16%29-5000mhz-gddr5-gpu-800mhz-1408cores-dl-dvi-i-dvi-hdmi-2x-mdp...or an EVGA GTX 570 if you must have Nvidia
PSU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135514
DVD: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145450
OS: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173791

That'll run about ￡870 incl VAT.

The i5 2500K is an OCing beast...able to get 4.6GHz on air easily. The Radeon 6950 can be BIOS flashed to become a Radeon 6970. Go ahead and google around for the many users of these components and their capabilities. I happen to have both myself and will be taking the plunge into overclocking and flashing madness soon :hubbahubba:

At stock speeds, they're already ridiculously powerful.

Cross-check prices with Amazon.co.uk as well. I'm not sure about the UK, but here in USA I frequently buy items sold directly from or fullfilled by Amazon and get charged no tax and FREE shipping. Check it out.

I was going to critique Pokoyo's build (such as a 950W PSU) but Tig's suggestions couldn't be better.

edit: actually depending what kind of res you play at you might wanna go for the 1GB 6950 as it's a bit cheaper and you won't notice a difference unless playing at 1900x1200< or Multi monitor setups.

I was trying to work sandybridge into my initial setups, but finances became an issue - thanks for your reply though, that doesn't at all look like a bad set-up, given that I'll order it through a company, and get a nice trader's discount, I'll probably try and up it a bit (I can usually squeeze a 20-25% discount with some effort... or more so with the effort of a good friend ;p).

First things first, I better contact Novatech, and see what they quote a repair will cost, I'm still happy with this old laptop, so long as you keep it nicely oc'd it runs like a dream, if the repair isn't worth it, I'll most likely get something along the lines of your suggestions Tigs, thanks .