Is this a decent gaming computer?

[iCobble]

Hey all, I have budget of around £900, £950 being the absolute maximum (if necessary), and in about a month I'm going to build my first computer.
I've put together a list...Bear in mind I'm not that knowledgeable about all the parts...Which is why I'm posting this.
I just want to know if these parts are compatible together, and if so, will I be able to play most games on medium-high graphics? Also, some advice on what I'm not spending enough on, or what I'm spending too much on etc is appreciated.
Probably a stupid question - To connect to the internet, do I need to buy something to build in to the computer, or is network capability already included somewhere in these parts? (I already have a router of course)

Monitor: Samsung S24A300H Full HD LCD LED 24" HDMI Monitor £144.98

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor £170.98

Motherboard: Asus P8P67 Rev 3.1 Socket 1155 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard £110.07

Power supply: OCZ ZS Series 650W 80+ Bronze PSU with 135mm Fan & single +12V Rail £59.99

Video card: Gainward GTX 560Ti Golden Sample 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Out PCI-E Graphics Card £179.28

Optical drive: LG CH10LS20 10x BD-ROM with DVD±RW & LightScribe SATA Blu-Ray Drive - OEM Black £49.76

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English £70.73

Case: Sharkoon T9 Case - Green Edition £53.73

Memory: G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V £36.83

Wireless card: TP-Link Wireless-N150 PCIe card £9.99

Hard drive: Seagate ST9250315AS 250GB 2.5" Hard Drive SATAII 5400rpm 8MB Cache - OEM £59.12

Total: £945.46

I found the total to be a lot cheaper on ebuyer compared to dabs.
Thanks in advance, I know these questions get asked a lot!
Just added in a hard drive - I completely forgot somehow.

 

[highelve0065]

your motherboard has an Ethernet port with all of the out ports, however if you wish to go wireless you will need a wireless card, there pretty cheap. i would also get a bigger power supply, at least 800w if not 1000 so that if in the future you wish to add another graphics card you can run sli without having to upgrade you power supply.

 

[Yami]

Hey all, I have budget of around £900, £950 being the absolute maximum (if necessary), and in about a month I'm going to build my first computer.

If you're building in a month I suggest you come back then, new stuff may be released and prices fluctuate a fair bit, plus sales that are on now won't be then (and it's well worth getting stuff on sale).

I just want to know if these parts are compatible together, and if so, will I be able to play most games on medium-high graphics?

Yup, it's all compatible.

Also, some advice on what I'm not spending enough on, or what I'm spending too much on etc is appreciated.

You might want a slightly higher wattage power supply to leave headroom for future upgrades. Also I'd recommend a bigger case, the CM Elite 330 is really designed for office computers rather than gaming systems (plus the gaming-oriented cases tend to come with the extra fans you need so it's not actually that much more expensive overall).

Probably a stupid question - To connect to the internet, do I need to buy something to build in to the computer, or is network capability already included somewhere in these parts? (I already have a router of course)

The motherboard has an ethernet port (two, actually), which if you're connected wired that's all you need. If you want to connect wirelessly you'll need to get a WiFi card.

I found the total to be a lot cheaper on ebuyer compared to dabs.

I suggest looking on Scan.co.uk, they're my favourite tech etailer for this stuff (I tend to use eBuyer for smaller stuff since they have free delivery).

Good choices generally on CPU, mobo (motherboard), RAM and GPU.

Are you going to be overclocking that 2500K?

Oh, and are you a student at uni or secondary? Might be able to get Windows 7 for free through them.

i would also get a bigger power supply, at least 800w if not 1000 so that if in the future you wish to add another graphics card you can run sli without having to upgrade you power supply.

800W would be overkill for a GTX560 Ti SLI. I could easily run two GTX560 Ti's on my 750W Corsair, and the 650W model under would also suffice. A 1000W power supply would only be needed for triple-SLI.

 

[Talyor]

too me you need to upgrade that psu to an OCZ Modxstream 700 watt

 

[KpCollins]

I would recommend an AMD CPU, Intel's are better for Calculation whereas AMD are better for Gaming

I'd also get a more expensive case, I have the Antec 900 Which has 6 Fan in total 2 Exhaust and 4 Intake but the rig still gets hot when playing demanding games.
If you want to make your components last and Increase performance the lower the heat the better.

Also with the Optical Drive, I wouldnt bother with Blueray or Lightscribe as most games are now available for digital download and lightscribe is a neat idea but useless for gamers ( unless you want to burn your own disks with the game image on there and pay extortionate prices for the disks )
Just a normal dvd rw would work wonders.

Just my thoughts but others may disagree

 

[Yami]

I would recommend an AMD CPU, Intel's are better for Calculation whereas AMD are better for Gaming

I was going to disagree, but that comparison doesn't actually mean anything (all a CPU does is 'calculate', so it's kind of hard to disagree with Suffice to say, an Intel 2500K is pretty much the best CPU you can currently buy for gaming (well, technically you get the Sandy Bridge-E CPUs which are six-core monsters, but at a reasonable price the 2500K is best).

I'd also get a more expensive case, I have the Antec 900 Which has 6 Fan in total 2 Exhaust and 4 Intake but the rig still gets hot when playing demanding games.

I generally agree, though the Antec 900 is a bit outdated now, there's similarly priced cases which are just as good but have much better wire management.

Also with the Optical Drive, I wouldnt bother with Blueray or Lightscribe as most games are now available for digital download and lightscribe is a neat idea but useless for gamers ( unless you want to burn your own disks with the game image on there and pay extortionate prices for the disks )
Just a normal dvd rw would work wonders.

For general use, yeah a DVD drive is fine. Lightscribe comes with half of them anyway; I don't pay attention to whether a drive has it or not. I would say there's one case where a Blu-Ray drive is worth it, which is when you have a slow internet connection like mine (300KB/s) which isn't fast enough for streaming Blu-Ray-quality video.

 

[MindoverMaster]

I would recommend an AMD CPU, Intel's are better for Calculation whereas AMD are better for Gaming

Totally untrue. AMD and Intel are well matched at gaming. You see any 3dmark charts lately? the i7 seems to be at the top.

I'd also get a more expensive case, I have the Antec 900 Which has 6 Fan in total 2 Exhaust and 4 Intake but the rig still gets hot when playing demanding games.
If you want to make your components last and Increase performance the lower the heat the better.

No matter how expensive it is, airflow is the ultimate key. I have 3 fans on my case, and all my parts are rather cool. Actually, heat does not justify performance or life. A simple OC can give you more performance.

Also with the Optical Drive, I wouldnt bother with Blueray or Lightscribe as most games are now available for digital download and lightscribe is a neat idea but useless for gamers ( unless you want to burn your own disks with the game image on there and pay extortionate prices for the disks )
Just a normal dvd rw would work wonders.

There are gamers as well as graphic artists. And BluRay is more for watching movies. Not yet being use for storage.

 

[KpCollins]

Like I said people have their own opinions.

No matter how expensive it is, airflow is the ultimate key. I have 3 fans on my case, and all my parts are rather cool. Actually, heat does not justify performance or life. A simple OC can give you more performance.

I would disagree, If your rig could be just 5 Degree cooler because of those extra few fans it will increase the life span of parts inside it, Its simple Physics or Chemistry which ever of the 2 im no expert.

As for AMD and Intel, Ive always been an AMD fan boy so Im biast

There are gamers as well as graphic artists. And BluRay is more for watching movies. Not yet being use for storage.

I have though of getting a Blue Ray reader for my PC but thought. Even with 5.1 Sound it still not as good as my TV with its surround sound, But like Yami said. His internet is shocking so in the future so yea Blue Ray will be great for Data Storage but like you say its not being done yet. I would get a Blue Ray drive for Writing the disks but the price of the disks will put a hole in your wallet.

 

[iCobble]

You might want a slightly higher wattage power supply to leave headroom for future upgrades. Also I'd recommend a bigger case, the CM Elite 330 is really designed for office computers rather than gaming systems (plus the gaming-oriented cases tend to come with the extra fans you need so it's not actually that much more expensive overall).
The motherboard has an ethernet port (two, actually), which if you're connected wired that's all you need. If you want to connect wirelessly you'll need to get a WiFi card.

Thanks for the detail I've upgraded the power supply from the 550W to the 650W, OCZ ZS Series 650W 80+ Bronze PSU with 135mm Fan & single +12V Rail, pretty much at the limit of my budget so I'm hoping that will be sufficient?
For the case, I've found the Sharkoon T9 Case - Green Edition which comes with three fans pre-installed, but in regards to the size I'm not sure if it is bigger or not - Can't see any dimensions - do you know if it's bigger?
I've just gone for a £10 TP-Link Wireless-N150 PCIe card

Are you going to be overclocking that 2500K?

No I won't be overclocking

Also, no I won't be able to get Windows 7 for free.

Also with the Optical Drive, I wouldnt bother with Blueray or Lightscribe as most games are now available for digital download and lightscribe is a neat idea but useless for gamers ( unless you want to burn your own disks with the game image on there and pay extortionate prices for the disks )
Just a normal dvd rw would work wonders.

For the Bluray drive, like MindoverMaster said I just thought that the added quality for Bluray films would be nice, I didn't look at Lightscribe to be honest. Will the Bluray affect games/CD's/DVDs at all? So will it be good for Bluray disks but bad for normal disks? If so I'll think about just getting a normal DVD drive.

 

[Yami]

Thanks for the detail I've upgraded the power supply from the 550W to the 650W, OCZ ZS Series 650W 80+ Bronze PSU with 135mm Fan & single +12V Rail, pretty much at the limit of my budget so I'm hoping that will be sufficient?
For the case, I've found the Sharkoon T9 Case - Green Edition which comes with three fans pre-installed, but in regards to the size I'm not sure if it is bigger or not - Can't see any dimensions - do you know if it's bigger?
I've just gone for a £10 TP-Link Wireless-N150 PCIe card


No I won't be overclocking

Also, no I won't be able to get Windows 7 for free.

Good choice on that case; I haven't seen it before but it looks pretty decent!

If you're not overclocking then I'd say the P8P67 Deluxe is a waste of money - it's a great board (I have it), but the main advantages it has over the lower-specced models is all OC-ing (overclocking) related stuff. Look at the standard P8P67, should save you a good fifty quid.