Gaming rig for a 21st birthday present - budget £1,200 - any suggestions appreciated

[Matelot]

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LK: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX

Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (up to555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)

2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

1[SUP]st[/SUP] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence

My son is keen on playing demanding games and his last computer (also from PCS) has done pretty well for four years but the time has come to replace it. At least, that's what he tells me. The only constraint I'd impose is that I wouldn't want an overclocked CPU so does this specification seem sensible?

 

[Target Practice]

To be honest, overclocking doesn't really give much benefit with regards to gaming anyway, so I wouldn't recommend it anyway.

Here's what I built with a £1200 budget (assuming that you have monitor, mouse, keyboard etc, as you didn't mention them)

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1866MHz X.M.P(2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2013
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,090.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/KkdTbYOhMg/

Notes:
I downgraded the RAM to 8GB, as anything over that is overkill at the moment, and it's one of the cheapest and easiest things to upgrade down the line should the need ever arise.
I upgraded the GPU to the GTX 670 - as far as 'bang for buck' goes, it's the best card on the market right now. You could probably afford a GTX 680 whilst still staying below that £1200 mark, but in all honesty, it's not that much better than the 670 - certainly not £100 better.
I've downgraded the SSD to 120GB. Assuming you'll just use it for installing the OS on and keeping a few bits and pieces you access regularly, 120 should be more than sufficient, but obviously you can bump that back up if you have other plans for it.
I've nudged the PSU up to 750W - this would allow you to upgrade down the line by adding a second GTX 670 in SLI in the future. If you're not planning on doing that, you can comfortably knock that PSU down to 650W and save a few quid.

All in all, it's come in at over £100 below budget, and it's a solid gaming rig which I'd expect to last a similar length of time to your last one (although there are no guarantees in gaming!) - there's a few upgrades you could make if you really wanted to stretch to that £1200 mark, but nothing that's going to massively impact the performance, to be honest.

 

[Scotch]

All i would have done is upgrading gpu and downgrade ram but seems Target Practice hut it in the spot. I would go with his build

 

[Toxophilix]

I think Target Practice's spec is on the money. I'd leave the RAM at 1600 MHz though.

Also, I'd check that your son prefers Windows 8 to 7 before ordering.

 

[Target Practice]

I'm pretty sure the 1600 and the 1866 were the same price, hence the choice of the 1866. In all honesty, it's almost certainly not going to make a blind bit of difference, but if you can get an extra 266MHz for free, it can't hurt.

(Unless there's a reason for not picking the 1866 that I missed!)

EDIT: Toxo has a good point re: Windows 8 though - a lot of people are pretty wary of it at the moment - not that it's likely to have any major repercussions on gaming, but it's a bit 'love it or hate it' as far as general usability goes. Might be a good idea to try and find out his preferences before buying.

 

[Matelot]

Thanks for the comments. He has been given an Acer T232HL monitor by his uncle so he's understanably keen to experiment with Windows 8.

The RAM is certainly more than he requires for his games but it's so cheap and my experience has always been that the need for more RAM in the future is as inevitable as taxes. Likewise, the larger SSD drive. I'm interested in opinions on the PSU because I initially selected a 600W model but the PCS configurator (what a word!) flashed up a warning message at the end and suggested the 450W PSU instead because the calculated load was only 401W.

Finally, is the GTX670 worth its premium over the GTX660 Ti?

 

[sted]

I hear, quite often too that the 670 is quite a nice step up from it's previous models and is also great value for money vs both the 680 and 690 to some point. It can apparently max out the majority of today's games the only exception I know of is Far Cry 3.

 

[vanthus]

The calculated load of 401W includes a 20% allowance,so a 450W would be adequate for the build,having said that I always think it's best to upgrade the PSU to allow for future upgrades,and the 650W corsair PSU can actually work out cheaper than the 600W.
The GTX 670 is a great card,almost as good as the GTX 680,having said that the 660Ti is still a very good graphics card and may be perfectly adequate for your needs.

 

[Target Practice]

Indeed. RE: The 670 vs others, it's similar to your point regarding RAM - generally in my experience, they tend to have the shortest 'shelf life' of any of the components in your PC - they're usually the first part to need upgrading in a gaming PC, simply because graphics are moving so quickly, so I'd certainly advise getting the 670 over the 660 if you're wanting it to last as long as possible - the 660 is a fine card, no doubt about it, but the 670 is a pretty exceptional one - nearly matching the 680's performance whilst still coming in nearly £100 cheaper.
So I guess the answer to your question is, in my opinion, "yes, it's definitely worth it."

 

[RS2OOO]

The GTX 670 should almost certainly be used in conjunction with a 650w PSU.