Proposed PC for my nephew...

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23 Jul 2009
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Ok, I've got his cash, now I need to build him a gaming rig. I was thinking the following:

XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Adata HM 650W Modular Power Supply
Intel Core i5 650 3.20GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail [BX80616I5650]
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C9)
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)
LG GH24NS50 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - Retail
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366)
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard

Questions:

Is all of the above compatible?
Also, I'm not sure about case fans. What size do they need to be?
Have I missed something obvious?
Do I need additional cables to get that lot up and running?

btw: when I say gaming rig, I mean something for playing TF2, Fallout, Crysis, etc. My PC, which is pretty similar, plays them all with no problems.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.
 
That will all be compatible mate, will be a nice system by looks of it.

That mobo/cpu/ram combo comes to £285? Not sure but might be worth looking at a similar sandybridge setup?

The antec 300 comes with 1x 120mm rear fan and a 140mm top exhaust fan with variable speed options. It also has 2 optional 120mm bays at the front of the case, and 1 optional on the side panel, its up to you but id recommend at least one front 120mm fan.

Motherboard should come with all cables you will need :)

EDIT: OCUK also got some corsair vengeance RAM kit with lower voltages and better timings, for £12 less than one you listed.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-298-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517
 
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Swap out the Psu for an antec truepower (cheaper and great quality)
I would personally go with an amd phenom x4 then with the money you save invest more in a graphics card. 5850 at 130 pound currently, switch to geil ram and save money.
 
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K, thanks guys, saved him nearly £100 :p.

New setup is:

Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail
MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Antec TruePower New Modular 550W Power Supply
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard
Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)
LG GH24NS50 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - Retail
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366)

Question here is whether 550W is big enough power? I guess it is, as apart from the graphics card, it's pretty light on additional components.
 
bhavv, can you explain the sandybridge thing? I've never understood the northbridge/southbridge/goldengatebridge thing to be honest. It's just the MB, isn't it?
 
bhavv, can you explain the sandybridge thing? I've never understood the northbridge/southbridge/goldengatebridge thing to be honest. It's just the MB, isn't it?

its a whole new range of cpu's and motherboards to suit

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...el-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested

this review is more relevant to your budget - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500-2400-2300.html as it has the 2400 cpu and compares against i5 760 in the graphs.
 
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Yea that's all good stulid, but I don't understand what I'm supposed to be looking for in the great wall of text that is the list of motherboards in the shop here :p - i.e. choose CPU then choose motherboard it will fit into, at a reasonable price. How it works is for the electronics guys to figure out. I'm a software developer :p.
 
bhavv, can you explain the sandybridge thing? I've never understood the northbridge/southbridge/goldengatebridge thing to be honest. It's just the MB, isn't it?

Its the new chip from Intel. The 2400 should fit your budget and needs for this build:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-362-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1275

And since its not for overclocking, and non K chips cant be overclocked anyway, one of the cheaper H67 boards:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-436-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1907
 
I can recommend the PSU btw, really impressed with my unit. The prices at OCUK seemed to have gone crazy for the 650 unit though, I think I paid £65 in November.
 
k, thx bhavy,. Final list looks like this:

Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Asus P8H67-M Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge)
Antec TruePower New Modular 550W Power Supply
Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)
LG GH24NS50 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - Retail
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366)

Ok to hit "purchase" (tomorrow :p)?
 
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