new to building

inchture14 · 23 Mar 2011 at 19:25

Well im just getting into computer gaming but feels as though i could do with a good computer, i will be building this myself and have a budget of around £600 maybe less and was wondering which would be the best i could get for that amount, thanks in advance.

JohnnyDrama · 23 Mar 2011 at 19:38

Do you require a monitor/keyboard/mouse within that budget?

Do you have an operating system which can be used?

Let us all know and we should be able to put some suggestions forward

~Mike~ · 23 Mar 2011 at 19:40

JohnnyDrama said:
Do you require a monitor/keyboard/mouse within that budget?

Do you have an operating system which can be used?

Let us all know and we should be able to put some suggestions forward

+1 Need more info.

inchture14 · 23 Mar 2011 at 19:59

ahh ok, well i have a monitor, keyboard and mouse and i should be able to get windows 7 for free of a friend so really all i need is an actual computer

~Mike~ · 23 Mar 2011 at 20:28

There are some great guys on here who will be able to spec you a great build.

Here's my poor effort to get things started. Slighly over budget.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £159.98
(£133.32) £159.98
(£133.32)
Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £104.98
(£87.48) £104.98
(£87.48)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £20.99
(£17.49) £20.99
(£17.49)
Sub Total : £495.75
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £101.25
Total : £607.50

*edit*
some items out of stock

inchture14 · 23 Mar 2011 at 20:31

thanks for yur help and its okay if things are out of stock as i wont be able to get the money to finish it till may anyway

gdrules · 23 Mar 2011 at 20:32

Do some research, compare prices, benchmarks, etc.

inchture14 · 23 Mar 2011 at 20:36

i've tried but i really dont know where to start , there seems to be so many choices and everything is so confusing .

~Mike~ · 23 Mar 2011 at 20:57

I'm sure stulid will spec you a great build

Cookeh · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:00

For £600 you're looking at three options really.

Phenom II X4 + £200 graphics card + SSD
i5 2500 + £200 graphics card
i5 2500k + £150 graphics card (at a push).

Bear in mind for gaming the gfx card is the most important, closely followed by cpu clock speed.

Cookeh · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:12

SB i5 2500k + £150 graphics.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £173.99
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £159.98
1 x MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £104.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
1 x G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL) £39.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £29.60
1 x Intel Official i7/i5/i3 CPU Cooler (Socket 1155/1156) £0.98
Total : £596.60 (includes shipping : £11.75).

~Mike~ · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:24

Cookeh said:
SB i5 2500k + £150 graphics.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £173.99
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £159.98
1 x MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £104.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
1 x G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL) £39.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £29.60
1 x Intel Official i7/i5/i3 CPU Cooler (Socket 1155/1156) £0.98
Total : £596.60 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Is the Seagate faster than the Samsung? (I know some people are having reliability issues with Sammy's)

Would it not be a good idea to get a better cooler for overclocking?

Cookeh · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:26

Mike306 said:
Is the Seagate faster than the Samsung? (I know some people are having reliability issues with Sammy's)

Yeah, the Seagates are the fastest mechanical HDDs on the market atm

Mike306 said:
Would it not be a good idea to get a better cooler for overclocking?

Well yeah, but show me where to fit that into the budget without skimping even more on others?

Could drop the graphics down a notch, but I figure that SB i5 will be more than adequate for gaming (w/ or w/o Turbo Boost) for a good while, so a cooler can come at a later date

inchture14 · 23 Mar 2011 at 22:13

ah thanks for all the help. Would it be worth saving up an extra £50 and getting an £200 graphics card instead of a £150 one , would there be a major difference in performance or ?

BriT · 23 Mar 2011 at 22:17

What games do you play and at what res?

inchture14 · 23 Mar 2011 at 22:20

Well so far i only really play the total war series but im planning to sell my ps3 so basically everygame i would play on that i would hope to play on my new computer and as high as possible really.

Cookeh · 23 Mar 2011 at 22:58

All depends on the size of your monitor, and hence its resolution

I would spend £25 on a cooler and then if you can get an additional £50 you can get a high end graphics card.