Could someone cast their critical eye over this spec please...

hp01jpc

hp01jpc

hp01jpc

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Considering an upgrade and have come up with the following. I don't really want to spend much more than £500 and the components I've listed seem to offer the best value for money from the research I have done.

Please could you critique my proposed build if you can see anything that might be a better option:



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Also, I have a fairly old PSU and while I think it has enough grunt, I don't know if the standards for the connectors has changed since I got it. It's a Corsair HX620 and has the following:

- Molex: 10 Connectors (modular)
o 2x 31” (3 connectors)
o 2x 18” (2 connector)

- SATA: 8 Connectors (modular)
o 2x 32” length (3 connectors each)
o 1x 26” length (2 connectors each)

- PCI-E 6+2 Pin: 2 Connectors (modular)
o 2x 22” length

- 4-Pin Floppy: 1 Connector
o 1x 6” length (dedicated cable can be attached to Molex connectors)

- 20+4 ATX Connector: 21” length

- 4+4 Pin CPU connector: 21” length

- Dedicated fan connector: 6” length (2 fan connectors)

And finally, will this fit into an oldish case (Lian Li PC-7+).

For both these two aged components (PSU and Case) if you don't think they'd be suitable then is there anything else you would suggest? Antec 100 seems like a reasonable cheap case, not so sure about the PSU?

Thanks.
 
Psu will easily be fine, i would get a HAF 912 plus myself due to it's decent cooling and handling very large video cards.(it's a great case for the price)

If you do not like the looks then yeah Antec 100 is good too.
 
Nice build everything should be fine as I can see, I'm not sure what a 5850 pulls off the PSU
though but I can't imagine it being a problem with what you have put on there.

Also if you want us to check it for what you need the PC for then you need to let us know
what you do with the PC. Gaming? Web Browsing etc etc .....
 
I'm assuming you've got something a little extra for storage as well hp01, otherwise 60GB wont get you too far once you've installed windows, uploaded/downloaded music, installed several games.
 
Shadz said:
Nice build everything should be fine as I can see, I'm not sure what a 5850 pulls off the PSU
though but I can't imagine it being a problem with what you have put on there.

Also if you want us to check it for what you need the PC for then you need to let us know
what you do with the PC. Gaming? Web Browsing etc etc .....
Click to expand...

I think he wants it for games with the £100 graphics card and the overclockable cpu. Of course I could be wrong.

PSU as already mentioned will be spot on.

I agree the HAF 912 is a cracking case. I completed a build in one today. Very sturdy, nice design, good cable management, plenty of drive bays, nice fans. It however is not to everyones taste. The antec 100 and the haf are totally different in looks and what floats someones boat might sink the other guys.
 
Thanks for all your input and suggestions.

I want to upgrade because I'm having a bit of a renaissance with PC gaming basically! A friend got me into MW2, I've also just bought Shogun. It would be nice to have a system that can run MW3 and Shogun to a better standard than what my ageing spec can manage :)

I have a normal HD too so that is what I will use for my storage.

One last query - as I understand it, that CPU is worth going for because it's only a few quid more than the non-K variant right? I'll be honest I don't have the patience to sit down and overclock it, running Prime95 for hours and tinkering with myriad BIOS settings. I was under the impression from a couple of reviews and forum posts that I don't need to learn the intricacies of overclocking these chips, as you can get a semi decent overclock just by using the motherboard software or a dedicated overclocking button on the motherboard. Is that right? Or should I just plump for the non-K one?

Thanks again, your help is much appreciated.

EDIT: I will probably go for the Antec case. I quite like the boring understated look!
 
The 2500K is easy to overclock.

The board can do it automatically for you with the OC Genie button but it's also really easy to do in the BIOS.

Is your old HDD SATA or IDE? There's no IDE connector on the P67A-GD65 and most other boards now.
 
Would I see any benefit from the extra RAM do you think? It is cheap but I was trying to do this build on the cheap if at all possible!

I was under the impression that the Agility SSDs were having issues with older generation motherboards, but I haven't looked into this in depth.

Another thing that just dawned on me, I have the student upgrade version of Windows 7 Pro on my current PC. I would guess the license is OEM so I'm probably looking at a new copy of Windows in the mix too aren't I...

Since I tend not to upgrade often, I would be happy getting another OEM license. The upgrade version means I would have to install XP on my new PC first and then run the upgrade, and even that might not then authenticate because it's on new hardware right?

I take it installing 7 on an SSD is relatively straightforward?

I'm not exactly a power user and don't see the point of getting Win7 Pro, unless anyone can offer a compelling reason why I should?

Regarding the overclocking, someone posted a youtube video of changing some settings on the BIOS with this chip/mobo combination. Am I right in saying that doing it manually is superior because the OC Genie can be a bit liberal with the voltage? If it's simple and noob-proof I'll do that. I just want an easy, safe way of getting a bit more from the chip is all.

And one last thing guys, I only have one 6pin -> 6pin modular PSU lead (my other one is back home, many miles away). I checked and the graphics card comes with a molex -> 6pin adaptor in the box, I should be ok on that front right?

All your feedback is much appreciated.
 
You probably wont see any benefit at the moment if you are just gaming. If you are on a budget, stick to 4GB. Don't know anything about SSDs I'm afraid.

I've read the same about changing the bios with software. Always best doing it manually. Besides, I hear that the 2500k is really straightforward to overclock.
 
The retail version of the 2500k is on special at the moment and as a result is only £4 more expensive than the OEM. The included cooler won't be of any use as you'll be getting the 212 anyway but £4 for an extra 2 years warranty (3years instead of 1) seems like a good deal to me. Just a thought.
 
Interesting. The lure of that motherboard was partly due to the free cooler. If I were to get the retail one, then I could get a cheaper motherboard.

This would limit the amount of overclocking I could do I guess, but apparently a lot can still be done with these chips using the stock cooler.
 
Cheers Oli, that sounds like the best bet doesn't it.

So here we go, pretty much ready to hit the button:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £161.99
1 x MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** with FREE Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler £124.99
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £99.98
1 x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £88.39
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
1 x Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £43.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £32.99
Total : £632.33 (includes shipping : FREE).


Can anyone put my mind at ease with regard to the following before I commit!...

I was under the impression that the Agility SSDs were having issues with older generation motherboards, but I haven't looked into this in depth.

Another thing that just dawned on me, I have the student upgrade version of Windows 7 Pro on my current PC. I would guess the license is OEM so I'm probably looking at a new copy of Windows in the mix too aren't I...

Since I tend not to upgrade often, I would be happy getting another OEM license. The upgrade version means I would have to install XP on my new PC first and then run the upgrade, and even that might not then authenticate because it's on new hardware right?

I take it installing 7 on an SSD is relatively straightforward?

I'm not exactly a power user and don't see the point of getting Win7 Pro, unless anyone can offer a compelling reason why I should?

Regarding the overclocking, someone posted a youtube video of changing some settings on the BIOS with this chip/mobo combination. Am I right in saying that doing it manually is superior because the OC Genie can be a bit liberal with the voltage? If it's simple and noob-proof I'll do that. I just want an easy, safe way of getting a bit more from the chip is all.

And one last thing guys, I only have one 6pin -> 6pin modular PSU lead (my other one is back home, many miles away). I checked and the graphics card comes with a molex -> 6pin adaptor in the box, I should be ok on that front right?
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
Looking good. Can't comment on the Agility 3 reliability, but having a Vertex 2E, installing Win 7 was pretty straight forward. You will most likely need to use SATA AHCI mode for it to be detected. I had to use IDE myself when installing so the win 7 installer could detect the SSD, then switch to AHCI once windows was up and running. But its likely you won't have to do that.

If your current hard drive has a win 7 install already, best to wipe it out completely first to remove the old boot record. Win 7 insisted of using my old drive's boot record, and when I disconnected the old HD, I had to do a repair install to put the MBR back on the SSD.

Can't say about the Win 7 OEM, I have the full retail. Should install fine, then when it comes to validating the license you may have to talk to the Microsoft people.

I would say I would do the overclock manually. OC Genie will bump up the Vcore voltage to cater for good and bad 2500K's (they are not all equal regarding overclocking, and it's basically a lottery).

The XMP profile for the XMS3 might be off as well. It could default to 1333Mhz or 1.65V, but you can tweak that manually. You'll need a day or 1/2 a day for testing overclocking, memory and graphics at full load to get it nice and comfy. But default settings should be good to go for a while. Best reducing the voltages as much as it can take (with a lil bump) at full load for better life time and less stress.

I would trust the HX620 to provide more than enough juice (I have one). It only has two PCIE connectors though, but that's enough for a single card. You wont have to use a molex.
 
Last edited:
Great advice there, thanks for that.

I think the spare cables for the PSU are back down in Hampshire and I'm up here in Liverpool so I will have to use the molex for the time being.
 
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