New mid-range build, advice needed!

Robi

Robi

Robi

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Joined
14 Apr 2007
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To cut a long and utterly boring story short, i'm looking to build a mid-range SFF computer, ideally small and quiet.

However, one problem. I literally have no idea what to buy. I like the idea of something mATX based, as it's smaller and potentially more portable.

I'm looking to spend no more than £400 on the computer itself, therefore excluding OS, monitor, keyboard, external drives, mouse, speakers and mat.

No real requirement for massive amounts of storage as I can easily use an external drive for the main bulk of content; music, videos, pictures etc. I mainly use my 360 for gaming, so a ridiculous video card isn't critical, although I would like to try the new Star Wars MMORPG, in some detail at least. It's not Crysis 2 by any means but something with a little bit of power is probably needed.

Points to note:

- It needs to be small and quiet.
- Feature some element of future proofing.
- Play The Old Republic in some quality at least.
- Around or as close to £400 as possible. I can always stretch if the gains are justified.
- I like the idea of using an SSD for the OS and then an external drive for everything else.

(I posted an identical thread in the SFF forum, but I have moved away from the idea of a Shuttle as it's too costly).

Thanks for the advice.
 

click on image
That is an excellent system that can be easily overclocked, you can always go for the i3 but theres really no need for what your playing. it has 4 cores which will eat the video encoding, or you could always wait for the new bulldozer cpus by getting an AM3+ mobos.. The case that I have included is small, but I recommend other retailers for cheaper mATX cases which can fit standard psu. I have also included an excellent graphics card which can play all the latest games at highest settings including crysis, easily overclockable using afterburner and I have one myself.
Hope I've helped
 
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Thanks for the reply.

I can't see that image! Any chance of another link?

Do you think i'd be able to get an i5 build for that sort of money?
 
ExecutorKevin said:

click on image
That is an excellent system that can be easily overclocked, you can always go for the i3 but theres really no need for what your playing. it has 4 cores which will eat the video encoding, or you could always wait for the new bulldozer cpus by getting an AM3+ mobos.. The case that I have included is small, but I recommend other retailers for cheaper mATX cases which can fit standard psu. I have also included an excellent graphics card which can play all the latest games at highest settings including crysis, easily overclockable using afterburner and I have one myself.
Hope I've helped
Click to expand...

I'm on 50meg bb and trying to view that mage was like going back in time witha 1 cm line appearing everyfew seconds as the image generated! lol

Image shack anyone....
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
OcUK GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
(£76.66) £91.99
(£76.66)
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £22.99
(£19.16) £22.99
(£19.16)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £330.77
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £68.40
Total : £410.42


Much faster than any AMD system you will get for the same money.

i3 2100 - http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/07/01/intel-core-i3-2100-review/1 - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-2120-2100.html

The motherboard has SATA3.0 and USB3.0
 
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LOL.jpg


* For £450 you could get that msi 460
and by sourcing some of the parts elsewhere (case ssd and other things I'm sure you could lower it to £400
 
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^
Crap case, slow harddrive when the Seagate barracuda is faster for £1 more.

How future proof is the motherboard? does it have SATA and USB3.0?

And hinting at competitors isnt allowed.
 
Thanks again for the advice. What about this?

Cooler Master Elite 330 Midi Tower Case - Black
OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W Power Supply
Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
Gigabyte P61-USB3 Intel P61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION**
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK)
OCZ Vertex 30GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX30G)
OcUK GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Total: £468.50
 
Robi said:
Thanks again for the advice. What about this?

Cooler Master Elite 330 Midi Tower Case - Black
OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W Power Supply
Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
Gigabyte P61-USB3 Intel P61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION**
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK)
OCZ Vertex 30GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX30G)
OcUK GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Total: £468.50
Click to expand...

This motherboard is cheaper and has more features - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-172-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1907

That then means you can get a better case thats not made from Tin.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-037-ZA&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=736
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-161-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160
 
Cooler Master Elite 330 Midi Tower Case - Black
Lepa N-Series 500W Power Supply
Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION**
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK)
OCZ Vertex 30GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX30G)
OcUK GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Total: £449.51

Is the i5-2300 going to make a big difference over an i3-2120? The extra saved could be spent on a better video card.
 
If your lookin for a small form factor pc how about this media center case

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK Opera Media Case - Black £39.98
Total : £39.98 (includes shipping : FREE).



looks like a double height dvd player :)
Wouldn't use the PSU though, only worth putting in the bin
 
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Also, as silly as this sounds, what do I even need USB3.0 for? My keyboard, mouse, iPod and external drive all use 2.0. Could easily save myself 20 quid!
 
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