Spec Check

Associate
Joined
28 Oct 2002
Posts
534
Location
Taunton, Somerset
Hi Guys,

I've been out of the hardware game a while, had a mate ask for a spec though.
Can you give it the once over for me, perhaps suggest something that'll give better bang for buck. Primarily a gaming rig, but also able to take some multipurpose abuse, perhaps some 3DS Max, photo processing etc.

Powercolour 6950 - 2GB - £199
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-143-PC

i5-2500 - £168
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-361-IN

Asus P8H67-M - £80
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-451-AS

Hyper-X 8GB 1333mhz Kit - £35
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-098-KS

CM Silent Pro Modular 600W - £65
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-166-CM

BD-Rom - £55
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-140-SA

That's £602. He has Monitor, Case (Antec P180 Mini), HDD (Luckily) & OS.
Many Thanks! :)
 
Caporegime
Joined
5 Sep 2010
Posts
25,572
I think you need a retail BluRay drive to get any playback software.

If you do get a 2500K for overclocking you'll need a P67 or Z68 motherboard.

The OEM chip is on offer until 9am tomorrow at £159.98 (or until the allocated stock sells out if that comes first) but you'll need to buy a CPU cooler for it and it only has a 1 year warranty.

It doesn't make a great deal of difference but I'd go with 1600MHz RAM for a few pounds more.

Is the HDD SATA? The vast majority of Sandy Bridge boards have no IDE support.

Edit:

You might have to make some adjustments to fit the graphics card in the case.

Maximum video card size: 9.5"/241mm (Note: some video cards may require removal of the adjacent hard drive cage)

The PowerColor HD 6950 is 275mm long.
 
Last edited:
Associate
OP
Joined
28 Oct 2002
Posts
534
Location
Taunton, Somerset
If you're planning on overclocking get the 2500k if not thats fine.
Should be okay. though i would get the 2500K and a aftermarket cooler.
No overclocking, so that's fine. As Surveyor below says, that means upgrading the motherboard which is all more cost. I'd quite like to keep it simple, as it'll be my mate doing the build.

I think you need a retail BluRay drive to get any playback software.

If you do get a 2500K for overclocking you'll need a P67 or Z68 motherboard.

The OEM chip is on offer until 9am tomorrow at £159.98 (or until the allocated stock sells out if that comes first) but you'll need to buy a CPU cooler for it and it only has a 1 year warranty.

It doesn't make a great deal of difference but I'd go with 1600MHz RAM for a few pounds more.

Is the HDD SATA? The vast majority of Sandy Bridge boards have no IDE support.

Edit:

You might have to make some adjustments to fit the graphics card in the case.



The PowerColor HD 6950 is 275mm long.

Good call on the BluRay, will look into what free software such as VLC can do, otherwise, will swap that out.
The HDD is SATA, and I fully expect to remove the lower HDD cage to fit the GPU in - so there shouldn't be any issues.

Thanks for the replies folks :cool:
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Aug 2010
Posts
5,508
Location
Somerset
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990
That motherboard is just £4 more!?
And the K version is on offer:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1275

I know you said you don't need these, but for the price it may be worth considering? At least then in the future there's the option to overclock, and I reckon a K version will have more resell value.

Good call on the BluRay, will look into what free software such as VLC can do, otherwise, will swap that out.
My understanding is that only paid-for software can do blu-ray atm, hence the retail version recommended.
 
Soldato
Joined
15 Feb 2011
Posts
10,235
Location
Slough
My understanding is that only paid-for software can do blu-ray atm, hence the retail version recommended.

correct. you will end up spending ~£10 on the software, making what im about to recommend a lot better and only ~£3 more expensive.

YOUR BASKET
1 x PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £64.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x OcUK Value 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit £23.99
1 x Asus Royal Knight CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/AM2/AM2+) £12.98
Total : £614.92 (includes shipping: FREE).


if you were happy to go with a non modular PSU then you could save even more. i would have gone for a 500W modular PSU, but this coolermaster 600W version is cheaper than all the 500W PSUs, and just as good. the 500W version of the coolermaster PSU will NOT be powerful enough, because it has a relatively weak 12V rating compared to the other PSUs (which is why its cheaper)
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Oct 2008
Posts
5,032
correct. you will end up spending ~£10 on the software, making what im about to recommend a lot better and only ~£3 more expensive.

YOUR BASKET
1 x PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £64.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x OcUK Value 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit £23.99
1 x Asus Royal Knight CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/AM2/AM2+) £12.98
Total : £614.92 (includes shipping: FREE).


if you were happy to go with a non modular PSU then you could save even more. i would have gone for a 500W modular PSU, but this coolermaster 600W version is cheaper than all the 500W PSUs, and just as good. the 500W version of the coolermaster PSU will NOT be powerful enough, because it has a relatively weak 12V rating compared to the other PSUs (which is why its cheaper)

p180 mini is matx so the z68ap-d3 wouldn't fit, for psu what about the antec truepower new modular 650w for £73?
 
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