£500-£550 Budget Build. Specs?

[GuitardedLeon]

Just signed up here - looks a briliant place to get advice from people on a PC build.

could any of you guys please spec me a decent as you can build please?

looking around £500-£600 at an absolute push.

I dont game that often but use my desktop and laptops heavily.
multitasking always.

so doesnt have to be the be all and end all , but just something that isnt going to be obsolete in 6 months.

cheers guys!


ps. HEYY!

 

[Deehjay]

Welcome to the forum, do you need any peripherals/OS?

 

[Deehjay]

Excluding OS:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x Asus ATI Radeon HD 6770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £77.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £62.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2) £52.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £43.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Samsung SH-D163C/BEBE SATA 16x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £12.98
Total : £567.30 (includes shipping : £17.85).




Including OS:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £62.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2) £52.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £43.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Samsung SH-D163C/BEBE SATA 16x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £12.98
Total : £562.87 (includes shipping : £12.50).



If you have OS and a reusable HDD:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £143.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2) £52.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £43.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Samsung SH-D163C/BEBE SATA 16x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £12.98
Total : £563.89 (includes shipping : £12.50).




How old is your current PC? Does it have a SATA HDD?

 

[jamesfreddie]

As cheap as i could do it.

But will still be able to play games.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.98
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 460 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £95.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £62.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2) £52.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £48.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £17.99
Total : £471.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).



More gaming capable:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560Ti OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.98
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £62.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2) £52.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £48.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £43.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.98
Total : £598.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 

[jamesfreddie]

Excluding OS:


<Snip>

How old is your current PC? Does it have a SATA HDD?

I think you would struggle to game on that graphics card.

 

[Deehjay]

I think you would struggle to game on that graphics card.

As he's stated, he doesn't game much. It would be suffice on most games but obviously it could be improved if he currently has a SATA HDD that can be used.

 

[honosuseri]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £97.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £62.99
1 x Bitfenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £39.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £38.39
1 x Cooler Master GX 450W '80 Plus' Power Supply £26.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222AB/RSMS 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black/Silver/Biege) - Retail £17.99
Total : £550.39 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Z series mobo for overclocking the i5K (4ghz expected from stock heatsink). Lucid virtu makes clever use of the IGP for encoding it will also only use the dedicated GPU when necessary, saves on power and noise levels. 8GB of RAM is ample for your multi tasking needs.

6850 is probably the best budget GPU at that price for gaming. The 460 SOC is slightly better but costs more obviously. The ati card uses less power so you are safe on that 450W PSU.

If you need an OS and peripherals you will have to drop to the i3 and we may need to rethink the GPU. Case is personal preference you could opt for a slightly cheaper one although i think for £40 that case is pretty good.

Hope we have given you a good idea of what's possible within the budget. My build sits bang in the middle of your suggested budgets, if you let me know exactly what you have and don't have i'll take another stab at it for you

 

[Deehjay]

And if you're looking to get it as cheap as possible, here's one presuming you can re-use a HDD with an adequate GPU:


YOUR BASKET
1 x XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £97.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £88.79
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 32-Bit - OEM (GFC-02021) £79.98
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Cooler Master GX 450W '80 Plus' Power Supply £26.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £17.99
Total : £461.11 (includes shipping : £17.85).



The Z68-AP would allow compatibility with Ivybridge CPU's coming this year presuming they are socket 1155

 

[honosuseri]

And if you're looking to get it as cheap as possible, here's one presuming you can re-use a HDD with an adequate GPU:


YOUR BASKET
1 x XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £97.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £88.79
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 32-Bit - OEM (GFC-02021) £79.98
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Cooler Master GX 450W '80 Plus' Power Supply £26.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £17.99
Total : £461.11 (includes shipping : £17.85).



The Z68-AP would allow compatibility with Ivybridge CPU's coming this year presuming they are socket 1155

That's basically my build just "gimped".

That OS is 32 bit (limited to 3.5-4GB RAM), the 64bit is the same price. You are paying more for a lightscribe dvd-rw (pointless). Sounds like you could do with more than 4GB of RAM. The 8GB of XMS RAM i used is cheaper than the 8GB Kingston genesis and just as good.

If you had a sata HDD but needed an OS all you had to do was take the barracuda off my spec and use the £30 case and the OS was all but paid for. You'll only have to "settle" on the i3 if you need the HDD and the OS.

There are plenty of ways to swing the build. Like I said let us know EXACTLY what you do need and we can give you a better spec list

 

[GuitardedLeon]

Welcome to the forum, do you need any peripherals/OS?

Well, to be honest yes.

at the moment all i have here is a very basic - shop bought - 5 year old acer.

ive put that up for sale , ( as a package: monitor etc )
so that i can spend around £300 of my own money of a total £550 build.

i do have a 50" plasma though that i was thinking about using.
and just grabbing as decent wireless keyboard & mouse as i can.

so thats why i said £600 at a push , if that includes everything other than a monitor.



cheers for all the replys so far guys

 

[GuitardedLeon]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £97.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £62.99
1 x Bitfenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £39.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £38.39
1 x Cooler Master GX 450W '80 Plus' Power Supply £26.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222AB/RSMS 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black/Silver/Biege) - Retail £17.99
Total : £550.39 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Z series mobo for overclocking the i5K (4ghz expected from stock heatsink). Lucid virtu makes clever use of the IGP for encoding it will also only use the dedicated GPU when necessary, saves on power and noise levels. 8GB of RAM is ample for your multi tasking needs.

6850 is probably the best budget GPU at that price for gaming. The 460 SOC is slightly better but costs more obviously. The ati card uses less power so you are safe on that 450W PSU.

If you need an OS and peripherals you will have to drop to the i3 and we may need to rethink the GPU. Case is personal preference you could opt for a slightly cheaper one although i think for £40 that case is pretty good.

Hope we have given you a good idea of what's possible within the budget. My build sits bang in the middle of your suggested budgets, if you let me know exactly what you have and don't have i'll take another stab at it for you

I'm starting from scratch to be honest.

I have a basic shop bought acer that has 1GB RAM and is very basic
so thats getting sold. even if it gets peanuts for it ill be happy to have any extra cash go toward a better self build.

all ill have here is my plasma.

no OS or anything. which is a crying shame because obviously thats adding nearly £100 just on an OS..
not that im not ok with that.

is the i5 significantly better than the i3? as if its REALLY worth it i may have to gop a bit over budget.


thanks honosuseri

 

[Deehjay]

I'm starting from scratch to be honest.

I have a basic shop bought acer that has 1GB RAM and is very basic
so thats getting sold. even if it gets peanuts for it ill be happy to have any extra cash go toward a better self build.

all ill have here is my plasma.

no OS or anything. which is a crying shame because obviously thats adding nearly £100 just on an OS..
not that im not ok with that.

is the i5 significantly better than the i3? as if its REALLY worth it i may have to gop a bit over budget.


thanks honosuseri

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=288
Take a look for yourself.
In my first post I specced you a machine that includes an i5 but for your budget that would mean no GPU

 

[honosuseri]

I'm starting from scratch to be honest.

I have a basic shop bought acer that has 1GB RAM and is very basic
so thats getting sold. even if it gets peanuts for it ill be happy to have any extra cash go toward a better self build.

all ill have here is my plasma.

no OS or anything. which is a crying shame because obviously thats adding nearly £100 just on an OS..
not that im not ok with that.

is the i5 significantly better than the i3? as if its REALLY worth it i may have to gop a bit over budget.


thanks honosuseri

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £62.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £46.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £38.39
1 x Logitech MK320 Wireless Desktop Set (920-002885) £32.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £607.25 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Your welcome

i5K with aftermarket heatsink for better OC'ing. Case has a digital temp display, fan controller with 4 fans. Good quiet 500W modular PSU, you only attach the cables you need (less clutter, better airflow) and the case has cable management so you can hide the rest out of the way.

I left out the GPU as gaming didnt seem to be the rigs purpose and the IGP will do you fine for now. PSU has enough juice to run a 560ti which is probably the most expensive GPU you would consider as a drop in upgrade.

I know I'm a lil over but you could probably find a cheaper cordless mouse set and you could always use a cheaper case and even opt for the retail CPU and lose the tranquillo to shave off a few more £s.

I suggest you start another thread once you are ready to buy. You can see i'm making use of the daily and weekly offers so the spec will change once you have the money.

Atleast you have an idea of what's possible. You can afford the i5K and i suggest you do go for it. You can't OC the i3, i5K can so you get even more ooommph for your money, even on the retail heatsink

 

[GuitardedLeon]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=288
Take a look for yourself.
In my first post I specced you a machine that includes an i5 but for your budget that would mean no GPU

clearly worth the extra cash.

over the course of a few weeks i could probably add another £150 to the £600 budget for a GPU

infact infact could i be a a pain and ask for 3 specs?

low:
mid:
high: ( even if does have to go up to £750 )

 

[honosuseri]

clearly worth the extra cash.

over the course of a few weeks i could probably add another £150 to the £600 budget for a GPU

infact infact could i be a a pain and ask for 3 specs?

low:
mid:
high: ( even if does have to go up to £750 )

"High" would mean adding a GPU to my last spec list. You can get a reference design 1GB 560ti for £150. That adds cuda support, enables the lucid virtu on the mobo and has more than enough grunt to play current games on higher settings. The 460 SOC is £120 and that would be my next suggestion if the 560ti is too dear

 

[GuitardedLeon]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £62.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £46.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £38.39
1 x Logitech MK320 Wireless Desktop Set (920-002885) £32.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £607.25 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Your welcome

i5K with aftermarket heatsink for better OC'ing. Case has a digital temp display, fan controller with 4 fans. Good quiet 500W modular PSU, you only attach the cables you need (less clutter, better airflow) and the case has cable management so you can hide the rest out of the way.

I left out the GPU as gaming didnt seem to be the rigs purpose and the IGP will do you fine for now. PSU has enough juice to run a 560ti which is probably the most expensive GPU you would consider as a drop in upgrade.

I know I'm a lil over but you could probably find a cheaper cordless mouse set and you could always use a cheaper case and even opt for the retail CPU and lose the tranquillo to shave off a few more £s.

I suggest you start another thread once you are ready to buy. You can see i'm making use of the daily and weekly offers so the spec will change once you have the money.

Atleast you have an idea of what's possible. You can afford the i5K and i suggest you do go for it. You can't OC the i3, i5K can so you get even more ooommph for your money, even on the retail heatsink

Thought about this last night and I'm gonna go for it.
Sadly I have to order about 2/3 parts a time cause most moneys being spent on builders at the moment.

Ordered the mobo,heatsink and RAM for today. That will have to be my lot untill the end of the week at least.

Thank you very much honosuseri! Your list is going to be my new build lol
and everybody else who helped me out.
I most likely would have gone way over budget for a less spec machine myself so cheers everyone!!!!



I'll be sticking around these forums often now.
so hopefuly I'll get to know everyone better very soon!

cheers again!!