Review My Spec Please

[dante671]

Hi

My friend has asked me to help him put together a new budget gaming PC for around about £750. I have came up with the following for a starting point but I'm sure there's room for improvement (it's getting pretty late and no doubt I have overlooked some alternative components). I would appreciate it if someone could please take a look over and let me know of any potential problems or similarly priced upgrades.

He's wanting the PC to last a good few years and has a limited budget so £750 is the maximum, I'm already going to have to convince him to spend more as he still needs to buy Windows. I would have liked to work an SSD into the build but given the budget I don't think that's an option.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £203.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £167.99
1 x Asrock Z68 PRO3 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £64.99
1 x XFX Pro 650W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £64.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £58.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B) £38.39
1 x Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939/AM2/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £19.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £753.30 (includes shipping : £12.50).





He had originally had the following in his build but I think the I5 and 7850 would be a better choice.
CPU - AMD Bulldozer FX4 Black Edition 3.6Ghz (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-319-AM)
GPU - 6950 Ice-Q Turbo 2046MB (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-036-HS)

Thanks in advance, I appreciate any help or advice people can give.

 

[beejjacobs]

Here's an alternative, and I'll go through what I've changed and why:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £203.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £64.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £58.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £747.85 (includes shipping : £12.50).

• CPU/GPU are solid choices [except I'd go with a Retail CPU for the extra warranty and cooler]
• Motherboard is also okay, but this is a Z77 motherboard which is the latest chipset from Intel. Also Gigabyte have a UK RMA base which is always useful
• This PSU is up to the job, and its modular which helps with cable management, theres a review of it here
• This RAM is low profile, so it will not interfere with the cooler
• This cooler has a larger fan, so will run quieter/perform better. 4.5Ghz or so out of the i5 should be in your sights. Review here
• Finally, case is a personal choice and that is a decent one. There's quite a few around that price range which are good - perhaps see which he prefers.

And, yes the i5 and 7850 would be much better than the FX and 6950

Also, its worth noting that Ivy Bridge [Intels latest CPUs] will be out soon, it should be similarly priced and it would just be a case of using a different CPU as everything else would still work

 

[cmndr_andi]

+1 for beejjacobs' spec and I agree with him on considering waiting for the new Ivy Bridge CPUs.

The current release date seems to be 29th April, though the review embargo is expected to be lifted on the 23rd - so we can see how they perform on Monday.

Also, good choice moving form AMD Bulldozer and a HD 6950, the new options are better and cost the same.

The only change I would consider making to the above spec is going for this motherboard. It is £17 more and would take you a bit over budget - but the main benefit of it is that the second main PCIE port runs at x8 speed (instead of x4) and it also supports SLI - so you have more flexibility when choosing future graphics cards.

 

[dante671]

Thanks for the really quick and helpful replies, I will send him a copy of the updated spec in the morning and advise he waits until the IvyBridge release before buying anything.

 

[beejjacobs]

Thanks for the really quick and helpful replies, I will send him a copy of the updated spec in the morning and advise he waits until the IvyBridge release before buying anything.

Excellent - Be sure to check back before you do buy, because as well as Ivy Bridge coming out prices will change and so will weekly offers