First custom PC for nearly 6 years.

haz_pro

haz_pro

haz_pro

Associate
Joined
11 Dec 2009
Posts
1,603
Hey all,

Looking at getting a PC to play games on (recently had my xbox and ps3 stolen (no insurance DOH!)), and just general usage. So far I have got:-


YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £203.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x IIyama Prolite E2473HDS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x Asrock Z77 Extreme4 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £119.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache WD10EALX - OEM £74.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi "Core" USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £46.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B3ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £20.99
Total : £890.33 (includes shipping : £13.75).



How does this look?

Is there anything I have missed/anything I should consider changing?

I know IB is coming soon, is it worth waiting for that? (Whether or not it is to get IB, or hoping SB price may fall?

Thanks in advance. :)

EDIT: Someone suggested getting the ATI 7850 instead, what do people think about this?
 
Last edited:
Some good choices :)

A few things,
7850 is a good idea at that price,
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-154-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
Either that one, or the one IvanDobskey linked to - two fans generally means better cooling, but the 7850s are cool anyway, so I'd probably save the money and go for the cheaper one.

7850 vs 560Ti
7850 overclocking

This monitor is the same price, but you can claim the VAT back:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-160-SA&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

That case is the 'core' edition, so it has no logo/mesh - it's designed so you can pick your own colours, e.g. Deep Blue Logo, Deep Blue Mesh cheapest option is to just go for the standard black one:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-019-BX&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1850

SSD does make a huge difference, with fast boot times and loading times for games - if you can't afford one now it's a good idea to get a good PC first, then maybe add one later
 
Thanks for the reply! :)

I can extend my budget a bit so may look to get an SSD, what is a good size to go for? I'm guessing a 60gb one is a bit too small?

With the cheaper, single fan GPU will the temps still stay fairly low if I do overclock?

Thanks for the advice on the case, not sure how I didn't notice that lol! With the screen unfortunately I require vesa mounting so can't go for the sammy (I was going to go with it originally as my GF as the tele version and it is very nice!)
 
haz_pro said:
Thanks for the reply! :)

I can extend my budget a bit so may look to get an SSD, what is a good size to go for? I'm guessing a 60gb one is a bit too small?

With the cheaper, single fan GPU will the temps still stay fairly low if I do overclock?

Thanks for the advice on the case, not sure how I didn't notice that lol! With the screen unfortunately I require vesa mounting so can't go for the sammy (I was going to go with it originally as my GF as the tele version and it is very nice!)
Click to expand...

No problem!

Well, 60GB is good for your OS and a few games, though it can become restricting. If you think you could save up for a 120GB that would give you much for room for games and programs. Plenty of people just use 60GB though.

I'd recommend a Crucial M4, as it's fast and known to be reliable.
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB

The 128GB is on offer today only, at a great price for what it is - if you can afford one i'd snap it up!

The 7850s run cool anyway, so the single fan will have no problem. If you like the looks of and want the MSI with two fans, not a bad choice :)
 
beejjacobs said:
No problem!

Well, 60GB is good for your OS and a few games, though it can become restricting. If you think you could save up for a 120GB that would give you much for room for games and programs. Plenty of people just use 60GB though.

I'd recommend a Crucial M4, as it's fast and known to be reliable.
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB

The 128GB is on offer today only, at a great price for what it is - if you can afford one i'd snap it up!

The 7850s run cool anyway, so the single fan will have no problem. If you like the looks of and want the MSI with two fans, not a bad choice :)
Click to expand...

Thanks again, i'll have a think about the graphics cards. Getting the single fan may mean I get the PC earlier as the two fans say pre-order.

Think I will call OCUK in my lunch break to try and make an order. I'll see if they know how long it will be until I get my system if I order with the preorder graphics card.

Does anyone know if OCUK charge to build the PC if all bits are bought from them?


EDIT:

Just seen this case, its the same as before but with a window. Will the cooling be better in a windowed case?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-BX&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1850
 
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They will charge to build the PC yes - not sure how much. You'll have to ask for a quote. Sorry didn't realise you weren't building yourself [it's quite straight forward, and we can help, if you wanted to]

That case is good, the Window is nice if you prefer the looks - as it has a space for a fan on the window it could be a bit better for cooling yes
 
I'd get the cheapest 7850 and a 128gb m4. The 60gb will be full in no time at all. Building yourself is a doddle and is half the fun in my opinion :)
 
beejjacobs said:
They will charge to build the PC yes - not sure how much. You'll have to ask for a quote. Sorry didn't realise you weren't building yourself [it's quite straight forward, and we can help, if you wanted to]

That case is good, the Window is nice if you prefer the looks - as it has a space for a fan on the window it could be a bit better for cooling yes
Click to expand...

I see, I will ask them for a quote and see if its worth just building myself. :)

Had a look for reviews on the case and the cooling doesnt seem great http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2011/08/05/bitfenix-shinobi-review/3

Maybe I should consider another case.

IvanDobskey said:
I'd get the cheapest 7850 and a 128gb m4. The 60gb will be full in no time at all.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response.
 
beejjacobs said:
For around that price, I've heard good things about this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-037-ZA&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=736

Fan controller and temperature sensors :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I like the look of that. :)

Emailed OCUK and turns out they wouldn't be able to build this system for me. So I have to make a decision now on if I want to build it or not.

Thing that worries me about building it is if something goes wrong, I won't have any parts to swap in to check what's happening. Also don't think my cable management will be up to much (built my PC 6 years ago but it was terrible lol).
 
Ah, that's a shame. Well I guess you could go for a pre built system instead.

Building a PC is quite fun I think, so I've always built my own. If things do go wrong, people on here can usually narrow down the problem for you. And although you don't get warranty on the whole system, you tend to get longer warranty with the individual parts

Prebuilt option

YOUR BASKET
1 x Battlefield War Rush Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.40GHz DDR3 Limited Edition Quad Core System £500.00
1 x FREE PANDA 180 Day Trial Anti Virus £0.00
1 x Samsung Green 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit (MV-3V4G3D/US) £49.99
1 x System 12 Months Standard Warranty £0.00
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x No Hard Drive Upgrade £0.00
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
1 x Iiyama ProLite E2407HDS 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £149.99
Total : £968.47 (includes shipping : £18.75).

 
There are plenty of good guides on YouTube but it really is very easy to build yourself. Plenty of guys on here that are more than willing to give you a hand should things go pear shaped too :) go for it I say.
 
beejjacobs said:
Ah, that's a shame. Well I guess you could go for a pre built system instead.

Building a PC is quite fun I think, so I've always built my own. If things do go wrong, people on here can usually narrow down the problem for you. And although you don't get warranty on the whole system, you tend to get longer warranty with the individual parts

Prebuilt option

YOUR BASKET
1 x Battlefield War Rush Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.40GHz DDR3 Limited Edition Quad Core System £500.00
1 x FREE PANDA 180 Day Trial Anti Virus £0.00
1 x Samsung Green 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit (MV-3V4G3D/US) £49.99
1 x System 12 Months Standard Warranty £0.00
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x No Hard Drive Upgrade £0.00
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
1 x Iiyama ProLite E2407HDS 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £149.99
Total : £968.47 (includes shipping : £18.75).

Click to expand...


Thanks for taking the time to help me in this thread!

IvanDobskey said:
There are plenty of good guides on YouTube but it really is very easy to build yourself. Plenty of guys on here that are more than willing to give you a hand should things go pear shaped too :) go for it I say.
Click to expand...

cheers, I had a look and can see a fair few guides.

I am going to have to have a think about what to do... I know I could build the PC fine, its just whether or not something is wrong when it comes which would slow me down.

If I decide to build it myself, is there anything else I will need, cables etc? I will need some thermal paste, what is good? Also I should probably get a anti static band thing! lol

Is there any soldering involved, someone just mentioned that to me but I can't remember soldering anything when I built my first PC.
 
Last edited:
Ok, so I have decided I will build my own PC. I will try and do it myself (I should be fine), and if not I have the backing of a colleague at work who has built many PC's said he will help me out.

He may have persuaded me to go for a full tower instead, any recommendations?

Thanks again for all the help everyone :)
 
haz_pro said:
Ok, so I have decided I will build my own PC. I will try and do it myself (I should be fine), and if not I have the backing of a colleague at work who has built many PC's said he will help me out.

He may have persuaded me to go for a full tower instead, any recommendations?

Thanks again for all the help everyone :)
Click to expand...

Cool! You said you could extend the budget for an SSD, so what would be your total budget? Full tower cases tend to be more expensive - better to get faster components if you can, but it depends on the budget really.
 
beejjacobs said:
Ah, that's a shame. Well I guess you could go for a pre built system instead.

Building a PC is quite fun I think, so I've always built my own. If things do go wrong, people on here can usually narrow down the problem for you. And although you don't get warranty on the whole system, you tend to get longer warranty with the individual parts

Prebuilt option

YOUR BASKET
1 x Battlefield War Rush Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.40GHz DDR3 Limited Edition Quad Core System £500.00
1 x FREE PANDA 180 Day Trial Anti Virus £0.00
1 x Samsung Green 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit (MV-3V4G3D/US) £49.99
1 x System 12 Months Standard Warranty £0.00
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x No Hard Drive Upgrade £0.00
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
1 x Iiyama ProLite E2407HDS 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £149.99
Total : £968.47 (includes shipping : £18.75).

Click to expand...


That is not entirely true. With our systems at least. You get a 1 year warranty then the individual parts are still under warranty where it applies.
 
beejjacobs said:
Cool! You said you could extend the budget for an SSD, so what would be your total budget? Full tower cases tend to be more expensive - better to get faster components if you can, but it depends on the budget really.
Click to expand...

My budget is 900 to around 1000 (preferably closer to 900) for the full system. For this I need everything excluding mouse, keyboard, and operating system. :)

I think I may be able to get a hdd from work, so can knock that on the head and just get an SSD from OCUK! :D
 
TwsT said:
That is not entirely true. With our systems at least. You get a 1 year warranty then the individual parts are still under warranty where it applies.
Click to expand...

Didn't know that, that's good :)

haz_pro said:
My budget is 900 to around 1000 (preferably closer to 900) for the full system. For this I need everything excluding mouse, keyboard, and operating system. :)

I think I may be able to get a hdd from work, so can knock that on the head and just get an SSD from OCUK! :D
Click to expand...

Right, this includes a motherboard/PSU capable of supporting crossfire 7850s for the future :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Dirt3 PC Game £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x IIyama Prolite E2473HDS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £105.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £101.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black/White £93.98
1 x OCZ ZT 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £79.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £21.98
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £990.91 (includes shipping : £20.10).



Bit cheaper without CF support:
YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Dirt3 PC Game £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x IIyama Prolite E2473HDS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £105.95
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black/White £93.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £80.40
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £21.98
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £944.32 (includes shipping : £20.10).

Click to expand...

Plenty of cases to choose from, if you find one you'd prefer
 
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