New guy, new (well first) build. Would really appreciate a look over

Xander101

Xander101

Xander101

Associate
Joined
7 Aug 2012
Posts
5
Location
Kent, UK
Hello all! :D

I’ve been trying desperately to learn the ropes and turn this into a fun project that I can research, design and build all on my own...but I’ve quickly found myself stuck, confused and stressed; with so many different brands, categories, subcategories, bits, bobs, etc, I’m just too confused and I’m desperate for a bit of advice!!!! I’ve built what I hope is a respectable list, but the problem is that I’ve no way of truly knowing as I have little experience with this whole process! I’m finding it very difficult to really quantify how well each component is going to contribute to the overall ability of the machine, so I’ve just tried to pick the best bit in each section that aligns with my overall budget (apart from the case...that may be a bit of a £££ sink!)

The point of this build is for gaming, but also to learn and experiment with creating my first PC and have a go at some minor overclocking – nothing major, but just to test the water and get a feel for how to do it, so that I can decide for my next build whether its something I’d really like to focus on or not.

Motherboard
Asus P8Z77 PRO – V
This seemed good for the price, and leaves me open to future upgrades to Ivybridge processors and...er...crossfiring 4 graphics cards? Initially I looked at the Bulldozer Z77, however this board was if I’m honest a bit cheaper and just felt like a better buy, having everything there, but just not that ‘gamer marketing tag that sometimes knocks up the price a bit’.
£159.98
LINK http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-513-AS


Processor
I7 Sandybridge 2700k 3.5ghz
After a tonne of consideration, this is the bit I am most confused about!!! The I7 3770k is quite a bit more £££, without much to offer gaming performance-wise (based on a googling session on benchmarks), and ‘apparently’ there are issues with the hyper threading tech causing stuttering and crashing in some games (this is fixed with editing a setting in the registry, which I don’t feel confident at the mo to do). Next I thought about the 3570k I5, because it would make the most of the PCI 3 on the motherboard, however I’ve got to confess I’m not sure what this is and how much of an impact it will have to gaming. I finally settled on the I7 2700k, it seems to be reviewed as slightly higher than mid range choice, overclocks cooler, and costs a good £45 less than the IB I7.
£239.99
LINK http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-390-IN

RAM
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8gb 1866k
I’ve seen a lot of chatter about 1600k speed being the gamers ‘sweet spot for RAM’, and this isn’t much more money and figured that this would probably give me some room for trying out overclocking. Here I really am riding the reviews and buying from the company that gets best reviews, but I feel there might be some £££ to save here by going for a different brand?
£59.99
LINK http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-302-CS

Graphics Card
Sapphire 7870HD
This was a recommendation that came from a call to my Dad. He seemed sure that this was a reasonable purchase for my budget to give my machine its strength.
£229.99
LINK http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-296-SP

Case
BitFenix Colossus Venom Edition
Please don’t kill me!!! This case looks so good and when I first started, I decided I was happy to commit some budget to aesthetics, even when it meant some £££ was taken away from performance enhancing components. I know see that 2 huge fans and all that space is, to say the least, overkill. I have been looking at some NZXT cases that are substantially cheaper however, so if there really is a good case to say, save £50 on the case, and buy a £280 graphics card, I might consider it, but it’d have to be a great boost to performance because its just such a sweet looking case!!! O,O
£141.98
LINK http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-BX

My build total ex delivery:
£831.93
I’m going to be ordering this next week, so if this is rubbish build, please let me know as I’ll need to re-research asap!
Oh, final note, I have a PC currently that’s going to get gutted for this new build, so PSU, disk drive, hard drive, OS, etc, aren’t included as I don’t need them.

My budget:
£850 (hopefully including delivery)
DEFINATELY STICKING TO THIS LIMIT (it started as £600...and went up from there!), because saying “Sorry my dear wife, we’re not going out at all this month, I might have spent all our date money on that PC too...but CHECK IT OUT!!!!” might turn my new PC into her new murder weapon against me!
I can max the £850 limit, but I’m not sure if there is really an effective upgrade I can get on any parts for +/- £20 (delivery will probably be about this much I imagine?)

PS. I’m tired, ignore the bad jokes! :p
 
Did I make a mistake somewhere?
EDIT: Ahh *facepalm* I thought I might have managed to break a rule or something with my first post!! lol
I'm not paranoid :P
>.>
<.<
 
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If you go with gaming, then take the 3570K. If you go Z77, it's a a little bit of a shame to go for a Sandybridge (Z77 is made for Ivy).

For the motherboard I prefer the Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 (with 2x thunderbolt), Z77X-UD5H, Or UD3H, with a free BoogieBug XXL pad (more like a desk cover given the size, it's like a Everglide Titan cloth mat).

Dont bother with performance RAM, and always take low profile unless you are 100% sure you want water cooling of some sort (full water cooling, or a self contained unit like the H80).

Bitfenix case is OK. There are loads within that budget. Bitfenix Shinobi XL windowed, CoolerMaster Storm Trooper, CoolerMaster Storm Striker, COrsair 650D, COrsair Carbide 500D, Fractal Design R4, Corsair Obsidian 500D, NzXT Phantom Enthusiast, CoolerMaster HAFX, ...

THe 7870 is a good card, and a good price. I think you may be able to stretch to a 670 Windforce 3X. That would be at the expense of the case, mostly :) If it's a gaming rig, you have to try to get the best card you can for your budget.

You haven't included a CPU cooler, PSU, drives.
 
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Thank you so much for the fast reply!
I need to ask a few things however so that I can look into new choices:
When you say low profile RAM, does that mean speed (put it down to 1600k), or the 10666/12800/14400+ numbers?

Will the lower clock speed of the I5 IB damage the performance at all, or will it be more beneficial and improve overall performance? I know I'm going to get a smacked hand for this, but just based solely on the fact the the IB I5 is £55 cheaper, does that mean a performance sacrifice at all?

I've tried my hardest to understand the various digits and what they relate to with regards to different components, but I'm still a little foggy sorry!

With regards to psu, what wattage am I going to need to run this all? I've got one in this PC which I'll open in the morning to see the size of (bed is calling my name) and keep my fingers crossed its okay, but just in case its not what would you recommend? I think it is a 600w...but that's a bad guess at best lol.

EDIT: two posts appeared in the time I took to write this, it may be out of date, ignore for a sec while i read others lol
 
Low profile RAM means that the RAM's physical height is lower, for example you can see this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-017-SA is physically lower than this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-116-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517 due to the heatspreaders (spiky things on top) on the orange stuff. Low profile (LP) RAM is good as it means it will fit under aftermarket CPU coolers such as this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-009-PT.

In general the I5 IB is seen as the best CPU for gaming out there, you shouldn't see a performance decrease at all, if you want put the £55 towards a better GPU like the gtx670.

Re PSU, a 650w PSU will easily power 1 gtx670, and 750w will easily power 2 gtx670, I would be looking at a modular 750w for your build, something like this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-001-XF

Feel free to ask questions, that's what we're here for :)
 
Xander101 said:
Thank you so much for the fast reply!
I need to ask a few things however so that I can look into new choices:
When you say low profile RAM, does that mean speed (put it down to 1600k), or the 10666/12800/14400+ numbers?

Will the lower clock speed of the I5 IB damage the performance at all, or will it be more beneficial and improve overall performance? I know I'm going to get a smacked hand for this, but just based solely on the fact the the IB I5 is £55 cheaper, does that mean a performance sacrifice at all?

I've tried my hardest to understand the various digits and what they relate to with regards to different components, but I'm still a little foggy sorry!

With regards to psu, what wattage am I going to need to run this all? I've got one in this PC which I'll open in the morning to see the size of (bed is calling my name) and keep my fingers crossed its okay, but just in case its not what would you recommend? I think it is a 600w...but that's a bad guess at best lol.

EDIT: two posts appeared in the time I took to write this, it may be out of date, ignore for a sec while i read others lol
Click to expand...

Offers change wednesday morning so we might as well spec once these are in effect. Check the brand of your PSU, tell us what you can reuse wether it be an optical drive or HDD.....every little helps ;)

Regarding RAM PC3 12800 is 1600mhz stuff. That's what you want on this 1155 socket, having RAM faster than 1600mhz makes hardly any difference at all. Dropping from the i7 to the i5K is doing you a favour. The cash you save on the CPU you allocate to a cooler which will allow you to get lower temps and then push the CPU harder/faster :D

THIS is low profile RAM. We like to spec LP RAM as it fits easily under aftermarket heatsinks. The CAS speed on this RAM is 11. Ideally we would like it lower say C9, in reality it doesn't make a massive diffence so 11 is ok. This RAM does overclock well but as I said earlier this makes little odds for us here.

THIS RAM is technically better as it's the same speed but the CAS is lower (8 so better). Problem is it's not low profile. It's ok to use on the stock heatsink or with watercooling but with air coolers you might have problems.

I know it's confusing as they are the same price. The exact parts we use do vary depending on offers, once the new offers kick in, I'll have a bash balancing it all out and explaining why i picked what :)
 
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Xander101 said:
With regards to psu, what wattage am I going to need to run this all? I've got one in this PC which I'll open in the morning to see the size of (bed is calling my name) and keep my fingers crossed its okay, but just in case its not what would you recommend? I think it is a 600w...but that's a bad guess at best lol.
Click to expand...

It's best to know exactly what kind of PSU you have, because they can vary a lot on power, quality, reliability and performance. Best ballpark guess is not the advertised power on the PSU, but the amps on +12V rail(s), and the number of PCIE connectors. That's just a rough estimate, knowing the exact model and brand will be much better to say if the PSU is suitable or not.

As for power, 40A on 12V rail, Bronze+ (80%) efficiency, at least one PCIE 6 pin + one PCIE 8 pin connector. Loads of PSUs that can do that.
 
This build should give you enough spare cash in case you need a good psu or if not an ssd upgrade which in my opinion is well worth it over having a fancy case

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £309.95
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x NZXT Phantom 410 Enthusiast Midi Tower Case - Black/Orange £79.98
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £59.99
Total : £724.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
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Hiya guys, finally home from work and I've opened my case up to find the following:

My PSU is an OCZ 600watt - this will need to be replaced, but I'll not incorporate this into the above budget, so I'll probably pick up the PSU Ozzymundo suggested.

My processor is currently cooled by the stock fan, so it would have been a basic box standard fan that would have been cooling it. Is this really worth replacing if I'm planning on running the pc without OC for the most part (only experimenting every now and again). As with the PSU I won't be including cost of this in the £850 budget above, so if this does need replacing could you please list a reasonably priced one as I've not been able to research this. Oliver renault did mention the self contained H80 water cooler above, but is there a good non-water based cooler you can recommend?

Finally, I'm going to pick up an SSD too for my OS.

Sorry to be so confusing with my pricing, I should say that my budget is now £1,200 (yay payday God's smiled on me!), but with the above builds, plus the recommended PSU (XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular £96.99), and an SSD, and factoring in the possibility of needing a cooler like the H80 (£79.99), this won't leave me too much left over to upgrade other bits and bobs lol.

Finally, just for the morally concerned, my other half won't be killing me for this added budget, but if it goes up again...there may be bloodshed lol.

I'm actually aiming to order this pc tonight/tomorrow now, very EXCITED!!


EDIT: It was asked what Hard drive I've got too, I've got a 368GB, and dispite making good use of sales on steam, I've never filled that yet, so I'm not really too worried about getting a bigger one unless they are really cheap!

Is there anything else I should think about given the extra £350? (watercooling etc? I know this is more beneficial to OC'ing though so unless you think its worth completely changing the build, I don't know if this is worht a look at)?
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £349.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750M High Performance 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020003-UK) £94.99
1 x Intel 330 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £80.99
1 x Fractal Design Arc Midi Tower Case - Black £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £61.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £35.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £1,058.40 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
YOUR BASKET
1 x gigabyte geforce gtx 670 windforce 3x 2048mb gddr5 pci-express graphics card £349.99
1 x intel core i5-3570k 3.40ghz (ivybridge) socket lga1155 processor (77w) - retail £179.99
1 x bitfenix colossus venom green & red led big tower case - black £141.98
1 x gigabyte z77x-ud3h intel z77 (socket 1155) ddr3 motherboard with free boogie bug xxl gaming mouse mat £129.98
1 x xfx 750w xxx edition modular '80 plus silver' power supply £96.98
1 x intel 330 series 120gb 2.5" sata 6gb/s solid state hard drive - retail £80.99
1 x corsair vengeance blue low profile 8gb (2x4gb) ddr3 pc3-12800c9 1600mhz dual channel kit (cml8gx3m2a1600c9b) £44.99
1 x alpenföhn matterhorn pure edition cpu cooler (socket lga2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ amd am3/am3+/am2/am2+/fm1) £29.99
total : £1,072.60 (includes shipping : £14.75).




• silver efficiency rated psu
• ram matches the board colour
• excellent heatsink - http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/alpenfoehn_matterhorn_pure_cpu_cooler_review,1.html

Add a SATA HDD+DVD drive of your choice.
 
Thank you very much for your help, I would have made a complete mess of this on my own XD

I am so grateful you all took time out to help me! I'm going to get ordering and hopefully first class it over ready to begin the sticking and gluing this weekend.

Once again, thanks so much! I'll see you around the forums :)
 
tamzzy said:
the xfx xxx psu have fan ticking noise problems, you may/may not get one that exhibits that issue, but why take that chance
the 612s is a (slightly) better cooler than the matterhorn, and quieter too
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/cooler_master_hyper_612s_cpu_cooler_review,12.html
and colour matching on a non windowed case o.0
Click to expand...

XFX fan ticking is very few and far between;) I actually haven't read about one ticking for awhile (possible cable tie if I remember correctly).

And a side window is only £14.99 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-082-BX&groupid=2362&catid=1850&subcat=
 
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