New/My first build for around £500, does this set up fit together?

meknoy

meknoy

meknoy

Associate
Joined
2 Jan 2013
Posts
6
Hello to all, firstly, thank you in advance for any help you can give me. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and great New Year!

This is my first post on this forum, but I have heard from so many people how great this site is, so I thought I would shoot my question over to you guys in the hope you could help me make my final decisions before purchasing.
This will be my very first build, quite nervous, but super excited at the same time!

I am looking for a decent build for around £500.

I need it to be able to do recording using LINE 6 and Reaper (will be multiple tracks going on)
Photoshop for developing pictures from a DSLR.
And gaming, I'm not a hard core gamer, but I do like to play games fairly often. FPS to indie. I don't play overly powerful hungry games, but when I do I like them to play smoothly and effortlessly.

I have had some great help from my friends, but needed some extra advice before I went ahead and purchased it all.


This build does come in a little over my budget of £500. But I worry that if I start to cut costs on some of these items, I am going to be seriously settling for something not as great, so the extra spend, is it worth it?

Can I do any better? Am I missing anything?
Will this cope with what I require, with a little room to do extra should I find myself wanting to play more games?

Also, does this set up all fit together ok?


Windows 7 Home Premium OEM
£59.99

NZXT Source 210 White Mid Tower Gaming Case with 120mm Fan w/o PSU
£31.18

1TB Seagate ST1000DM003 Barracuda 7200.14 SATA 6Gb/s 7200rpm 64mb Cache 8ms NCQ OEM
£54.95

Intel Core i5 3570K,1155, Ivy Bridge, Quad Core, 3.4GHz, 5 GT/s DMI, 650MHz GPU, 6MB Smart Cache, 34x Ratio, 77W, Retail
£174.18

ASRock Z77 Pro 4, Intel Z77, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, D-Sub/DVI-D/HDMI, ATX
£83.72

Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE Black 18x SATA DVD ROM - OEM
£11.05

8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Jet Black Low Profile, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.5V
£34.99

2GB MSI Radeon HD 7850 OC, 4800MHz GDDR5, 28nm, GPU 900MHz, 1024 Cores, HDMI/DPort/DVI
£147.34

430W Corsair Builder Series CMPSU-430CXV2UK, 80%+ BRONZE Eff', Uncertified, Quiet Fan, ATX v2.3, PSU
£35.32

Total £643.70


Many thanks for all your help. Much appreciated.

Dan. :)
 
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £155.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - FREE Alpenföhn Civetta Cooler!! £72.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £54.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Avexir Blitz Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (AVD3U16000802G-2GW) £19.99
1 x Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £593.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).



just add in your o/s

1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3 & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £169.99
1 x AMD Bulldozer FX-4 Quad Core 4170 Black Edition 4.20Ghz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £95.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (WD10EARX) £59.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3 AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £39.95
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £534.97 (includes shipping : £11.75).



same as above just add o/s
 
Last edited:
ok, I know it's over your budget, but your requirements are very specific and I wanted to do my best.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) w/ FARCRY3 & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £155.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI316G160C9K) £79.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £59.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - White £39.98
1 x Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £698.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).



I've gone for a cheaper g/card as your games are not overly intensive, you could always cut it out and use the i5k graphics until you can get something else. I've gone for 16Gb as Photoediting & recording can be resource hungry & you'd prob benifit from an SSD, but I've not included one.
 
Zak, that works out as being slightly more expensive than his original build (which included OS), and he'd probably prefer 8GB if serious about audio.

OP: A 7850 is more than you need for "not overly power hungry games". I'd cut that down (you can probably save £50ish), along with dropping to the slightly less powerful i5 (but saving 30 quid). You can probably then save another £20 off your motherboard and get a total of approx £543. Not quite as cheap as you wanted, but closer to the original budget.
 
tis true, but i don't know where he got his prices from, i only did it from here, and inc vat, think his might be ex vat

quote " I am looking for a decent build for around £500." end quote

then total Total £643.70 etc
 
He also stated that it was over his budget - I might be wrong, but I thought he was posting on here because his £640 was too much over budget and he was trying to cut it down to more like the £500 mark without significantly compromising the rig for his usage.
 
zakblood said:
well my first go was less :) will try another but it will be AMD
Click to expand...

Your first go was more, because you didn't include an OS (the OP did).

Sorry, I don't mean to be argumentative - it just looked like the first couple of posts were going the opposite direction of what the OP was trying to do.
 
My go:

It's a bit of a compromise, but it gets closer to the £500 mark. The CPU and GPU are slightly slower - but you should still be able to play most modern games reasonably, and your less demanding/indie games very well. The slower clock speed of the CPU will hit your photoshop and audio editing a little, but not so significantly that I'd really care, and it's the only way I can think to bring it down to budget without going into cheapo PSUs etc.

You could knock another couple of quid off this (the memory and motherboard aren't the cheapest possible, but I don't want to remove them from my basket at the moment.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3330 3.00GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £139.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 650 Black Knight OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £79.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £44.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) £36.98
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £557.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
Last edited:
Wow, I would just like to thank all of you for replying, and so quickly too! Very helpful and amazing :D

I am back from work, and have gone through everybody's comments. I'm sorry if I was a little vague on the £500 budget. I suppose in an ideal world, I would love to have something decent for £500. But it looks like, and I have learned from you all that I will be compromising on a lot of aspects.

Something, that if I am spending this much money, I might as well just spend that tiny bit extra and know I'll have something that will see me through for a good few years before any serious amount of upgrading will be needed.

I understand I could go down the AMD route, but after research, I can justify spending my money on Intel.

As with SSD, I really like this idea and would eventually do this. I hope that if I purchase OEM Windows, when I upgrade my build to include SSD, I can put the OEM O/S onto the SSD and take it off the HD? Is that right? It wouldn't be stuck to my HD but the Mobo right?

I've been umming on the PSU. I was hoping to be able to use the Corsair 430w, but you guys all seem to agree 500w is what I should have? Is this for overclocking reasons?
If I didn't intend to overclock, would I be safe with the 430w?
I don't know if you would now tell me off for having a set up which looks ripe for overclocking, and I wont be using it all to it's full potential if I didn't overclock. haha!
:eek:

With RAM - I'm thinking that 8gb should be enough for me..... well I hope. 16gb seems quite excessive for the home recording I do. I have a Shure SM7B, and mainly record vocals.
But there will be several tracks going on when recording it all together with drum tracks and the guitars/bass. It is mainly a hobby and not something I do for a living. And I'm not recording anything massive or major in terms of band size. I wont be in any position where I'd need to record live drums any time soon, where the 16gb may then come in handy. It's all done with sample based drums.


Audigex ;
I understand what your saying with dropping to a slightly less powerful i5, and graphics card/mobo. My only worry is in the £100 saving I'd make. Would I be seriously dropping down on my limitations by doing this?
I would like some room to grow and move. Someone with my usage, would I see that £100 drop? Or would I not notice any difference perhaps? It's a tough shout - my thinking is for £100 - the build may last me longer than if I went down a notch on them? What are your experiences?


Will this set up sit nicely and all fit together? Anything you would change to make it more compatible?


Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail
£179.99

MSI HD 7850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games
£131.99

MSI Z77MA-G45 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard
£91.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050)
£79.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003)
£59.99

Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK)
£49.99

Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9)
£49.99

NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - White
£39.98

Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM
£14.99


Sub Total : £582.42
Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00%
VAT : £118.83

Total : £713.00



So, including the OS - that is £213 (delivered and including VAT) over budget.

I suppose I'd be dipping into the contingency fund then ;) haha!!!


I could make that £100 saving by using the mobo/gpu/cpu that "Audigex" suggested. If I did that with everything else the same, would this build still work?
Also if I did that I could then definitely use the Corsair 430w PSU, so could be more than a £100 saving.

If I went for the Gigabyte HD7850 over the MSI? Would this be a better call?

Another possibility would be that if I did do what Audigex suggested, I could then perhaps get the SSD instead with the saving. But then in a few months time I may then be able to upgrade my build with an SSD.... haha. It's so frustrating deciding what's best.


What are your eagle eyed thoughts? It's a real tough one, and something I would never be able to tell if I made the right decision until it is up and running and in it's everyday working life.


I thank you all again for your help with this! I can't wait to hear your feedback again. :)

Kind regards.


EDIT - Sorry I wasn't too sure how to link all the items in my basket like the rest of you have done.

And also apologies with so many questions being asked at once. I just want to make sure I get it right first time :)
 
Last edited:
Since the budget keeps changing can you please confirm what the max cost is not including OS :)

Also the MSI 7850 only has 1GB, we would definetley reccomend getting the 2GB variant.

The Corsair PSU is enough for 1 7850. And I would add an SSD when he has the funds available. Core system first imo ;)
 
Ah sorry, good spot.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-100-GI

I was trying to chose between the MSI or the Gigabyte version. Had multiple windows open on vista (you know what it's like) and got a tad confused haha.

Sorry with the Max Cost fluctuating, I originally said around £500, just to see what sort of machine can be bought with that sort of money, and if that sort of machine would suit my needs.

I'm very indecisive, which is why I can't even decide on a definite price. haha. It's not like I have infinite amount to spend, it's just I don't want to get a machine to a specific 'Scrooge' amount, and then find after putting it altogether that it isn't going to suit me.

After posting in here and looking more into the sort of items I feel comfortable with, I think I can get something of great quality for £650 (without O/S).
Would that give me the options of having some great quality parts, without then settling for too many lower quality alternatives?


EDIT - Should I also state that I don't intend to do any overclocking of the machine? But I still want it to be fast and great at what I need it for.
 
Last edited:
Case is always personal preference :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £155.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £59.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £49.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £23.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £630.52 (includes shipping : £10.50).

 
Bacon? that was super quick! Huge thanks.

It has now overloaded my brain once more though with another option. haha!

As has been the case, just as I think I'm getting somewhere - something else comes along and then it all goes out the window again.

I do feel great knowing it has the i5, gigabyte gpu.
The Asus mobo, is this better than any other suggested? Is it more compatible with everything else this build has? Or just a personal favourite?

Also the PSU, quite a few people do recommend the Corsair M, is this a great PSU that wont over cook any of the other components? Are there much better quality ones for this price?

And what is better about the GeIL black dragon compared with Corsair Vengeance, or is that a cost thing? If I put the Vengeance into that build, that would pretty much bring it to £650, is the Vengeance worth the extra?
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £129.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £59.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 400W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £40
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £35.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £678.96 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
Intel Core i5-3570 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail
£161.99

Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games
£155.99

ASRock H77M Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard
£62.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003)
£59.99

NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - White
£39.98

Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK)
£38.99

GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC)
£23.99

Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM
£14.99

Total : £573.00 inc VAT.


I have taken on board other peoples builds, with great respect. I have made some changes as I feel I wont be overclocking so can save some money on Intel by getting the 3570.

So, one of my last questions. Is this a winner of a machine?

And is there a cheeky little SSD someone could perhaps suggest, that is decent at the £70 mark for 90gb? Or am I best saving for a more expensive one, would that make more of a difference?
 
Looks good but definetley get a Z77 board. This allows for overclocking of a K chip, the Ivy's can quite easily get at least 4.4Ghz overclock.

If you dont like overclocking then you might as well go H77 and non K chip. But overclocking will make the chip last longer since it'll have more power.
 
I think that rig will do you very nicely for your moderate gaming load and audio.

Keeping the option to overclock is nice, but if you're spending 1/3 of the cost of your CPU on getting a better one just to overclock, that's a false economy to me.

I'd get this SSD - it's slightly more than £70 (£90) but is the first one I'd bother buying in terms of speed and capacity and the extra £20 is worthwhile over any of the £70 units.

I'd call that a well balanced system for your usage, it should be nice and responsive.
 
That is brilliant, thank you all ever so much! I'm learning lots, and can't wait to start putting my build together when it arrives.

Great suggestion on the SSD cheers.

I'm fairly new to all of this, and so I probably wont be (for the time being anyway) doing any overclocking. I feel that once I get to the stage where I possibly might consider it, there will be a lot more new tech to chose from. Living in a world where once you buy something, next week there is always bigger and better than the last.
So once I decide or feel comfortable to overclock, it'll probably be back to the drawing board on a completely new build.

Great advice all over this forum. I will most probably have many other questions as time goes on, and getting to grips with it.

I've also decided to go with Win8 instead.

Very excited :)

Kindest regards,

meknoy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom