New Gaming Build between £750 - £900

riskyfrisky · 12 Feb 2013 at 11:35

Hey all, looking for your thoughts and recommendations here:

I'm building a new machine for a friend, he's specified a budget between £750 and £900 all in. The budget must include Windows 7 64 bit (not Windows 8) and peripherals (mouse, keyboard, speakers and a 24" monitor).

He'd be happier if the PC was built for £750, but for the sake of longevity, is willing to go up to £900 IF the machine can last over the longer term.

The only games i know he will play for sure will be Star Wars MMO at the moment so that's not much to go on right now.

I also don't mind Intel or AMD but if we could fit an Intel build in the budget that would go down very well.

Looking forward to your suggestions folks

ivorito · 12 Feb 2013 at 12:05

£1.56 over budget. Sorry about that dear chappy, but here is my take on it:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £80.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM £45
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £35.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x **B Grade** BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) £27.98
1 x Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x OcUK Black Gaming Keyboard (5105GU) £10.99
Total : £901.56 (includes shipping : £14.75).

snips86x · 12 Feb 2013 at 12:23

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £129.95
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £80.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £35.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
1 x **B Grade** BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £10.99
1 x Zalman ZM-K200M Multimedia/Gaming Keyboard £9.98
Total : £899.04 (includes shipping : £16.85).

riskyfrisky · 12 Feb 2013 at 12:44

ivorito said:
£1.56 over budget. Sorry about that dear chappy, but here is my take on it:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £80.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM £45
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £35.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x **B Grade** BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) £27.98
1 x Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x OcUK Black Gaming Keyboard (5105GU) £10.99
Total : £901.56 (includes shipping : £14.75).

Thank you kind sir! Good build but no b-spec please if possible. Sorry i perhaps should have mentioned that in my original post.

riskyfrisky · 12 Feb 2013 at 12:47

snips86x said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £129.95
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £80.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £35.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
1 x **B Grade** BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £10.99
1 x Zalman ZM-K200M Multimedia/Gaming Keyboard £9.98
Total : £899.04 (includes shipping : £16.85).

Again, good one, but no b-spec please. I'm sorry i should have specified it originally. I suppose i could go with a b-spec case but i couldn't be more lenient than that.

Leprechaun312 · 12 Feb 2013 at 12:52

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7870 Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R7870-2GD5T/OC) £179.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8350 Black Edition 4.00GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-D3 AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £69.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C11 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1866C11D3P1K2/8G) £47.99
1 x Gigabyte Force K3 Gaming Keyboard £29.99
1 x Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £10.99
Total : £883.57 (includes shipping : £14.75).

snips86x · 12 Feb 2013 at 12:54

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
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) HDD £69.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £35.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
1 x **B Grade** BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £10.99
1 x Zalman ZM-K200M Multimedia/Gaming Keyboard £9.98
Total : £910.55 (includes shipping : £14.75).

riskyfrisky · 12 Feb 2013 at 12:55

ivorito and snips86x:

Thanks for your input thus far; it's looking good. My only concern(s) is longevity and price (and no b-grade). If the build comes in at £900 i'm not sure whether he'd want delivery to be included, so i'm assuming he would. But a cheaper processor would surely not do too much damage to the capability of the machine.

Can anyone ease my mind about the 7850 also? Overclocking is NOT an option - this build needs to be as stable as technically possible so i won't take the risk. Can the 7850 realistically max out games at 1080p?

mickyflinn · 12 Feb 2013 at 13:05

The 7850 will handle 1080p and if overclocking is not an option then get a cheaper I-5 with a h77 motherboard.

snips86x · 12 Feb 2013 at 13:07

riskyfrisky said:
ivorito and snips86x:

Thanks for your input thus far; it's looking good. My only concern(s) is longevity and price (and no b-grade). If the build comes in at £900 i'm not sure whether he'd want delivery to be included, so i'm assuming he would. But a cheaper processor would surely not do too much damage to the capability of the machine.

Can anyone ease my mind about the 7850 also? Overclocking is NOT an option - this build needs to be as stable as technically possible so i won't take the risk. Can the 7850 realistically max out games at 1080p?

If overclocking is not being considered, take at look at this...

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) £161.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £161.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £69.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £35.99
1 x **B Grade** BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £10.99
Total : £861.58 (includes shipping : £14.75).

7850 will be fine for playing at 1080p, if the price can be reduced further, you could include a 7950 instead.

riskyfrisky · 12 Feb 2013 at 13:09

Leprechaun312 said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7870 Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R7870-2GD5T/OC) £179.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8350 Black Edition 4.00GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-D3 AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £69.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C11 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1866C11D3P1K2/8G) £47.99
1 x Gigabyte Force K3 Gaming Keyboard £29.99
1 x Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £10.99
Total : £883.57 (includes shipping : £14.75).

It's good to see an AMD build but if the budget allows a decent Intel chip then i can't say no to be honest. If it was my build i'd have gone AMD for sure.

Leprechaun312 · 12 Feb 2013 at 13:13

riskyfrisky said:
It's good to see an AMD build but if the budget allows a decent Intel chip then i can't say no to be honest. If it was my build i'd have gone AMD for sure.

I have the same build except a 7850 it gets 120 fps in League pf legends on ultra and in red orchestra it gets above 60. I have an i7 rig with a 6970 which has mroe g-cores and it only gets between 125-130 on lol and about 70+ in red orchestra both on full, its not really much of a difference and is nearly un noticable

ivorito · 12 Feb 2013 at 13:14

riskyfrisky said:
ivorito and snips86x:

Thanks for your input thus far; it's looking good. My only concern(s) is longevity and price (and no b-grade). If the build comes in at £900 i'm not sure whether he'd want delivery to be included, so i'm assuming he would. But a cheaper processor would surely not do too much damage to the capability of the machine.

Can anyone ease my mind about the 7850 also? Overclocking is NOT an option - this build needs to be as stable as technically possible so i won't take the risk. Can the 7850 realistically max out games at 1080p?

This article shows a few benchmarks of the 2gb 7850 at stock at 1080p:

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...850-graphics-cards-review-radeon-hd-7850.html

riskyfrisky · 12 Feb 2013 at 13:26

Leprechaun312 said:
I have the same build except a 7850 it gets 120 fps in League pf legends on ultra and in red orchestra it gets above 60. I have an i7 rig with a 6970 which has mroe g-cores and it only gets between 125-130 on lol and about 70+ in red orchestra both on full, its not really much of a difference and is nearly un noticable

Oh, without a doubt, a decent rig but the one nagging issue repeating in my head is the 125w TDP. The Ivy based Intel runs at 77w. That's 48w of difference, a difference that, considering the machine will be on pretty much all day for his work purposes, makes a huge difference. Both whilst gaming and whilst in 2d mode (in my opinion). So i think Intel is the right option here.

riskyfrisky · 12 Feb 2013 at 13:31

snips86x said:
If overclocking is not being considered, take at look at this...

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) £161.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £161.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £69.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £35.99
1 x **B Grade** BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Creative A220 2.1 Speakers (51MF0400AA008) £25.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £10.99
Total : £861.58 (includes shipping : £14.75).

7850 will be fine for playing at 1080p, if the price can be reduced further, you could include a 7950 instead.

This one i like. I can't believe OCUK don't have retail Windows 7 though now, i don't like the sound of the OEM long-term, especially if parts are needing to be replaced in the future.

honosuseri · 12 Feb 2013 at 14:22

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 530W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £66.95
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £35.99
1 x Steelseries Kinzu V2 3200 DPI Rubberised Black Gaming Mouse (62022) £17.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Zalman ZM-K200M Multimedia/Gaming Keyboard £9.98
Total : £893.32 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Case has plenty of kit packed in for the price, is an improved version of the Z9 plus. Good quiet modular PSU making cable management easier and improves airflow (ie lower temps).

The mobo has a 3 year uk based warranty and a dual (UEFI) BIOS which is a nice safety feature. 8GB of RAM which is low profile and has a good CAS rating, it's also colour coded to the mobo.

The i5K can be overclocked very very easily, you don't have to go silly. Head into the BIOS enable the XMP profile to take care of the RAM and change the CPU multiplier (ratio) to 40 and that rounds the CPU off at 4GHz. The "K" CPU also has a better IGP, the IGP is used by quicksync to help boost video encoding and the LucidMVP software with the mobo can use the IGP to boost the GPU for gaming or switch to the IGP for general tasks to save power.

The 2GB 7850 is the midrange GPU to look at. It also overclocks very well and it is dead easy to do. There should be a free games bundle (tomb raider & Bioshock infinite) for the 7850 but I can't see it listed on OCuk yet.

Hope this helps, any questions or god forbid problems come build day you know where to find us

lee32uk · 12 Feb 2013 at 16:06

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7870 XT rev2.0 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £161.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £35.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Logitech S-220 2.1 Speaker System - OEM (980-000022) £21.98
1 x Steelseries Kinzu V2 3200 DPI Rubberised Black Gaming Mouse (62022) £17.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Zalman ZM-K200M Multimedia/Gaming Keyboard £9.98
Total : £899.56 (includes shipping : £14.75).

riskyfrisky · 13 Feb 2013 at 14:20

Thanks for the different specs people, this is what i'm thinking the final build will be:

Intel Core i5 -3470 £149.99
Asus P8Z77-V LX2 £79.99
Sapphire HD 7850 £169.99
Samsung 23.6" £129.95
Windows 7 64bit OEM £79.99
Seagate Barracuda 500Gb £49.99
Corsair Builder Series 500w £49.99
Samsung Green DDR3 8Gb £35.99
OCUK 24x DVD RW £18.98
BitFenix Shinobi Midi £49.99

That little lot comes in at £814.

It's pretty much what people suggested with a couple of differences. I went for the -3470 rather than the -3570 simply because of the savings involved. I still need a couple of fans because the BitFenix GAMING CASE only comes with one?! Then i need Keyboard, Speakers and a Mouse (that will be taken care of at my local Argos). I also need gel pads for Keyboard and Mouse.

I would have loved to have squeezed a 7870 in there rather than the 7850, but at 1920x1080 resolution i'm hoping the experience will be smooth enough at slightly lowered settings.

The only concern is how much heat this thing is gonna produce. I've sacrificed the aftermarket CPU cooler and hope it's not something i end up regretting. I don't think i will though because i don't see the components running overly hot.

Is this balanced enough? Anyone notice any potential issues?

Bacon? · 13 Feb 2013 at 14:36

Looks good. Although for an extra £4 you can double the HDD capacity.

Also not a fan of Saphire cards myself when others are available like Gigabyte, MSI and HIS.

An extra 1-2 fans would be my reccomendation for a single fan case, that said you can buy other cases with already 2-3 fans which ends up cheaper.

honosuseri · 13 Feb 2013 at 16:02

riskyfrisky said:
Thanks for the different specs people, this is what i'm thinking the final build will be:

Intel Core i5 -3470 £149.99
Asus P8Z77-V LX2 £79.99
Sapphire HD 7850 £169.99
Samsung 23.6" £129.95
Windows 7 64bit OEM £79.99
Seagate Barracuda 500Gb £49.99
Corsair Builder Series 500w £49.99
Samsung Green DDR3 8Gb £35.99
OCUK 24x DVD RW £18.98
BitFenix Shinobi Midi £49.99

That little lot comes in at £814.

It's pretty much what people suggested with a couple of differences. I went for the -3470 rather than the -3570 simply because of the savings involved. I still need a couple of fans because the BitFenix GAMING CASE only comes with one?! Then i need Keyboard, Speakers and a Mouse (that will be taken care of at my local Argos). I also need gel pads for Keyboard and Mouse.

I would have loved to have squeezed a 7870 in there rather than the 7850, but at 1920x1080 resolution i'm hoping the experience will be smooth enough at slightly lowered settings.

The only concern is how much heat this thing is gonna produce. I've sacrificed the aftermarket CPU cooler and hope it's not something i end up regretting. I don't think i will though because i don't see the components running overly hot.

Is this balanced enough? Anyone notice any potential issues?

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 £161.99
1 x Samsung S22B300HS 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £109.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £71.99
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM £45.00
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £31.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £826.39 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Little more cash but you don't need to add any extra fans to the case as I said before it comes with 3. If you really like the Shinobi then get THIS one. It comes with 2 fans and has a side window, it's £10 more but you'll probably spend that adding fans to the non window version.