decision, cable management

Phildebeest

Phildebeest

Phildebeest

Associate
Joined
11 Nov 2009
Posts
64
Hi guys just need the compatibility rating before i take the plunge. First question is i5 3570 with 7850 or i3 3320 with 7950?
Secondly, thanks to the community ive come up with the following spec that id like a final look over please:
I5 3570k
Gigabyte 2bg 7850
Gigabyte z77n itx mobo
Bitfenix prod
Corsair builder series 500w modular psu (does it need 500w)
B grade 1tb seagate bara 7200rpm 6gbs 32mb cache
Black mamba 8bg
Asus dvd/rw
Just wondering if this is good to go and will take antec 620 later down the line for oc and finally my ultimate concern is cable management in the prodigy, ive seen some right horrors concerning cables all over the place in the prodigy. Just a case of messy people or is this a genuine issue with the case? Alternatives?
Basket comes to just under £680, 80 over budget but this cheeky number has to last me a while.
Cheers guys.
Phil
 
Do you want a small case or by alternatives would you take the option of larger ATX case's, as they are easier to cable manage by a long shot.

In terms of you spec, it looks good and I'm sure a few guys will tweak it a little to match the budget. I would, but the bed is calling me! :p
 
Yeah it is the choice between small form factor and having a bigger case but better cable management. You'll have to work harder to make the cables organised in the smaller case, but in all honesty I would think that would be half the fun!

Regarding the spec, what games do you play? If you play BF3 a lot online for example, I'd go for the i5 because multiplayer needs a more beefy processor.
 
Hi guys thanks for the fast replies. Yeah bf3 is high on the list as always :D as for the case...well its more for the missus. Its going to be in the living room so i wanted something small enough to hide behind the tv. To be honest id probably at a push go for a matx as i really am a stickler for cable management. Potential respec?
Thanks again guys.
Phil
 
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If you ask me it will be far more rewarding to get a nice looking build in a Prodigy, and as long as you have good airflow the cable management to a point doesn't matter as long as it doesn't block anything important!

This video might help - I know the spec is a bit higher than yours but can still help you a bit with the build, it's the most detailed build video I've seen for the Prodigy.
 
Thanks for the reply guys, especially the video, makes the prodigy a simple choice. Also i take it the i5 with 7850 is the way to go rather than the i3 with 7959? Could i get away with a less wattage psu? Got to look after the old electricity bill :p
Cheers guy
 
Completely messed my post up xD

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77N-WIFI Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £98.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black £69.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £55.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £54.98
1 x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £37.99
1 x Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £697.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Here you go.
 
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Phildebeest said:
Thanks for the reply guys, especially the video, makes the prodigy a simple choice. Also i take it the i5 with 7850 is the way to go rather than the i3 with 7959? Could i get away with a less wattage psu? Got to look after the old electricity bill :p
Cheers guy
Click to expand...

The wattage of the PSU is what's available for components to draw on to work, having a 430W PSU won't be cheaper to run. I think your prices are now way off as the i5K retail is £200 and the B grade HDD is gone amongst other changes.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77N-WIFI Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £98.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy 'Yin' Mini-ITX Cube Case - White/Black £69.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £54.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) HDD £47.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £691.50 (includes shipping : £10.50).



You could get away with a 430W PSU but 500W is a nice round number for a single GPU setup. 7850 GPUs overclock well so you can tweak more performance from it and being cheaper than the 7950 you can use that cash to get the i5K.

Might be wise to hold fire, do your homework and stay active on the forum. At 100 posts you would qualify for free P&P. Rooster mate, he might just need the Prodigy case in the basket fella ;)
 
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I messed up my copying and pasting :( your spec looks pretty much exactly the same, just a bit different in the form of the optical drive and the hd, I prefer my combination ;)
 
Rooster212 said:
I messed up my copying and pasting :( your spec looks pretty much exactly the same, just a bit different in the form of the optical drive and the hd, I prefer my combination ;)
Click to expand...

Third times the charm hey bud? ;) You just adjusted my spec in the end to be fair lol Easy to get an SSD in when you forgot the case and using the i3 with a £40 CLC cooler was pointless in my opinion.

I never spec DVD-ROMs, for the sake of an extra couple of quid I'm sure the OP would like the option to burn disks off. I did toy with using the 1TB Eco drive but the 500GB is a little cheaper and spins faster.

I think the OP needs to hold fire, get an understanding how to balance the budget himself and hopefully next weeks deals will be more favourable (the i5K has shot up this week) and working towards free P&P wouldn't hurt either :)
 
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