Awkward spec me

u-9600

u-9600

u-9600

Associate
Joined
17 Feb 2011
Posts
46
Location
Edinburgh
Looking to build a gaming machine for my brother, with a budget of around £450. I have an spare i5-2500K and was hoping to use that to save some money, but 1155 motherboards seem pretty hard to get now.

Also while a tower case is possible the smaller the better really.

Screen/windows/keyboard/mouse aren't required.

This is what I had come up with:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 "ITX Edition" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £161.99
1 x Kingston 240GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/240G) £79.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £52.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master HAF Stacker 915F - USB 3.0 - Mini-iTX Case Front PSU Editions £44.99
1 x LG 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM GH24NSC0.AUAA10B £13.99
Total : £408.54 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Along with a Gigabyte SKT-1155 H61N-D2V for £20 from another source, but this board is pretty...basic and a different one would be better.

Any advice? Also not sure about power supply compatibility with mini-ITX cases.


Thanks :)
 
Looking at Coolermasters website I cant see any PSU limitations. Same goes for the GFX card, you can fit a long one in there.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £175.99
1 x Crucial BX100 250GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT250BX100SSD1) £72.98
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £54.95
1 x Cooler Master HAF Stacker 915F - USB 3.0 - Mini-iTX Case Front PSU Editions £44.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £44.99
1 x LG 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM GH24NSC0.AUAA10B £13.99
Total : £417.49 (includes shipping : £8.00).



The PSU is of better quality.

The SSD is faster.

The GFX card is faster.

Itx sized socket 1155 boards you will have to hunt for, they did do Z77 chipset ones.



Also I just remembered this card,

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 770 "NVIDIA Reference" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
Total : £179.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



GTX770 vs 280X - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1037?vs=1041

If you went for a mATX compatible case then you will find even more suitable boards.

YOUR BASKET
1 x BitFenix Phenom MATX Cube Case - Midnight Black £64.99
1 x Antec ISK600M mATX Cube Case - Black £56.99
1 x Bitfenix Aegis Core Micro-ATX Chassis - Black £55.99
Total : £196.69 (includes shipping : £15.60).

 
Cool, thanks for the help. The board hunt is....annoyingly challenging.

Edit: Switching to micro-ATX I've come up with this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £175.99
1 x Crucial BX100 250GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT250BX100SSD1) £72.98
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £62.99
1 x Antec ISK600M mATX Cube Case - Black £56.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £49.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC4009EP01 Venom Pico Compact CPU Cooler £16.99
1 x Samsung SN-208FB/BEBE Slimline 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - OEM £14.99
Total : £465.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).




Think the dvd drive is compatible, not sure though.

The motherboard is a ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0 for £40.

Still trying to make a decision on the GPU as it will only be driving a 720p display.

This does come in a little over budget so any savings that could be made would be welcome.

Any other advice?

Thanks, :)
 
Last edited:
Think the dvd drive is compatible, not sure though.
Click to expand...

Yes it is.

The cooler is not the best.

Try this little one - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-002-RT&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2666

Cheaper PSU (still high quality and made by Seasonic) - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-202-AN


Did you want a board that can also overclock?

If its just a 720P display then look at the non X 280 or 285 which can still game at 1080P.

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 770 "NVIDIA Reference" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
1 x MSI AMD Radeon R9 285 Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280 Gaming 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
Total : £479.57 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Im surprised you cant find a Z68 or Z77 board.

Unless they all dead from to much overclocking.
 
u-9600 said:
I wouldn't but he will need one for a number of his game installs and stuff...
Click to expand...

Sorry, I must have accidentally deleted the next sentence. Use an external USB one instead.

The point about an external drive, aside from portability is that it doesn't act as a dust trap. Just think: how often do you use one? Vanishingly rarely is the usual answer, so it makes far better sense for the drive to be switched off and sitting somewhere protected from dust.
 
Quartz said:
The point about an external drive, aside from portability is that it doesn't act as a dust trap. Just think: how often do you use one? Vanishingly rarely is the usual answer, so it makes far better sense for the drive to be switched off and sitting somewhere protected from dust.
Click to expand...

I agree, plus an external one can come in handy in cases where you need it for a different device.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom