£300 to £400 gaming build.

 
Hmm.. swapped around the i3 for an i5 2500k (with the H61). Think that's more sensible for modern games, or do you think I should stick with the i3? (I assume I can't overclock the 'K' on this board, but resale will be higher in the future I guess).

Darn Intel for restricting overclocking on the cheaper chips :-(
 
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Ok fighting with myself now over this... quad core or not.

I think if this is a system they will not be changing for a few years a quad core would be better? (looking at putting the i5 2550k into the H61 - not overclocking obviously)
 
Scougar said:
Hmm.. swapped around the i3 for an i5 2500k (with the H61). Think that's more sensible for modern games, or do you think I should stick with the i3? (I assume I can't overclock the 'K' on this board, but resale will be higher in the future I guess).

Darn Intel for restricting overclocking on the cheaper chips :-(
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Correct, you need a P67/Z68 board to overclock.
 
He's gone for my advice on the i5 quad (I think it's for the best, but it's his choice at the end of the day)... I wonder if I can somehow slip a Z68/P67 in there somehow, or perhaps it's just not needed? I mean the chip is 3.4Ghz, and turbo boost is 3.8 ghz, so perhaps it'll be OK :-)
 
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OK, well ordering in next fews minutes. Here is the final spec:


Intel Core i5-2550K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £165.59

Asus HD 6850 DirectCU V2 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £89.99

XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £52.99

Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99

Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £33.59


Is that definately the motherboard to go for?
 
The overclocker in me keeps looking at that chip, but I can't help think the 2550k is better on this occasion, as it will be running a discreet graphics, I don't think they'll need the integrated graphics (unless there is another reason for having the 2500k of course that I'm missing? :) )

Excellent.. few more mins and buy being pressed lol. (I have his money transferred)
 
Well, having integrated graphics as an option can't be bad! It also enables tech such as Lucid Virtu and Quicksync

also, the 6850 is a great card for the budget :) will be a nippy little system!
 
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I figure the 6850 will be just great on a small TFT which they are using :-)

Right... not sure about the lucid tech (even though I have it with my own PC lol), but quicksync 'might' be useful I suppose, maybe good if they want to download video's to their iPhone's/iPods etc.

Went with the 2500k retail for a few more bucks. Probably a good thing as I realised my Hyper 212 doesn't have a 1155 fitting kit d'oh.
 
Scougar said:
I figure the 6850 will be just great on a small TFT which they are using :-)

Right... not sure about the lucid tech (even though I have it with my own PC lol), but quicksync 'might' be useful I suppose, maybe good if they want to download video's to their iPhone's/iPods etc.

Went with the 2500k retail for a few more bucks. Probably a good thing as I realised my Hyper 212 doesn't have a 1155 fitting kit d'oh.
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Cool, I'd suggest retail anyway as the price difference is small and you get more warranty, a nice box (:p) and a cooler

Does it have 1156 fittings? These will work :)
 
Unfortunately not, only as high as Core 2 stuff (bummer). The extra warranty was worth it I guess :-)

Thanks for the help, order placed! Should see the stuff on the 2nd April :-) Just my father's rig to get sorted now after this one's built. (I reckon they are gonna be fighting over the PC from now on! lol)
 
Scougar said:
Unfortunately not, only as high as Core 2 stuff (bummer). The extra warranty was worth it I guess :-)

Thanks for the help, order placed! Should see the stuff on the 2nd April :-) Just my father's rig to get sorted now after this one's built. (I reckon they are gonna be fighting over the PC from now on! lol)
Click to expand...

Shame, well as its at stock anyway the stock cooler is actually not bad :)
 
For the money, I think it's a pretty good setup. Shame about the lack of overclocking.

Anywho.. I can't imagine Ivybridge will change things that much on this spec? (Feel free to correct me :-)

I still have my father's PC to do, so will take a look at Ivybridge especially as he will be running integrated graphics.... so hopefully they will improve those.
 
Well.. I must have done well with this build. The guys like the PC so much they have decided they want another one to go with it. Won't be for a little bit (couple months), as they need to save their own money this time.

On this build I'll have to fit in the price of a full system, i.e. keyboard/mouse/dvd/hdd/case/monitor including all the other gubbins cpu/mb/gpu etc.
 
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