£700 Spec

altrewin

altrewin

altrewin

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Hi all, a friend has asked me to do up a £700 spec for him. It will primarily be used for gaming - heavily modded skyrim etc. He needs the full system + OS, it would be easier if it was prebuilt however I suppose I could build it for him :p

Opinions/Suggestions please

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £169.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99
1 x PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - White £59.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £58.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G160C9K) £29.99
1 x Zalman T1 Mini Tower Case - Black £15.98
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £705.50 (includes shipping : £10.50).

 
looking pretty well specced tbh =)

alternatively:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 EX OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Assassin's Creed III PC Game £173.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £69.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £58.99
1 x PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 400W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - White £49.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Avexir MPower Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £710.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).



full fat atx size
 
tamzzy said:
looking pretty well specced tbh =)

alternatively:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 EX OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Assassin's Creed III PC Game £173.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £69.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £58.99
1 x PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 400W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - White £49.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Avexir MPower Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £710.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).



full fat atx size
Click to expand...


The MSI boards have limited/locked Vcore options.

I would suggest the ever faithful Z77-D3H like so,


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £58.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £43.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £720.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
dunn2010 said:
Asrock is Micro atx wheras gigabyte board is ATX allowing more space for componants.

gigbayte board tends to be the popular choice for single gfx card gaming specs.
Click to expand...

Anything apart from restrictions with adding extra components? (limited overclocking, less features etc.) It's £10 cheaper, and every penny counts ;)
 
Has he considered using the developer preview of windows 8? That will save him £80 to go towards parts and he can then choose between windows 7 or 8 in the new year.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £58.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £45.98
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £707.89 (includes shipping : £12.50).



The Frozr IV has an improved heatsink and is also voltage unlocked to assist overclocking the GPU. Modular PSU, good quiet heatsink to help overclock the CPU further than the supplied retail heatsink.

I look forward to seeing what he settles on :)
 
Okay, so had a chat with him and he has agreed to leave the OS out of the budget for now, however he would like to see a spec that is closer to £500 as well, just to see the difference. :) So far I've come up with:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) £47.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £45.98
1 x BeQuiet Shadow Rock Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) £32.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £696.89 (includes shipping : £12.50).


_________________________________________
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £169.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) £47.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £43.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard III Gaming Case - Black £27.98
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £517.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
You might aswell use the retail CPU as the extra £5 gets you an extra 2 years on the warranty as well as the heatsink. When the OEM was £160 last week it made sense to help pay for a heatsink ;) I do realise I accidently linked the OEM CPU earlier :( I apologise but it's not a total fail lol

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £179.99
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 £64.99
1 x PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - White £59.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £58.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £705.52 (includes shipping : £10.50).



mini-itx for £700 without the OS

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £58.99
1 x Intel Pentium G840 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £55.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £45.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £550.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Closer to £500. Used a pentium CPU which still has plenty of poke for the price. It's cheap enough to justify "writing off" for an i5K upgrade down the line, even if the i5K is 2nd hand. When working in small or midi tower cases a modular PSU can be a god send, nothing wrong with the XFX you picked for the price but you need to hide the excess cables which is hassle and the bundled cables are bound to block airflow in the case
 
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Hmm, hadn't thought about an itx build, isn't the stock cooler a bit noisy though? How is it compared to a cheap aftermarket cooler, because I know my stock am3 heatsink isn't exactly quiet :p
 
Wouldn't buy the TX, at the moment there seems to be a horribly large amount of users buying them and reporting failures :(
 
Thanks for the heads up Bacon, build is coming together now :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - White £59.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £58.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £45.98
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £26.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £676.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Just need to decide on a cooler, currently looking at these, but not sure which is best :p
YOUR BASKET
1 x Prolimatech Lynx CPU-Cooler (Socket Intel Socket LGA 1156/1155/AMD Socket AM2/2+/3/3+ ) £22.99
1 x Zaward Vapor 120 Multi Socket CPU Cooler (Socket: LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA366/AM2/AM2+/AM3/754/939/940) £19.99
1 x Alpenföhn Sella CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1155/AMD AM2/AM2(+)/AM3) £17.99
Total : £71.47 (includes shipping : £8.75).

 
if you can spend the extra - get a prolimatech dual genesis cpu cooler, the orange line edition - i ****ing love mine! looks so bad ass in my silverstone raven!
 
Bacon? said:
Wouldn't buy the TX, at the moment there seems to be a horribly large amount of users buying them and reporting failures :(
Click to expand...

Show me. You tried this argument with Stulid the other week and could find no proof to back it up.

altrewin said:
Thanks for the heads up Bacon, build is coming together now :)
Click to expand...

That Viper RAM has a heatspreader so isn't what we would call low profile. That is to say there might be issues fitting heatsinks over the RAM depending on the heatsink. This is why I used the XMS3 kit. Good price and low profile :)
 
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