£750ish Gaming Spec

JohnL · 13 Jul 2012 at 22:24

Building a new gaming PC, 700ish max and needs to include a monitor. This is the best I could come up with, anyone have any suggestions? Have no idea about all the different types of 1155 motherboards, is Z77 significantly better than H61?

YOUR BASKET
1 x ZOTAC GeForce GTX 570 AMP! Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3550 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £159.95
1 x Samsung S22A200B 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £107.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £59.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Patriot Viper Xtreme 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PXD38G2133C11K) £49.99
1 x Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £39.98
Total : £780.79 (includes shipping : £19.10).

olivier renault · 14 Jul 2012 at 09:44

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £194.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x BenQ GW2250HM 22" Widescreen LED Professional Monitor - Black £99.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £82.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £45.95
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £38.99
Total : £754.37 (includes shipping : £13.75).

That's where the money is atm.

Z77 is a lot better than H61. Sata III, USB3, Overclocking, Lucid MVP, 4 ram slots...

You specced a micro atx board. Fine by all means, but you don't need a micro atx board if you are getting a atx case.

the 3550 has a locked multiplier.

You don't need super fast memory.

The case is a bit outdated.

7850 is more power efficient, uses less power, runs cooler and has more Vram. But if you need or want a NVidia card, 570, 560ti 448, or the Gainward 580 "good" edition. For a 580, I would then recommend a more powerful PSU (OCZ ZS 650), although on paper, it will work.

Shayper · 14 Jul 2012 at 10:23

To be fair, that is a cracking spec from Olivier.

JohnL · 14 Jul 2012 at 12:10

Thanks Olivier, that's a great spec. I've taken on board all of your suggestions (though have kept the Samsung monitor) - anyone have any more suggestions before I click "buy"?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £194.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung S22A200B 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £107.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £82.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £45.95
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £38.99
Total : £768.79 (includes shipping : £19.10).

olivier renault · 14 Jul 2012 at 18:15

Nope.

Looks like I started a cloning facility.

JohnL · 14 Jul 2012 at 18:22

Would rather get a modular power supply, are there any manufacturers to avoid? Would rather not get one that went bang....

EDIT: Could I get away with 500W? This looks quite tempting:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-167-CM&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

olivier renault · 14 Jul 2012 at 18:44

With a 7850, yes.

JohnL · 15 Jul 2012 at 00:14

....and Hitachi Capital said no. Back to saving up then, cheers for your help anyway Olivier