£900 spec

Skorzeny

Skorzeny

Skorzeny

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Joined
13 Jun 2012
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8
Hi all, I've been struggling to get by on my computer recently and haven't been able to play the games I want to. I've got a budget of £900.

I need a monitor (doesn't need to be really flashy, a good 21" would do me just fine) and an OS.

I wanted to get an SSD (doesn't need to have a massive capacity, just enough to install my OS and a few games on) but if I have to compromise too much on other aspects of the build, I can make do without.

I can, at a push, go to £950, but I'd prefer not to.

Thanks in advance gentlemen.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum :)

Come up with the spec below:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x XFX HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
1 x Iiyama ProLite E2208HDD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £67.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £54.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £43.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £903.74 (includes shipping : £19.10).

 
Something like this?
What games are you playing because if you dont need a 7850 you could get a better monitor, SSD, mobo etc?


YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x OcUK E2250SWDA 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXUKV2) £56.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £54.98
1 x Samsung 64GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC064D/EU) £53.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9B) £44.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £930.20 (includes shipping : £17.85).

 
Thanks for the replies so far.

If it helps, I'll be playing games like the Witcher 2, STALKER, Company of Heroes and game mods that are quite processor-intensive (I'm not sure if that's the right term) like Morrowind Overhaul and Europa Barbarorum.

Is it worth compromising on the graphics card with that in mind? (I'll be wanting to play them all on max.)
 
Ok well I checked out the game specs and they werent massively graphics demanding so a 6850 should do.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x Iiyama ProLite E2208HDD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77MX-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £99.98
1 x MSI HD 6850 "Dual Fan Edition" 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £89.99
1 x OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-120G) £81.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXUKV2) £56.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £54.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9B) £44.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £30.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £919.21 (includes shipping : £17.85).




The mobo supports crossfire so you can dual up the 6850's in the future?
A 120GB SATA 3 SSD
A nice 22" monitor
A good CPU cooler for overclocking on the unlocked CPU
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £105.98
1 x OcUK E2250SWDA 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £99.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £87.98
1 x Sandisk Extreme SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (SDSSDX-120G-G25) £84.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £64.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £43.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £960.72 (includes shipping : £19.10).



Yes ok that's over the £950 but if you used a smaller storage HDD you could get the price down. No OS but you can use the developers copy of windows 8 for free. This saves you £80 till the end of the year then you can choose between windows 7 or windows 8 ;)

Case might seem budget but has 4 120mm fans, fan controller with digital temp display and cable management. It also comes with an extension for the 4/8pin aux power from the PSU to help keep the inside of the case tidy. The PSU has enough juice to run a second 7850, it's quiet and modular, it's priced the same as the 600W version so is a bit of a bargain.

SSD is a good size for the OS and games. My windows install is 20GBish, my install of witcher2 is 15GB. You can start to see why i disagree with RJC and Bacon over the SSD size. The storage drive is 2TB but isn't an eco drive, so you could use this as an OS drive, ditch the SSD for now and add one much later.

Ivybridge uses less power than sandybridge and has a better IGP. The Z77 mobo needs an ivybridge CPU for the PCI-Express 3 slot to work at full speed. Lucid MVP uses the IGP to boost the GPU performance and quick sync uses the IGP to boost video encoding tasks. I have spec'd a Xfire/SLI capable ATX sized mobo, if you aren't bothered about dual carding you can save some cash here.

The 7850 overclocks well and has 2GB of VRAM which is fast becoming the standard for GPUs. I run the witcher 2 on my HTPC with a nvidia 460 OC'd, it looks nice but it's not maxed out, a 6850 isn't going to be better than the 460...... You really should try and aim for that 7850.

or if you need the OS

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x OcUK E2250SWDA 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £99.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £87.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.38
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £64.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £43.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £953.10 (includes shipping : £19.10).



The mobo doesn't do SLI/Xfire so is cheaper but it does have THX rated onboard audio. Again it's the topend of your budget but you could remove the heatsink and save around £10 on a cheaper PSU to cut costs.

Hope this helps, any questions or problems come build day, you know where to find us :)
 
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