Advice on a build

Khashul · 17 Apr 2011 at 15:35

Hey there, I'm look to get a new machine that will last a couple of years.

I currently have a 1000w EVO PSU, and a Radeon HD 6870 so I don't need them though if you can squeeze a better ATI card in then I wouldn't say no! I have a budget between £600-700 including delivery and would need a nice case to go with it.

I'd like to go for a Sandybridge CPU and also would like USB3 compatibility. I have a Creative Soundcard but would like a new one or a decent on-board sound card that can deal with 5.1+

I've spent days now trying to work out the right combo and just haven't got any further so I come to you and your wise wise words for a build idea.

Thanks!!

Baldbloke · 17 Apr 2011 at 20:03

5 hours and no reply. That's unusual for this forum.

I won't suggest a spec. It'd be crap.

I'm sure the well informed will spot this thread soon.

Plec · 17 Apr 2011 at 20:07

Do you need a screen, keyboard, mouse and OS as well or is the 600-700 just for the base unit?

RJC · 17 Apr 2011 at 20:16

Your PSU does not fill me with confidence, done a quick spec below, Sadly the motherboard is out of stock:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £203.99
(£169.99) £203.99
(£169.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £167.99
(£139.99) £167.99
(£139.99)
Foxconn P67A-S Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £37.19
(£30.99) £37.19
(£30.99)
LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
(£12.49) £14.99
(£12.49)
Sub Total : £507.59
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £104.02
Total : £624.11

Khashul · 17 Apr 2011 at 21:49

Seems quite good, I don't mind squeezing closer to £700.

I'd quite like a better case though, I have a few of the Antec 300's and would probably go for the 900 2 instead for the USB3 ports. The other thing is I'm not too fussed about the graphics card, I could do without for this month, use the current one until next payday and get much better quality gear, e.g. mobo. In which case we could get a better PSU too, so that I dont have to do a big rebuild of this old machine.

Plec · 17 Apr 2011 at 22:36

Khashul said:
and get much better quality gear, e.g. mobo.

This is a stonking MB for the money if you need all the 'bells and whistles' - link.

It's had good reviews but crucially great forum feedback.

Trusty · 17 Apr 2011 at 22:41

What computer do you have now?

Redmint · 17 Apr 2011 at 22:42

More fancy case if you can afford it: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-196-CM&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=29

sk82jack · 17 Apr 2011 at 22:59

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £167.99

Asus P8P67 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £129.60

XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £118.99

Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two (V3) Ultimate Gaming Case (with USB3.0 Support) - Black £99.98

Corsair Hydro H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/AM2/AM3) £51.98

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99

OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £35.99

Pioneer 24x Internal S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash SATA Retail £17.99

Sub Total : £556.26
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £114.20
Total : £685.21

Khashul · 18 Apr 2011 at 19:25

My current specs are:

Pentium Dual-Core E5300 @ 2.60GHz (OC @ 3.12GHz)
Gigabyte P43-ES3G Motherboard
4GB RAM (Cant remember specifics)
AMD Radeon 6870 1GB
Antec 300 Case
LG E2240S Monitor
SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio soundcard
Logitech 5.1 Speakers

My main goal is to play The Witcher 2 and TW:Shogun 2 on high settings without having to think about it.

Trusty · 18 Apr 2011 at 20:01

It's a decent computer, is it not coping? Pop a Q6600 in prehaps?

Khashul · 18 Apr 2011 at 20:10

Trusty said:
It's a decent computer, is it not coping? Pop a Q6600 in prehaps?

I started a new job tho! Gotta treat myself to something!

Trusty · 19 Apr 2011 at 01:02

Ah...congrats mate. Well the specs listed are spot on. Use the search funtion if your still bemused, absolutley loads of threads with the exact same budget and everything.

olivier renault · 19 Apr 2011 at 12:37

spec a build and then we can tweak it accordingly

if you use chrome, here's a little extension I made that can help you posting your builds.

Khashul · 20 Apr 2011 at 21:18

All you guy are speccing i5's, is there much performance difference between them and the i7's is it worth the extra dosh?

maj · 20 Apr 2011 at 21:20

If you are simply after a gaming pc, then stick to i5.

stulid · 20 Apr 2011 at 21:39

Khashul said:
All you guy are speccing i5's, is there much performance difference between them and the i7's is it worth the extra dosh?

No. its about £90 more for hyperthreading thats it.

Khashul · 22 Apr 2011 at 15:11

What do you guys think to this build? Still not finalised, are there any places I can do better or does it all fit together etc.

sk82jack · 22 Apr 2011 at 15:20

You probably don't NEED an 850w if your looking to shave costs, but if your not it will leave you some headroom for future upgrades, similar with the 8GB of RAM.

Also, what about the Seagate Barracuda for a couple of quid less with double the space?

Apart from that everything looks pretty solid

Khashul · 22 Apr 2011 at 15:26

sk82jack said:
You probably don't NEED an 850w if your looking to shave costs, but if your not it will leave you some headroom for future upgrades, similar with the 8GB of RAM.

Also, what about the Seagate Barracuda for a couple of quid less with double the space?

Apart from that everything looks pretty solid

What would be a decent power supply then? I only went for that one as it was a suggested buy. Don't really like the green fan on it myself. I do want one that can take some big graphics cards I throw at it.