Advice on first build

Hey I am just about to buy all the parts and just wanted to check what I am purchasing is still worth its value as a few products have gone up in price since may. Thanks in advance for you help :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £181.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £59.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £49.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £46.98
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £693.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
 
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The trick is balancing the budget bud.

My GPU is the same spec and cheaper, not clocked as high as yours granted but lets be honest you are going to overclock either card so it's a mute point really. MSI afterburner is a must for you to download ;)

GB mobo has 3 year warranty UK based RMA (returns). 8GB of RAM is ample (64bit OS required) for gaming and this Geil RAM is much cheaper, yes it's CAS11 but that really makes very lil difference in the real world.

You'll notice I have a 1TB HDD, so i've double the capacity. My optical drive is faster and cheaper as well :)

I use the Z9 myself and I can really recommend it for the price. Four 120mm fans, fan controller, digital temp display, cable management (included P4/8 extension). There is a lot to like for the price.Your bitfenix case isn't in stock and also only comes with one 120mm fan I do believe. The kit you are buying is begging to be overclocked, so having plenty of fans makes sense. You can overclock the i5K on the stock heatsink but ideally you want to swap it out for something more serious as I suggested at the end of my spec.

Hope this helps you understand why I've balanced it out this way :)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £190.00
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £181.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £84.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £46.98
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £37.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £734.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).



This is exactly what I wanted to hear :) Sorry if before I sounded a bit .... untrusting. I was just looking for reasoning for the product you picked. Ive decided to through caution to the wind and treat myself. I figured i would probably buy your extras later but Im feeling adventurous. Thanks for picking up the hard drive being 500Gb(must have picked the wrong HHD at some point) and ive gone with a 2TB as it will be cheaper in the long run. :D Thanks for your advice again its excellent :) Do you have anymore suggestions for me?
Can't wait to order this in the next few days :D.
 
ooh very nice. So 500w will be sufficient? (Sorry for being such a noob)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £190.00
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £181.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £84.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £47.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £37.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £735.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
BurgundyBadger said:
Just ordered it all :D So excited!
Click to expand...

Your are welcome for the advice.

One lil problem with the spec you ordered (dont panic). It was all very well swapping the PSU for a modular supply but that 2TB HDD is an eco drive (slower but use less power).

They are ok for a storage drive but not ideal for an OS drive. If you plan to add an SSD later then this doesn't really matter, you'll just notice an even bigger improvement in speed when you switch ;)
 
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