Advise on two builds that I have come up with please!

Artheas

Artheas

Artheas

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I'm after a good value build, and I have come up with the following:

AMD
Motherboard: MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 - £73
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £95
RAM: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel - £39
Graphics: MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 - £132
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX 500W ATX - £48
Case: Coolermaster RC-600 Gladiator Case - £52

Intel
Motherboard: MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 - £105
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 - £168
RAM: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel - £39
Graphics: MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 - £132
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX 500W ATX - £48
Case:Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator - £59

Intel build costs £105 more (ignoring case)

The differences are the motherboard, CPU, and the case.
I don't plan on actively overclocking (by that I mean taking the CPU to it's limit, then settling on a good everyday speed to run it at, like I did with my Opteron 165). Would I be wasting money on the 2500K?

Monitor and HDDs aren't needed at the moment, but I will get an SSD within the next 2 months.

Any useful criticisms/amendments are welcome!
 
If you have the money, go for Sandybridge.

Replace PSU by the BeQuiet L7 530W.

Keep the CM 690 II and the MSI mobo.

And go Retal 2500K :)

If you want cheaper, the Zalman Z9 is a nice affordable case. So in total...
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE Shogun 2 Game £167.99
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £107.99
1 x MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £104.99
1 x Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £58.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £38.39
Total : £533.92 (includes shipping : £10.50).

 
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Thanks for the quick replies!


stulid said:
There is a cheaper 5850 deal - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711
Click to expand...

Thanks, I ignored that card simply because it wasn't in stock!

olivier renault said:
If you have the money, go for Sandybridge.

Replace PSU by the BeQuiet L7 530W.

Keep the CM 690 II and the MSI mobo.

And go Retal 2500K :)

If you want cheaper, the Zalman Z9 is a nice affordable case.
Click to expand...

Any reason that my PSU doesn't seem to be the best choice? You both have recommended something else.

The Z9 case does seem to be very good value, but the side mesh with the huge holes seems like a big problem for dust :/

If I stick to the 2500K, will I need to buy a cooler for it also?
I'm making the assumption that the 'turbo' feature simply oc's less if the cooling isn't as good? (ie I wont NEED to buy a cooler, but it'll simply 'turbo oc' less?)
 
Artheas said:
Any reason that my PSU doesn't seem to be the best choice?
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with the corsair, the ocz is the same price, more powerful and has neat braided cabling like the corsair, the Bequiet is bare insulated individual wires.

If I stick to the 2500K, will I need to buy a cooler for it also?
I'm making the assumption that the 'turbo' feature simply oc's less if the cooling isn't as good? (ie I wont NEED to buy a cooler, but it'll simply 'turbo oc' less?)
Click to expand...

the Retail cpu comes with a stock intel heatsink, the Turbo feature works perfectly fine with this cooler.
 
stulid said:
the Retail cpu comes with a stock intel heatsink, the Turbo feature works perfectly fine with this cooler.
Click to expand...

So it's not extremely crappy and loud like I naturally imagine all stock coolers to be?

I was considering the Zalman CNPS5X CPU Cooler if I were to get one.
 
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