Another PC spec requirement

wedmonds

wedmonds

wedmonds

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Joined
13 Nov 2007
Posts
231
Hi people,

Looking for some help putting together a spec for a PC with following:

DONT NEED MONITOR
DONT NEED KEYBOARD
DONT NEED MOUSE

Will need OS (Win 7 Home should suffice), case and everything else. Planning to also add decent sound card so that movies can be enjoyed in bonkers quality.

Budget is around £700-£750 Max.

Any advice welcome... thank you !
 
Whats the res of the monitor :)?
also you can get a free developer copy of windows 8 at the moment which will let you delay buying the OS for now and let you pick between 7 and 8 at alater date :)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.38
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £61.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £38.39
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
Total : £758.65 (includes shipping : FREE).




You could use the developers copy of windows 8 (free and legal) to put off the purchase of the OS.

Z77 mobo will allow you to OC the i5K. Has THX rated audio so should be good, also has lucid MVP to boost the GPU (those 7850s OC well BTW). Intel quick sync will help seriously speed up video encoding if they want to "rip" movies to the HDD.

Yes I'm over but that's largely down to the Bluray drive i included. If you just want a DVD drive I can rework the spec for you
 
YOUR BASKET
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 £109.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £64.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £59.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £38.39
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 £17.99
Total : £735.74 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x MSI Z77A-G45 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.6
1 x MSI HD 6850 "Dual Fan Edition" 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £72.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £44.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £759.94 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
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 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 Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £38.39
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £34.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £753.68 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I would really try to get a 7850 for a gaming rig.

Socrates is much higher quality, at the expense of the graphics card. It's a trade off. Can bring his build to £750 with a 2500K or 3570K OEM (since he put a gelid tranquillo in there, I would pick up the Thermalright True Spirit 120 in place though).

The G45 is micro-atx, which is fine. Can swap for the Gigabyte Z77X-D3H.
 
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Which would come down to this


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 "Dual Fan Edition" 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £72.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £44.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £747.47 (includes shipping : £10.50).

 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
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 Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £59.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £38.39
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £755.64 (includes shipping : FREE).



Olivier has used the sandybridge i5K. You can get the ivybridge i5K in your budget. It uses less power and has a better IGP, lucid MVP and quick sync exploit the power of the IGP and the PCI-Express 3 slot needs ivybridge to operate.

I agree with him that you should aim for the 7850 GPU (it's in both my specs), it supports PCI-Express 3 so it does make sense to get the ivybridge CPU.

The MSI Z77MA is the m-atx mobo. That "M" is very important, so Soc. has used the atx sized MSI mobo, although for that money I would use this GB mobo which supports xfire and SLI, if you prefer how he has divided up the budget.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.99
Total : £109.99 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
olivier renault said:
Which would come down to this


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 "Dual Fan Edition" 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £72.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £44.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £747.47 (includes shipping : £10.50).

Click to expand...

That OEM CPU has a much shorter warranty than the retail one. Think I would go this way

YOUR BASKET
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 £109.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 "Dual Fan Edition" 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
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 £49.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £38.39
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £734.24 (includes shipping : FREE).



Althought the 6850 isn't as good as the 7850 you can overclock it to nigh on 6870 performance very easily. The mobo we are using as i mentioned earlier allows Xfire or SLI (two 6850s).

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=539
 
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Idleman said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
1 x Asrock Z77 Extreme4 M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £101.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £64.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £38.39
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £728.75 (includes shipping : £11.25).



An i3 alternative.
Click to expand...

I do love the look of those Asrock mobos! Will be getting my hands on the lil mini-itx version for an interesting project soon :D
 
Idleman said:
I`m still looking for a decent (second-hand) skt 775 mini-itx for my Sugo htpc.
Have everything bar the board.
Click to expand...

What size do you need? I don't have anything currently but parts fall on my lap all the time......if i know what you are after I will keep you in mind bud.

We are well off topic I know but I have already squeezed an Xbox 360 into the Millenium Falcon toy with watercooling for a friend. He nows admits I was right and a HTPC in there would make more sense.
 
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Thanks to everyone that took the time to post up some specs for me.
Its a massive help and appreciated.
Looking to buy something soon and may even hold fire on sound card given that the on board appears pretty good.
 
Hi Guys,

Just about to order some kit but its been a while since you helped me with this.
Has the landscape shifted, are there any items on special now?
 
Hi Chaps,

Finally about to place an order for this.... life got in the way before!
On the plus side, many of these items have reduced in price but like all good computer geeks I am wondering what I can now get for the same budget of £750.

As before though:
DONT NEED MONITOR
DONT NEED KEYBOARD
DONT NEED MOUSE

Will need OS (Win 7 Home should suffice), case and everything else. Planning to also add decent sound card so that movies can be enjoyed in bonkers quality.

Budget is around £700-£750 Max.

Off to play with my basket now :)
 
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