Been out of the loop, please help my build.

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Hola,
It's time to replace the unit in my sig but I've been out of the loop for a long time so am not up to speed with parts.
The only parts I can reuse are the HDD. Everything else isn't reusable (in fact the gfx card is now a Geforce7600).

So far I've worked out the better option is intel so am thinking for a i5 2500.

Now for the questions:
1) What mainboard? - I've always liked Gigabyte boards, are they still any good? I have no idea what chipset to use.
2) How much RAM? - 8Gb or 16Gb, it looks fairly cheap these days? :D
3) What GFX card? - Again always been a Nvidia user?
4) How much wattage do I need? - I think about 600W.
5) I was looking at a prebuilt water loop for my CPU what one works well with a full size case? - I was pos looking at the Antec coolers.

Finally I'm looking at spending about 700 max, don't need monitor, kb, mouse or O/S. I'll be using it for a bit of everything, some gaming, some photoshop, the usual music playback and interweb browsing.
 
1) Z68, if it does all you need it to, this is great value
2) 8 gig is plenty
3) NVidia I'd say 570 if you can afford it, 560Ti if you cant, also the 580 but its a large price premium for little performance gain, though I am about to buy one :p
4) 600 would be fine
5) Like that?
6) Just seen your budget, prob best with the 560Ti unless you can squeeze it, though I'd personally drop the cooler back quite a bit and maybe just get something like the Gelid Tranquilo, at £25 its excellent value and very good cooling

Oh and make sure you get the K variant of the CPU
 
take it that your hdd is a sata drive ?

edit:
as mentioned by rifles could drop the cooler to the gelid.

also if you don't think you'll sli the 560ti have a look at the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 mobo.

came up with the following :

Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99 (£149.99)

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99 (£139.99)

Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.99
(£91.66)

BeQuiet Efficient Power 600W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £64.99 (£54.16)

BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £46.99 (£39.16)

Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £41.99 (£34.99)

Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT51264BA160A) £37.99 (£31.66)

LG GH24NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98 (£15.82)

Sub Total : £557.43
Shipping : £12.50
VAT : £113.99
Total : £683.92
 
check out all the other £700 specs, you can then get some ideas and tweak to your requirements.

but in general terms

I2500k £180
gigabyte z68xp-ud3 £110 allows for sli in future
8gb pc3-12800 1600mhz
650w if not planning on sli, 750/850w if you want sli in future. antec, corsair, lepa g series(made by enermax), xfx(use psu made by seasonic)
case your choice
antec kuhler 620 £42 or 920 £65
dvdrw £15-£20
graphics card 560ti/570(570 will stretch your budget)
crucial m4 64gb £84 if you cam fit it in

Not sure if I missed anything
 
Here's my current thinking: OEM cpu as I'm using different cooler, cheapest 560 GFX card as up to a fair bit more specs were the same. Went for a OCUK psu as it was larger in case I want to SLI it, if I do want to SLI it how long do these card stay about? And does it have to be an identical card or just same specs?
Also, whats the MB like for overclocking, and cooler too? I do have a Scythe Kaze Jyuni which shifts a lot of air I can add to the rad or the intakes/top exhaughst of the case. and a couple of 120mm fans.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99

Asus GeForce GTX 560 DirectCU 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99

Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £100.00

OcUK Battle 750W Dual Rail High Efficiency Modular '80 Plus' Power Supply £56.99

BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £46.99

Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler £41.99

Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT51264BA160A) £37.99

OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99

Sub Total : £511.60
 
Last edited:
Make sure for gfx you get a 560Ti, not just a 560, there is a difference
Re PSU dont get OcUKs own brand, theyre not very good, you really shouldnt skimp on PSU, get a quality one like this OCZ cheapest 750W quality PSU available
 
PSU is now: BeQuiet Pure Power L8 730W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply
GFX is now: Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5

Ends up as £666.92 inc VAT before shipping.

Any one got any comments of the o/c side of the build with cooling and the like? Also any comments on SLI-ing it as it never been something I've done.
 
Here's my current thinking: OEM cpu as I'm using different cooler

Check the warranty situation, OEM CPU's usually only 1 year, retail 3 years... Worth a very slight premium just for that and the heatsink and fan can make a very nice paper weight....
 
All sorted then, retail CPU, the same L8 PSU but in 630W and the cheaper Gigabyte board.
£644 all before P&P.
A final few Qs on the cooler: how quiet is it, good under the o/c this chip is capable of? Worth asking in the dedi cooler forums?
 
That RAM is fine and with the water cooler you have zero fitment problems like with a chunky air cooler.
 
Its shipped! Why can't they teleport it yet?
I'm excited to play all the games I've been looking at for the last 6 months!
Deus Ex 3 will keep me up for ages!
 
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