Budget build

cmd1989

cmd1989

cmd1989

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Joined
20 Nov 2011
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74
Location
Bradford
Hi guys,
My friend at work has decided to look into buying a new computer and has asked me to do a little spec for him.
He doesn't need any peripherals, monitor or OS and will not be overclocking whatsoever. He's also waiting till next month to get a graphics card which he will be looking at around £100 for, so if you could please guide me on that as well!
It will be for general use and a bit of gaming (bf3 mostly I think) and so doesn't need to be a power house.

This is what i've thought of so far.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £63.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £29.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £460.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Wasn't 100% sure what CPU to get as when I mentioned i3 he screwed up his nose a bit lol.
As for budget, I think £450 is the max for the build.
 
 
Surprised I managed to it an Ivybridge i5-3570K in this. The BIOS may need updating on the motherboard chipset, but the H61 chipset is definitely compatible with Ivybridge. Managed to squeeze a 1TB HD in there as well for £1 extra.

Hope that helps. ;)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £64.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x MSI H61M-P31-G3 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £38.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £431.03 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
It may be worth considering buying bits from the clearance section, there is a thread in motherboards that says what if anything they are missing from what i've seen just now you could save 30-40 quid there on the mobo.

For the HDD i would consider getting an SSD, you can get a 120-128Gb one for similar money to the mech drive and you will see a much more responsive all round system from it and your not dropping all that much room. (yes its 1/4 of the size but its not like 500Gb is a large media drive)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Kingston 120GB SSDNow V+200 Drive SATA 6Gb/s - (SVP200S3/120G) £67.99
Total : £76.69 (includes shipping : £7.25).




mech drives are dropping in price by the week as factories recover from the floods too so the same money could get a much larger drive come Christmas.

As for the GPU when its time post a thread in the GPU section asking for advice on the budget, i know you can get a 6850 for that money but there may be better at that price point at that time.
 
Sparx said:
Surprised I managed to it an Ivybridge i5-3570K in this. The BIOS may need updating on the motherboard chipset, but the H61 chipset is definitely compatible with Ivybridge. Managed to squeeze a 1TB HD in there as well for £1 extra.

Hope that helps. ;)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £64.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x MSI H61M-P31-G3 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £38.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £431.03 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Click to expand...

God help you if you bought that spec. A cheap H61 mobo! Ughhhh!
 
Sparx said:
Surprised I managed to it an Ivybridge i5-3570K in this. The BIOS may need updating on the motherboard chipset, but the H61 chipset is definitely compatible with Ivybridge. Managed to squeeze a 1TB HD in there as well for £1 extra.

Hope that helps. ;)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £64.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x MSI H61M-P31-G3 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £38.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £431.03 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Click to expand...

Shows what can be done but dont buy a K series chip and put it on H61, get z77 or 68.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Kingston 120GB SSDNow V+200 Drive SATA 6Gb/s - (SVP200S3/120G) £67.99
1 x **B Grade** MSI B75A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £65.00
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2) £49.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £29.99
1 x **B Grade** Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £27.56
Total : £439.63 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Remember to check the motherboards thread to ensure you get a back shield if your going clearance though

Edit: forgot optical add £16 for a cheepo one
 
Bacon? said:
God help you if you bought that spec. A cheap H61 mobo! Ughhhh!
Click to expand...

Indeed it is a cheap H61 chipset mobo. It doesn't have USB3, Thunderbolt, etc.. But it would do the job very nicely if the OP's friend is on a budget.

Personally I would go with my build, stretch the budget a little and get a Z68/Z77 mobo. Infact, I just changed my build to a Z77 mobo and it is barely £8 over budget.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £64.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £457.93 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated.
I don't think he is too bothered about a SSD, as he is more bothered about being able to get a decent amount of films on the HDD to stream to his XBOX. He has an external HHD as well but that doesn't stream very well.

I was thinking of the i5 3550 but there weren't any reviews on it so went for the sandy instead. The intergrated graphics are better on the 3550 and it's a little cheaper so will go for that one instead. As I say, he's not interested in overclocking so not having a K series isn't really an issue.

Sparx, the HDD you recommended is on week only offer which ends today, but don't think he will be ordering until payday next week, so will see what is on offer when this weeks and next weeks offers are on.

I'll keep an eye on the bgrade stuff but he's not ultra techy when building so the easier the setup, the better.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3550 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £164.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £63.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £29.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £450.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Gone for the mobo you advised Sparx, saw a bgrade one but it is missing accessories so went for a new one.
 
If your not overclocking why do you need a Z77, when a DECENT H61 motherboard has USB3 & SATAIII?


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3550 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £164.99
1 x Intel 330 Series 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £53.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) £49.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £29.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £458.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).



This build also has an SSD, i would recommend one to EVERYONE, they are a brilliant piece of hardware.
 
cmd1989 said:
I was thinking of the i5 3550 but there weren't any reviews on it so went for the sandy instead. The intergrated graphics are better on the 3550 and it's a little cheaper so will go for that one instead. As I say, he's not interested in overclocking so not having a K series isn't really an issue.
Click to expand...

Yes the i5-3550 is perfectly fine if he isn't looking to overclock - that is £20 saved. :)

cmd1989 said:
Sparx, the HDD you recommended is on week only offer which ends today, but don't think he will be ordering until payday next week, so will see what is on offer when this weeks and next weeks offers are on.
Click to expand...

The 1TB HDD I spec'd is only £5 more when not on the weekly offer, £5 extra for double the HD space is well worth it. No point in giving him a 500GB HD if he is planning on cramming it with films/videos, music, etc.


cmd1989 said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3550 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £164.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £63.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £29.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £450.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Gone for the mobo you advised Sparx, saw a bgrade one but it is missing accessories so went for a new one.
Click to expand...

Looks good overall. :) All I would change is the HD as already mentioned and possibly get the Sony optical drive I spec'd for £1 more as it is slightly faster 24x as opposed to 22x. Not that it matters much, but every little helps. CD/DVD media is barely used these days anyway.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3550 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £164.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £64.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £452.03 (includes shipping : £11.75).



This looks a lot better than my original idea and comes out cheaper as well!

The reason i'm not going for a H61 is that the bios will need updating, and as I said, he's not too techy when building so will make the build even harder for him. I know it will cut the costs down a bit but it's not worth it in my opinion.

Still waiting for the weekly offers but it's taking an age to update!
 
Doomedspeed said:
If your not overclocking why do you need a Z77, when a DECENT H61 motherboard has USB3 & SATAIII?
Click to expand...

For all the quirks and the use of PCI-3 and Lucid MVP.
Also generally better built boards with more on them in the way of USB slots and fan headers etc.
 
The weekly offers have been updated for this week now. The mobo I picked is now £4 cheaper and the HDD as suspected has gone back up £5 - so you've pretty much broke even again. I had a skim through the items on offer this week and there is nothing fantastic, so nothing left to change in your build.

Go for the below. :)

cmd1989 said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3550 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £164.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £64.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £452.03 (includes shipping : £11.75).



This looks a lot better than my original idea and comes out cheaper as well!

The reason i'm not going for a H61 is that the bios will need updating, and as I said, he's not too techy when building so will make the build even harder for him. I know it will cut the costs down a bit but it's not worth it in my opinion.

Still waiting for the weekly offers but it's taking an age to update!
Click to expand...
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3550 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £164.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £75.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £57.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £446.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Updated after weekly deals, although not much that will help this build :(

To be honest, I might have to get one of those HDDs myself for that price!!
 
Those Toshiba HDDs are fairly new to the market - you'll have to let me know how they perform.. They only have 32MB cache though as opposed to 64MB cache in the Seagate.
 
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