Build advice to a budget.

Yes mate it's good!

Your basket in post #53 is good to go. I have checked and the gigabyte mobo is still out of stock so that asrock is the next cheapest to do Sli/Xfire and it looks sweet too. You've already been "stung" once waiting, the offers change tomorrow I'd hate for the offers to screw you over again :(
 
Im back!

Unfortunately the asrock extreme4 has not yet come into stock as expected yesterday, so as im a man that likes to confirm things before spending my first big budget on this rig i waited for a response from Overclockers and as of yet haven't ordered the lot.

Ideally i wanted to get it ordered and delivered by friday so i had the long weekend to get it setup, obviously i have most likely missed that chance and with the changes in the midweek deals i may slightly tinker my basket, depending on what looks good.

first of all is this worth the extra 10 pound

1 x MSI HD 7850 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99

over the normal

1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £199.99

Also is there any recommendations on the current discounted bits, anyone see any steals which would replace the bits my current setup below, or would you say its about as good as i can get for no more than £800?

Im not sure whether to wait for the mobo as i was originally recommended the Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 which is actually now back in stock, but the asrock does look nice.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £185.99
1 x Asrock Z77 Extreme4 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £124.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £95.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £65.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £40.99
1 x OcUK Black Gaming Keyboard (5105GU) £8.99
Total : £782.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £185.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £95.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £65.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £41.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £40.99
1 x Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £29.99
Total : £785.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).



How does that look? Mobo is cheaper and still can Xfire/SLI, think we started on it didn't we?

Shame you missed the offer on the GPU. I'd stick with the 7850. The 6950 is a lil cheaper but needs more power to run as will the nvidia alternatives. So the money you save there you end up having to put into the PSU budget so you can dual card.

Better gaming keyboard but you can change that out obviously if you dont like it
 
hey hono thanks for the reply. Is there any difference between the two 7850s? i assume not. I'm thinking now that the gold/black ram is in stock i may hold out for the asrock mobo and the gold black fan. Would look pretty nice all together.

I assume the fact that you didn't mention anything else means theres not a lot else worth changing with this weeks deals?

Are we definitely sure that a 600w will power a couple of 7850s should i wish to crossfire in the future? I have heard mixed reviews, should i bump it up at all?

I don't know much about RAM at all, is that a good brand, theres no reviews on this website and i'm struggling to find any elsewhere, even if it does look nice :P
 
Last edited:
I don't think it's worth the extra no. It is clocked slightly higher but the frozer III will match that if you use MSI afterburner to OC it. The frozer IV may OC better but if you are going to Xfire at some point due to the size of the case I would leave them at stock speed to help keep temps down and power requirement.

650W was recommended for Sandybridge and the 6950, seeing as Ivybridge and the 7850 both require less power then 650W would most certainly be playing it safe.

I don't understand why you are asking me to question myself? I wouldn't spec the kit if I didn't think it was suitable lol I try my best to spec stuff that is firstly in stock, secondly at the best price (and warranty included) giving the features wanted/needed and thirdly i do try to keep it all looking tidy together.

Waiting has quite frankly screwed you over, this weeks deals aren't as good. If you are desperate to get stuck in you could order the case and PSU now. You can testfire the PSU with "the paperclip test" (google it) to make sure it starts up, then fit it and tidy the cables together nicely in the case, ready for the mobo bundle and extras. Maybe next weeks offers will be kinder.

RAM you don't need faster than 1600Mhz really, you're supposed to want the CAS to be low as possible. Technically PC3-12800C9 is better than PC3-12800C11 (lower CAS is better) but in the realworld you won't really notice the difference. We usually spec lowprofile height RAM so aftermarket air coolers can easily fit over them. Some RAM has aggressive styled heatsinks, it's ok to use this with stock coolers and closed loop liquid coolers if that's a look you want to go for.

The beauty of building yourself is that you can choose what you want and how it looks, making it more your own than an off the shelf job anyone can buy. I have a feeling your friend might get quite envious of your build, for £800ish I can give plenty of examples with different styling and features.....it's what you like that counts.

I notice you have taken the DVD drive off the spec sheet, if you are intending on reusing one have you checked it's sata?
 
Sorry I did not mean it to read that way. The fact that I'm a noobie and secondly the fact that I'm generally a very cautious person has caused the stall. I like to get eveything confirmed. I'm pleased that you have replied as you seem to be the only person who has posted recently. I appreciate all your help and expertise.

I think I know the direction I'm going to go now. Either black gold with the extreme4, black/gold ram and cooler or black blue with the zalman led fans blue vengeance low profile ram and later on a blue CPU fan. :)

Thanks again for your replies, I do really appreciate them.
 
I've just noticed the prices have crept up ever so slightly again the Retail i5 3570K is nigh on £190 now and the frozer III is the same price as the frozer IV! Might be best to wait for next weeks offers but hopefully you are getting to grips with balancing the budget now.

For your budget right now I'd say something like this which gives you what you have asked for

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) £199.99
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 Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £99.95
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £65.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £43.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £40.99
1 x Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £29.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £811.87 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Hasn't really helped me with the prices going up but still you get the idea. The CPU is OEM so only 1 year warranty and no stock cooler supplied. I don't expect you to buy this setup just showing how there are ways to cut costs, you'll see i used a different GPU as it was cheaper......I would wait for the offers to change before you spec seriously if I'm honest.

You didn't answer my question about the optical drive. Are you reusing one and preferably a sata HDD too for storage?
 
Last edited:
Sorry, I missed that part, I am purchasing an optical drive, I have a 500gb data hdd. Hmm wow lots of fluctuation. Well in that case I may purchase a few bits and look out for the deals later on.
 
A lot of items seem to be increasing in price at the moment. It maybe a good idea to grab the stuff that is on offer now and wait for some sort of price drop. But you run the risk of having prices increase further or having to wait a long time until prices drops to what you deem an acceptable level.

I was in the same situation as your are now when building my rig, I waited a few days on prices but it ended up costing me around £40 extra when the graphic card and RAM shot up in price.
 
i have just checked out your build thread.. looks nice :) whats the antec 900 like by the way? its been out a long time i know, some good reviews.

i am going to wait and see what happens i think.
 
Thanks. The case it self is ok, but there are better ones out there. The one I have is about 4 years old and lacks many of the features of modern cases, CPU mounting cut out and a good cable management system ect, but i'm not sure if they have added these to the updated version of the case.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom