Build Spec Request

Dirk Diggler

Dirk Diggler

Dirk Diggler

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Joined
6 Jan 2013
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Rollergirl
I've never built a system before, and I want to take one on as a project. I would be grateful if you guys could help me out with a spec. I've seen a step by step guide in this section on how to do it, so I'll follow that and only ask build questions here when I am unsure.

I don't want to set a monetary budget. Instead, I want to aim for a particular system. I want a gaming system capable of running Skyrim on full graphics. I would like to leave some scope for future upgrade, ie faster graphics card, more ram etc. But initially a system that will cope with that game will be fine. Obviously, the cheaper the better but I wouldn't want to compromise too much on price if it's a big drain on performance.

There is no requirement for optical drive, although I may fit one in future. I do require wifi adapter and Ethernet port. There is no requirement for a sound card, but again I would like ability to install one in future. I don't need card readers and the like, but I would obviously need some USB ports, preferably USB 3.0.

Is this enough info to go on?

** edit - budget set at £1500 **

Currently Purchased

YOUR BASKET
1 x Corsair Professional Series HX+ 850W '80+ Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020032-UK) £129.95
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Advanced USB3.0 Dominator Case - Black £85.99
Total : £230.04 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
Last edited:
snips86x said:
You thinking of xfire/SLI in the future?

Updated Spec:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X OC 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-09-40G) £259.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) £107.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Advanced USB3.0 Windowed Dominator Case - Black £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £78.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020048-UK) £56.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £53.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £39.95
1 x **B Grade** Asus PCE-N15 300Mbps 802.11B/G/N Wireless PCI-E Network Adapter £28.79
Total : £998.14 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Slightly nicer case & added a 2TB HDD to the list.
Click to expand...

Being new to this I have to ask, what do you mean by xfire/sli? Also, three slightly different specs here, does one have a particular advantage over the other?
 
First of all, thanks for being patient with the tedious newbie questions... got to get started somehow!

I don't want to xfire straight off as I need to keep the cost down, however I would like to have the option in the future. Does that change anything?
 
Ok, I think I need to allow for future xfire if the additional cost is only £60. It seems a small additional cost as I imagine 2 cards would be a serious boost in future.

You all seem to have allowed for SSD as well as DDR. Again it's a newbie question but I'm thinking the system doesn't need SSD so why do we have it?
 
Interesting regarding the SSD. I assume the SSD shows as first drive C: and the mechanical drive shows as a storage drive D:

This takes me to another question, the OS. What are the options with installing Windows. For example could I install on a mechanical drive initially, and then format that drive and install the OS on a later installed SSD? And, would you recommend Windows 7 or 8. I use 8 on another pc just now and I don't mind it, but are there any issues with game compatibility or driver compatibility?
 
RJC said:
The SSD will show up as a normal drive and as drive C and the mechanical as the next drive letter.

I use Win 8 for gaming and not come across any issues, but the choice is yours really :), but I would go with a SSD now and install the Operating System on that. All you need todo is enable ACHI in the BIOS before installing windows.
Click to expand...

I take it I install OEM version of Windows 8? I've installed windows lots of times, but never OEM on a newly built system. Is there any issues there? Is it a one time install, or can I format at a later date and reinstall?
 
honosuseri said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £139.98
1 x Silverstone Strider Plus 750W Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply (ST75F-P) £104.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £94.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £78.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £46.98
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £39.95
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 REV A CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £24.98
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £1,073.77 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Little over the budget but I added the OS too. Mobo does SLI/Xfire, has onboard wifi and bluetooth (plus some other little extras in the bundle). PSU is silver rated and modular, has ample power for dual GPUs should you want to go that route in the future.

Hope this helps, I look forward seeing what you settle on. Any questions or heaven forbid problems come build day you know where to find us :)
Click to expand...

Thanks! Great advice so far.

There have only been 2 graphics cards mentioned, the ice and sapphire. How do they compare, or are they much of a muchness?
 
honosuseri said:
The HIS is clocked faster and has a good cooler, which is why I plumbed for that one.
Click to expand...

Ok. I intend to build in stages, that is for example install the SSD and add the HDD later. Would I have that option with the graphics card? As in, does the motherboard have basic video output capability so that the card can be added later?
 
honosuseri said:
Sure does bud :) Don't expect to do any gaming on it till you drop in the dedicated GPU though.

How you balance the build is up to you. Im sure you've been told already but having the dual GPU option adds to the cost of the mobo and PSU. It's often much easier/cost efficient to sell the GPU off and replace with a better one.

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77N-WIFI Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £98.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £94.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £78.98
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy 'Yin' Mini-ITX Cube Case - White/Black £64.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £39.95
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £995.41 (includes shipping : £10.50).



That's a mini-itx mobo which is much smaller, still has built in wifi though. The progidy case is smaller than a midi tower but still has room for large GPUs. I don't mean to confuse you just show what's possibubble for the budget :)
Click to expand...

Don't worry about possible confusion, it's up to me to get up to speed! Basically, you have changed MOBO and PSU to components that don't support xfire because there's a cost saving? Right? Are you saying that it would be more likely that I'd switch a single graphics card for a better upgraded single card as opposed to adding a second card? It's just that I was under the impression that it would be better in future to add a second card rather than upgrade to a better slingle card.

Hope that makes sense (what I just said).
 
honosuseri said:
The mobo is mini-itx which is the smallest, you then have mATX which is bigger and finally ATX which is bigger still, there are ATX-XL mobos but you wont be looking for those.

The prodigy case is smaller than a midi tower but it MUST have a mini-itx mobo to fit inside it. If you want a full sized case then ATX size is the way forward.

There are cheaper PSUs than the one I used but it is of excellent quality, is modular with a gold efficiency rating and not stupidly expensive
Click to expand...

I understand. The case is smaller because it is only intended to house a single graphics card. As for the PSU, I don't see the point in shaving off on cost at the expense of quality as you say.

The big decision here, is whether to make allowances for 2 graphic cards in future. I suppose it comes down to one crucial question. Will it be more cost effective to have one powerful card in place of 2 less powerful cards?
 
Thanks for all the great advice to date. I'll have a think about it all, and I'll get a decision made and post back with what I'm going to build.

By the way, do these mobo's allow for installation of a better chipset in the future i.e. Intel i7?
 
Bacon? said:
The 1155 socket is coming to an end. While the CPU's are still great good there wont be anymore CPU's coming out on this socket. And for gaming the i7 is a pointless upgrade because it only adds Hyperthreading which games don't utilise.
Click to expand...

Perfect. Thanks again guys. Great forum for info!
 
Finally getting round to this and I'll be building in stages due to cash flow and work commitments. First choice for me is he case, and I'm thinking about this one...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-212-CM&tool=3

Is the blue led light in the image an optional choice? I wouldn't want it creating a lot of light. Also, the spec states USB 2.0 but I didn't think the case would dictate that, surely if I want USB 3.0 then that will be dictated by the motherboard or a pci slot?
 
stulid said:
There is a button on the top which turns the blue illumination on/off.


USB3.0 uses a 19pin internal connector, this is different from USB2.0 connector, if you want a case with USB3.0, get a case that does have USB3.0.
Click to expand...

Thanks, the similar model with USB 3.0 isn't much more expensive. Seems to be decent case for price, with plenty of room for expansion which is what I need because no doubt this system is going to evolve!
 
I need to choose a power supply. I intend to fit 2 maybe 3 HDD's, a SSD drive, I might even go for more than one graphics card. Is the following power supply suggested earlier in the thread enough to "future proof" me for adding components as I go along?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-048-CS

I'm just trying to double check everything before I place orders. Many thanks for any assistance.
 
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