Building PC - First time.

[SlothTech]

Hey all.

I've been after a decent PC (evidently gaming purpose) for a while now.
I roughly have a £1,000 budget, however, can increase that if need be.

I had a friend round who knows 'his stuff' to help me build one; this is what we came up with.

Any feedback/opinions would be incredibly helpful


Intel Core i7-2600 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail

XFX ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

BitFenix Colossus Blue & Red LED Big Tower Case - White

Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 850W V2 High Performance Power Supply (CMPSU-850TXV2UK)

LG BH10LS30 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM)

G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-17000CL9D-4GBXL) X2

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366)

 

[SlothTech]

Btw op, what monitor do you have at what resolution?

Thanks for all the comments guys - really grateful, will look into them in a min!

I have two, but the one I'll use will probably be the Samsung SYNCMASTER 92470HD 1920 X 1080

Another question all - ATI or NVIDIA Graphics cards?

Thanks

 

[SlothTech]

Not sure where you are buying from,but this is cheap - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-119-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

Thanks, will take a look.

All from Overclockers

Can if worms opened there mate.

I'd say at you res and overall budget the 6950 is the perfect card. You could buy a cheaper case and go for a nvidia 580 though. You would definitely notice a difference for the extra.

Thanks for the feedback.

Aha, I see. The only reason I'm buying the case is becuase I have a slight fetish for it.

 

[SlothTech]

*accidental post*

 

[SlothTech]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £227.99
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
1 x BitFenix Colossus Blue & Red LED Big Tower Case - Black £133.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.99


1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £79.99
1 x XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Intel 320 Series 40GB 2.5" SATA-II 25nm Solid State Hard Drive - OEM with FREE Operation Flashpoint: Red River Game £69.98
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATAII Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
Total : £1,062.60 (includes shipping : £14.75).



with that craaazy case

Thankyou for that, really good of you

Yes it is crazy, there seem to be mixed opinions on it. I'll probably go for the white version too.

edit: Will post an updated list from the great feeback soon.

 

[SlothTech]

Yeah, not sure about SSD, although Intel claims the 320 is specifically geared towards SRT, the Vertex could actually do a better job (and it's bigger).

EDIT : It's actually the Intel 311 20GB to provide support for SRT. I'd go with the Vertex 60GB. Nice SSD, that.

Ok sounds good, cheers.

I'm abit of newbie here so don't laugh - What will this internal hard drive replaace from my original list?

thanks,

 

[SlothTech]

Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £227.99
(£189.99) £227.99
(£189.99) XFX ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
(£166.66) £199.99
(£166.66) Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66) BitFenix Colossus Blue & Red LED Big Tower Case - White £126.98
(£105.82) £126.98
(£105.82) Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 850W V2 High Performance Power Supply (CMPSU-850TXV2UK) £106.99
(£89.16) £106.99
(£89.16) OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G) £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99) LG BH10LS30 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) £86.99
(£72.49) £86.99
(£72.49) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66) Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66) Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £19.99
(£16.66) £19.99
(£16.66)

this is what its looking like now.

 

[SlothTech]

Right cheers for all the help.
Really great bunch here it seems

I'm grateful!

 

[SlothTech]

The SSD acts as a cache for the hard drive, basically making the files that are the most accessed quicker to respond by cahcing them on the SSD. If you want an equivalent, look up the Momentus XT technology. It's a better version of that, with a much bigger cache capacity (basically, a whole SSD).

Alternatively, you can use the SSD as a regular drive and install windows on it, as well as your applications and a few games, but using the Intel Smart Response Tech and the SSD as a cache drive gives you a lot more freedom, as you wont be restricted by the SSD size, and even your most popular games will be accelerated transparently.

The Seagate Barracuda is a replacement for your drive. If you already have a drive you are happy with, then just use that.

Bear in mind than with a complete system overhaul, you will have to re-install windows, and possibly format your current drive. So you may need a new drive if you want to back up your stuff first or not reformat, and hopefully you already have Win7.

If you are unsure about the SSD, you can remove it from the budget. You can add a SSD later for caching, once you are happy to do so. You don't need a big drive either.

The likely outcome of ading SSD cache will be a much faster boot time, your favorite programs will load quicker, as well as some of your games.

Thanks for explaining, will probably come back to this quote in the near future.

Really helped