Check my build thread please

[smithy1988]

Hi

I'm going to be building a system for my mate in the next couple of months and just want to run your opinions by this. Hes after a gaming pc for the new upcoming total war and FPS games. Haven't built a system since summer last year so not sure if there's any better bang for buck options etc at the minute.

The hope is to get the build in at £800.00. There's scope to save a little with ' this week only offers' and maybe swapping a few things around with your help.

Also are the Sata Hybrid drives worth it at the moment?

Thanks


YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £263.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-HD3 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate 500GB SSHD Solid State Hybrid Drive SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" 5400RPM 64MB - ST500LM000 £67.99
1 x Corsair 2013 Edition Gamer Series GS 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020063-UK) £66.95
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £59.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £20.99
Total : £879.83 (includes shipping : FREE).

 

[Gav_881]

If you can wait until the release of haswell in june you will get about 10% more performance for about the same price.

Personally i would go for SSD and a mech you only need a 60-120Gb SSD as you can use programs like steam mover to put your current games on the SSD and store the rest on the mech. It takes less than 5 mins to move a game BTW and its a simple one click process.

 

[smithy1988]

Yes I think there's a couple of months to play with on the build schedule, so that shouldn't be a problem. Fair enough- I know that's what was recommended last year, just didn't know if things had moved on with the hybrid drives and they were worth opting for rather than separate's.

My friend is unlikely to be overclocking so he doesn't need any aftermarket cpu coolers. Just a good solid system for gaming.

Haswell I assume will run with a new socket- which will mean a different motherboard so probably worth while waiting.

 

[DaleTheWhale]

Yes, Haswell will be running on a 1150 socket rather than 1155, and has hopes to be really good for overclocking, so if your friend want's to be adventurous, plus an after market heatsink make's things cooler and quieter anyway!