Complete new build for £800?

BrianScott1980

BrianScott1980

BrianScott1980

Associate
Joined
19 Jul 2007
Posts
8
Hi,

It's been a few years since my last build so I'm a little out of the loop. I've had a look over the current forum build recommendations and was hoping someone could also kindly provide me a new spec recommendation based on my requirements.

I'm looking for a decent machine for web development and graphic design as I run my own freelance business. That said, I also want something powerful enough to run the latest current gen games at high / ultra whilst building something that should cover me the next 2/3 years at a medium level.

There's one more caveat, I want a decent size monitor for my day to day work activities. Ideally a 27" but I'd come down to a 24" if the spec justifies it. Also, the monitor must be decent quality, colour reproduction and accuracy are very important in my day to day tasks. I have a decent keyboard / mouse / speakers and don't need any software as part of the build as I have everything I need through my MSDN licenses.

I'm looking to spend £800 all in, if there's a small difference that you'd recommend then by all means adjust it slightly.

Thanks in advance,
Brian.
 
My current work machine is a Macbook Pro Retina so I'm not planning to use any components from an existing machine. This machine is to be my office computer which I'd also like to use for general gaming.
 
yeah if you got HDD you can use again defiantly do it!

if not below with 24" monitor should be good. i've put an i7 on there as im assuming your work would benfit from its hyperthreading technology.

if you do not intend on overclocking at any stage or have no interest could drop that cpu to the locked version, take the coolling heatsink off.

however as the 3770k is on sale this week for only £17 extra i would get it anyways.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £257.99
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £149.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black **BTS £20 CASHBACK** £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £63.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £34.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £31.99
1 x Xigmatek Dark Knight SD-1283 Night Hawk Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 2011/1366/1156/1155/775 and AMD FM1/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £28.08
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £802.49 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
dunn2010 said:
yeah if you got HDD you can use again defiantly do it!

if not below with 24" monitor should be good. i've put an i7 on there as im assuming your work would benfit from its hyperthreading technology.

if you do not intend on overclocking at any stage or have no interest could drop that cpu to the locked version, take the coolling heatsink off.

however as the 3770k is on sale this week for only £17 extra i would get it anyways.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £257.99
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £149.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black **BTS £20 CASHBACK** £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £63.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £34.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £31.99
1 x Xigmatek Dark Knight SD-1283 Night Hawk Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 2011/1366/1156/1155/775 and AMD FM1/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £28.08
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £802.49 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Click to expand...

Hey, thanks a lot! This looks much better than anything I was putting together. I'll need to check out the reviews of the monitor though, anyone had any experience of the cheaper Samsung 24" models?

With regards to the processor, I'm not convinced that the i7 is actually needed. The heaviest work I place on the machine is during compilation of .Net solutions etc which is perfectly acceptable on the i5 in my current MBP. Am I sacrificing GPU performance in order to have the i7 over an i5 in this case?
 
Last edited:
BrianScott1980 said:
Hey, thanks a lot! This looks much better than anything I was putting together. I'll need to check out the reviews of the monitor though, anyone had any experience of the cheaper Samsung 24" models?

With regards to the processor, I'm not convinced that the i7 is actually needed. The heaviest work I place on the machine is during compilation of .Net solutions etc which is perfectly acceptable on the i5 in my current MBP. Am I sacrificing GPU performance in order to have the i7 over an i5 in this case?
Click to expand...

the gpu is a good one with the i7 u would prob see more of a performance boost fro graphic design
 
Last edited:
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7870 IceQ 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H787Q2G2M) w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black **BTS £20 CASHBACK** £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £63.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £49.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1866C10DC) £35.99
1 x Silverstone Precision PS05 USB3.0 Midi-Tower - Black (SST-PS05B) £35.98
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £823.37 (includes shipping : £13.75).




• Again theres £20 cashback on the screen, I've had about four/five Samsung monitors now and find they are perfectly acceptable without any issues or ghosting in games (they do the job so to speak)

• If you can afford more money and really want to get heavily into games at maximum settings, this GFX card is a great price/performance - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-049-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673
 
stulid said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7870 IceQ 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H787Q2G2M) w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung S24B300HL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black **BTS £20 CASHBACK** £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £63.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £49.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1866C10DC) £35.99
1 x Silverstone Precision PS05 USB3.0 Midi-Tower - Black (SST-PS05B) £35.98
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £823.37 (includes shipping : £13.75).




• Again theres £20 cashback on the screen, I've had about four/five Samsung monitors now and find they are perfectly acceptable without any issues or ghosting in games (they do the job so to speak)

• If you can afford more money and really want to get heavily into games at maximum settings, this GFX caat price/performance - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-049-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673
Click to expand...

I really like this spec, seems to meet my requirements of good general work machine with plenty of graphics power. I'm just not sure whether the better cpu or better gpu represents the better value for money as I've lost track of recent components. Which is likely to give higher fps in say battlefield 3 and will it be significantly different ?
 
In games the i7 will not be any better than the i5, so you would be better getting a better graphics card if you interested in gaming.
If you are particularly into battlefield 3, it may interest you that it runs better on Nvidia cards (not to say that AMD cards run it badly). However, there are other games that run on better on AMD cards, so it really depends how important BF3 is to you.
 
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