Final check before ordering

max76249 · 20 Jul 2011 at 11:05

Hey guys.

I'm looking to order my components today, but I wanted to run it past the experts before clicking the order button. For my budget of £650, can i get better? I just want to make sure I'm getting the best I can for my money.

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Dirt3 PC Game £209.99

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £155.99

MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** *WITH FREE MSI GRENADE* £114.98

Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £89.99

Antec High Current Gamer 620W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £33.98

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £21.98

Total: £734.50 (with shipping)

No OS, monitor, keyboard, mouse or case needed.

Thanks!

timmillwood · 20 Jul 2011 at 11:22

Looks nice, I hear this cooler http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-029-CM is a little better and only a few pound more.

My only other suggestion would be a Z68 motherboard like the Asrock Z68 Extreme4, although it's £30 more and it's debatable if the features would be any use. Personally I think they are worth it for £30.

max76249 · 20 Jul 2011 at 11:45

OK I've changed the CPU cooler. I was looking at the Z68 board, would it have a noticeable effect? If so, would a cheaper one have a similar effect?

max76249 · 20 Jul 2011 at 15:44

Any other changes needed or does all look good? I'm looking to order in the next hour.

shadow_boxer · 20 Jul 2011 at 15:53

Looks good to me. Have a look to see if Intel Smart Response Technology/Lucid Virtu is needed. Given that you haven't spec'd a SSD and if it's mainly for gaming you may as well stick to that MSI P67 board.

R088ieS86 · 20 Jul 2011 at 16:03

Looks good to me.
The GD53 can do SLi if you need a card later on but the power supply you have probably won't handle another card.
But for here an now, great!

Moothead2 · 20 Jul 2011 at 16:13

The Antec should be able to power another 560Ti.

max76249 · 20 Jul 2011 at 16:50

Thanks for the info, I will be buying an SSD in the not-too-distant future, will that effect the mobo?

R088ieS86 · 20 Jul 2011 at 16:53

Moothead2 said:
The Antec should be able to power another 560Ti.

HardOCP's review showed that 2x pulled 628W, full system.
As that test was done on a X58 platform, sandybridge does use slight slightly power, but you don't want to be pushing it too hard.

shadow_boxer · 20 Jul 2011 at 16:58

Yeah, cutting it too fine with the 620W PSU for SLI.

max76249 · 20 Jul 2011 at 17:14

Don't plan on SLI any time soon, but thanks for the tip. However, I do plan to install an SSD, will that make a big difference to my mobo selection?

shadow_boxer · 20 Jul 2011 at 17:25

No it won't. Your board has SATA III (6GB/s) so any of the newer drives will work and will be backward compatible too with SATA II SSDs. Regarding PSU, if you get a 750W now it'll save you upgrading that later or get a cheaper board that doesn't have SLI and save a bit. When installing be sure to detach any other hard drives and enable AHCI mode in the BIOS (sata controller). Plenty of threads in the HDD section on what to do.

Bolo_Santosi · 20 Jul 2011 at 19:33

Could you stretch to £200 and get a 6950 2gb? I think you'll find it an upgrade from the 560ti.

max76249 · 21 Jul 2011 at 02:03

Thanks guys, the advice is great! I'm going with the 6950 and a nice SSD. The SSD takes me over budget but that's OK. Is an extra £17 for

XFX Pro 750W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £79.99

worth it (allow me to upgrade to SLI in the future)?