First build in long time...Expertise needed

Yramesor4

Yramesor4

Yramesor4

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Joined
11 Aug 2012
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9
Hi All, I am planning my first build in about 10 years so I'm a little out of touch. Have done some research but would like to get some expertise on some bits.

I will be using it just for gaming StarCraft 2, WOW, TF2... I don't need OS or monitor or SSD.

I have a loose budget in my head around £500-£600. Can someone help me with a good solid build I was thinking

CPU - Intel I5 3450
MB - no idea???
GPU - No idea they have loads around the same price between £100 and £130 I have no idea whats good and whats not at that price range
Hardrive - anything 500gb and reliable
Ram - 4gb or 8gb don't want to overkill
Case - no idea
PSU - no idea

my only other question is as im not going to overclock do I need to worry about aftermarket cooling

thanks in advance to anyone who helps out
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3450 3.10GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £143.99
1 x Sapphire HD 7770 OC EDITION 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £86.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £39.95
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £32.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £27.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £543.96 (includes shipping : £11.75).



no after market cooler need if not OC'ing but the stock cooler will be noisy so might be an idea?


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3450 3.10GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £143.99
1 x Sapphire HD 7770 OC EDITION 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £86.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £39.95
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £32.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £29.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £27.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £573.95 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
the non "k" i5 is just poor value for money. spending an extra 20 quid will get you an overclockable processor. i know you say that you dont want to overclock, but to get an extra 1ghz for not much outlay, just makes more sense. and besides, there's a wealth of info on how to overclock if you'd just google it
same with the 7770, the gtx460 superclocked can be had for 10ish quid extra and it'll blow the 7770 away
the z77m-d3h isnt a good mobo either, lots of features cut off from a vanilla z77, should get the z77-d3h instead (non-m)

here's my take:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £173.99
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked FTW 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (01G-P3-1363-KR) £124.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.D 500GB SATA 6GB/s 16MB Cache - OEM (0F13178) £49.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £34.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £622.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
Last edited:
i have taken into consideration what you said about the board so i have re chosen a feature rich board but kept the non K version as this board has a feature called
"non K overclocking" so with the saving of a different board i have chosen a better GPU

The non k overclocking does just that

Overclocking is no longer for K-series CPU users only, for those CPUs that aren’t K-series, ASRock No-K OC can unleash your CPU’s power by boosting its frequency with just one click.
Click to expand...

taken from asrocks website

560ti poss

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti Hawk 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £161.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3450 3.10GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £143.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £59.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £39.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £29.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £27.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £601.85 (includes shipping : FREE).



560 poss (keeps costs in the price green)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3450 3.10GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £143.99
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (01G-P3-1463-KR) £139.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £59.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £39.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £29.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £27.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £579.85 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
Last edited:
that's not just an asrock feature (or a "feature" at all, really), but something that all non-k sandy and ivy i5s and i7s can do, cuz of limited unlock.
it allows you to raise turbo multipliers by up to 400Mhz each
hOgdp.jpg


that's for the 3550, so for the 3450, you will be able to oc 3.9ghz max with one core in use, 3.8 with two, 3.7 with three, and finally, 3.6 with all 4 cores in use
 
thanks for the revisions and input, lots to consider :)

do you think it would be more beneficial to go for a "K" version i5 and pay a little more or use that little extra to get a better Graphics Card? like the GTX 560
 
imo, if you get a non-k i5, the next upgrade you have to do will include the cpu (and hence, also the mobo) and the gpu. if you get the i5k, the next upgrade is simply overclocking the i5k and a new gpu.
saving a few $$$ for a non-k cpu is essentially false economy
 
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