First Ever PC Build

azibux1

azibux1

azibux1

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Hi all,

This is my first post here, I joined recently because I want to build a PC and wanted some advice. :)

I am going to be using the PC for day-to-day use, watching movies, programming, a bit of gaming and maybe a bit of photo editing. So I am not going for an extreme gaming PC, I just want a fast/better than average PC, that can be used for all of the above, and that I can say I have built myself.

I do not want to spend too much, my budget for the PC is around £750 incl VAT, I'd prefer it it was closer to the £700 mark, and obviously cheaper than that is even better :D

Below is what I'm thinking of:

- Intel i5 2500k 3.3GHz Sandybridge 1155
- MSI P67A-G45 Intel P67 (1155)
- Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB
- MSI GeForce GT 430 OC Twin FrozR 1024MB
- WD Caviar Black, 1TB
- OCZ Agility 60GB SSD
- Samsung BluRay Drive
- Samsung DVD RW
- Akasa Venom CPU Cooler
- DeepCool Ultra Silent 80mm Fan X2
- Gelid Silent 120mm Fan
- OcUK Case
- OCZ ModXStream 600w Silent Modular PSU

Total: £727.85 incl VAT

What do you think?

I know that some say 4GB RAM is enough, but like others say at the moment for the price you might as well go for 8GB.

So other than the RAM, is any extra money being spent anywhere it shouldn't be? And am I missing anything?

A few questions:

Firstly, is everything I have specced compatible? Enough slots on motherboard for everything etc?

How do I know what wattage PSU I need? And is the one I specced 'fully' modular or not? Because the one that I specced above I just randomly added to give me a rough guide on price as I was not sure on the wattage, so that may not necessarily have all the necessary connections.

Are there any reasonable priced graphics cards that have two HDMI outputs? So I can have one for my monitor and one for my TV if I'm watching a movie. Or is there a better way of doing this?

Are all the cables that I would need for this build included with this or do they need to be purchased separately ?

I 'might' overclock it, but I definitely do not want to damage anything. When it says "Automatically overclock CPU and Memory in 1 second", how does this work and more importantly is it totally safe to do? Is it like a button/switch that motherboards have that allow you to instantly overclock them? I heard about that from this video, mentioned at 4m20sec into the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yer955E7T6w

What is the difference between P67, H67, H61 Chipset and for my processor which do I need, or are they all compatible?

Does the blu-ray drive burn/read normal CD's/DVD's?

What is the main difference between the WD Caviar Green, and Caviar Black? The overclockers website does not say the spin speed of the green one?

Similar to the PSU, I wasn't at all sure on the case, and it was just added to give a guide on price, so I didn't check if it has enough space for the things I am looking at (apart from fans, which is the reason I specced those fans). So is there a better case for a reasonable price, preferably with a window and USB ports on it? I'm not sure which cases are good.

Are fan controllers worth the money?

Is the SSD worth the money for the faster boot times? I think it is, but what do you all say? And is it an issue with having an SSD for the OS, and another drive for your files etc? What I mean by that is do programs install ok onto the drive that does not have the OS on and does the PC try to install things onto the SSD as default because that is where the OS is, then you have to keep changing the install location every time you install anything?


That's all the questions I can think of for now, but I'm sure I'll probably have more soon.

Also I am going to London International Technology Show on Saturday where they are supposed to have discounted prices, so I'm hoping to buy certain things from there that I know will be compatible with whatever I buy from Overclockers, like Blu-Ray drive, HDD/SSD etc and try and save some money.


So what do you think?

Look forward to your replies and thanks in advance,
Azibux1 :)

EDIT: Is a watercooling system for the CPU worth the money in this sort of build or not? And if so, which (reasonably priced one) do you recommend?

Also, I know it would be stretching the budget but if it is worth it, then it may be possible. Would it be worth the money to minus the CPU, motherboard, CPU cooler and RAM from my build and swap it with either of the following (probably the cheaper option of the two) as it would be much safer than overclocking it myself:
Krypton Z68 Intel i5 2500k 3.3GHz overclocked to 4.6GHz bundle
Krypton Z68 Intel i5 2500k 3.3GHz overclocked to 4.4GHz bundle
 
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have a look at the BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Windowed or Zalman Z9 Plus Case.

i wouldn't go for an ssd drive on the budget shown above, instead move the monies to upgrade the graphics card to the ati 6850, and a cpu cooler like the Corsair A50, one you spec'd has push pins to locate it to the motherboard and i don't really like them, as they can be a pain to fit securly.

the green drives slower than the blacks, decent alternative is the Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB.

graphics card wise go with the dvi connection to your monitor and hdmi to tv, then you can run sound via the hdmi to the tv.
 
I agree with mp260767.

An SSD (and the same with RAM) is something you can easily upgrade to in the future, and if you don't need it right now, it can wait. If you use that money and get a better Graphics card, you will have a much better system.

You can't "upgrade" a graphics card cheap, you have to buy a whole new one. Where as adding an SSN/RAM is easier.

That GPU wont do much in terms of gaming, unfortunately. For watching movies will be fine though.
 
mp260767 said:
have a look at the BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Windowed or Zalman Z9 Plus Case.

i wouldn't go for an ssd drive on the budget shown above, instead move the monies to upgrade the graphics card to the ati 6850, and a cpu cooler like the Corsair A50, one you spec'd has push pins to locate it to the motherboard and i don't really like them, as they can be a pain to fit securly.

the green drives slower than the blacks, decent alternative is the Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB.

graphics card wise go with the dvi connection to your monitor and hdmi to tv, then you can run sound via the hdmi to the tv.
Click to expand...

Just looked at both those cases you mentioned, I like the BitFenix one you said, but the window does not look clear or is that just the way the picture is?

OK I'll leave the SSD for now then, and make it a future upgrade instead.

Can you recommend an Nvidia graphics card please, because I have been told they are better than ATI and ATI crash a lot, so best to go for Nvidia (a friend who uses ATI told me that, and said he regrets getting ATI)

And I will change the cooler for an A50 as I also read somewhere that said make sure you do not to get a push-pin one, but I just didn't realise the Akasa was a push-pin style.

Thanks for the info about the wiring, never used DVI before so assumed HDMI was best, but I just googled and found out that image quality is the same, the only difference is the DVI doesn't carry audio. So I will use the above setup you mentioned.

With the Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB, would it be worth spending the little extra and going for the WD Caviar Black instead due to the SATA 6GB/s, 64mb cache and longer warranty I'd get?

Monkeynut said:
That PSU is not the best and has received lukewarm reviews. It's a little (literally) overrated. (as to what wattage it can do) I suggest this one instead:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-118-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088
Click to expand...

OK Thanks,

Would that PSU you posted a link to be suitable, wattage wise? All I will be adding in the future is probably an SSD and maybe some interior case lighting, fans etc.

Also I see it isn't fully modular. I take it fully modular ones are very expensive, or only come in higher wattages? The only reason I wanted modular is to make cable management easier, will it be easy to hide the cables that are attached to this, are all the cables that are attached ones that are definitely going to be used? So that way there won't be much to hide
barneystuta said:
I agree with mp260767.

An SSD (and the same with RAM) is something you can easily upgrade to in the future, and if you don't need it right now, it can wait. If you use that money and get a better Graphics card, you will have a much better system.

You can't "upgrade" a graphics card cheap, you have to buy a whole new one. Where as adding an SSN/RAM is easier.

That GPU wont do much in terms of gaming, unfortunately. For watching movies will be fine though.
Click to expand...

I understand what you and mp260767 are saying, and I am going to leave the SSD out for now, and make it a future upgrade instead. But for the £13 more (or only £10 on current offer) I am going to go for the 8GB RAM now instead of 4GB, as it just makes sense to.

Can you suggest me an Nvidia graphics card that is better than what I specced please? The reason for that is because I have been told they are better than ATI and ATI crash a lot, so best to go for Nvidia (a friend who uses ATI told me that, and said he regrets getting ATI)




Thanks for all the help everyone :D
 
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azibux1 said:
Can you suggest me an Nvidia graphics card that is better than what I specced please? The reason for that is because I have been told they are better than ATI and ATI crash a lot, so best to go for Nvidia (a friend who uses ATI told me that, and said he regrets getting ATI)

Thanks for all the help everyone :D
Click to expand...

What is your budget then? Are we talking the GPU budget plus the SSD money (so around £135?)

I have a Nvidia card, and I have a 560 ti. A great card for the price, but slightly over £135. Cheapest one is here - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-247-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat= but you get Batman for free, so if you was planning to get that anyway, a decent deal.

As you can see here, the 560 ti out performs the ATI card (6870, similar price) in most cases (and most games) - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/330?vs=290

Of course, you can always pay a bit more, but if you want Nvidia, I would highly recommend that card. I have a EVGA version, which is very clockable too, which is a nice bonus. Has played everything I have thrown at it at good resolutions (1080p) at very high settings.

If it is over budget (I know you can always keep adding more, and before you know it, you are spending over £200 :D), I would recommend saving for it. An "in budget" card is the 560 (note not the 560 ti), but it is NOT the same card, and the extra performance in the 560ti is worth it.

EDIT: Just seen deal of the day and the 6870 is on offer at the moment, deal of the day - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-143-OK . I would possibly consider that, but it is an ATI card. If you prefer Nvidia, then 560 ti all the way imo.
 
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barneystuta said:
What is your budget then? Are we talking the GPU budget plus the SSD money (so around £135?)

I have a Nvidia card, and I have a 560 ti. A great card for the price, but slightly over £135. Cheapest one is here - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-247-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat= but you get Batman for free, so if you was planning to get that anyway, a decent deal.

As you can see here, the 560 ti out performs the ATI card (6870, similar price) in most cases (and most games) - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/330?vs=290

Of course, you can always pay a bit more, but if you want Nvidia, I would highly recommend that card. I have a EVGA version, which is very clockable too, which is a nice bonus. Has played everything I have thrown at it at good resolutions (1080p) at very high settings.

If it is over budget (I know you can always keep adding more, and before you know it, you are spending over £200 :D), I would recommend saving for it. An "in budget" card is the 560 (note not the 560 ti), but it is NOT the same card, and the extra performance in the 560ti is worth it.

EDIT: Just seen deal of the day and the 6870 is on offer at the moment, deal of the day - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-143-OK . I would possibly consider that, but it is an ATI card. If you prefer Nvidia, then 560 ti all the way imo.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, it all makes sense

Yes, graphics card budget + SSD money :) I will buy the SSD at a later date

I do not know a lot about graphics cards, that's why I specced that original one, but if you say not to get the original one I specced and that the 560Ti is worth the money, and my friend also said go with Nvidia, the 560Ti is probably what I will go with. :D

Also thanks for that link to the comparison site, was good to be able to compare it to the ATI equivalent :)

And thanks for the info about deal of the day, but I'm going to stick with Nvidia I thnk :)

Would choosing this graphics card require a higher wattage PSU than what monkeynut suggested? Or will that one be OK?
 
At stock speeds, you will be fine. I run my system off a 550w, and for a one card set up, you will be OK. 600w would give you an extra bit of leg room, but so far 550w been fine for me. If you are unsure, check here - http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp stick your numbers in and see what comes out.

If you want the extra leg room, then a 650w maybe worth it, but only if you plan to upgrade in the near future. Otherwise you will be wasting on the electricity bill for quiet a while I think.
 
barneystuta said:
At stock speeds, you will be fine. I run my system off a 550w, and for a one card set up, you will be OK. 600w would give you an extra bit of leg room, but so far 550w been fine for me. If you are unsure, check here - http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp stick your numbers in and see what comes out.

If you want the extra leg room, then a 650w maybe worth it, but only if you plan to upgrade in the near future. Otherwise you will be wasting on the electricity bill for quiet a while I think.
Click to expand...

Alright, I'll check out that website later and see what it says.

All I will be planning on upgrading to is an SSD in the future, so I'm guessing 550w will be fine?

turanafon said:
nvidia 560 card at least
Click to expand...

Yep :) I think I'm going to go for the 560Ti that barneystuta suggested
 
azibux1 said:
Alright, I'll check out that website later and see what it says.

All I will be planning on upgrading to is an SSD in the future, so I'm guessing 550w will be fine?
Click to expand...

I don't see any reason why not. Don't think an SSD is a power hungry component.

The CPU/GPU are the big power eaters, and you should be fine with that.
 
Here we go, I will try my best to answer some of the questions.


Firstly, is everything I have specced compatible? Enough slots on motherboard for everything etc?

Looks like it to me. Obviously with the changes people have recommended. The mobo is SLI ready if/when needed in the future, so has the slots to do that. The mobo is a 1155 socket, the socket needed for a i5 2500k.

The mobo has plenty of USB 2.0 ports, and some USB 3.0 ports.




How do I know what wattage PSU I need?

Use the link above, will help give you a guide http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp Should be OK with what people have recommended above, and a modular PSU keeps everything very tidy in the case.

Are there any reasonable priced graphics cards that have two HDMI outputs? So I can have one for my monitor and one for my TV if I'm watching a movie. Or is there a better way of doing this?

Not sure about this on the cards, sorry. But most (all really) will come with a DVI port. You can buy a DVI>HDMI connector (very cheap) and it will still carry the audio to your TV speakers.

Are all the cables that I would need for this build included with this or do they need to be purchased separately ?

Your motherboard will come with a load of cables for the SATA connections, as will the PSU (power cables). There will be converters included too (if needed). Between all you parts, you will have pretty much every cable you need, with spares too.

I 'might' overclock it, but I definitely do not want to damage anything. When it says "Automatically overclock CPU and Memory in 1 second", how does this work and more importantly is it totally safe to do? Is it like a button/switch that motherboards have that allow you to instantly overclock them? I heard about that from this video, mentioned at 4m20sec into the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yer955E7T6w

Overclocking the 2500k is easy. The software clocks are good for getting a feel of what your PC can do. Then, once you have that settled and you are happy with it, you can easily update the bios. I had never overclocked before until my first build (the 2500k last month). And it really is very easy. Read the guide in the overclocking forum, plenty of help there.

What is the difference between P67, H67, H61 Chipset and for my processor which do I need, or are they all compatible?

Hmm I can't find the video which described the differences. But a very basic summary is this:

- H67 - On board graphics (not needed if your getting a GPU) can't overclock (or extremely hard to)
- P67 - Overclock capability, no onboard graphics at all, but not needed if you have a GPU
- Z68 - Basically has the best of both, and other little tweaks/extras too.

I personally went for a Z68, and I am happy with that.

Does the blu-ray drive burn/read normal CD's/DVD's?

Yes.

What is the main difference between the WD Caviar Green, and Caviar Black? The overclockers website does not say the spin speed of the green one?

Don't know on this on sorry. Maybe email customer services see if they can shed some light on them? I am guessing the colour is the difference, but I don't know :D

Similar to the PSU, I wasn't at all sure on the case, and it was just added to give a guide on price, so I didn't check if it has enough space for the things I am looking at (apart from fans, which is the reason I specced those fans). So is there a better case for a reasonable price, preferably with a window and USB ports on it? I'm not sure which cases are good.

The case you linked to comes with a stock PSU (wont be much good for what you want). The 450w kind of gives you a clue, that it wont be a case designed for high performance.

This looks better for the price than what you linked too - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-214-CM&tool=3 it isn't massive, but should fit all you want in it at the moment.

Also, double check the fans you added to your basket. You may need to tweak a few of them for that case.

Naturally, you can spend more, and get a better case, and many people will suggest that. The deal of the day (now expired) for the HAF was excellent value at £49.99, but now back up to full price, unfortunately.

I personally don't care what my case looks like (I have a 932, second hand), but it works great, has loads of space, a good cable management system, but it is damn ugly in my opinion :D

CA-214-CM_31250_400.jpg


A little cramped in their maybe, but you wont have 2 GPU's, so should be OK.

Are fan controllers worth the money?

I don't have one, and unless you plan to massively overclock, it shouldn't be an issue with your set up. On a budget(ish) build, I'd say skip the fan controller, and maybe get a better case. Just my opinion though, others may differ.

Is the SSD worth the money for the faster boot times? I think it is, but what do you all say? And is it an issue with having an SSD for the OS, and another drive for your files etc? What I mean by that is do programs install ok onto the drive that does not have the OS on and does the PC try to install things onto the SSD as default because that is where the OS is, then you have to keep changing the install location every time you install anything?

As above. Skip the SSD until you can afford it. Spending on a better GPU is much better. Waiting a few minutes for the PC to load/game to load and play in high resolution, with very high graphics settings? Or it loads up quickly, and it looks very average/poor.
 
I've used both ati and nvidia cards, can't say I've noticed the ati ones crashing any more than the nvidia ones.

yes the 6870 is slower than the 560ti, but then its also cheaper(the 560ti is £160-£200 where's the 6870 is £130(well with 'today only £120)-£150). if you're creaping towards the £200 mark for the graphics card may as well get the 6950 2gb

for the motherboard I would say the z68 chipset one would be better than the p67 one
 
barneystuta said:
Quoted post about the questions I had and the answers from Barneystuta, I just removed that all from here to make the reply smaller
Click to expand...

Thank You so much for that, it really helps a lot and explained a lot :D

I also really like that Cooler Master Elite 430 case you linked to, that is definitely now my choice of case at the moment :)

fowler002 said:
I've used both ati and nvidia cards, can't say I've noticed the ati ones crashing any more than the nvidia ones.

yes the 6870 is slower than the 560ti, but then its also cheaper(the 560ti is £160-£200 where's the 6870 is £130(well with 'today only £120)-£150). if you're creaping towards the £200 mark for the graphics card may as well get the 6950 2gb

for the motherboard I would say the z68 chipset one would be better than the p67 one
Click to expand...

I don't mind spending the little extra for the Nvidia since it is quicker, I'm not the sort of person that is going to keep upgrading the graphics card so I'm only going to buy it once and it will last me a long while, so that's why I'm spending the little extra and going for Nvidia :)

And thanks, I'll make sure I spec a Z68 Chipset mobo :)



I am going to post a new updated spec soon (about 10 minutes)
 
Updated spec

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £157.99
1 x MSI P67A-G45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £89.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) £67.99
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1333C9D3B1K2/8G) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £39.98
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £736.87 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Few questions again:

What do you think of the new spec, anything need changing?

I went onto the PSU wattage calculator site and put in all the details of everything that I currently have specced (plus a couple of extra fans just in case I add those, and I put the SSD there that I will get in the future), and it suggested 421W so obviously the 550W one I specced is fine...BUT if I add a water cooling system for the CPU in the future, will the 550W still be OK? The reason I did not just add one into the calculator is because I'm not sure which one I might get.

Is the CPU cooler I specced suitable if I choose to overclock the CPU?

And finally, people have suggested I get a Z68 Chipset motherboard but on the Overclockers website the only options for socket 1155 motherboards that have Sandybridge written next to them are the P67, H67 and H61. So can I get a Z68 as I have a Sandybridge processor, even though it does not say Sandybridge next to the Z68 section on the site? I wasn't sure on this, that is why I just specced the original motherboard again to give a guide on price

:D

Let me know what you think,
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £157.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) £67.99
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1333C9D3B1K2/8G) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £39.98
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £726.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).




What do you all think of this spec?

Is the motherboard good? To me it looks good, I also like some of the features like the two physical BIOS ROMs, Gigabyte Touch BIOS and the way you can charge devices through USB while the PC is turned off.

What do you think though?
 
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