First time build - Advice needed

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 03:51

Hey everyone,

So this'll be my first ever build. Before I've just used this iMac, but I've been getting seriously ****ed off at the inability to customize anything from it, not to mention I only ever use bootcamp now anyway, so its time to upgrade.

Here is what I have in mind so far:

Asus P8P67 Pro B3 revision Intel 1155 motherboard
Intel Core i5-2500K SandyBridge Quadcore 3.3ghz
Sapphire Toxic HD Radeon 6850 1GB GPU
Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz Dual channel Ram @ 1.50v
2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200rpm HDDs
Either a Cooler Master HAF 932 or a HAF X
Edimax PCI Wifi card/300mbps/802.11n with 3 aerials
LG DVD-RW SATA
Corsair HX 750W modular PSU

I'll be using this build predominantly for a mix of gaming and audio production, with some usage of photoshop mixed in. I'll also be storing a lot of films and music on here, normally in quite high quality.

At the moment, the cost of this build on [Edit: someplace somewhere] is around £950, which is roughly my budget. Is this a good deal, or should I look elsewhere? I've browsed your site a little, but the parts seem to be slightly more expensive here. As it is, I'm unsure where is the best place to buy, so your advice here is greatly appreciated.

Also, in regards to cooling.. Should I buy the extra fans for the HAF case? Also should I get one of those CPU coolers? i.e. the Arctic Cooler? If so, I'm not entirely sure which is best for my price range/CPU, and what paste I should buy, if any.

I've done my research and the PSU seems good. Lots of headroom in case I want to put in another card in crossfire later, which is likely, and it seems to be a very good quality make.

Also is the HAF X worth it over the HAF 932? I won't overclock straight away after I get the computer, as I've never done it before, but in the future it is again likely.

Your help will be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 11:33

Alright, thanks for the advice everyone.

As regards to the 2TB.. I'm going by the golden law here that no matter how many hard drives you have, they will inevitably be filled. However, I am willing to drop a hard drive if necessary to lower my price. Perhaps in the future when I have more money I'll buy an SSD, they're just very expensive at the moment. Also boot times aren't my greatest concern, as I just hit the power button and then go downstairs to grab a coffee.

Yeah, I can see the point in a CPU cooler. I guess I'll buy one, they're pretty cheap, and I imagine they'll be essential if I ever wanted to OC in the future. I've read around your forums more and I may as well buy some spare paste too, its very cheap per tube. I'm still trying to decide between the 932 and the X, but I shouldn't imagine that it'd make the greatest difference, as they're both full sized cases, am I right?

Also, is it worth it trying to save money by buying OEM parts? In some cases they're around 10-20% cheaper, but much less warranty and I don't think its guaranteed that they're unmodded/perfectly working?

I've had a look round your website and I can't seem to find the Sapphire Toxic HD Radeon 6850 for sale, you don't seem to have it here.. If I were to buy from here, can you recommend any other decent cards? I'm seeing the 6870 in some cases for around only £167 (Asus version), which is only £7 more than the toxic I was looking at. Is the 870 worth it over the 850 at this price difference? Are there any other ATI cards you recommend for my system?

Final question.. Cables. I guess that if I buy the whole thing retail, I won't have to buy extra cables, am I right? However, if I get some parts OEM, and I'm unsure as I've never bought parts before, they will come without the cables I need? How can I be sure that I'll receive all the correct cables?

Thanks

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 11:54

Alright, that looks interesting.. You say that OEM parts come without cables though.. Would I therefore have to figure out what I need and buy them all separately? That could get very fiddly imo. Still, I'll see if I can cut down to hit one of those deals you were on about, the 6950s do look good. Would they be too overkill for the rest of my system, though?

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 13:25

Ok, sounds great. I've looked more at the 6950s, and how they can easily be unlocked to 70s. They look absolutely great.

This is what I'm planning on getting now:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
Coolermaster HAF 932 Case - Black £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8) £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXUK) £94.99
(£79.16) £94.99
(£79.16)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
Sub Total : £743.25
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £151.40
Total : £908.40

As you can see, I'm getting 3 OEM parts. I guess I can probably find the correct cables for the HDD and optical drive very easily, I'm just not sure about the CPU. Never installed one before, but I don't think they even use cables? Still, its around £30 cheaper, so definitely worth it

Oh yeah, and I notice that the i5-2500K I've selected comes with onboard HD3000 graphics? I assume you'd be able to turn it off if needed? And would it run alongside the 6950 or not?

Anyway, what do you think of these choices? And thanks very much for the help so far, you've managed to cut around £50 pounds off while giving me more power

Edit: Also, as I'm selling an imac, I'll need a new monitor, mouse and keyboard. As I'm already spending £900, I'd prefer them to be cheap.
However, the monitor I would like to be at least 1680x1050 resolutions. The keyboard and mouse I don't really mind, so long as they work well for things such as gaming. Any suggestions?

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 16:57

OK, I've been wondering around the shop a bit more..

What would be a good CPU cooler? So far I've looked at the Akasa Venom cooler and the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.

Also, is it worth buying aftermarket thermal paste and cleaner, such as Arctic 5? Or will it come with enough paste for use?

Thanks

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 17:56

Well, these are the new full listings..

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
(£179.99) £215.99
(£179.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £110.39
(£91.99) £110.39
(£91.99)
Coolermaster HAF 932 Case - Black £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8) £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXUK) £94.99
(£79.16) £94.99
(£79.16)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Microsoft SideWinder X6 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (AGB-00006) £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Gigabyte M8000X 6000DPI Gaming Mouse £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
OcUK Value 2m DVI Male - Male Monitor Cable (DV-106) £4.99
(£4.16) £4.99
(£4.16)
Sub Total : £940.20
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £22.20
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £192.48
Total : £1,154.88

I would say thats enough

Its still cheaper than an iMac though, so thats good.

Anyone see any problems with it, or things that I should improve?

And will I have enough cables to connect everything up?

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 18:58

maj: The issues are fixed with the B3 revision as far as I know, so it should be fine.

And Liam: Yeah I'd prefer a better mouse, but I really don't want to spend ANY more money

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 18:59

Oh and I'm considering changing the RAM.. We'll see when I order. The cooling on them is huge, might get in the way, and I want everything to fit perfectly, especially as the card and CPU cooler is rather large.

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:39

Mike306 said:
Spec looks good.

If you are concerned about the height of the Vengeance ram and CPU Cooler impeding the RAM slots take a look at this. You will need to make sure that the case in your spec will accommodate this cooler as it is very tall. It comes supplied with a quiet fan.

Hmm, unfortunately that doesn't fit on the socket. I'll have to think about the Vengeance RAM. Is there any kind of.. case calculator where you enter your parts and it sees if they will fit? Or is it a matter of trial and error?

EDIT: Heh, kd you posted that just as I posted this... yeah I guess I'll grab one of those, thanks for the advice.

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:45

Ok, I went for the GeIL. Its cheaper and its the only one which shows it has 1.5 voltage..

Might sound silly, but just to confirm.. 1.4-1.6 voltage DOES allow for 1.5? Its not some odd maths defying term?

Ok, now, to search for a better, yet cheaper, mouse!

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:50

Mike306 said:
It fits socket LGA1155.

Thermalright Archon CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/AM2/AM3)

Oops I missed that.

Anyway, as it is I'll probably stick with the venom and go for the cheaper Ram. Saves me around £50, and this is getting pretty expensive.

Ok, so the new list:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
(£179.99) £215.99
(£179.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £110.39
(£91.99) £110.39
(£91.99)
Coolermaster HAF 932 Case - Black £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXUK) £94.99
(£79.16) £94.99
(£79.16)
GeIL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP38GB1600C9DC) £83.99
(£69.99) £83.99
(£69.99)
Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse (910-001262) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Microsoft SideWinder X6 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (AGB-00006) £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
OcUK Value 2m DVI Male - Male Monitor Cable (DV-106) £4.99
(£4.16) £4.99
(£4.16)
Sub Total : £921.03
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £22.20
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £188.65
Total : £1,131.88

I swapped the mouse for the G500

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:59

Mike306 said:
Both same price!!! Both will do 1.5v

Geil will be fine.

Heh, but the Corsair was on offer to the same price

So in the coming weeks, when I come around to buy, this'll be cheaper.

Faustie · 15 Mar 2011 at 23:10

Hopefully I'll be buying it at the end of this month. I'll be watching for offers then, but what I have now seems best, and without offers it'll only be around £20 more, I imagine.

Faustie · 16 Mar 2011 at 00:22

smiley1987 said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-005-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1497

This psu is very highly rated and its has more power out put then the corsair for future upgrades .

Did some more research, it seems great. Thanks man, you just saved me around £15 more.

Future proofing is good, too.

So now its..

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
(£179.99) £215.99
(£179.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £110.39
(£91.99) £110.39
(£91.99)
Coolermaster HAF 932 Case - Black £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
GeIL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP38GB1600C9DC) £83.99
(£69.99) £83.99
(£69.99)
XFX Pro 850W Core Edition Power Supply £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse (910-001262) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Microsoft SideWinder X6 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (AGB-00006) £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
OcUK Value 2m DVI Male - Male Monitor Cable (DV-106) £4.99
(£4.16) £4.99
(£4.16)
Sub Total : £908.53
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £20.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £185.73
Total : £1,114.36

Awesome

Faustie · 16 Mar 2011 at 18:25

Oh dear.

The Asus ATI Radeon HD 6950 is no longer available on your store. It is not in the search menu and if I click on it from my basket I can't get to it.

Is this just a temporary thing because they are out of stock? Should I worry? Or should I find a different brand of 6950?

Faustie · 16 Mar 2011 at 19:31

Yeah the corsair I had first was modular.. I'll see if theres a modular version of the XFX 850w. I'm trying to get a mix between saving money, power for future upgrades and good management.

Also, any news on why the Asus 6950 has disappeared from the store?

Faustie · 16 Mar 2011 at 19:35

Considering this...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-193-CM

Wondering about the cooler master.. I mean it is a cooler master case, so the two should fit nicely.. What do you guys think?

Faustie · 16 Mar 2011 at 21:47

Well, I could always go for a lesser one, but I need to make sure its big enough to fit all of my components, especially as I wish to keep space in case I plan to have another card in Xfire in the future. Not to mention that this HAF apparently has amazing cooling capabilities, which will be useful for when I want to overclock. Seems a pretty solid thing, to me. I want the carrier for all my expensive components to be high quality stuff.

Also, don't want to sound like I'm bugging here, but.. Does anyone at all know what happened to the Asus 6950? It seemed like a really sweet deal, and I was really hoping to be able to buy it from this store alongside everything else.

Faustie · 16 Mar 2011 at 22:51

Well.. I've successfully been BULLIED by some people on Steam into buying an SSD. 64GB for running windows and whatever game is my current.

OH MY DAYS I CAN SMELL THE SPEED.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £114.98
(£95.82) £114.98
(£95.82)
Coolermaster HAF 932 Case - Black £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Coolermaster Silent Pro Modular 850W Power Supply £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1) £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
GeIL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP38GB1600C9DC) £83.99
(£69.99) £83.99
(£69.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse (910-001262) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Microsoft SideWinder X6 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (AGB-00006) £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3) £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
OcUK Value 2m DVI Male - Male Monitor Cable (DV-106) £4.99
(£4.16) £4.99
(£4.16)
Sub Total : £1,038.18
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £22.20
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £212.08
Total : £1,272.46

I've replaced the Asus with an MSI which I've heard is great. Similar pricing too. But.. anyone know a way to lower the cost a tadbit? Its hitting higher numbers than I initially expected now.

Faustie · 16 Mar 2011 at 23:39

Ok, I've gone for the Antec Truepower 750w... I presume it'll go fine in my case? I guess it will, but I'm only asking because I saw another Antec PSU that was designed only for Antec cases.