First timer - Build help and general advice

ZaccaV

ZaccaV

ZaccaV

Associate
Joined
3 Oct 2011
Posts
24
Hi there!

I've had a prebuilt pc for over five years but with the impending release of BF3 and a few other games I felt it was time to treat myself to something that can keep up. My current system has lasted me extreamely well, I upgraded the GPU and PSU thats all. I would love to build something that has equal longevity.

My current PSU is a OCZ700 MXSP was hoping to just use that to save a few quid, not sure if it will be sufficient though?

My budget is £900, my first crack is below if anyone would have a look I'd really appreciate it. I'm not super savvy when it comes to pc's so if I've made any glaring errors let me know.

Thanks in advance :)

EVGA GeForce GTX 580 DS SuperClocked 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £389.99
(£324.99) £389.99

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
(£139.99) £167.99

Asus P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99

OcUK Ice Box - Antec 300 Gaming Case (Purple LED Fans) £71.99
(£59.99) £71.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40

Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.98
(£38.32) £45.98

Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
(£20.82) £24.98

Sub Total : £741.92
Shipping : £16.25
VAT : £151.63
Total : £909.80
 
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD 2560MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £305.99
(£254.99) £305.99
(£254.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
(£139.99) £167.99
(£139.99)
MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Corsair Force Series 3 60GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F60GB3A-BK) £81.98
(£68.32) £81.98
(£68.32)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.98
(£38.32) £45.98
(£38.32)
Zalman CNPS10X Extreme CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/775/1155/1156/1366) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Sub Total : £749.41
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 : £152.63
Total : £915.79
 
i'd swap the motherboard to the Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3, and maybe swap the case to the BitFenix Shinobi, antec 300 or the zalman mentioned by jake.

psu should be fine, if its older than 3/4 years i'd maybe think about replacing it tho.
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

Couple of questions, it looks like my origional motherboard choice may have been a poor one, the two others recommended MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 and the Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 both look fairly similar to me, any particular reason for going for one of these?

I replaced the PSU about 2yrs ago so fingers crossed its still got plenty of life left.

Lemin said:
PSU will be fine, are u using an old dvd-rw ?
Click to expand...

Thanks for mentioning that I hadnt even thought about it. DVD-RW is old yeah, its a NEC ND4570, not going to work then!?

In Jakes recommendation hes added a SSD, are they worth the money? I'm not to fussy about waiting an extra 10 seconds on boot up for the sake of £80. Does it make a difference else where like loading games or in game?

Last question is there little between the EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD 2560MB and the EVGA GeForce GTX 580 DS SuperClocked 1536MB, is it wasted money? I do purely game and would like the best possible gaming experience but if the difference is negligible I'd go for the cheaper card. Any thoughts?

Thanks and apologies for the silly questions.
 
it will make all loading in games go quickly if you install the game to your ssd
If your not bothered about fast boot up times just add all your games on too it and it will go super fast :)

I only put the 2560mb 570 because it's looking like vram is going to be an important factor in the newer games
 
what size monitor/resolution do you game at ?

if it fits into your budget without compromising the rest of the system performance go for one of the 580 gtx's, otherwise get the 570 as there good cards.
 
Last edited:
Thanks so much for all the previous responses.

I've been mulling over the new build and decided to up the budget substantially from £900 to £1500. I'd also like to include a new monitor as my current one wouldnt do a new rig justice. Could really do with a new keyboard and mouse but they can wait a month if they can't be squeezed into budget.

As before I will mostly be gaming, pref at the highest settings and resolution of 1920 x 1200 if possible? So this is virtually a new thread but what are peoples thoughts on this build for the new budget?


MSI GeForce GTX 580 OC Twin FrozR II 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £365.99

Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £287.99

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £167.99

Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98

Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £145.99

Corsair Carbide 400R Midi Tower Case - Black £79.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40

Options applied to the above product:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99

Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99

Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B) £44.99

Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99

Sub Total : £1,201.08
Shipping : £22.20
VAT : £244.66
Total : £1,467.94
 
This is with the latest weekly offers etc.


Untitled-82.png
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom