Getting back into PC building game

redneon

redneon

redneon

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4 Jan 2005
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65
After seven years of using Macs I'm selling my iMac this weekend and planning on building myself a new PC. The thing is, I'm now seven years out of date with PC hardware so I'm looking for some help, please.

I've got at most £800 to spend but I'm wanting to get a couple of 21.5" HDMI monitors with that so, realistically I've got £600 (including case). Here's what I'm thinking of so far (based on my limited knowledge of PC hardware these days):

Intel Core i5 Ivybridge
Motherboard with Z77 (best chipset?)
NVidia GTX 660
8GB RAM
1TB hard drive

I'm wanting a starter gaming rig. Obviously not a super duper one, otherwise I'd be paying thousands. I was thinking it's probably best to get a decent motherboard that's fairly future proof (ie, supports XFire and SLI so I can slap in another graphics card in future in place of buying a crazy priced graphics card now). I'm not sure if I'm fussed about a K processor. I don't know if I'd do much (if any) overclocking. I never have in the past.

What do you think? Any recommendations?
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £161.99
2 x BenQ GL2250 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99 (£191.98)
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £82.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £75.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G160C9K) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £26.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £833.38 (includes shipping : £13.75).





Slightly over budget, but includes everything you need.

Went for the K i5 because its on offer, so works out the same price as the other i5's.
1TB HDD
Decent GFX.
Motherboard can handle xfire, good brand.
 
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@IncognitoX: Cool, cheers. I'll look into that. I did want NVidia rather than ATI but that's just me being a brand whore. I don't imagine there's a huge difference, is there? Also, I've noticed that motherboards with SLI seems to be more expensive yet the cheaper versions often support XFire.

Also, is there any need to get an 850W power supply? Seems a bit much. Wouldn't a 500W do?
 
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redneon said:
@IncognitoX: Cool, cheers. I'll look into that. I did want NVidia rather than ATI but that's just me being a brand whore. I don't imagine there's a huge difference, is there? Also, I've noticed that motherboards with SLI seems to be more expensive yet the cheaper versions often support XFire.

Also, is there any need to get an 850W power supply? Seems a bit much. Wouldn't a 500W do?
Click to expand...

Planning ahead for the xfire/sli option :p
 
@LukieBoy007: Cheers. I notice that the motherboard doesn't support SLI. Would I be better going for a more expensive board that does support SLI or switching to an ATI card as that board does support XFire?
 
IncognitoX said:
Planning ahead for the xfire/sli option :p
Click to expand...

Heh. Fair enough. I think I'd probably save myself the money now and get a new PSU as and when I get a new graphics card. Just how much extra power would an extra graphics card require, anyway? I would have thought a 500W would be able to handle it?
 
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With all the components and Xfire, I would estimate getting around a 650w.

Chose the XFX because its on offer and its made by seasonic.
 
 
Cool, thanks everyone. I've got a lot to be looking into so I might post back after I've had more of a look into it.

Just a couple more questions, though. Is the Z77 definitely the chipset I should be going for? and if I did decide to try and overclock the CPU and/or GPU would I be able to do it with these set ups?
 
redneon said:
@LukieBoy007: Cheers. I notice that the motherboard doesn't support SLI. Would I be better going for a more expensive board that does support SLI or switching to an ATI card as that board does support XFire?
Click to expand...

You'd be looking at getting a board like this for Xfire/SLI:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-390-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261
Reason is that the board I specced is one of the best Z77's for that price, however it runs in 16x/4x in Xfire. The board above can utilise Xfire/SLI, however it runs at 16x/8x speeds. Basically, if you want better Xfire/SLI performance I'd recommend spending more on the board.
 
So the better boards run the second graphics card at half the speed rather than a quarter of the speed?

I do wonder if I should even bother with XFire/SLI at all or whether I should just stick with single card and upgrade the whole card each time.
 
Ok, so I've considered everything and, without monitors, this is what I've come up with:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 WindForce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £161.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £66.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G160C9K) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £26.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £658.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).



What do you think?

Also, do I need to get a heatsink and fan or do I get them with the processor? And if I do, are they up to the task or should I look to replace them ASAP?
 
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