Help for set up.

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21 Sep 2011
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30
Ok, I pretty much wasted most of my budget and got a Dell Ultrasharp 24" screen, so I need to get a few items as cheap as possible these are:

Motherboard
CPU + Heatsink.
RAM
Case

I will be using this set up for gaming, movies, photoshop & spreadsheets etc. I don't expect the thing to run Crysis 2 at ultra settings with 32x AA, but I want it to be good enough to rely on for games such as: Black Ops, MW3, BF3, Bioshock series & you get the gist of it. Lowest set up for those 4, ( must support an MSI ATI Radeon HD 6970 ) wins :)

Note: I do not care for overclocking my system, have had bad experience with it in the past and will be keeping to stock clocks.
 
so whats the budget for the the parts you need?

and anything else you need, like OS/mouse/keyboard.??

Budgets probably £400 at most would like to keep it down from there.

I already have:

30GB SSD
1 or 2 TB HDD I forget.
650 no name PSU
ATI 6970
Optical drive

that I am happy to transfer over to the new Desktop however it seems I may have to get a new PSU.

I am really only budgeting for Case / Mobo / CPU / RAM. however i wouldn't mind reccomendations for a £30-50 keyboard.
 
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A little bit over Jony's.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £161.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.59
Total : £431.64 (includes shipping : £11.75).



But the components are better. Depends on 'how low can you go'. Can probably drop to 4GB and see no difference in usage. Then it's a little bit over £400.
 
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for the keyboard it's easy. Microsoft Sidewinder X4.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £161.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.59
1 x Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £34.98
Total : £466.62 (includes shipping : £11.75).



BTW, a 30gig SSD may be better used with Intel SRT technology than a straight up OS drive. Then you'll need a Z68 that support SRT (which the gigabyte board has, and has some 'EZ Smart Response' utility, whatever that is).

OK, breakdown!

- The gigabyte board supports SRT, SLI / XFire, has half-decent VRMs.
- The case is full featured with fans, fan controller, and LCD temperature display. Fits 11.4'' cards (6970 spec at 10.6'').
- The PSU is seasonic design, and provides 550W on the 12V rails, giving you lots of headroom. Plus it's semi-modular.
 
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for the keyboard it's easy. Microsoft Sidewinder X4.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £161.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.59
1 x Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £34.98
Total : £466.62 (includes shipping : £11.75).



BTW, a 30gig SSD may be better used with Intel SRT technology than a straight up OS drive. Then you'll need a Z68 that support SRT (which the gigabyte board has, and has some 'EZ Smart Response' utility, whatever that is).

OK, breakdown!

- The gigabyte board supports SRT, SLI / XFire, has half-decent VRMs.
- The case is full featured with fans, fan controller, and LCD temperature display. Fits 11.4'' cards (6970 spec at 10.6'').
- The PSU is seasonic design, and provides 550W on the 12V rails, giving you lots of headroom. Plus it's semi-modular.

Loving the case :) The keyboard was supposed to be seperate anyway, I am taking your build but switching the 550W for 650W because I was told I would need the extra headroom for O/C if I got in to tweaking voltages on the CPU & i'm putting in the 2600k, just a bit extra but and I probably won't ever use the CPU to it's potential but I like that bit of extra power :) I would guess it would be safe to change those parts? I will order today hopefully receive tomorrow.
 
that'll be ok. 650W is a lot of power mind you. Almost enough for XFire 6970's, but if you can stretch, why not.

BTW, I would have got the LG IPS231P-BN 23", iirc has the same display has the Dell 23'', and is LED backlit. The 24'' dells are nice though (that's what we use exclusively at work), have better build quality and more ports.
 
that'll be ok. 650W is a lot of power mind you. Almost enough for XFire 6970's, but if you can stretch, why not.

BTW, I would have got the LG IPS231P-BN 23", iirc has the same display has the Dell 23'', and is LED backlit. The 24'' dells are nice though (that's what we use exclusively at work), have better build quality and more ports.

I know it's a lot of power, I thought the 6970 had a 350W TDP and then the CPU etc would have a power draw of approx 200W? this is assuming all is stock and no over-clock. People on another forum recommended me the 600W as a minimum or 650W to be safe. I got the Dell 24" simply because i've used an iMac for so long I couldn't bare to go backwards :P
 
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