Help. Too much choice!

amx · 1 Oct 2011 at 18:42

Afternoon!

Long time member that hasn't posted in a while, but in desperate need of an upgrade, as my system is feeling sluggish, even after formatting.

I currently run a E6850 Core2Duo 3Ghz, with 2Gb ram and a poverty spec graphics card. My PC is mainly used to play Football Manager, surf the web, watch movies, play music, etc.

I have a budget of £1,500 for everything and it needs to include decent 2.1 speakers, a 24" monitor, an O/S, and 4 x 2TB hard disks. Nothing from my current system will be retained, as it's finding a new home with my mum.

There's so much choice out there and I can't decide what gives me the most for my money. My most important need is a nice, fast system that can process data quickly (football manager with large database and several countries is quite intensive).

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. For reference, this is my most recent effort...

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
OcUK ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex PC Games £199.99
(£166.66) £199.99
(£166.66)
Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2500 High-Power 2.1 PC Speaker System - 232 Watts RMS £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Radon 720a AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.80GHz @ 3.80GHz Overclocked Bundle £178.00
(£148.33) £178.00
(£148.33)
Options applied to the above product:
Gigabyte 970A-UD3 AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £85.99
(£71.66) £85.99
(£71.66)
Options applied to the above product:
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.98
(£38.32) £45.98
(£38.32)
IIyama Prolite E2475HDS 24" Widescreen LED Business Monitor - Black £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) £134.99
(£112.49) £134.99
(£112.49)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI) £60.98
(£50.82) £243.92
(£203.28)
OcUK Battle 750W Dual Rail High Efficiency Modular '80 Plus' Power Supply £56.99
(£47.49) £56.99
(£47.49)
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp - OEM £20.99
(£17.49) £20.99
(£17.49)
Edimax EW-7612 PIN 300Mbps Wireless PCI-E Network Card £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Blaze M0602 Laser Mouse - Black £10.99
(£9.16) £10.99
(£9.16)
Blaze K3285 Multimedia Slim USB Keyboard - Black £7.99
(£6.66) £7.99
(£6.66)
Sub Total : £1,286.48
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 : £261.74
Total : £1,570.42

CinderzFTW · 2 Oct 2011 at 13:12

First of all, SWAP OUT that AMD X6 and get the i5-2500k. Best processor out at the moment for the money.

Your paying £178 for a moderate 6 core that doesn't overclock well, instead get the i5 2500k, more powerful, highly overclockable to more than 4.5ghz on air cooling alone! Use the Gelid Tranquillo also to cool it!

Get a Asrock Gen 3 Pro motherboard with the X68 chipset.

Apart from that and that UGLY case! Your on your way!

Surveyor · 2 Oct 2011 at 13:19

CinderzFTW said:
Get a Asrock Gen 3 Pro motherboard with the X68 chipset.

Is the X68 chipset something we've all missed?

CinderzFTW · 2 Oct 2011 at 13:20

sry Z68

CinderzFTW · 2 Oct 2011 at 13:29

typo lolz

panyan · 2 Oct 2011 at 13:31

this is what ive selected, but feel free to swap out any of the components - this is just a guide

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £159.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £148.99
1 x Asus VH242H 24" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black £139.99
1 x Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard and FREE Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse £126.98
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with DIRT3 & Deus Ex PC Games £109.99
1 x Akasa Venom Strike Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £109.99
1 x MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £107.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
4 x Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI) £60.98 (£243.92)
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXUKV2) £59.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC4008HP01 Venom Voodoo CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3 £44.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT51264BA160A) £39.98
1 x Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2200 2.1 PC Speaker System - 46 Watts RMS £37.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £1,461.85 (includes shipping : £27.55).

CinderzFTW · 2 Oct 2011 at 13:32

Get the 6870 GPU! Much better than the 6850 and will last longer xD

panyan · 2 Oct 2011 at 13:34

amx said:
I currently run a E6850 Core2Duo 3Ghz, with 2Gb ram and a poverty spec graphics card. My PC is mainly used to play Football Manager, surf the web, watch movies, play music, etc.

CinderzFTW said:
Get the 6870 GPU! Much better than the 6850 and will last longer xD

seriously? for football manager - that is a cpu, not gpu, intensive game?

CinderzFTW · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:27

Ah right, well 6850 should be fine then.

chrisarm · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:42

How about something like this

YOUR BASKET
1 x Corsair PC Starter Bundle 2000c - 600TM Case / TX 850W V2 PSU / H80 CPU Cooler (Cooler Half Price) £272.98
1 x OcUK ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex PC Games £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x MSI Z68A-GD65-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £149.98
1 x Asus VH242H 24" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black £139.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £77.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) £63.98
1 x Razer DeathAdder Respawn 3500dpi Xtreme Precision Gaming Mouse and FREE Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Mouse Surface £59.99
1 x G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £42.98
1 x Microsoft SideWinder X6 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (AGB-00006) £39.98
1 x Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2200 2.1 PC Speaker System - 46 Watts RMS £37.99
Total : £1,360.90 (includes shipping : £27.55).

Like already stated probably a bit overkill for footy manager but it should save upgrading for quite a while
I just put in a 64 gb SSD drive, but it is a SATA 3 which is faster and with the Gen 3 mobo you can use it as a cache like a Hybrid drive so the programs you use a lot will run faster. Here's some info on it http://www.anandtech.com/show/4329/intel-z68-chipset-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching-review/2

Oh I didn't know if the 4 2tb hard drives was a typo so I just added 1. If you actually need that amount of space then you can use the £200 I didn't use

bobbarley · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:49

I'd be partial to this build. I went a bit ott to max out your £1,500 budget, however you could easily skim a bit of cash here and there if you liked.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Asus VH242H 24" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black £139.99
1 x Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £134.99
1 x MSI Z68A-G45-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.98
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXV2UK) £87.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3) £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl £79.99
4 x Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI) £60.98 (£243.92)
2 x G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £42.98 (£85.96)
1 x Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2200 2.1 PC Speaker System - 46 Watts RMS £37.99
1 x Saitek Cyborg V5 Illuminated Gaming Keyboard £35.99
1 x Saitek Cyborg V3 Gaming Mouse £21.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,500.76 (includes shipping : FREE).

beejjacobs · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:58

Why a Corsair Force Series 3 not a Crucial M4?

bobbarley · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:59

Ran out of budget

He could remove some memory and add a better SSD. Can easily nip and tuck anywhere you want.

amx · 2 Oct 2011 at 18:40

That's the problem I'm having, the budget lets you do pretty much what you want.

I don't upgrade often, so want to get the best bang for buck I can.

I appreciate all the input and will definitely swap to an Intel CPU.

I don't have much time for overclocking / testing myself, so would I be better off buying a pre-clocked bundle?

bobbarley · 2 Oct 2011 at 19:32

It's an option. Over clocking the 2500 is so easy though

panyan · 2 Oct 2011 at 20:11

bobbarley said:
It's an option. Over clocking the 2500K is so easy though

corrected

amx · 2 Oct 2011 at 23:17

My most recent effort. Any suggestions for improvement?

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £148.99
(£124.16) £148.99
(£124.16)
Asus VH242H 24" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex PC Games £133.99
(£111.66) £133.99
(£111.66)
MSI Z68A-G45-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.98
(£91.65) £109.98
(£91.65)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) £63.98
(£53.32) £191.94
(£159.96)
Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXUKV2) £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Akasa AK-CC4008HP01 Venom Voodoo CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3 £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2200 2.1 PC Speaker System - 46 Watts RMS £37.99
(£31.66) £37.99
(£31.66)
Saitek Cyborg V3 Gaming Mouse £21.98
(£18.32) £21.98
(£18.32)
Edimax EW-7612 PIN 300Mbps Wireless PCI-E Network Card £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Logitech UltraX Premium Keyboard - OEM (920-000189) £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Dynamode Compact Bluetooth™ USB adapter £2.51
(£2.09) £2.51
(£2.09)

chrisarm · 3 Oct 2011 at 08:42

Does your current PC do what you need it to for now.
If it does and you want something that will last for as long as possible you could always wait till after xmas to see how the bulldozer or ivybridge processors and the series 7 GPU from ATI compare to the ones out now.

amx · 5 Oct 2011 at 20:31

I could wait, but PC stuff is always cheaper the following week and new tech is always round the corner. There never seems to be a good time to buy.

amx · 5 Oct 2011 at 20:31

This is my final spec, any final suggestions before I hit the buy button?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £143.99
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex PC Games £143.99
1 x Asus VH242H 24" Widescreen LCD Multimedia Monitor - Black £139.99
1 x MSI Z68A-G45-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £114.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
3 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) £69.98 (£209.94)
1 x Corsair Vengeance Arctic White 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXUKV2) £59.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
1 x Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2200 2.1 PC Speaker System - 46 Watts RMS £49.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Saitek Cyborg V3 Gaming Mouse £21.98
1 x Cherry Black CyMotion Expert (USB/PS2) Keyboard - Black £17.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
1 x OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter £15.59
1 x Dynamode Compact Bluetooth™ USB adapter £2.99
Total : £1,405.42 (includes shipping : £27.55).