Help with a spec for a friend - £800 build

Uhtred

Uhtred

Uhtred

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Bedfordshire
So my friend wants to buy a new machine and I'm struggling to meet his requirements within budget! Namely he wants M/B, RAM, Windows 8, a graphics card, SSD, 2TB storage, PSU, case, oh and an i7!

I'm not really up to date so I'd appreciate any swaps for better components whilst keeping the total down :) I'm not sure I want to go with MSI for the motherboard...

Xenon Intel Core i7 2700K 3.50GHz DDR3 Bundle - Quad Core [BU-211-OK] - £329.98
Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £169.99
Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD128BW) - £109.99
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD - £73.99
Corsair 2013 Edition Gamer Series GS 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020063-UK) - £59.99
Antec 302 Three Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case – Black - £52.99
Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Edition - from XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7 - £44.99
Total : £841.92
 
Any reason why it has to be an i7?

EDIT: Specced this up -

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Corsair Force GT 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CSSD-F120GBGT-BK) £105.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020038-UK) £78.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £73.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Edition - from XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7 £44.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £37.99
Total : £826.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Last edited:
I think I can convince him to take an i5. Thanks for the spec, do retail Intels still come with coolers?
 
I should ask exactly what he wants the machine to do. For a good all rounder I could suggest.......

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £73.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 530W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £66.95
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Edition - from XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7 £44.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £37.99
1 x OcUK Tech Labs - Corsair H60 Performance Intel Liquid Cooling Solution (Socket 1155 / 1156 / 1366) £34.99
- 1 x No Fan Required £0.00
- 1 x No Fan Required £0.00
- 1 x No Thermal Paste Required £0.00
Total : £848.81 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Case has lots to like for the price. Three 120mm fans (2 led blue), fan controller, digital temp display, large side window, USB3 ports (mobo header adapter sold sep). It has cable management and includes an extension for the aux mobo power from the PSU (P4/8). Two SSDs can be mounted to the chassis, this Plextor SSD in the basket is a better unit than the standard 840, it actually rivals the 840 Pro. I looked for B grade HDDs for a 2TB bargain but non there currently.

Mobo has a 3 year uk based warranty and a dual BIOS (UEFI). RAM is on offer but a little tall for my liking. It can be hard to choose air tower coolers for overclocking because of RAM height. To avoid that issue i've used a CLC cooler, it's cheap as it's fanless we can afford to pinch one fan atleast from the case chassis ;) Hopefully you have some spare thermal paste so you can let him have a dab for the cooler.

PSU is modular and is very quiet (I own the 630W version myself), ample power for a single GPU setup and overclocking. Being modular cable management is greatly improved and airflow will be better which equals better temps. Hope this helps, I look forward to see what you settle on.
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Plextor M5S 128GB Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5S) £82.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EZRX) HDD £76.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £52.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £37.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £808.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Presuming that he wants it for gaming. CX500 is good enough for a 7950, went with a WD HDD, as I prefer them to seagate. If he wanted to spend a bit more, invest in a slightly better PSU for a bit more headroom.
 
Last edited:
Thanks all for the input, we went for the spec more speed suggested with a different case and more powerful PSU :)
 
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