How would you reduce the cost of this system?

Socrates470BC

Socrates470BC

Socrates470BC

Associate
Joined
22 May 2011
Posts
399
Location
Perthshire, Scotland
The system specified has already had a few cost savings applied:

No Corsair AX850
No 3rd party Cooler
No Coolermaster HAF X case
No Windows Ultimate.


YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £161.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £154.98
1 x Cooler Master HAF 922 Case - Black £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x LG BH10LS30 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive - Black (Retail) £78.98
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXV2UK) £61.19
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £25.99
Total : £963.79 (includes shipping : £14.75).



The requirement is that the mobo and cpu stay and where components are changed out for less expensive items they can later be replaced with the better performing (more expensive items).

The case and PSU may be replaced, but the case must be able to accomodate the MSI GTX70 or other similarly large Graphics cards to allow for future upgrades. Moving HDD cages to accommodate large graphics cards is a no no. That is why we used the 922 case rather than the 912.

The PSU must be able to handle the build as currently spec'd, but may be changed.

Hopefully the case and PSU can come in at no more than £100.

The Graphics card should cost between £50 and £100.

This will be a gaming PC and should be able to play Guild Wars 2 and BF 3 at playable resolution and fps.

The idea is to have a playable gaming PC currently costing in the range £500-£700, with the ability to upgrade minor components (not mobo or cpu or case) aa more funds become available.
 
I need help with lower cost case, PSU and Graphics card as I am not to familiar with the best value budget components.
Click to expand...

Here you go, just a change of case and GPU.


Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
OcUK ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex PC Games £194.99
(£162.49) £194.99
(£162.49)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £154.98
(£129.15) £154.98
(£129.15)
LG BH10LS30 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive - Black (Retail) £78.98
(£65.82) £78.98
(£65.82)
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) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £66.98
(£55.82) £66.98
(£55.82)
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXV2UK) £61.19
(£50.99) £61.19
(£50.99)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Sub Total : £712.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £145.53
Total : £873.19

Keep the Corsair PSU, it will even manage a pair of the 6950's in Crossfire.
 
Buchanan0204 said:
Why then spec one at nearly four times the price?

If you want a cheaper case. Get something like a CM 430. It can fit big cards. Not that they're huge at 50 quid.
Click to expand...

The idea is to fit a cheap £50 - £100 Graphics card on first build and later upgrade to something like a MSI GTX570, hence case needs to be big enough for later upgrade.

I have been looking at cases all afternoon and video reviews, but most £50 case could not accommodate large graphics cards and the ones that could required that you sacrifice HDD storage by removing the storage cage.

I also don't mind starting off with a £50ish PSU as long as it will do the job without endangering the other components.
 
But you don't need to sacrifice the psu or case, buying twice is silly.

Also the elite430 case does take long cards.
 
Socrates470BC said:
I had a look at the CM690-II and watched the video review, but was given the impression that it would not handle the larger (11.5inch) graphics cards.
Click to expand...

http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6638

Max video card length is 304mm which is 12"

RC690II_adv_SIZE.jpg
 
stulid said:
But you don't need to sacrifice the psu or case, buying twice is silly.

Also the elite430 case does take long cards.
Click to expand...

I had no intention of buying the case twice, I was just trying to find one that cost less than the CM HAF 922 that would handle large graphics cards.

The PSU was probably not going to be sacrificed either, so it needs to be able to handle a future upgrade to the graphics card.

The cheap stuff to be spec'd now is the graphics card (£50 - £100).

The PSU and case must be able to handle both the reduced spec now and the upgraded system later.

The other area which could be much cheaper is using an optical drive with no bluray capability.

So really cheap but good graphics card. cheaper case and PSU which can handle large graphics cards, and maybe £20 CD/DVD RW drive.

Should shave maybe £250 off original spec.

@stulid thanks for the measurement on the CM 690, I did like the look of that case. I noted that you have spec's lepa PSUs and wondered if you would recommend a lepa for this build.
 
stulid I'm suprised you haven't suggested the gigabyte motherboard :)

socrates why are you so intent on getting a graphics card for under £100? the 6950 would mean you wouldn't have to buy a new one for awhile instead of replacing the cheap one.
 
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Socrates470BC said:
@stulid thanks for the measurement on the CM 690, I did like the look of that case. I noted that you have spec's lepa PSUs and wondered if you would recommend a lepa for this build.
Click to expand...

Actually I would, as 750W is perfect for GTX570 in SLI - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-LA&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2057 - And its partially modular cabling.

But I could also make a case for buying this - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-039-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098 - £15 more but it will save money on the electricity bill and shouldnt take that long to pay for itself depending on usage.






============================================

If you want a cheap GPU, then heres some,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-170-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2077
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-262-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1983
 
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Perhaps the GT430 is a bit expensive for what it is? £55 is a bit much for something thats just a stop gap.
 
Either buy the psu you want.

Or buy the case you want.

Have you thought about using the cpus onboard graphics instead of using a cheap card?
 
bf3 with playable fps with a gtx430 or similar? maybe at 640x480(or what ever it is) at high settings or 800x600 with low settings.

you still didn't answer my question about why you're so hell bent on a £50 graphics card? why not just build a few months down the line when the new nvidia and amd cards are out so the current ones will fall in price?

why change to the lepa psu for the sake of £15? the corsair is better psu.

here's £55 saving.
 
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Socrates470BC said:
The idea is to fit a cheap £50 - £100 Graphics card on first build and later upgrade to something like a MSI GTX570, hence case needs to be big enough for later upgrade.

I have been looking at cases all afternoon and video reviews, but most £50 case could not accommodate large graphics cards and the ones that could required that you sacrifice HDD storage by removing the storage cage.

I also don't mind starting off with a £50ish PSU as long as it will do the job without endangering the other components.
Click to expand...

I have a CM 430 fitted with a 6970, it's a squeeze but it fits. But TBH I wish I'd paid a little more and got something like a dragonlord or CM dominator instead
 
Do you really need an optical drive? Think about how often you'll actually use it, BF3 should let you redeem a digital copy from a retail disc and you can get practically every game on steam and/or origin now.

If you need one then choose a £15 DVD burner and upgrade it later to a blu-ray if you need to :) That's £60 saved.
 
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