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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
 
fowler002 said:
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.
Click to expand...

If it won't play bf3 that will be a problem.

A £50 graphics card is something that I would be willing to replace, once you spend £100+ then that is not something I want to do.

Is there a problem with the lepa PSU?

@stulid would the onboard graphics do a better job than one of the cheap graphics cards?
 
stulid said:
There's nothing wrong with that psu, just a little under powered for the graphics card you eventually want.

The onboard core of sandybridge is pretty poor but then so is that GT430.
Click to expand...

Thanks stulid.

Are we getting closer to a BF3 spec with this. Still within £500- £700 Budget.

YOUR BASKET
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 OcUK GeForce GTX 550Ti 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £94.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £66.98
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXV2UK) £61.19
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £25.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £698.00 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
CreMafia said:
If you want the intel stock cooler you would need the retail version of the i5.
Right?
Click to expand...

Thanks have updated basket.

Now got back to almost the original spec, but shaved almost 25% off the price, by cutting back on graphics card, doing without bluray on the optical drive and buying the windows 7 bundle.

Original price £963.79, New price £729.73 :)

New spec

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £154.98
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 460 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - OEM £94.99
1 x Cooler Master HAF 922 Case - Black £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXV2UK) £61.19
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £25.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £729.73 (includes shipping : £16.85).



For an extra £40 the GTX460 appears to be much better than the 430.
 
stulid said:
Thats better.

So when you get bored of that GTX460, you can sell it, or SLI it;)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/314?vs=306
Click to expand...

Thank Stulid.

Got a bit of a shock when I looked up the benchmark link :eek: thought that 460 was better than the 570 until I realised that it was 2 x 460's in SLI.

Would the PSU I have spec'd handle 2 x 460's in SLI, I am not too sure that it would.

It is interesting to note that 2 x 460's in SLI would outperform the 570 though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom