Improvements to this build?

amrux1234

amrux1234

amrux1234

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29 Jan 2011
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28
So I am planning on building a PC (you may recognise me from before, sorry I am making so many threads on this, still haven't got round to getting enough money for it, however AS' exams coming up and parents are willing to buy me a pc). So my question is how do you improve this build. I have OS, keyboard , mouse and monitor sorted.
Fix this build for absolute max of £750, unless of course it is as good as it can be. I want it for gaming, stuff like Starcraft, TF2, WoW etc.
Here is a piccy
r6y9.png
 
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Hmmmm, I wonder where that screenshot came from :)

Maybe worth just stating the component names/prices or just redo it in an OCUK basket before a mod sees it.

As for the spec, it looks pretty nice, though I would personally change a few things:

First, switch the 5400RPM drive for a 7200RPM drive. I have used many Samsung F4's and they are great storage drives, but for a primary OS drive you really want something faster and more responsive - so that means a 7200rpm drive like this (unless you are willing to increase your budget and add in a small SSD for the OS and main apps in addition to the mechanical storage drive).

Second, I would personally change the graphics card to either a HD 6950 2GB (£170) or spend a bit more and get a much faster HD 6970 2GB or GTX 570 1.28GB (both £200). Alternatively, if you are willing to overclock your GPU then a HD 7850 offers some really excellent performance for the price.
 
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Surveyor said:
You only need a DVD-ROM not a DVD-RW?

No motherboard?

Is the fan for the CPU cooler?
Click to expand...

Oh flip , when changing from the other website to this I forgot about the mobo haha and yeah RW would be better lol. Sorry I did it so quick, I didn't take these things into account.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Club3D HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (CGAX-69548A) £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £79.99
1 x CM Storm Scout Gaming Case - Black £69.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Prolimatech Megahalems Rev C CPU Cooler (Socket 775/1155/1156/1366/AMD AM2/AM3/AM3+) £46.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Samsung SH-D163C/BEBE SATA 16x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Zalman ZM-F3 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin £4.69
Total : £759.59 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I have added a motherboard.
Had a look on the CM website, don`t think you will be able to put a fan on the side window, with the cooler you have chosen.
 
Idleman said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Club3D HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (CGAX-69548A) £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £79.99
1 x CM Storm Scout Gaming Case - Black £69.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Prolimatech Megahalems Rev C CPU Cooler (Socket 775/1155/1156/1366/AMD AM2/AM3/AM3+) £46.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Samsung SH-D163C/BEBE SATA 16x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Zalman ZM-F3 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin £4.69
Total : £759.59 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I have added a motherboard.
Had a look on the CM website, don`t think you will be able to put a fan on the side window, with the cooler you have chosen.
Click to expand...


But with this build you have linked me you can right?
 
No, the Prolimatech Cooler comes with a tube of rather good thermal paste.

There is one change I would recommend to Idleman's spec now that some prices have changed - it is to go for this HD 7850 2GB graphics card. At stock performance it runs at the same level as the HD 6950 (but cooler and quieter), however these cards are now known to overclock like daemons - so worth the upgrade for an extra £10 IMHO.

You may also wan to consider spending the extra £5 to get the Z77 version of that board.
 
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cmndr_andi said:
No, the Prolimatech Cooler comes with a tube of rather good thermal paste.

There is one change I would recommend to Idleman's spec now that some prices have changed - it is to go for this HD 7850 2GB graphics card. At stock performance it runs at the same level as the HD 6950 (but cooler and quieter), however these cards are now known to overclock like daemons - so worth the upgrade for an extra £10 IMHO.

You may also wan to consider spending the extra £5 to get the Z77 version of that board.
Click to expand...

Sorry for sounding very illiterate here, but I thought you can only overclock processors, is there some sort of guide for overclocking graphics cards? :D.

Also what is the difference in motherboards, Ie why is it worth spending £5 more on that motherboard? :)
 
I'm thinking the last poster mentioned maybe going Z77 for an extra fiver more for the longer term upgrade routes as this will allow you use ivy bridge should you choose to upgrade the CPU in the future. Small premium for what could offer an upgrade path a later date.

I would agree on going for a 7200 RPM drive if it's the primary as the difference is fairly noticeable when using the system a lot. Other than that I would probably say good everywhere else, 7850 in that price range has to be a pretty sensible choice at the momemt all things considered. I do kinda think the cooler is slightly OTT but if you really want to OC as much as you can then fair enough, you could save a few quid there though.

Probably also a few quid to be saved here and there over the coming weeks with what is coming in terms of ivy bridge and the rollout of GPUs, not a lot but when every prenny counts it's important to squeeze every last bit out of it :)
 
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