Is this a good build?

Mafewww

Mafewww

Mafewww

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Joined
5 Feb 2013
Posts
7
I've never built a computer before, only ever bought pre-built, but I do know how to install mostly all components due to a college course I was on.

I'm not looking to play the flashiest games such as Crysis etc. at Ultra-high visuals, but I want a PC that has a chance of playing most things at an acceptable rate.

Anyway, here is what I've come to thus far:
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 1GB Video Card
XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer
Currently comes to a little over £400

My budget is round about £450. I haven't yet decided on a case, so if there is one you can recommend for about £50, that would be great.
If there is anyway I can save money in one place, so I can distribute that elsewhere, that would also be great.

Primarily just wondering if that will suit my needs, but improvements are most welcome.
I think I'll need to pick up a soundcard and a wireless network card too, but they are fairly cheap so I have not included them on my build.

Thanks.
 
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I'd remove the competitor link before Admin see's it....

Regarding the build, do you need mouse, keyboard, monitor & OS?
 
Whoops, completely overlooked that.

And no, I have a monitor which I will be using until I get a new TV and my room gets moved around a bit, so I have an area where I will be able to plug it into that.
I also have my own mouse, keyboard, and Win7 Home Premium I think it is.

So really, the only things that would need to be added to that are a case, soundcard and wireless card. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that I'm forgetting anything else)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x MSI B75MA-P45 Intel B75 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £53.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.98
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x **B Grade** Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM £30
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP2G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £25.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £461.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I would try and squeeze a Z77 in there which should give you an upgrade path to the i5/7 if you wanted later on, cant seem to get it in here, others may have more luck.
 
You can get a Z77, but it depends if you want to go B-grade or not:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £75.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) £34.98
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £30
1 x **B Grade** BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Single Module (GD34GB1600C11SC) £23.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £466.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).



It has single channel 4GB memory, so when you have an extra £20 or so laying around you can pick up another stick, whilst still leaving 2 more slots free.
 
A friend of mine said I should definitely consider getting an i5, yet you guys have posted i3s

What's the reason for that? I'm open to different opinions, just wondering why you've gone for those?

EDIT: Also, I could possibly push my budget up to £500 if it would mean the computer would be better off in the long run.
 
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Mafewww said:
A friend of mine said I should definitely consider getting an i5, yet you guys have posted i3s

What's the reason for that? I'm open to different opinions, just wondering why you've gone for those?
Click to expand...

Trying to get an i5 into your budget is not easy! If you can add £150-200, we could spec you an i5. The i3 is a very capable processor.

You looking at this if you want i5:

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 Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) HDD £61.99
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £696.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Put another £100 on and you can add an SSD & grade B parts (HDD & Case) could also be used to reduce the price. :p
 
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Thought as much.

Builds similar to those that you have given to me should be able to run current games at a fair-high level then? Without FR drops/long load times, and the like?

That's the main reason I'm upgrading from a laptop, ha.
 
Even at 1080p it will run quite well on high-ish settings.
The only thing I can see it possibly struggling at is 64-player BF3, and by struggle I mean a bit of a FPS drop (but still playable) :)
 
Yeah, I think I'll still be buying most multi-plat games for my Xbox, just games that are better on PC/exclusive are the ones I'll be running on this.

One last thing, both of you have included B-Grade hard drives in your build, can they be relied upon? Or is it better for me to spend just a bit more to get a new drive? (Well, I mean obviously, but in this case, is it worth getting a B-grade drive over a perhaps somewhat lesser quality new drive)

Thanks for your time & insight fellas! Much appreciated!
 
B-grade items are just returned and may be missing accessories. Under the law they are not allowed to resell them as new, hence b-grade. There's nothing wrong with them though.
If your budget was £500, you could go with something along the lines with this:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) £34.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £30
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £494.92 (includes shipping : FREE).



In comparison to my original build:
8GB RAM
Better motherboard
A different case, not B-grade, but slightly worse than the BitFenix originally suggested.
 
I think I can live with a B-Grade case.
And I think I could definitely get by with just the 4GB RAM and upgrade it when necessary as you said prior.

So I think I'll go for something similar to the one you outlined just then in post #12, but use the RAM and case from your earlier post #5.
And that would all work fine?

Thanks a lot buddy, enjoy your evening!
 
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