Is this spec good for me?

face256

face256

face256

Associate
Joined
28 Sep 2008
Posts
18
Hey I made a thread a while ago for a new pc spec but never got round to ordering it. Really need to now, this is the spec i had in mind, just wanted to check if its all compatible and suitable:

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz
**B Grade** MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 (MB-165-MS)
windows 7

Total comes to around £750 (this price is probably around my budget level)
already have psu (corsair 750w) and case (haf-932)

Main usage will be for a lot of heavy photoshop stuff and gaming. When i run photoshop it uses a a lot of memory cuz of my massive doc sizes and my current 4gb ram doesnt seem to be enough (seem to average about 80% memory usage).
Also my monitor size is 2500x1600 which is why i chose 2GB GPU though still not entirely sure if its needed. SSD was hard to choose, basically i want something that is fast and also reliable, M4 seemed to be the best choice but i dunno really. Dont know a thing about MOBOs, chose this cuz of OC button :P. Same with CPU, someone mentioned it before so i chose that one.

Finally I'm not sure if i need a CPU cooler and if i do, i dont know what would be adequate for this type of spec and usage

Any help would be much appreciated :)
thanks
 
Whether or not you need a CPU cooler depends on whether you are buying the OEM or Retail version of the CPU

OEM does not come with one, but the retail version does come with a stock intel one (it also comes with a 3yr warranty compared to the 1yr of the OEM)

Also, if you are going to overclock the CPU then do not use the stock intel one as you can get much better cooling / performance / sound levels from an aftermarket cooler. The Gelid tranquillo is a good one, suitable for up to about 4.6GHz, which is around the max overclock of a 2500K anyway I think :)
 
Looks very good, but i personally wouldn't trust anything b-grade, unless it was wrapped in a un-sealed box and i didn't know any better!
 
I wouldn't buy a B Grade motherboard unless you've confirmed with OcUK what's included.

The I/O backplate may be missing. You can live without it but it's much tidier to have it and I believe it provides EMI shielding.

The cables may be missing in which case you'll have to buy replacements if you don't have spares.

If you're paying the best part of £120 you can buy yourself a decent Z68 motherboard for that.

The Kingston HyperX Grey RAM is currently cheaper than the XMS3 but the deals will change tomorrow morning.
 
Last edited:
Right, i had no idea what B grade meant, thought it was just part of the jargon in the product tittle. Anyway i have chosen the MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard for for £125 instead. Again have no clue if this is a good choice but fits my price range nicely. Also have chosen Gelid Tranquillo for CPU cooler
 
That's actually not a bad shot. The only change of note is the mobo, a cheap Z68 would be good. You get the overclocking and the Integrated graphics built in and lucid virtu makes clever use of the IGP rather than let it go to waste.

Myself I'd probably opt for a better Z68 mobo that did SLI/Xfire properly (£110ish). Drop the GPU to the SuperOverclocked 460 then look to buy another cheap later on (Ideally same price as the 560Ti in the end but much better performance).

If you want to overclock then put an aftermarket heatsink on now. As stated the gelid tranquillo is good for £25ish. Providing you have bought a retail cpu it's not technically essential you buy a heatsink. It is much easier to only do the job once though rather than deal with cleaning thermal paste ;)

Good luck with the build. Any probs or questions ou know where we are
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom