My proposed new build with a few questions

peter1979

peter1979

peter1979

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30 Oct 2012
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Hello, this is my first post. I've done some research and mad euse of this site and have come up with a proposed spec for a new PC I hope to build within the next week or so.

The PC will be used for gaming (football manager, Call of Duty, BF3, Star Wars), watching blu-ray, storing photos/music etc, internet. I have a budget of around 700 ish not including monitor and im needing everything as this is my first build.

Proposed spec so far is -

Intel i5 3570K
Gigabyte Z77 D3H
8gb Ram
1TB HDD (prob Seagate)
Blu-ray player
Case Zalman z9 tower
Corsair 550W modular PSU (TX550M)
GPU most probably AMD Sapphire HD 7850 2GB

The total cost of build at present is roughly £650 excluding keyboard, mouse, OS and monitor.

My questions are, could I be saving money anywhere by using anything lower spec but not compromising performance a great deal? (my wife keeps reminding me how the original budget seems to be growing and keeps pointing out cheap pre made PCs).

Also is the Sapphire 7850 2GB a good choice? What is the difference between the different brands of the same card, is one nay better/worse?

And finally, OS, what should I go for? Windows 8 64 bit? or Windows 7?

Thanks

Pete
 
Cheap pre made PCs? :o Tell the missus to get back in the kitchen, else she'll be having £5 Argos jewellery for christmas! ;) Haha just kidding.. You already look like you're on a sound path for your build mate! You seem to have good parts without compromising performance.

Do you definitely need a Blu-ray player? I presume you chose it as you planned to play Blu-rays, but just making sure! There is about a £2 difference in 1 & 2TB HDDs at the moment so may as well grab 2TB. The 7850 is a solid card and a good all-rounder. OS wise, use the free 90 day trial of Windows 8. You can then have 3 months to save extra £££ for the OS and get more for your money now in parts. :D

I would go for something like this. :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £66.66
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
Total : £620.58 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
 
You could go with an i3.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £149.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £66.66
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £54.98
1 x LG CH10LS28 BD-ROM 10x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £52.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
Total : £613.54 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Last edited:
Idleman said:
You could go with an i3.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £149.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £66.66
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £54.98
1 x LG CH10LS28 BD-ROM 10x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £52.99
Total : £583.55 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

Missing something.
 
Sparx said:
Cheap pre made PCs? :o Tell the missus to get back in the kitchen, else she'll be having £5 Argos jewellery for christmas! ;)
Click to expand...

Its safer when shes out of the kitchen to be honest.


Thanks for the replies. I will be using it as my main media player as my PS3 has packed in so no more blu-ray player. Looks like I will swap the case for the one recommended and use the corsair RAM too.

With the trial windows 8 demo thing, how would I install it with no OS on my system already?

Just to clarify withe 7850, you guys all recommended the Gigabyte version, is there any difference between the sapphire and gigabyte cards performance-wise?

Pete
 
peter1979 said:
Its safer when shes out of the kitchen to be honest.


Thanks for the replies. I will be using it as my main media player as my PS3 has packed in so no more blu-ray player. Looks like I will swap the case for the one recommended and use the corsair RAM too.

With the trial windows 8 demo thing, how would I install it with no OS on my system already?

Just to clarify withe 7850, you guys all recommended the Gigabyte version, is there any difference between the sapphire and gigabyte cards performance-wise?

Pete
Click to expand...

You may as well grab the 2TB HDD also for £2 odd extra. :p

Btw, Sapphire don't have a 7850 2GB model. They only have a 7850 1GB and a 7870 2GB. Gigabyte have a UK RMA base if I recall correctly. Plus if you was referring to the 7850 1GB then of course the Gigabyte one has more vRAM etc and will perform better as it has higher clock speeds. :)

As for Windows 8, go to this page here, scroll to the bottom and download the x64 version. Then you can either burn it to a DVD, copy it to a USB drive or external HD. Then you just boot from it when you've built your nice new shiny PC and install from it.
 
Last edited:
Sparx said:
You may as well grab the 2TB HDD also for £2 odd extra. :p

Btw, Sapphire don't have a 7850 2GB model. They only have a 7850 1GB and a 7870 2GB.
Click to expand...

Ive got a link to it, but either way im gonna press ahead and get the Gigabyte one from OC.

My next question is what monitor to get. Max budget 200, would ideally like to spend less. I guess IPS looks like the way to go? Any recommendations?

Pete
 
Last edited:
I'd remove the competitor name buddy, not allowed to name or link to any! Hence I said that Sapphire don't have a 7850 2GB model; I was talking about just what OcUK stock. :p

Either way I would still grab the Gigabyte 7850! Better cooler, quieter, faster, UK based RMA centre.

IPS isn't always best. Have a look at these (below). Personally I would grab the Asus VE247H.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus VE247H 24" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £161.99
1 x Asus VS247H 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x BenQ GL2450 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
Total : £454.88 (includes shipping : £19.10).

 
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