Need help with my build...

fleetstdemon

fleetstdemon

fleetstdemon

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16 Jan 2011
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45
Hi guys.

I recently posted a thread asking about the best mobo, cpu, gpu i could get for £500.

I got some excellent advice for which i was grateful.
However a few things have happened, won't bore you with the details, which have made me revise my budget.

I was looking to build a rig that would give me some experience at building along with decent performance that i could upgrade over the course of the next few months. I'm looking to play games like Skyrim and the other TES games, BF3, GTA IV etc, with mods, at fairly high detail settings.

I was originally planning for around £1000 but have had to reduce that to £700-£750.
I also thought i would have more parts that i could re-use in the build but unfortunately i don't have as much as i thought.

I'm still set on this cpu and gpu:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-404-IN

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-013-VX

That's around £365.

That only leaves around £385 and i still need a motherboard, ram, case, OS, DVD Drive, HDD, and power supply...

Is this even possible?

This will be my first proper build. I have made a few upgrades and such before and helped build two other systems but that was years ago.
I need all the help and advice i can get.

One other thing is that i need to do this now as i really need a PC.

Thanks in advance.
 
Idleman, i think that is going to be my build. Can't thank all of you enough for the help.

I have my card ready to order. Apart from the above i have a Monitor, kb&m. Am i missing anything?

Also, i have an absolute maximum budget of £780. With that in mind, is there anything you would change?
 
My bad Idleman, forgot the discount code.
I placed the order. I ended up going for the 1TB Toshiba HDD though. With that it came to £761, saving £20 which i am intending to put towards an SSD on tuesday.

I can't thank you enough for all the help you've given me, along with the others.
I've asked questions about first builds on other sites only to be given insults as answers, so it was nice to receive the help i got here.

Milmar, your right but i wanted this done asap and this seems like a good build to start with. I will be upgrading piece by piece over the coming months so i'll take a look at Haswell then. Thanks though.
 
Idleman: Yeah, the 1TB is enough to get me started. As for upgrading, i'm talking about extras. Things like a little more cooling, fan controller, SSD, Blu-ray Drive, better kb&m etc.

Other than that, i'll upgrade the GPU when it's time, or like you said, i may add a second card.

As far as the 3750k goes, i agree, it will be good for some time. I was glad when honosuseri, and others, suggested it. I had been looking at it when planning my budget and honosuseri and the others helped me make up my mind.

Thanks for the tip on the SSD and if i need any help i'll be sure to post.

honosuseri: I am more than happy with the build Idleman put together. I just can't wait to get my hands on it!

Also, thanks for the help you gave me as well.

I was toying with the idea of win 8 but i just didn't like what i had seen. Especially taking away the start menu!
I got burned going from XP to Vista, so i was wary. When win 7 came out and i heard good things i switched and have been happy with it. I was toying with getting win 7 pro or ultimate, mainly for the XP mode. Would it be worth it? Is there a big advantage using XP mode for older programs/games compared to win 7 HP?
 
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I have a delivery date of the 3rd, which is tomorrow. I can't wait!

I was in a local computer store yesterday, buying a replacement for my friends 8 year old PC, and i picked up a mouse which was on special offer. Its the Cyborg R.A.T 3.
It was only £9.99, reduced from either £34.99 or £39.99, i can't remember which. After having a look at it, i thought it was a great buy at that price.

I had seen the mouse before online and thought it looked cool. Since i bought it i have done some checking and some people say it's great, while others say its rubbish.

Its the base model of the series, the others having adjustable weight and size features, which would have been nice.

Have you used one before? If so, whats your verdict?
 
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stulid said:
Can you remove the competitor name please.
Click to expand...

Sorry, wasn't thinking. Fixed. :)


Idleman: Thanks. Yeah, i'm really pleased with the way things have went so far. :D

Its good to know you've got the same mouse and can say good things about it.
I always like to hear the verdict of someone who uses whatever i'm asking about on a daily basis.

Product reviews are all well and good, but don't necessarily represent real world performance.
 
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Just got my delivery! Really excited!

EDIT: Just noticed some of the boxes have been opened and some of the components are not in boxes, only wrapped in bubble wrap.

Is that normal?
 
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Thanks for the tip.

Well the DVD drive is in a plain brown box, but the HDD is loosely wrapped in bubble wrap.

The gpu box has clearly been opened and not closed properly and has been damaged on one side.

Also, the cpu is not in an intel box, but in a tiny plain white box. Should the cpu not also have come with a stock cooler?

But hey, HARIBO!!!

edit: thanks for the clarification, fire fly. Thats roughly what its like, apart from a slightly damaged gpu box. As long as it all works, i don't really care.

and, HARIBO!!!

Also, what does OEM mean again?
 
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Fire_fly said:
As long as the GPU works and is not missing anything I would not be too concerned.

OEM CPUs don't come with stock coolers, only retail ones do.

Edit



Yep, but you also only get a 1 year warranty however CPU failures are very rare.
Click to expand...

Ah, ok. I thought the only difference was in the warranty. Standard one year warranty is fine for me.

Knowledge of little details like this is what i'm missing. Thanks for clearing it up for me.
 
Just had my dinner and i'm about to start.

First question; As the PSU can go either way, is it best to have the PSU's fan at the top or bottom?

I'm thinking that if i have it on top, it will be drawing in warmer air from inside the case, but, if i put it to the bottom, the air will be cooler but more restriced due to the dust shield. Is there a best way to put it and does any of what i've just said even matter!?
 
Thanks. It will be sitting on the floor but it will be on a custom made board to maintain adequate clearance.

I clean all my electronics with compressed air and/or a vacuum at least once a week, especially as my house is bad for dust if you don't keep on top of it, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Also, my partner is a clean freak so that helps!
 
I've paused the build as my friend has come in, drunk, as he has fallen out with his girlfriend.
I'm too busy watching him crying all over the place to get on with it!

They do this every week but why did they have to do it today!? WHY!? :D
 
Hey, finally able to get back to it. I'm not sure about installing the mobo.

There doesn't seem to be any stand offs supplied with it and only one that could be a stand off with the case.
There also seems to be somthing like a stand off screwed into the case dead centre of where the motherboard would be.
I've tried gently sitting the mobo in the case to try and work it out but there doesn't seem to be a corresponding hole/fitting on the mobo where this thing is.

I've removed it for now but i'd appreciate some help.
 
Yeah, i thought thats what those were. Whats throwing me off is the removable screw/stand off thing in the center of where the mobo goes. It doesn't appear to correspond to anything on the board.
 
Thanks. Sorry, but i've another question. The cooler came supplied with a small 2g packet of thermal paste. The instructions say to apply it evenly over the surface. The thing is, from what i've been told, you only need to apply a pea sized dot to the center and the pressure of installing the cooler will spread the paste out.

Which should i do and should i use it all or just a little?

Sorry if this seems elementary. I've never applied thermal paste before and i'm just worried about screwing up.
 
No, i'm still at it, lol. I've just had so many interruptions!

First my mate came up, drunk and crying about his girlfriend, then my mum called, then my partner called and asked me to come get her from her friends house as it was late, then my brother came in... now my cat has decided he wants to stand on the motherboard and is trying his best to get past me!

My stress levels are through the roof! I was supposed to enjoy building my own rig!

I'm getting back to it now. I have another question. The cpu cooler doesn't seem to have a lot of clearance between the back plate and the mobo. Some of the pins at the back of the mobo are very close to the coolers backplate. Is that normal?
 
Thanks so much! I was looking for something like that for ages, just to check my work against.

I was just really nervous at assembling and fitting the cooler as i've never done it before.

I'm just scared i get it wrong, turn on the system, the chip overheats and destroys itself and the mobo!
 
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