New build £1,200 max

Fusilero

Fusilero

Fusilero

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18 Dec 2008
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10
Hello there! :D

I've finally gathered enough money to build myself a gaming rig for University. I'm hoping for something that will last a few years reasonably well on a budget of £1,200. I will need to get a new screen, speakers and keyboard as well because the current screen etc. will be stuck with the current computer which will remain at home. I already have a spare mouse so I'm not worried about that. I'm concerned that the i7 may be overkill however I'm thinking that a few years down the line I may be able to just replace the graphics card and the i7 could (hopefully) keep up to an extent. Another worry is that the power supply isn't enough, I've checked one of those calculator websites and a 650W is apaprently sufficient. Finally compatibility may be an issue, I've checked the motherboard and the sockets etc. and they seem to be correct but I've only ever done two complete builds and a few upgrades so my expertise is limited and it's always seemed safer to ask. I also don't really intend to overclock, system lifespan is a concern here! :)

Here's my current haphazard guess at what it might look like:

Capture-1.jpg


Thanks in advance!
 
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get an I5 2500k instead. I7 has no benefit in gaming for a long time yet.
swap the ram to whatever ocz/geil 4gb kit is on offer (unless your using ram heavy programs, but for games 4gb is more than enough for a while yet)

You havent got a custom cooler for the CPU (Akasa Venom if you just forgot), and if you havent, then I assume your not going to overclock, which means you could use a H67 board and a non "k" cpu, which would save you a lot of money, which you spend on a larger monitor or something.

get a 2.1 speaker system if you are going to listen to music, unless you want to plump the cash for a decent 2.0 set later/have good headphones already etc.

the 650 psu is enough for that system, unless you plan to stick in an extra gpu or a million hard drives etc.
 
as far as i know, overclocking a CPU will not decrease its lifespan a meaningful amount. im very happy to be proven wrong here, but i think we are talking 15 years standard vs 10 years overclocked. im sure i saw something similar to those numbers somewhere around these forums, so dont be afraid to overclock.

also, i would strongly advise doing everything that chemical has said (although i have no clue about the speakers)

if you can afford it in your budget, i would change the graphics card for two 6950's in crossfire, and make sure you have a motherboard that will do crossfire properly (x8, x8; x16, x8 or x16, x16. NOT x16, x4 or x16, x1). theres nothing wrong with the one you've chosen, but this will be a load better for gaming
 
Assuming you want to also do a bit of uni work on that build I would recommend keeping the 8GB of RAM and the i7 because the ram will help multitasking and the i7s power might become more optimized for gaming down the line as games begin to exceed the i5.
 
Reaper 392 said:
as far as i know, overclocking a CPU will not decrease its lifespan a meaningful amount. im very happy to be proven wrong here, but i think we are talking 15 years standard vs 10 years overclocked. im sure i saw something similar to those numbers somewhere around these forums, so dont be afraid to overclock.

also, i would strongly advise doing everything that chemical has said (although i have no clue about the speakers)

if you can afford it in your budget, i would change the graphics card for two 6950's in crossfire, and make sure you have a motherboard that will do crossfire properly (x8, x8; x16, x8 or x16, x16. NOT x16, x4 or x16, x1). theres nothing wrong with the one you've chosen, but this will be a load better for gaming
Click to expand...
Hmm, for two 6950s in Crossfire might I need a more powerful PSU? Although it would be a little bit overbudget if I did that. And are you sure about lifespan? It has to last five years or so with minimal change. I don't expect to be running top end games in good settings in five years time but I'd like my PC to still be up and running :)
 
You don't need anything near as powerful as a GTX570 or 2x 6950's to power the chosen monitor. it only provides 1600x900.

Personally I would get a bigger better monitor, like the guys above say get an i5-2500k and at Uni you will want to make sure you can blast music back at your room mates.
Have a look at this build and see what you think:

OcUK GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
(£224.99) £269.99
(£224.99)
Samsung P2450H 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
Coolermaster CM690-II Lite Dominator Case & GX 750W Power Supply £117.66
(£98.05) £117.66
(£98.05)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Edifier R1600T Studio Plus 2.0 Monitors. £62.99
(£52.49) £62.99
(£52.49)
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £28.99
(£24.16) £28.99
(£24.16)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
Logitech Ultra-Flat Keyboard (967653-0120) £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
Sub Total : £951.28
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £192.76
Total : £1,156.54
 
Fusilero said:
Hmm, for two 6950s in Crossfire might I need a more powerful PSU? Although it would be a little bit overbudget if I did that. And are you sure about lifespan? It has to last five years or so with minimal change. I don't expect to be running top end games in good settings in five years time but I'd like my PC to still be up and running :)
Click to expand...

yeah, you would definitly need a more powerful PSU. the PSU calculator i use says 730W, so personally i would go with an 800W psu if you did the two cards in crossfire (because i know very little about power supplies, except that they are not an area to save money on).

also, i am not sure atall about the life expectancy change you will expect from the overclock. its probably best to ask in the overclocking section

*edit*
dont worry about speccing your computer for uni work atall. everything you do at university will only need a basic computer because the university's computers have to be able to do the work as well



*edit 2*
ive done a partial build. this doesnt include speakers or a monitor, because i know literally nothing about them. although i do know you will want a half decent resolution for the monitor, like on the one suggested a few posts above

this build gives you £235 to spend on a monitor, a sound system, and an operating system. (although, being a student, if you cant get windows 7 at a massive discount i will happily eat my own shoes - i got windows 7 professional for free from Reading university)

one point i will make is that for some reason this website wont allow me to order 2 of the MSI 6950 graphics cards. if i did that it would be a rather significant £40 cheaper in total (which i was kind of basing the whole 'OMG go for the 6950' argument on for this budget)

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
(£174.99) £419.98
(£349.98)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus Case & GX 750w Power Supply Bundle £105.98
(£88.32) £105.98
(£88.32)
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £28.99
(£24.16) £28.99
(£24.16)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.98
(£12.48) £14.98
(£12.48)
Logitech Ultra-Flat Keyboard (967653-0120) £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
Sub Total : £793.22
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £160.64
Total : £963.86
 
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