New build - if you'd be so kind... :)

Gomaku · 15 Nov 2011 at 16:03

Hey, I've seen a few of these and was hoping some generous person would check my build and confirm that its quite an even build or if I need to change/replace something. Thanks in advance!

EDIT:
I've taken on board what you've said and have the basics, however the intel system was slightly to expensive, I've gone for an AMD/ATI the specs seem to match the intel system, was there a reason why you picked intel over AMD (I want to learn) or will the AMD run everything I need?:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
OcUK Vantage Gaming Tower Case - Black £29.99
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N PCI Adapter (TL-WN851ND) £19.99
Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash - Retail £18.98
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B) £39.98
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £133.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 980 Black Edition "140W Edition" 3.70GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £125.99
Asus M5A97 PRO AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard
Asus GeForce GTX 560 DirectCU 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £136.99

can any help or pointers are greatly appreciated, and if you're able to say why you've picked particular things that would be a massive help.
This post is also at the bottom so you can see where the conversation is carrying over from

shadow_boxer · 15 Nov 2011 at 16:20

Whats your total budget for this build and what will it be used for?

Gomaku · 15 Nov 2011 at 17:06

hi, the budget is around £800 which I'm almost at, but I can extend if required and I find cheaper HDD but around £800. It will mainly be used for gaming, the newest games being run on it atm is starcraft 2.
Need any more info?

shadow_boxer · 15 Nov 2011 at 17:26

This lot is right at the top end of your £800 budget but offers a lot more.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with BattleField 3 & Batman: Arkham City PC game** Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with BattleField 3 & Batman: Arkham City PC game** £193.99
(£161.66) £193.99
(£161.66)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £157.99
(£131.66) £157.99
(£131.66)
MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £124.99
(£104.16) £124.99
(£104.16)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Cooler Master Silencio RC-550 Silent Tower Case - Black Cooler Master Silencio RC-550 Silent Tower Case - Black £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
OCZ ZS Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply OCZ ZS Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £66.98
(£55.82) £66.98
(£55.82)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £45.59
(£37.99) £45.59
(£37.99)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
LG GH24NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM LG GH24NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
(£15.82) £18.98
(£15.82)
Edimax EW-7612 PIN 300Mbps Wireless PCI-E Network Card Edimax EW-7612 PIN 300Mbps Wireless PCI-E Network Card £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Sub Total : £668.74
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 : £136.25
Total : £817.49

MSI are currently doing 20% cashback on some Z68 motherboards. See thread here.
Case is personal preference so just left the one you spec'd in.
Low profile RAM so tall heatsinks won't interfere with your CPU cooler.
Graphics card has a couple of game vouchers included which if you sell should be able to get back at least £30 or just keep them.
Try looking at getting an external HDD from elsewhere and taking it apart to use as an internal HDD or check out classifieds/auction sites for cheaper HDDs.
PSU can handle another GTX560Ti for SLI at a later date, could knock it down to the 550W version and save a bit of money there if you have not intention of going SLI/Xfire in the future.

You could get yourself a nice 60GB SSD for now for OS & a game or two then get a larger storage drive when prices become more sensible for mechanical drives.

fowler002 · 15 Nov 2011 at 22:28

shadow_boxer said:
This lot is right at the top end of your £800 budget but offers a lot more.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with BattleField 3 & Batman: Arkham City PC game** Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with BattleField 3 & Batman: Arkham City PC game** £193.99
(£161.66) £193.99
(£161.66)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £157.99
(£131.66) £157.99
(£131.66)
MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £124.99
(£104.16) £124.99
(£104.16)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Cooler Master Silencio RC-550 Silent Tower Case - Black Cooler Master Silencio RC-550 Silent Tower Case - Black £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
OCZ ZS Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply OCZ ZS Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £66.98
(£55.82) £66.98
(£55.82)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £45.59
(£37.99) £45.59
(£37.99)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
LG GH24NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM LG GH24NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
(£15.82) £18.98
(£15.82)
Edimax EW-7612 PIN 300Mbps Wireless PCI-E Network Card Edimax EW-7612 PIN 300Mbps Wireless PCI-E Network Card £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Sub Total : £668.74
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 : £136.25
Total : £817.49

MSI are currently doing 20% cashback on some Z68 motherboards. See thread here.

Case is personal preference so just left the one you spec'd in.

Low profile RAM so tall heatsinks won't interfere with your CPU cooler.

Graphics card has a couple of game vouchers included which if you sell should be able to get back at least £30 or just keep them.

Try looking at getting an external HDD from elsewhere and taking it apart to use as an internal HDD or check out classifieds/auction sites for cheaper HDDs.

PSU can handle another GTX560Ti for SLI at a later date, could knock it down to the 550W version and save a bit of money there if you have not intention of going SLI/Xfire in the future.

You could get yourself a nice 60GB SSD for now for OS & a game or two then get a larger storage drive when prices become more sensible for mechanical drives.

firstly the price on the cpu, psu, graphics card and ram changes tomorrow as these are on a 'this week only' offer that ends tomorrow.

pay the little extra and get the retail version of the cpu, you get 3yrs warranty as opposed to 1yr.

if the op has no intention of xfire/sli then can knock the motherboard down to the gigabyte z68ap-d3 £85.

unless ordering tonight comeback tomorrow and we can offer you advice on the spec with the new 'this week only' offers applied or whenever you're ready to buy can adjuct the suggestion.

Gomaku · 16 Nov 2011 at 01:11

I was planning to buy in the next couple of days but couldn't manage it tonight, I wanted to thank you both for your input and I'll check what new offers are in and repost a build tomorrow, I may switch to intel if we can do it in budget. Its my first solo build so I wanna do it right!

Gomaku · 16 Nov 2011 at 13:58

Tweaking my first build

good afternoon to you all,

I've taken on board what you've said and have the basics, however the intel system was slightly to expensive, I've gone for an AMD/ATI the specs seem to match the intel system, was there a reason why you picked intel over AMD (I want to learn) or will the AMD run everything I need?:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
OcUK Vantage Gaming Tower Case - Black £29.99
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N PCI Adapter (TL-WN851ND) £19.99
Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash - Retail £18.98
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B) £39.98
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £133.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 980 Black Edition "140W Edition" 3.70GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £125.99
Asus M5A97 PRO AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard
Asus GeForce GTX 560 DirectCU 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £136.99

can any help or pointers are greatly appreciated, and if you're able to say why you've picked particular things that would be a massive help.

shadow_boxer · 16 Nov 2011 at 15:05

Looks ok but I would go with either an Intel i3 2100 or an AMD Phenom II X4 955. Especially as the 955 is on offer for Today Only. All you'd need to to do change the multiplier in the BIOS and it will run at the same speed at the 980. If you don't plan on doing any overclocking then get the i3 2100, performance is a bit better than a 955. Also I'd go for RAM without the pointless heatsinks so the cooler doesn't have any problems. Finally, spend an extra tenner an get a better case. How about the following.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
MSI GeForce GTX 560 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card MSI GeForce GTX 560 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £137.99
(£114.99) £137.99
(£114.99)
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £133.99
(£111.66) £133.99
(£111.66)
MSI Z68A-G45-B3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard MSI Z68A-G45-B3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
(£87.49) £104.99
(£87.49)
Lepa N-Series 600W Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure Lepa N-Series 600W Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £43.98
(£36.65) £43.98
(£36.65)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash - Retail Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash - Retail £18.98
(£15.82) £18.98
(£15.82)
Sub Total : £589.07
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 : £120.31
Total : £721.88

If it's still a bit overbudget then swap for the following:

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard

fowler002 · 16 Nov 2011 at 15:43

if you don't plan on sli(going by the psu you've chosen you don't), I'd suggest cutting back on the ssd to 60/64gb and getting the 560ti graphics card if this is for gaming(or if you have an old recent graphics card use that till the new cards are released in te next few months).

i2500k £170

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1275

gigabyte z68ap-d3 £85

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI

8gb pc3-12800 1600mhz kingston hyperx genesis grey £40, the ram you've chosen the fin will interfer with the cooler

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

but if you want corsair, corsair vengence lp arctic whit (no fins) £46(normally £60, think it been slightly cheaper on here before but that for couple months back)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-311-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

gelid tranquilo £26 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

ocz zs 550w £55 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-055-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

case is personal but the bitfenix merc beta seems to be the suggested one £31

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-011-BX&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=

win7 hp 64bit oem £80

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-127-MS

crucial m4 64gb £86

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-008-CR&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=910

asus 560ti £162

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-247-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341

then you have your dvdrw £19 + wifi card £20

£764 if you go with the kingston ram or £770 if you go with the corsair ram, can drop the gelid tranquilo for the time being if you wished and go for the 120gb ssd which would put you on 786/£792(kingston/corsair).

Gomaku · 16 Nov 2011 at 17:12

Right I think we're circling in on a final build, I've changed the RAM to the Kingston and changed the case. I'll keep the gelid tranquilo, change the multiplyer on the BIOS and overclock the CPU.
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
I would go for the MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard but its out of stock so I've opted for the
Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard instead.

I know you've both been pushing the intel but its just out of our price range, If I make a new build I'll increase the budget and go for the intel next time. So the final build is as follows:
Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics card £161.99
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-120GB3-BK) £133.99
Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £97.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £89.99
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.98
OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £30.98
TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N PCI Adapter (TL-WN851ND) £19.99
Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash - Retail £18.98
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99

Total cost £771

I assume there are no compatability or performance issues using getforce graphics card on an AMD board.

Thanks again for your help and paitience!

shadow_boxer · 16 Nov 2011 at 17:20

Honestly the i5 builds are better and will work out only a tiny bit more but if you prefer AMD then go for it. With the Intel builds you at least can go to Ivy Bridge and not Bulldozer.

fowler002 · 16 Nov 2011 at 17:34

why are you intent on amd? as you can get the vastly better i2500k system for not much more, use the stock intel cooler for the time being which allows you to oc to about 4ghz then get the gelid latter on.

beejjacobs · 16 Nov 2011 at 17:43

What about:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £161.99
1 x Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £133.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.98
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £30.98
1 x TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N PCI Adapter (TL-WN851ND) £19.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash - Retail £18.98
Total : £812.38 (includes shipping : £13.75).

To save money, cheaper SSD?

fowler002 · 16 Nov 2011 at 17:47

beejjacobs said:
What about:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £161.99
1 x Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £133.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.98
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £30.98
1 x TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N PCI Adapter (TL-WN851ND) £19.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash - Retail £18.98
Total : £812.38 (includes shipping : £13.75).

To save money, cheaper SSD?

nice to see people read the replies

seeing as I speced the EXACT same thing.

beejjacobs · 16 Nov 2011 at 17:52

Thought I'd make it a bit neater

Sorry you're right, I should've read the whole thing.

Gomaku if you enable trust I have something with might be useful to you.

fowler002 · 16 Nov 2011 at 17:58

beejjacobs said:
Thought I'd make it a bit neater Sorry you're right, I should've read the whole thing.

Gomaku if you enable trust I have something with might be useful to you.

yeah I know, was just being petty

Gomaku · 16 Nov 2011 at 18:52

Ok, I've removed the fan and switched to the intel processor and motherboard as suggested. I was only going with AMD as they seemed to provide more power for less money, I will run with your advice as I am still a newb at this. I'll get this right before I start over complicating things. so the final build is the one suggested Fowler and beejjacobs.

Any final comments? Thanks again for all of your input and help

shadow_boxer · 16 Nov 2011 at 19:05

All looks OK.