New build spec check

zenf

zenf

zenf

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15 Jun 2003
Posts
1,342
Evening OCs

My friend is in the market for his first pc gaming rig. I've done as best i can with the spec but im a little out of date, not looked into components for 2 years or so. Could you give it the once over, recommend better value equivilant parts etc. Budget is around £6-700 with an obvious preference to the lower end. No monitor or OS required apparantly.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Argon Intel Core i3 550 3.20GHz @ 4.00GHz Overclocked Bundle - Gigabyte £229.98
(£191.65) £229.98
(£191.65)
XFX ATI Radeon 6950 XXX 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1) £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
OcUK Battle 750W Dual Rail High Efficiency Modular Power Supply £56.99
(£47.49) £56.99
(£47.49)
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (0F10383) £39.59
(£32.99) £39.59
(£32.99)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £38.80
(£32.33) £38.80
(£32.33)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.19
(£10.99) £13.19
(£10.99)
Akasa 20/24-Pin 30cm PSU Extension Cable £4.79
(£3.99) £4.79
(£3.99)
Sub Total : £569.42
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £116.13
Total : £696.80


Many thanks for your help, will be checking back soon!

Small edit:

Will be used to play SC2 and any other games that take his fancy really so i imagine it needs to be of reasonable spec!
 
Last edited:
Point taken on the power supply, will change that. Any help on better value parts? Would like to trim the price a little bit if possible :)

Thanks!
 
you could save 5 quid by not having the psu extension. its it 100% required? most quality power supplies have plenty long enough wires really unless you have a ginormous tower with the psu miles away from the mobo.

also does he need to spend 14 quid on an optical drive? i only used mine to install windows. now i just use a flash drive for everything. if i ever got stuck im sure i could "borrow" a drive from a friend or use an external at a later date.
 
second note: (cos i forgot to type before i clicked post)

would you be comfortable putting a similar bundle together from its constituent parts? you might be able to make some savings there also. note the i3 is a dual core. perhaps look into a AMD tricore that could possibly be unlocked to a quad? could probably be done in budget ill take a look now...

just took a look:

Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
(£68.32) £81.98

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 555 3.20GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3)
(£59.99) £71.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C8 1333MHz Dual-Channel (CMX4GX3M2A1333C8)
(£48.32) £57.98

total: £223.36

possibly add an aftermarket cooler, the dual core black edition can be unlocked to a quad core by flashing the bios on the motherboard afaik, a lot of people have had success with it anyway.

all this is on the OcUK site for you to look at btw

links:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-283-GI - motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-265-AM - cpu
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-257-CS - ram
 
Last edited:
save 10 quid, gain 2 cores (possibly) the overclocking will have to be done manually. it all depends how comfortable you are with it really.

edit - note to self: update own posts instead of spamming.
 
wow thanks for the quick replies! ill look into getting the bits seperately instead of bundled together. Have to say i didnt even consider AMD,last i heard intel had their number lol.

Is the i3 a good idea generally?

edit

changed the cpu/mobo to the AMD suggested above with Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
and added the XFX PSU, brought the price down to £667.00.

Any other suggestions? Hes quite eager to order, just wana make sure he gets the best for his money in all honesty!

Thanks loads :)
 
Last edited:
zenf1 said:
changed the cpu/mobo to the AMD suggested above with Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
and added the XFX PSU, brought the price down to £667.00.

Any other suggestions? Hes quite eager to order, just wana make sure he gets the best for his money in all honesty!

Thanks loads :)
Click to expand...

1600mhz ram is cheaper/can achieve a faster speed when set correctly in the bios..

edit, actually the GEIL is the same price - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-104-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517
 
looking into HDD now, thanks for that. Could you recommend some RAM? im looking through it now, doesnt seem to be that many other than the OCZ preorder stuff for much cheaper.
 
Hey guys, thanks for all your help... this is the updated basket!

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
XFX ATI Radeon 6950 XXX 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1) £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
(£68.32) £81.98
(£68.32)
AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 555 3.20GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £71.99
(£59.99) £71.99
(£59.99)
XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply £68.99
(£57.49) £68.99
(£57.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £38.80
(£32.33) £38.80
(£32.33)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.19
(£10.99) £13.19
(£10.99)
Sub Total : £547.41
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £111.58
Total : £669.49

Just one more thing to save some pennies without scrimping! Would http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-042-BQ&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1083 be suitable for this build? £20 cheaper than the XFX PSU, pretty much the only thing im unsure of now :)

Cheers ya'all, will be ordering later tonight!
 
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