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Bomster

Bomster

Bomster

Associate
Joined
29 Apr 2012
Posts
37
Location
East Anglia, UK.
Hi there,

I'm brand new to this forum, was recommended by a friend. He said that you guys are helpful for finding good specs on a tight budget.

Well being an apprentice electrical engineer my budget certainly is tight!

What I am looking for:
- £600 absolute max.
- Decent for gaming, nothing too intense though. (CoD4 promod, little BF3 maybe)
- Would like to run an HDMI from the tower to my TV so I can use it as a media centre. Will run to a 24" Dell monitor the rest of the time that I already own.
- I already have 2x2TB Samsung HD204U that I bought cheaply ages ago, but I would like to run my system of an SSD, if you guys recommend it?
- I've read a lot about the i5 2500K, would you guys recommend that CPU?

I already have all peripherals so just looking for the tower. I'm happy building it myself, just need your expertise with regards to components.

Cheers in advance,
Tom :)
 
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Welcome.

Do you have an OS, 64bit. Do you need dvd-rw. If you plan to OC Cpu, will you need a cooler, if so, what case do you have, so we know what will fit.
 
Hi there and welcome :)

With that budget you will struggle to get a full system with an i5 CPU, decent graphics card and an SSD. Presumably you will be needing a copy of windows too.

Therefore, here is a spec that has the i5 CPU and decent HD 6850 graphics - but no SSD.

i5600.png


Similarly, here is a spec with an SSD and HD 6850 graphics, but an i3 dual core CPU.

i3600.png



Of these two, the i5 CPU is much more powerful on paper - it is a quad core (the i3 is a dual core), it is an ivy bridge design (the i3 is sandy bridge) and it can overclock to ~4.5GHz with decent cooling (the i3 can't overclock).

However, in the vast majority of games the i3 will be fast enough and not limit your performance, also in applications it is still rather fast - though can't keep up with the i5 in heavily multi-threaded tasks. Also, the SSD you can afford with the i3 spec means that your PC will "feel" much faster and more responsive in everyday tasks and should boot into windows and load applications/games faster.

Therefore, with a fixed budget of £600 I would get the i3 + SSD spec. Then in the future you have the option of upgrading to a Ivy Bridge i5 (like the i5 3570K) and the Z77 board used will allow overclocking of an i5.

Another interesting option is to go with the i3 + SSD spec, but instead use a second-hand i5 2500K (if you can find one for ~£130). The i5 2500K is a quad core of sandy bridge design and can overclock nicely - it was just replaced by the new i5 3570K (which is a newer Ivy Bridge design) but this is only slightly faster - so you should find a fair few for sale, as quite a few people are upgrading.
 
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Good morning all, thanks for your responses.

In answer to your questions Idleman:

I don't require an OS.
Don't require a DVD drive.
At the moments I don't plan on overclocking, but I may in the future.

Will a 600W power supply be enough, as a friend recommended a 750W minimum? Is he talking out of his posterior?

I like the sound of the initial i5 build outlined by cmndr andi, and as I don't need an OS, I might be able to squeeze an SSD in instead and still just about be in my budget?

What are people thoughts on SSD? Would/do run one, or should I just run off my 4TB in RAID?
 
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Bomster said:
Good morning all, thanks for your responses.

In answer to your questions Idleman:

I don't require an OS.
Don't require a DVD drive.
At the moments I don't plan on overclocking, but I may in the future.

Will a 600W power supply be enough,Yes as a friend recommended a 750W minimum?If you are to xfire/sli in the future, it best to have a bit of headroom. Is he talking out of his posterior? No

I like the sound of the initial i5 build outlined by cmndr andi, and as I don't need an OS, I might be able to squeeze an SSD in instead and still just about be in my budget? M4 120gb goodd and reliable.

What are people thoughts on SSD?Great Would/do run one, or should I just run off my 4TB in RAID?
Click to expand...
 
Ah, you don't need an OS or DVD drive? Excellent.

In that case Idleman's spec is great (though if you go with that bitfenix case, make sure you buy a couple of extra 120mm case fans).

As for the PSU, running a system with an i5 CPU and a HD 6850 graphics card - you can actually get away with a good quality 400W PSU (which would cost ~£35-45). The reason I picked the 600W cooler master is that it is currently a fantastic deal at £55, fully modular, efficient, quiet and offers plenty of headroom for further upgrades. In fact, that 600W PSU will happily power two HD 6850 graphics cards in Crossfire. A 750W PSU is only really required if you want to run two high-end cards in crossfire/SLI (like a 7970/GTX 680).

That said, if you do want to do crossfire/SLI in the future then you really should spend a bit more on the motherboard so you get one that can provide a full PCIE x8 link to the second graphics slot (that Z77-D3H board can only provide a x4 link). Therefore, this is the board I would go for if you plan to run Crossfire/SLI in the future.

I would strongly recommend going for an SSD, no matter what build you go for. SSDs offer small read/write speed of the order of 100x faster than a mechanical HDD (even two in RAID0) and response times beat mechanical HDDs with similar margins. Therefore, for the huge number of tasks that are currently bottlenecked by a mechanical HDD in modern systems - and SSD offers a removal of this bottleneck and overall much better performance and responsiveness.
 
Idleman said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £105.98
1 x Asus HD 6850 DirectCU V2 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Kingston HyperX RED Limited Edition 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3B1RK2/8GX) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £29.99
Total : £606.32 (includes shipping : £17.85).



This.
Click to expand...

That is pretty good

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked FTW 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (01G-P3-1363-KR) £109.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £105.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £52.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
Total : £636.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I know that is a lil over but i will explain why.

Much better budget case. It includes 4 120mm fans (cheapo cases have 1), fan controller and digital temp display, includes cable management as well. You need to remember we are spec'ing you an overclockable ivybridge CPU so the cooler you can keep the internals the higher your possible overclock will be.

An aftermarket cooler would be a nice addition (£20ish), try and score one as a gift at some point maybe ;) The case gives access to the rear of the mobo so fitting is easy enough without dismantling. This will cool the CPU even more so you can get even more power from the CPU. (SB i5K would get to 4.4ghz easy from 3.3ghz)

My RAM is slightly dearer, nothing wrong with idlemans choice it's just the colour clashed with the mobos colour. If this doesnt bother you go for idlemans RAM.

My GPU is already overclocked to nigh on 6870 performance. It adds cuda support and includes HBAO & SSAO lighting. AMD only does SSAO and yes i think HBAO looks better.....its tech for making the shadows look nice if you are wondering lol

The bigger the SSD the better the write speed. 64GB isnt really big enough, it will read at the same speed as its bigger bro but the 128GB drive WILL write quicker.

PSU is modular. A 550W would be around £50 that extra £5 is getting you more power and you can connect only the cables you need to use. Saves having excess clutter in the case which in turn means better airflow.....lower temps.

Hope this helps, any questions or problems come build day, you know where to find us :)
 
Oh BTW

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express G (GX-160-EA) £80.00
Total : £89.90 (includes shipping : £8.25).



That is a B grade 460SC. I have that card and OC'd it further myself to 900mhz! from 763mhz. Use MSI afterburner to OC it, very simple to use. Expect 850mhz easy :)

It does have a shorter warranty and it's been returned so may miss an adapter or driver cd. I would call and check what you do get in the box before you buy if possible. You mentioned being on a tight budget. This GPU is just as good if not slightly better than the retail version i spec'd before. This card has 256bit VRAM, retail f.t.w edition has 192bit VRAM. There is nothing wrong with the component, it has been opened and therefore cannot be sold by law at the sealed price.

Depends if you are tempted by the price or not. Would certainly help get my spec'd price down to nigh on budget.
 
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Thanks a lot honosuseri, really liking that build. Think we may be onto a winner. Will use Idlemans RAM as I'm really not fussed about colours. The case you've picked looks really good for the money. I will certainly be going for the B Grade stock, as it seems like a bargain.

Cheers for all your helpful comments!
 
Bomster said:
Thanks a lot honosuseri, really liking that build. Think we may be onto a winner. Will use Idlemans RAM as I'm really not fussed about colours. The case you've picked looks really good for the money. I will certainly be going for the B Grade stock, as it seems like a bargain.

Cheers for all your helpful comments!
Click to expand...

I use that case myself and use it a lot in builds I do. It's only downside is the lack of a USB3 port (not that you would get one on a cheapo case anyway). Again you could try and score a gift of a card reader which has a usb3 port to overcome this later. You can mount the SSD behind the mobo, so you dont use up the 3.5 inch bay for the SSD ;)

Another tip is to take the fan off the side of the case and fit it on the top/ceiling of the case (you then have 2 120mm exhaust fans at the very top). Heat rises obviously so this helps push it out of the case. There is a slight rattle if you leave the fan on the side of the case, so moving it to the top stops this aswell.

That GPU has a mini HDMI port. It comes with an adapter to make it fullsized HDMI. Very important you check that it comes with it (as its B grade) or you can only connect via DVI unless you buy an adapter.

Happy to help....call me Hono, save your keyboard keys if nothing else lol :)
 
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Please be aware that the B grade graphics card only comes guaranteed with a 90 day warranty from OCUK (and being an EVGA card the 30 days to register for the 3 year warranty has probably already expired or been used by someone else).

In contrast, a brand new EVGA GTX 460 card or that ASUS HD 6850 card comes with a 3 year warranty - since graphics cards to have a tendency to fail then I would strongly recommend you pay the extra for the new card.

As for GTX 460 1GB vs HD 6850 - both are good cards and at stock speeds perform about as well as each other. However that particular GTX 460 SC seems to only have a 192 bit memory bus (the standard ones have 256 bit) which is a bit worrying - though it also comes with a decent overclock.

The zalman case suggested by hono is a nice one - and as he says it comes fitted with a bunch of fans and good cable management - so it should be simple to set up.
 
Okay, well a definite yes on the case then. Will it fit both my 2TB HDD's, an SSD and all the other components above?

I will look further into a GPU, with a decent warranty.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked FTW 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (01G-P3-1363-KR) £109.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £105.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x BitFenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £36.98
1 x Kingston HyperX RED Limited Edition 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3B1RK2/8GX) £35.99
Total : £614.51 (includes shipping : £10.50).



As cmdr andi rightly pointed out, the B grade card only has a ninety day warranty, for the extra £30 you get 3yr warranty and peace of mind, worth it.
The Zalman is a very good case, if you can afford to increase your budget, go for it. If not the Outlaw is a good budget case and you can add a couple of fans later to improve the cooling. But chosing a case is a personal choice. So have a good browse before deciding. After all, you are the one who has to look at it every day.
 
cmndr_andi said:
Please be aware that the B grade graphics card only comes guaranteed with a 90 day warranty from OCUK (and being an EVGA card the 30 days to register for the 3 year warranty has probably already expired or been used by someone else).

In contrast, a brand new EVGA GTX 460 card or that ASUS HD 6850 card comes with a 3 year warranty - since graphics cards to have a tendency to fail then I would strongly recommend you pay the extra for the new card.

As for GTX 460 1GB vs HD 6850 - both are good cards and at stock speeds perform about as well as each other. However that particular GTX 460 SC seems to only have a 192 bit memory bus (the standard ones have 256 bit) which is a bit worrying - though it also comes with a decent overclock.

The zalman case suggested by hono is a nice one - and as he says it comes fitted with a bunch of fans and good cable management - so it should be simple to set up.
Click to expand...

I would agree, which is why i did spec the retail. I did try to explain the shortcomings of a B grade item.....I was just pointing out the option

The B grade card IS better spec'd in regards to the VRAM as it is 265bit as I mentioned. It's overclocked less @763 but as i said mine is @900mhz. You can't buy this version "retail" now, it was £130 nearly the other week not £107.99 as stated but now is no longer stocked.

The retail f.t.w version i spec'd originally does use 192bit VRAM. However it is already clocked @867mhz, the memory is also overclocked higher as well and I do believe the f.t.w edition has additional heatsinks on the RAM to help support this higher overclock. In short this card is plug and play you dont need to fiddle with the overclock really.

They are as good as each other to be fair. Comes down to price and warranty. The only concern is that for SLI you can't mix and match 192bit and 256bit i.e myself i can't buy that f.t.w for SLI, I would have to buy the B grade item to do SLI with the one i already own. We haven't spec'd you an SLI mobo so this is just to educate you :)

I still prefer the 460 (ive gone into detail why) to the 6850 but it's not the end of the world if you do settle on the AMD
 
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