New build

Cat_J

Cat_J

Cat_J

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Joined
7 Dec 2011
Posts
544
Location
Suffolk
Hi,

I'm putting together a PC for a friend. He's an F1 nut (has top 50 in the world lap times on PS3!) and has just bought a G27 wheel and chair set.

So the PC is to replace his PS3, he plays mostly driving games among a few others too, often new titles. Budget is about £600. Will be running no higher than 1080p.

He's a guy who likes quality things so it has to have a nice case and look decent too. At the moment hes a console gamer so this doesn't want to spend a fortune upfront until he knows he likes it.

To this end I have put a spec together that I felt will run everything now and give good upgrade paths. Micro ATX is best so its closer to the size of a console and I think the Air 240 would be to his taste. I also picked the 270x because at the moment it looked like the best value for money with enough power.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 270X Boost OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card £129.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide Series Air 240 High Airflow PC Case - Black (CC-9011070-WW) £71.99
1 x Crucial M550 128GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M550SSD1) £68.99
1 x Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £57.59
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £55.99
1 x Asus B85M-G Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £55.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £44.99
Total : £585.07 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Any opinions welcome. I'd intend to get the CPU up to 4.4Ghz or there about. Also I have a Corsair 850w PSU I can stick in it.

Thanks
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express G (GX-225-MS) £139.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide Series Air 240 High Airflow PC Case - Black (CC-9011070-WW) £71.99
1 x Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £57.59
1 x Asus B85M-G Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £55.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16001104G-2CW) - Blue Light £53.99
1 x SK Hynix 128GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS128G32MNB-2201A) £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
Total : £574.12 (includes shipping : £8.00).



I think Ive tweaked it for you.

This SSD has better performance numbers, but do consider getting a 256Gb one for the extra space as 128Gb wont last long.

Are you sure you can overclock the CPU on this board?

I put a Bgrade 280X in that performs better but im doubting it will fit to be honest (too wide)


Check this thread for peoples overclocking results and what boards they have used - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18609386&highlight=G3258
 
I did some research last night and people have had good results with those. They updated that board to support overclocking on that CPU after it was released.

Good find on the card thats nice. The SSD is OS and basic programs only, HDD for games etc. My second PC is run the same way and only uses 60GB on the SSD so I thought it was a good cost cut. My thinking is it could then be upgraded to a 3xxxK or 4xxxK later.

I'll have a look at the card size.
 
Found it:

240 Air

Technical specifications

Maximum GPU Length: 290mm
Maximum CPU Cooler Height: 120mm
Maximum PSU Length: 225mm
Radiator Mount Locations:
Front: 240mm
Bottom: 240mm (mITX only)

MSI 280x

Card Dimension(mm) 269x128x34 mm
 
Having said that I've had to RMA an unusually large amount of MSI cards in the past so maybe the 270X would be better.
 
Who are VTX? New to me, have had good experiences with Sapphire.

I am open to a different case, I picked it because I have the 540 and know its the high quality and finish that he would like, but I'm sure there are others. I do think the more cube shape case is better though but I wouldn't reject anything out of hand.
 
Last edited:
VTX are a spin off powercolor or TUL or something like that.


YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express G (GX-225-MS) £139.99
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £84.98
1 x BitFenix Prodigy M MATX Cube Case - Midnight Black £64.99
1 x Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £57.59
1 x Asus B85M-G Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £55.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16001104G-2CW) - Blue Light £53.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
Total : £536.62 (includes shipping : £11.75).




Q: Will the XYZ Power Supply or ZYX Video Card fit inside the Prodigy M?
Video cards at 9.5inches or less will have 200mm of power supply clearance
Video cards at 11 inches or less will have 160mm of power supply clearance
Video cards at over 11 inches will have 150mm of power supply clearance.
Click to expand...

How long is your PSU, also note the change to air cooling as the H105 wont fit.
 
Product Dimensions 16 x 15 x 8.6 cm

Doubt that includes the cables sticking out. That case looks nice, I'm just concerned about air cooling at 4.4Ghz with a GPU in that size.
 
I think air cooling will be fine as the cpu will be using less transistors than a full fat quad core cpu with all its activated parts generating heat.

A smaller AIO fits (H55 etc)
 
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