New computer advice

JoeUk

JoeUk

JoeUk

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Joined
2 May 2006
Posts
137
Hi guys,

I'm looking into buying a desktop again - I've been using a Macbook Pro for a year while studying but decided that it was pointless as it's too weak to play games and I never took it anywhere anyway! (Kept it pristine for a year and just spilled a pint of water on it.. so much for part exchange..).

So anyway - I'm looking for advice on a new build. I'd like to spend around £700-800? I think that's a reasonable amount these days for a PC? Primarily for gaming.

I'd like a sandybridge mobo and 2500k chip as that seems to be all the rage these days but not sure which to get motherboard wise. I think a 570 would be a good choice? I'm not sure how it compares to ATIs latest but I've always had driver issues with my past ATI cards, or games designed to run on nvidia hardware and such.

Other than that I'm open - not sure if 8gb is required for gaming or if I need an external soundcard anymore? (I'll just use stereo speakers). I have a corsair modular 650w powersupply from an old build that I could use if it's still any good. Looks like the HX model on this website but it's in yellow.

Also was looking at the Fractal design define R3 - but only because I'd like a quiet case.

Lastly - I'd quite like a SSD since they seem quite mainstream now? Not sure if it could fit in with my budget or not.

Would appreciate any advice - can't wait to get into the Witcher 2 and get over my mourning period of the macbook!
 
Hi
u wanna build a whole PC i mean with Monitor keyboard mouse ....??? becasue if so with a SSD your Budget is a bit tight
 
aha sorry - I should have mentioned.

I have a 24" Dell monitor (an oldie 2407wfp) and a mouse / keyboard.

Just need the hardware - minus the PSU if the corsair is acceptable. Oh and the dvdrom and some noctua case fans.. thats about it!
 
HX650 good enough.

That leaves room for ...

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 "Dual Fan Edition" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex Games £209.99
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £159.98
Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £131.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
Options applied to the above product:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £59.99
BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £47.99
LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £125.89
Total : £755.32

Leaving room for better GPU, better case, a CPU cooler, or maybe a SSD. Although I would save for a 128GB later. This is a sort of reference spec for that budget.

With ATIs, you also get free you can re-sell (that right?), or just enjoy. But that would not put me off a 570 GTX or even 580 GTX.

Not sure about the 8GB. Since you can get 4GB sticks at £20, and the 8GB currently expensive (compared to not long ago), I would grab 4GB right now (HyperX blue), get some 8GB later and sell the 4GB for about the same amount. Gives you another £30 in your budget for other things.

MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £259.99
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £159.98
Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £131.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £47.99
Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £19.99
LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £125.55
Total : £753.32




So your upgrade (comes xmas and what not), could look like this, slightly cheaper (around £10-20 I'd say), and selling your 4GB sticks would recoup £15.

Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £139.99
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £59.99
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £39.46
Total : £236.77
 
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Thanks for your help :) Forgot to mention I already have the DVDrom and Windows 7 disks, from my last build.

I think - i'd rather stretch and get it all in one rather than faff about, £800 was kind of my limit but if a SSD is really worthwhile I'd fit one in :)
 
then that's a pretty awesome budget to work with.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 580 "GOOD Edition" 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £359.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £159.98
1 x Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £131.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £59.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £47.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £30.98
Total : £805.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).



or a 570 + some nice case or 64 GB SSD, altohugh I would try to save for a 128GB.

or a 6950 2GB + 128 SSD + nice case.

Lots of choices. Depends what your priorities are, if you want a balanced system or the best gaming system money can buy.

The ATI and NVIDIA cards are sort of budgeted according to performance. So depending on budget, you would get increase in performance, the sweet spot being a 6950 2GB. 570 has better performance but more expensive. the 560ti is about the same as the 6950, but half the Vram (and new games like Vram).
 
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JoeUk said:
I have a corsair modular 650w powersupply from an old build that I could use if it's still any good.
Click to expand...

Double check on the PSU model number as it could be quite important. Usually, the yellow lettering and modular is the AX line, meaning top of the range, but could be something else. Need to know the total power on the 12V rail, which should be printed on the side. Yellow / Orange is the TX but it's not modular. Still a good unit. There is the TX 650 M (modular) but it's brand new. So unlikely to be your unit.

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page447.htm
 
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Thanks a lot for your advice - I think a 580 would be an overkill for me. I like the idea of swapping it for a 570 and seeing how much extra I'd have to put in for a decent SSD :)
 
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