New guy, few questions on first build

Heavenkiss

Heavenkiss

Heavenkiss

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Joined
9 May 2012
Posts
303
Hi guys,

I’m planning on building my first PC. I think £1000 for everything is a decent budget (Monitor, OS, Keyboard & Mouse all needed).

I've found this spec on youtube:

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge Processor

Cooler Master Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler

Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H Motherboard

Asus Radeon 7850 GPU

Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM

OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM Hard Drive

OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular Power Supply

Antec Three Hundred Two 302 Gaming Case

Asus DVD Burner

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

What do you think? I've been reading up on pc building for a few weeks now and think it looks decent. But I still can't understand which graphics card or motherboard is better from their name, and what PSU is needed.

Because I need a monitor and the other peripherals too, I think I’m going to hold back on the graphics card and buy that at a later date (Although if I can get one with everything else within £1000 that would be great). Regarding monitors, I don’t know where to start or what size. I think I’d also like to add a second at a later date for work purposes.

Games I’m most likely going to be playing are skyrim / guild wars 2 and the occasional FPS. I also like the total war / command and conquer series. I'd also like to dabble with Photoshop. Work purposes are mostly online so that won’t be an issue.

2 niggling questions is - I never see wifi cards on builds, is this built in to most motherboard? Also, USB3 on cases - is that neccesary? I mean does a device have to be USB3 compatible because I don’t think anything I own as advertised that.

Case I don't really care about, but I hate all the flashy neon gaming cases. After perusing these forums I’ve took a keen liking to some of the bitfenix cases.

Think I’ve covered everything and it would be great if you guys could offer some advice.

Thanks in advance,

Kev
 
Hi and welcome.

The spec looks good.

Graphics cards, their spec and reltive performance can be checked using review sites, just search the product name (ie. 7850) and you'll find a review.
The important thinks to know about motherboards is the inclusion of USB3 and SATAIII aswell as the ability to hanndle 2 graphics cards (Xfire/SLI).

Wifi is built into some motherboards though normally, ether a Wifi card is used, or i use a USB wirless connector.

Heres a spec that i think will be good for you:

YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Dirt3 PC Game £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x OcUK E2250SWDA 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £94.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £59.99
1 x Lepa W-Series 600W '80 Plus' Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £56.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £37.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) £24.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
1 x OcUK Black Gaming Keyboard (5105GU) £10.99
Total : £989.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).



The M4 SSD's are more reliable than the OCZ versions (in my opinion). I didn't go for vengance RAM as the big heatsinks sometimes clash with the air cooler.

This will handle all the games you mentioned and more.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.98
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x OcUK E2250SWDA 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £94.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £89.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
1 x BitFenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £36.98
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
1 x LG GH22NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £1,015.30 (includes shipping : £13.75).




A lil over and you still need to find a keyboard and mouse set (there isn't much to choose from in stock here at the mo).

However that is a very good all round rig with gaming grunt.

The 7850 i have chosen uses a better cooler (if you look it has 2 fans) and is clocked higher than some of the other models. In short it's a lil more cash but should be quieter, keep the GPU cooler which means you can overclock it if you so wish easier.

My mobo choice doesn't do dual GPUs (SLI/Xfire) it's another £20 for that as an upgrade option. Although my PSU choice would power a 2nd 7850 of you wanted to Xfire the GPU on a better mobo. It's also a modular PSU which means you only plug in the cables you need, which saves clutter and improves airflow, better airflow means lower temps in the case.

The 128GB M4 has plenty of space for the OS and games plus it also has faster write speeds than it's baby brother the 64GB. I also added a 2TB eco drive for storage purposes.

I would have spec'd the Zalman Z9 case as it has 4 120mm fans, digital temp display and fan controller. But it's fans are blue led and i thought it would put you off (check it out though it's a great case for the price). So i have gone with a budget bitfenix case to help keep costs down.

Hope it helps. I'm sure you'll have questions so i'll let you ask away :)
 
Last edited:
honosuseri said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.98
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x OcUK E2250SWDA 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £94.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £89.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
1 x BitFenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £36.98
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
1 x LG GH22NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £1,015.30 (includes shipping : £13.75).




A lil over and you still need to find a keyboard and mouse set (there isn't much to choose from in stock here at the mo).

However that is a very good all round rig with gaming grunt.

The 7850 i have chosen uses a better cooler (if you look it has 2 fans) and is clocked higher than some of the other models. In short it's a lil more cash but should be quieter, keep the GPU cooler which means you can overclock it if you so wish easier.

My mobo choice doesn't do dual GPUs (SLI/Xfire) it's another £20 for that as an upgrade option. Although my PSU choice would power a 2nd 7850 of you wanted to Xfire the GPU on a better mobo. It's also a modular PSU which means you only plug in the cables you need, which saves clutter and improves airflow, better airflow means lower temps in the case.

The 128GB M4 has plenty of space for the OS and games plus it also has faster write speeds than it's baby brother the 64GB. I also added a 2TB eco drive for storage purposes.

I would have spec'd the Zalman Z9 case as it has 4 120mm fans, digital temp display and fan controller. But it's fans are blue led and i thought it would put you off (check it out though it's a great case for the price). So i have gone with a budget bitfenix case to help keep costs down.

Hope it helps. I'm sure you'll have questions so i'll let you ask away :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the spec - I'm favouring this one at the moment at first glace. But thanks Doomedspeed for your input! I like both of them and gonna review them in more detail soon.

How do you guys post the builds like that, just copy and paste the basket?

I'm going to review the builds in more detail and probably pull bits off both and will post my new spec for you guys to check over if thats ok :)

Can you highlight how USB3 works, does it work with any USB device so worth getting or do products have to be usb3 compatible?

I've also noticed this spec includes a 'noc' monitor - At my office we all use Samsung except for an admin assistant who uses a 'noc' (Might be spelt wrong). And within the first month it had flickering issues. Is this common or are they a decent monitor manufacturer?

Thanks again to both of you for the builds.
 
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.98
(£166.65) £199.98
(£166.65)
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
(£70.82) £84.98
(£70.82)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
(£60.00) £72.00
(£60.00)
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
(£33.29) £39.95
(£33.29)
BitFenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
(£8.32) £9.98
(£8.32)

Ok guys, i'm pretty happy with that build above. Limited it to 1TB as i dont think i'll ever use 2TB.

As for the PSU, I see a lot of corsairs in builds, am i not best getting one of these? I'm gonna do some reasearch into the monitors as i havn't a clue where to start, but appreciate the recommendations.

Will take the Motherboard and Graphics card recommendations as i don't know where to start when it comes to them lol. Doubt i will sue xfire/sli in future so that board is fine.

Edit: Please see latest post for basket fix
 
Last edited:
Can you share the name please dude? be easier for people to help me i think.

Edit:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.98
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) £119.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
1 x BitFenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £36.98
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £880.42 (includes shipping : £10.50).




Ok guys, i'm pretty happy with that build above. Limited it to 1TB as i dont think i'll ever use 2TB.

As for the PSU, I see a lot of corsairs in builds, am i not best getting one of these? I'm gonna do some reasearch into the monitors as i havn't a clue where to start, but appreciate the recommendations.

Will take the Motherboard and Graphics card recommendations as i don't know where to start when it comes to them lol. Doubt i will sue xfire/sli in future so that board is fine.
 
Last edited:
Whats the standard size for gaming / average desktop would you say? I'm edging on 24" as its not too big (Will be sitting arm length away) and if dont dual display it will probs be sufficient. Althought id like to dual graphics and dual monitor, i probably wont ever need it.
 
24" it is then. The hunt for a monitor begins. What does everyone think of the build in post 8 then? Basically what honosuseri posted but i want to look more into a monitor / psu.

Also, will that case be ok for cable management / cooling?

Regarding the in built graphics and the graphics card, is the computer intelligent enough to only use the graphics card when need to save power?
 
Ok guys, my final spec below - is it all compatible? Oppinions appreciated :)


YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.98
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £109.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
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
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler (Socket Intel® Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AMD Socket FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £26.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
1 x OcUK USB Keyboard - Black £4.99
Total : £1,042.72 (includes shipping : £19.10).




I've went slight over budget, but only by a few pound - and i have a budget mouse i can use for now lying around so that's left off. Anything i've missed?

I hopefully want to over clock everything possible, and think this build provides that.

Ended up going with the Zalman so thanks for the suggestion - I like the amount of fans it comes with opposed to the shinobi. Btw, does anyone know how to combat the PSU and side fan not having a dust filter on the zalman z9?

Look forward to respons guys.

Kev
 
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