New pc, help needed.

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5 Feb 2010
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Hi guys.I am finally going to build a new pc.

Here's my choice of potential hardware.

PCOVERLOCKERS.jpg




I already have windows 7.

First thing i need help with is, what graphics card to get.I want to pay up to £150.I was thinking of the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme.I want to do some photoshop, some gaming and watch hd video.Any suggestions please ?

Is the AX750 enough power ?

Not sure if i need a sound card, the motherboard says it has 'THX TruStudio PRO'.I don't know if a sound card would still be an improvement ? If it was, what would you recommend ? Will be used for music,cds.Also it will be plugged into my Onkyo and surround sound speakers.My suggestion, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium.

Which thermal compound, IC Diamond 24-Carat or Arctic Silver 5 ?

Anything i have missed or you would change?

Thank you
 
Hi,

Thats some nice looking parts. Are you looking at £850-£900 budget overall?
What monitor do you currently have? (Will affect the graphics card choice)
 
is it a full hd monitor (1080p) ?
the mobo is mATX so you might want the arc mini instead.
why the two HDDs?
change the ram to 2 x 2gb XMS3 or the 2 x 4gb Kingston hyperx grey on offer (low profiles which means it wont be a trouble fitting it with big coolers)
and that psu is ott, you dont really need full modular
something like this is enough
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-116-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088
as for the GPU question, it really depends on your tv resolution.
but something along the lines of
HD5850
GTX 560Ti
HD6950
 
Yes it does 1080p.Are you sure it's a mATX ? 500g for windows 7 and stuff and 2tb for all my music,videos etc.Thanks for the gpu suggestions.
 
actually im wrong :D
just had another look
its full atx, sorry about that, i was thinking of the Z68MA-ED55

EDIT**

Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
MSI P67A-G45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** MSI P67A-G45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
OCZ ZS Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply OCZ ZS Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £72.98
(£60.82) £72.98
(£60.82)
Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £55.99
(£46.66) £55.99
(£46.66)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £26.99
(£22.49) £26.99
(£22.49)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £21.98
(£18.32) £21.98
(£18.32)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £634.89
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £20.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £131.00
Total : £785.99

SSD for Win7 + a couple of games
1TB for media storage.
option to add another GPU in the future (wasnt sure about GTX560ti vs hd6950 1gb)
 
Last edited:
If you wanted to max out the budget:

SSD Boot drive (keep things quick and quiet, 2TB for storage (Im guessing films etc).
I'd guess that you'll be connecting via HDMI so @ 1920*1080 the card will do that happily.
Blue ray play for movies, similar case, but slightly bigger:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Dirt3 PC Game £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £89.99
1 x XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular Power Supply £80.99
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) £69.98
1 x LG CH10LS20 10x BluRay-ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (Retail) £47.99
1 x Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3) £38.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £26.99
2 x Akasa AK-FN059 120mm Ultra Quiet Viper Cool Fan - 3/4 Pin £13.99 (£27.98)
Total : £981.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Couple of extra fans to keep the airflow going, but not essential.
 
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