New PC needed and help requested with what to buy.

Slade2

Slade2

Slade2

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Joined
14 Apr 2011
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1,154
Location
Stafford
Hey all,

I have finally talked the wife into letting me upgrade my current system that is about three years old. A Quad core 2.66Mhz with a Gefore 9800GT.

I have £1200 Tops to get myself a nice system which has to include a new monitor, 22inch would be ok but if the spec allows for it I would like to make the step to 23 inch.

So, if you guys can help me out a bit with some suggested specs that would be wicked. I mainly play Starcraft 2 and a bit of wow but i would love a PC that can play anything I throw at it in the next few years. I would have course look to upgrade the GFX card in a few years time but would be looking for the system to last me much like my current one at least 3 years perhaps even 4 with a gfx card upgrade.
 
Need an OS?

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
Samsung B2430L 23.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £132.00
(£110.00) £132.00
(£110.00)
Antec TruePower New Modular 750W Power Supply £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £73.98
(£61.65) £73.98
(£61.65)
OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX60G) £71.99
(£59.99) £71.99
(£59.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.59
(£12.99) £15.59
(£12.99)
Sub Total : £929.56
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 : £189.93
Total : £1,139.59
 
yeah, i will be in need of at least an OEM copy of window 7. I am not sure weather to get a full copy though becuase I do like to do fresh installs every 5 to 6 months and of course i`m not sure I can do that with an OEM version.
 
Slade2 said:
yeah, i will be in need of at least an OEM copy of window 7. I am not sure weather to get a full copy though becuase I do like to do fresh installs every 5 to 6 months and of course i`m not sure I can do that with an OEM version.
Click to expand...

Yes you can, OEM is tied to the motherboard.
 
Stulid is reputably one of the best spec builders on here but there's just one incy wincy thing I'd change for the moneys sake. Id drop the software and HDD and go for a bundle.

Also, I'd eat as much of my budget up as I could into a bigger screen. 'cause I'm greedy like that.
 
thanks for the really quick replies stulid. Am I correct in thinking that if I was to order a system like that from overclockers they will build and overlock the system for me? or do I have to buy one of the `bundles` advertised? I am keen to obviously get some free performance and its been a number of years since I built my own pc and for the extra cost I would rather pay for someone else to build it and get the 12 month return to base warrently and the overclock.
 
Slade2 said:
thanks for the really quick replies stulid. Am I correct in thinking that if I was to order a system like that from overclockers they will build and overlock the system for me? or do I have to buy one of the `bundles` advertised? I am keen to obviously get some free performance and its been a number of years since I built my own pc and for the extra cost I would rather pay for someone else to build it and get the 12 month return to base warrently and the overclock.
Click to expand...

You would want a overclocked bundle, or you can maybe ask in the customer services section.
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
"Radon Torosaur" Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.40GHz Overclocked Bundle - Gigabyte £409.98
(£341.65) £409.98
(£341.65)
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
Samsung B2430L 23.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
Antec TruePower New Modular 750W Power Supply £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £73.98
(£61.65) £73.98
(£61.65)
OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX60G) £71.99
(£59.99) £71.99
(£59.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.59
(£12.99) £15.59
(£12.99)
Sub Total : £971.24
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 : £198.27
Total : £1,189.61

With a bundle:)
 
Slade2 said:
thanks for the really quick replies stulid. Am I correct in thinking that if I was to order a system like that from overclockers they will build and overlock the system for me? or do I have to buy one of the `bundles` advertised? I am keen to obviously get some free performance and its been a number of years since I built my own pc and for the extra cost I would rather pay for someone else to build it and get the 12 month return to base warrently and the overclock.
Click to expand...

In that case you would need someone to spec you something you like, ring OC Sales and discuss that with them as otherwise your only other alternative is picking 1 of the pre-built machines and slightly configuring that.

Otherwise here's my idea for your build below! ;)


b7z1jd.png
 
^
The monitor is more expensive and worse, lacks HDMi too.

Ram wont fit with the venom cooler.

Motherboard doesnt do SLI/Crossfire at an even 8X/8X like the MSI or Gigabyte does in both my specs.

Non reference 6950 cant be flashed to a 6970.
 
^^

dont think that RAM and the Akasa Venom will fit properly without changing the ram slots, could be wrong though.
 
thanks again for the replies. I will probably give OC a call at some point and discuss with them what I need. I am intrigued about flashing the card from 6950 to 6970 is this someone I can order or is it a simple fireware swap or something more technical?
 
Thanks again for your help Stulid.

I currently have a Samsung T220 and i assume this wont look to out of place next to the suggested samsung? I am planning on phoning OC fri/sat to see if I can talk to someone about building and getting the exact config I want. I am hoping to take advantage of some free games when buying certain items and there was a build which had a free Ram upgrade to 8gig would that be a good idea? since I read that sometimes its not possible to get the higher overclocks with more memory?

sorry to ask so many questions but £1200 is a lot of money for me to spend and I want to get it right first time.
 
Put the two together for you:)

t220.png


P.S not to scale.

the red plastic isn't as obvious in real life as the above picture makes out is it?


Slade2 said:
there was a build which had a free Ram upgrade to 8gig would that be a good idea? since I read that sometimes its not possible to get the higher overclocks with more memory?
Click to expand...

More ram sticks puts more strain on the memory controller, but if you use 2X4GB to get 8GB then its the same as having 2X2GB to get 4GB

Thats why if you look at many OCUK overclocked bundles - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-062-OE&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=1802 - you will see a disclaimer along the bottom about adding more ram.

The pre-build you have seen is good, you just got to get the right options on it, the only negatives about it is the case (its not what you use in a £1100 build) and the motherboard does not do symmetrical SLI/Crossfire

Untitled-81.png


now compare this price against the last spec that includes a overclocked bundle (although 200mhz less than above), better case, PSU and a monitor.

and you start to see how building it yourself saves huge £££££
 
Last edited:
stulid said:
the red plastic isn't as obvious in real life as the above picture makes out is it?
Click to expand...

Not when I am forced to sit in the corner of the room where its dark and damp! :)

So, If I can go for the 8gig rather than the 4gig and pay the extra would that be better or is it overkill? I am planning a duel monitor setup with the two monitors mentioned so am assuming the extra memory might be a good idea.

Thanks again!.
 
Slade2 said:
Not when I am forced to sit in the corner of the room where its dark and damp! :)

So, If I can go for the 8gig rather than the 4gig and pay the extra would that be better or is it overkill? I am planning a duel monitor setup with the two monitors mentioned so am assuming the extra memory might be a good idea.

Thanks again!.
Click to expand...

Added more info above, the amount of ram will have no bearing on a multi monitor setup, it becomes useful with video editing and other programs that need lots of ram, such as running virtual pc software/music production.
 
I am leaning more and more towards building it myself. I dont have a problem building it myself at all just need to get rid of the kids for the afternoon and that would probably involve letting the wife lose on the credit card so maybe paying for someone to build it would be a cheaper option but i am deffo getting more and more excited to the idea of building it myself.

The "Radon Torosaur" bundle i take it would come setup and i would just have to put it in the case with everything else? I would be much happier if I dont have to mess about with mounted heatsinks and TIM paste :)

so, i think i have the system sorted now at least in terms I what I want. Some additions i need are a wireless headset. I currently have a very cheap philips one and anything would be a good replacement.

Also a good wireless router. I am planning on reinstalling the old PC and using that as a media server and relocating it to the loft, networking it all together so I can then stream movies from the media server to the TV. Is wireless suitable for streaming HD movies? Wireless would be the better option becuase then I can use it on my phone as well but i would have course concider wired but i suppose most of this is for another day.
 
Slade2 said:
The "Radon Torosaur" bundle i take it would come setup and i would just have to put it in the case with everything else? I would be much happier if I dont have to mess about with mounted heatsinks and TIM paste :)
Click to expand...

you will have to attach the heatsink yourself because of shipping.

Also a good wireless router. I am planning on reinstalling the old PC and using that as a media server and relocating it to the loft, networking it all together so I can then stream movies from the media server to the TV. Is wireless suitable for streaming HD movies?
Click to expand...

wireless n is fast enough to stream movies, but a better answer can be found here - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=6 - as its not a strong point of mine.
 
ok, thanks again for all your help Stulid.

Just a few more questions and i think i am ready to order everything.

Will i need any extras? by that i mean cables and tyes and stuff like that? sata cables? power cables for the gfx card? do I have all needed fans for the case or would recommend purchasing extras? I want to make sure that If I book a day off work for the build that I`m not missing anything when the package arrives. I dont mind to buy extenders for stuff as well becuase I would ideally like everything neat and tidy in the case and do plan to take some time to build it but of course dont want to pay out money if I can avoid it :)
 
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