Noob needs help on first build!

Lightning01

Lightning01

Lightning01

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Joined
4 May 2011
Posts
29
Hi everyone, Ive been reading through as many threads as possible on these boards to try and get a rough idea on what the best components for my budget are and have decided upon a build. However, i would just like some confirmation that the build is the best bang for my buck and that it'll all work together.

My Budget: £600ish (Can go slightly over if its worth it) to buy everything, that includes a Monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard and wireless network card (Dont need a windows 7 licence). I currently have a laptop which is slowly dying and im not going to make the same mistake again and buy a laptop when i can get a much better desktop which i can keep up to date with upgrades.

What im aiming for: A PC which can play any game on the market today, im not always looking for being able to play it on maxed out settings.. Just after a PC which will play them with a decent framerate and fairly good graphics. Im also trying to make the build as upgradable as possible, so i can keep buying new things for it over time.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £102.12
(£85.10) £102.12
(£85.10)
Asus P8H67-M Pro Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** Asus P8H67-M Pro Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £89.98
(£74.98) £89.98
(£74.98)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £85.99
(£71.66) £85.99
(£71.66)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL) G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
OcUK Zeus Tower Case - Black (450W PSU) OcUK Zeus Tower Case - Black (450W PSU) £32.66
(£27.22) £32.66
(£27.22)
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
Logitech S-150 2.0 USB Speaker System - OEM (980-000029) Logitech S-150 2.0 USB Speaker System - OEM (980-000029) £11.99
(£9.99) £11.99
(£9.99)
Blaze K3285 Multimedia Slim USB Keyboard - Black Blaze K3285 Multimedia Slim USB Keyboard - Black £7.99
(£6.66) £7.99
(£6.66)
OcUK USB Optical Mouse - Black OcUK USB Optical Mouse - Black £2.99
(£2.49) £2.99
(£2.49)

Total : £622.50

This is what ive decided on at the moment but i have never built a PC before so im abit cautious about afew things. Ive decided upon a case which includes a 450w PSU but im wondering weither that PSU is good enough or weither its something you shouldnt try to get cheap. Also the graphics card, is that good enough or should i be looking for something different?

I also havent included any extra fans for the case in that budget but are they required or will the supplied case fan be enough for my needs?

Thanks in advance!
a happy noob!
 
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If that is your limit for a full build, the 2500K maybe out of your budget. Can spec a i3 / AMD build, see how it goes, and how much it would cost extra to upgrade to a 2500K and better graphics card.

The 5830, while not exactly top draw, would be minimum spec for gaming imo.
 
olivier renault said:
If that is your limit for a full build, the 2500K maybe out of your budget. Can spec a i3 / AMD build, see how it goes, and how much it would cost extra to upgrade to a 2500K and better graphics card.

The 5830, while not exactly top draw, would be minimum spec for gaming imo.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of cutting corners on the PSU and the graphics card in order to get the 2500k and a semi-decent motherboard; Then i could upgrade the graphics card and PSU later.

Im not really sure on what im doing, so any advice would be extremly welcome. If going the i3 or AMD route would give me a better gaming PC, then i'd certainly do that. Im not really after playing everything on full graphics, so just thought that i'd get the 2500k chip now and a graphics card which could play anything.. then when that graphics card becomes outdated, i can simply upgrade it, while the CPU and motherboard will last me awhile.
 
Lightning01 said:
Just noticed that the 2500k chip is on offer today, so its £600 total now instead of £620, giving me abit of leeway to get a better PSU/case.

So i could afford to get
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) [RC-430-KWP500]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-225-CM

which i presume would solve my PSU problems?
Click to expand...

Yes it would.

have you thought about getting a P67 motherboard? only £99 for a MSI C45
 
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ok, so to confirm before i purchase: If i get that case/PSU, everything should work fine together and it'll be able to play any game on the market today (but not full graphics).

Then when i come to upgrade it, its a case of a better graphics card, more Ram and maybe a SSD drive?
 
It would be a good idea to find an extra few quid for a 5850. It's a much stronger card than the 5830, and with a 1080p screen you'll need plenty of graphics power.

ETA: 4GB of RAM is plenty :)
 
h67 you can't overclock but you have integrated graphics, p67 you have no integrated graphics but you can overclock, z68 you get both!
 
A P67 motherboard will allow you to overclock the CPU.

A H67 doesnt allow overcloking, all you got to really on is the Intel turboboost to give a 4 speed bin increase in clock speed as the CPU is put under load, the H67 can also pass through the CPU's inbuilt GPU to some connectors on the back of the motherboard.

A Sandybridge CPU with a K after its name will allow overclocking, non K CPU's cant.
 
stulid said:
A P67 motherboard will allow you to overclock the CPU.

A H67 doesnt allow overcloking, all you got to really on is the Intel turboboost to give a 4 speed bin increase in clock speed as the CPU is put under load, the H67 can also pass through the CPU's inbuilt GPU to some connectors on the back of the motherboard.

A Sandybridge CPU with a K after its name will allow overclocking, non K CPU's cant.
Click to expand...

So if i upgrade the motherboard, will i have to buy a better heatsink or more case fans (ive only got the one included in the case at the moment) in order to overclock it without it overheating? and @ a guess, if im using my own graphics card, the integrated graphics will be turned off anyway not used in conjunction? (Yes, im that much of a noob).
 
The stock Intel heatsink is reported to be good for around 4.4GHZ

The external graphics card will disable the onboard system, just make sure you have the monitor cable in the graphics card and not in the motherboard connectors.
 
Good questions :)

Yes the onboard graphics will be disabled when using a standalone card.

If you keep an eye on temperature, you can overclock with the stock heatsink, just nit as far as with some better cooling. A Freezer 7 is only around £15 though, and would keep things much cooler.

Edit: too slow :(
 
ok decided to upgrade the motherboard to:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-167-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1906

MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION **

Ready to purchase now!

So final checks:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £102.12
(£85.10) £102.12
(£85.10)
MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £85.99
(£71.66) £85.99
(£71.66)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL) G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
Logitech S-150 2.0 USB Speaker System - OEM (980-000029) Logitech S-150 2.0 USB Speaker System - OEM (980-000029) £11.99
(£9.99) £11.99
(£9.99)
Blaze K3285 Multimedia Slim USB Keyboard - Black Blaze K3285 Multimedia Slim USB Keyboard - Black £7.99
(£6.66) £7.99
(£6.66)

Will everything here work together with no problems? Everything will fit inside the case? and do i need to buy any cables, the monitor says its DVI-D but the graphics says its DVI-I; will the monitor come with the right cable? the PSU will come with the power cable? and i'll have enough SATA(whatever) cables to connect the internals? Just want to make sure when i come to build it, one cheap cable stops me lol.

Thanks for all your help :)
 
Looks like you're heading for a nice low-cost, high spec system. However, one thing I would suggest is not skimping on the PSU - it is really one of the most improtant components in the build.

If you have a look for reviews of the Coolermaster Elite Power PSUs you will see that they aren't great quality and pretty bad for efficiency. With an i5 2500K and a HD 5830 system I would suggest this PSU at the very least and ideally something like this (review here).
 
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