PC Build Options

Alexander E

Alexander E

Alexander E

Associate
Joined
18 Aug 2012
Posts
14
Ok i have put together 2 specs for a budget gaming PC that will play games such as Battlefield3 with a decent fps.

I would be very grateful if someone could give me their opinion on which would perform the best for the purpose and if i should change something to make it compatible.

Which processor+Mobo?
Intel i5 2500k
ASUS P8H61
OR
AMD FX 4170
ASUS M5A78L

Which GPU?

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 7770
OR
Zotac GeForce Nvidia GTX 550 Ti

These are the parts that want to use for the RAM ect..
Corsair Vengeance 8GB RAM (2x4GB)
WD Caviar Blue 500GB HARD Drive
XFX Core Edition PRO 650watts PSU
Coll Master Elite 430

If you could give me some advice on the processor/motherboard and the Graphics cards that would be great and also any advice on the other parts would be great too.

Budget is £450-£600 so bear that in mind with your suggestions and i will look forward to hearing them.

Thx in advance

Alex
 
Those cards are about the same price but the 7770 generally performs a little better when gaming so I would go with the 7770. The 2500k will do fine running any game you can throw at it. I wouldn't go with the 4170 as it generally will not perform as well. Only go for it if you are on a really tight budget.
 
Ok I have looked around in the UK for low prices for my builds, does anyone know of a really cheap shop or website that sells PC parts.

Because I'd really like to go with the i5 2500k but it's just over budget from the sites I've looked at. Any suggestions would be great.
 
550ti are slow.

This GTX460 is better - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-171-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830

You also cant overclock with a H61 board, so that "K" CPU is wasted.


Heres a PC for £600,


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked FTW 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (01G-P3-1363-KR) £124.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £49.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £34.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £599.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
Last edited:
You have changed all the brands of the RAM ect.. without giving a reason which confuses me so if you could explain why the ones you have chosen are an improvement over the previous one that would be great.

I hasaid i was trying to choose between the HD7770 and the GTX550ti, is there a reason why you havent mentioned the HD7770?

thx for your info so far, i just needa few things cleared up :)

p.s. how do you know if mobos are overclockable? do they say on the website or do you just have to know?
 
I found this one, i assume that th Z77 is more expensive and since im on a low budget i'll just go with waht will work :)

Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3 Z68 Socket 1155 7.1 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
 
It will work.

But,

It doesnt have any display connectors as usually found on Z68/Z77 boards, so it doesnt have Lucid support or Intels Quicksync.
 
Alexander E said:
Are they needed for gaming?
Click to expand...

No.

But nice to have if needed.

Lucid - allows the switching between the CPU's onboard GFX core and the GFX card for when not gaming.

Quicksync - allows programs (encoding etc) if supported to use the CPU's onboard GFX core to rapidly speed up encoding times etc.

Z77 boards have the extra Lucid MVP which does a few extra fancy stuff.
 
ah ok, they arent nessisary but if i can find one with those it'll be better than without :)

what are your thoughts on the HD7770 probably the sapphire version?

or are Nvidia easier to build with?
 
ok, as i am building for the first time and i have heard about drivers and things. Are the nvidia cards easier to install because i read it somewhere (i can remember where) that ATI cards are difficult to install the drivers.

Or am i safe with the Sapphire HD 7770 as a beginner?
 
They are both as good as each other.

But people do prefer particualr ones due to bad driver experience in the past, or certain games working better on a particular brand, the debate has been discussed for ages.

I myself am a huge Nvidia fan.
 
One thing with a Z68 motherboard it to use a Ivy processor requires a Sandy processor already used on it before.
 
Bacon? said:
I know he listed the 2500K but if bought the Ivy and bought a Z68 because he didn't know... :p
Click to expand...

It also depends what BIOS is on the board, Z68 boards have had 22nm support for a while now, the chances of getting one thats been lying around for 6 months are slim.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom