PC Build Questions

mato

mato

mato

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Joined
25 Jun 2011
Posts
140
Location
Herts, UK
Going to build my first PC soon. I need something I can play not-too stressful games on occasionally (such as CSS, TF2, Simulator Games etc.) and be able to watch HD movies with ease.

Budget is £500. I'm a bit confused as to where to put my priorities, I don't want to skimp on case or PSU (friends have had bad experiences there) and I've heard good things about Antec and Corsair in these areas, and I'd prefer an Intel build.
Things I'm really not so sure about are:
- Whether an i3 processor would be sufficient
- What the difference is between Z68 and Z77 chipset and which I want
- How much to spend on a graphics card? Is £50 enough for my needs? I heard CSS (the game I play most) is more CPU dependent than GPU dependent?

Only need the box for this price, I have a monitor/peripherals etc. Any thoughts much appreciated.

Tom
 
I would agree that getting a reputable branded power supply is very important.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.95
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £86.39
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £40.79
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £487.07 (includes shipping : £12.50).



i3 will be fine for older games like CSS etc.

Z68 is the older motherboard for Sandy Bridge. Z77 is aimed for Ivy Bridge processors (although still compatible with i3 Sandy Bridge CPUs but you do lose some features such as PCI-E 3.0 (not important) unless you have an Ivy Bridge processor in). Getting a Z77 motherboard now will allow you to pop in an i5/i7 CPU later down the line to go to a quad core and allow you to overclock to get a bit more performance from it.

The 6850 is probably the best bang-for-buck card on the market right now.
 
Thanks for the speedy replies! Would you suggest I need to spend that much on a graphics card then?
 
Id go with a different PSU than an OCZ there returns are in Netherlands and it ends up costing a fortune. They also refused to send me out a courier when mine broke.
 
shadow_boxer said:
I would agree that getting a reputable branded power supply is very important.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.95
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £86.39
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £40.79
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £487.07 (includes shipping : £12.50).



i3 will be fine for older games like CSS etc.

Z68 is the older motherboard for Sandy Bridge. Z77 is aimed for Ivy Bridge processors (although still compatible with i3 Sandy Bridge CPUs but you do lose some features such as PCI-E 3.0 (not important) unless you have an Ivy Bridge processor in). Getting a Z77 motherboard now will allow you to pop in an i5/i7 CPU later down the line to go to a quad core and allow you to overclock to get a bit more performance from it.

The 6850 is probably the best bang-for-buck card on the market right now.
Click to expand...


I have a similar spec, Same card + processor, I can run BF3 on high and record with fraps. I think the i3 is under-rated. But should still upgrade to i5 in the future.
 
Cool - is it advised to get a separate CPU cooler even if I'm not overclocking, or stick with the stock one?

P.S. got an OS
 
Use the stock item, you cant overclock much even if you wanted to, the multiplier is locked on that chip, you maybe able to increase the Bclk a little bit from 100Mhz to 105Mhz±
 
mato said:
Thanks for the speedy replies! Would you suggest I need to spend that much on a graphics card then?
Click to expand...

As stulid says, the 6850 offers very good performace for the price. Yes it may be a little overpowered for old games like CSS but it gives you the option of playing more modern games at a decent resolution and good settings.

Antony101 said:
Id go with a different PSU than an OCZ there returns are in Netherlands and it ends up costing a fortune. They also refused to send me out a courier when mine broke.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with OCZ but obviously everybody's experiences will differ. From memory, very few PSU manufacturers have a UK based warranty, Corsair too is Netherlands with a turn around of about 3 weeks I believe on average.
 
shadow_boxer said:
As stulid says, the 6850 offers very good performace for the price. Yes it may be a little overpowered for old games like CSS but it gives you the option of playing more modern games at a decent resolution and good settings.



Nothing wrong with OCZ but obviously everybody's experiences will differ. From memory, very few PSU manufacturers have a UK based warranty, Corsair too is Netherlands with a turn around of about 3 weeks I believe on average.
Click to expand...

Yes but when my corsair PSU broke they sent UPS to my house to collect it saving me £50 in shipping. When I asked OCZ they told me there was nothing they could do so I binned it with 4 years warranty left.
 
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