Proposed first build

JudasIscariot

JudasIscariot

JudasIscariot

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25 Mar 2013
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16
Hello everyone , I'm researching into building my first gaming PC. I'm relying on the internet as there's no one who can help me in real life. I would really appreciate feedback and advice on my proposed specs. I have a budget of around £800 minus a monitor but the following list comes up around £720.

Would really appreciate feedback to reassure me I'm making a good decision , it's a big investment for me. If theres anything I'm doing wrong or you think I could do better then let me know.

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivy Bridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail #49755 £ 138.99

VTX3D X-Edition Radeon HD 7950 OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card + 3 FREE GAMES! £ 189.99

GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) ATX Motherboard #49870 £ 59.17

8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Jet Black 1866MHz CL9 DDR3 Dual/Quad Channel Kit £ 49.99

600W Corsair Builder Series CX600M 80PLUS Bronze Modular Power Supply #53656 £ 49.10

Samsung 224BB 24x DVD Re-Writer - SATA - Black - OEM #52657
£ 11.77

ARIAnet 5.1 PCI Soundcard - Retail #53277 £ 6.00

Zalman Z9-U3 Black Midi Tower Window Gaming Case #50686 £ 39.49

1TB Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS SATA III 3.5" Hard Drive - HDD #44143 £ 42.40
 
Some questions first off:
- What games are you wanting to play?
- Do you need an OS?
- Do you need a monitor / keyboard / mouse.

A first spec would be something like this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7870 DirectCU II V2 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £169.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 630W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £79.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £71.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £703.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 Boost 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-19-20G) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020060-UK) £62.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x Zalman Z9 Windowed Tower Case - Black £39.95
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x Creative Sound Blaster 5.1 VX Sound Card - OEM (30SB107100000) £11.99
Total : £751.87 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
IncognitoX said:
Some questions first off:
- What games are you wanting to play?
- Do you need an OS?
- Do you need a monitor / keyboard / mouse.

A first spec would be something like this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7870 DirectCU II V2 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £169.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 630W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £79.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £71.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £703.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

Non K CPU chosen. BeQuiet PSU's are not that good.

OP: With the remaining money you may want to get a better case or a decent keyboard and mouse. There is nothing worse once having your PC built and running to finding out that the games you install will run on ultra, but seem choppy thanks to a crap mouse and ghosting keyboards.

When I built mine I was using a cheap Microsoft wireless desktop kit. The delay and low dpi on the mouse was not really noticeable browsing the webs, but any games would be ruined by it.

I personally would recommend any of the Logitech G-Series gear as it is tailored for gaming and has great reliability.
 
Thanks for the replies. With a more capable gaming computer I'm going to expand my repertoire a great deal. I enjoy many genres but right now I'm limited to league of legeds and left 4 dead. I imagine I'll be getting Bioshock Infinite , Tomb Raider and Chivalry Medevial Warfare initially.
 
IncognitoX said:
Some questions first off:
- What games are you wanting to play?
- Do you need an OS?
- Do you need a monitor / keyboard / mouse.

A first spec would be something like this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7870 DirectCU II V2 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £169.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 630W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £79.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £71.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £703.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...
I may be able to get an OS from a friend. Windows 7 preferably. Then I just need a monitor and a keyboard.
 
@OliverDavis (No offence meant here, just some general banter :D)

You have chosen a Corsair Builder series and state its better? Get real.... pretty sure most would say avoid. I'd generally choose XFX or Seasonic, but the one in my spec is a good alternative.

The K series adds £30 on top for the overclocking which isn't needed. Good use of the budget there pal.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 Boost 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-19-20G) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £169.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £84.98
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £55.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £747.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Last edited:
IncognitoX said:
The K series adds £30 on top for the overclocking which isn't needed. Good use of the budget there pal.
Click to expand...

But for £30 it's well worth it? You can get massive performance increases for almost zero effort. My 3570k is up from it's default of 3.4Ghz to 4.2 and all it took was flicking the TPU switch on my motherboard. That's not far off a 25% increase in clock speed for about 10 seconds worth of effort.
 
OliverDavis said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 Boost 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-19-20G) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020060-UK) £62.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x Zalman Z9 Windowed Tower Case - Black £39.95
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x Creative Sound Blaster 5.1 VX Sound Card - OEM (30SB107100000) £11.99
Total : £751.87 (includes shipping : FREE).

Click to expand...

I proper messed this one up aha, added 2 mobo's, meant to remove one. Gimme a sec...
 
Fix'd

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 Boost 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-19-20G) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £71.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x Zalman Z9 Windowed Tower Case - Black £39.95
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x Creative Sound Blaster 5.1 VX Sound Card - OEM (30SB107100000) £11.99
Total : £780.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
IncognitoX said:
@OliverDavis (No offence meant here, just some general banter :D)

You have chosen a Corsair Builder series and state its better? Get real.... pretty sure most would say avoid. I'd generally choose XFX or Seasonic, but the one in my spec is a good alternative.

The K series adds £30 on top for the overclocking which isn't needed. Good use of the budget there pal.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 Boost 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-19-20G) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £169.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £84.98
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £55.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £44.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £747.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

Why the Z77 Mobo if not overclocking?

BinnsY said:
But for £30 it's well worth it? You can get massive performance increases for almost zero effort. My 3570k is up from it's default of 3.4Ghz to 4.2 and all it took was flicking the TPU switch on my motherboard. That's not far off a 25% increase in clock speed for about 10 seconds worth of effort.
Click to expand...

+1 £30 for a bit of future proofing/25% performance increase is well worth it!
 
Don't know why Oliver is saying BeQuiet PSU's are no good. BeQuiet PSU's are very decent PSU's. Better than quite a few Corsair ones.

I like Incognitos build here the best, bar a few details.

It would be worth getting a K CPU, but once you factor in the cooler for getting a 4.0+ overclock your looking at an extra £50. Better of buying the 2500K or OEM 3570K.

If your getting a K CPU then buy a motherboard that isn't voltage locked.

The HDD is a 5400RPM drive, I'd reccomend a 7200RPM one as it is faster.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 Boost 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-19-20G) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £187.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £71.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £54.98
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £37.99
1 x **B Grade** Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £20
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £761.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
It's no good going with a 'k' cpu with a motherboard that is voltage locked :p

Get the Z77-D3H instead :)

Also get the USB 3.0 version of the case
 
I would like to thank everyone for their feedback , I'm still just obsessively comparing different brands against each , trying to save as much money as I can. It seems your suggest builds are quite similar to my own which is reassuring.
 
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