Require help with budget computer.

Crazycott

Crazycott

Crazycott

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24 Oct 2011
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2
Hello,

With Skyrim soon upon us I've decided to buy a new computer as my current one was based around me being at university and built to suit...well...word documents rather than games. Obvious problem is I havn't yet managed to get a job so I'm running on a tight budget of £800 which has to include a monitor and windows 7 so it leaves around £600 to spend on the tower unit.

My obvious hope for a computer is that firstly it lasts for a couple years on its own, but has the ability to be upgraded via addition of RAM or graphics cards (when I get a job) and can be assisted with the ability of an overlock for when it begins to fall behind.

I should also note that I've never put a computer together before and normally order from Cyberpower but it seems to be a couple hundred £££'s more expensive.

The build below is one I obviously can't afford but something that I put together as sort of a model of what I want, with the ability to SLI the GTX560ti and add an extra 4GB RAM when the money becomes available.

Case: HAF 922
CPU: i5-2500k
CPU cooler: Hyper 212 plus
Motherboard: P8Z68-V Pro
Graphics Card: GTX 560ti
Power Supply: Corsair 650 enthusiast
Harddrive: Samsung F3 1TB
RAM: 4GB Corsair Vengeance
Optical Drive: Something cheap...
Monitor: Asus VE228T 21.5"
Operating System: Windows 7

This comes to around £1000. So the main question is should I wait until I get a job and buy the above build or can you chaps assist in knocking a couple hundred £££'s off?
 
can you use anything from your current pc(e.g. optical drive/hdd if they're sata).

knock the motherboard down to

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-368-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990 as you mention future sli,

if you didn't want sli could save a bit more and go with

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

if you want gen3 compatibility(i.e. pci-e 3.0 slot/s for future pci-e 3.0 graphics card upgrade without needing to change motherboard, will also need to upgrade cpu to ivybridge at that time as sandybridge doesn't have the require controller for pci-e 3.0)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-191-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990 not as many bells and whistles as say the asrock extreme4 gen3 but £30 cheaper and has sli compaibility(for pci-e 2.0 cards, not sure if it'll do pci-e 3.0 sli)

case is a personal choice but might be an idea to go for a cheaper(~£50) case for the time being to save the cash, then later down the line when you have the money get a better case.

you could put a bit of the money saved from the case/mb towards getting the 8gb ram(there are regular offers on here for 8gb ~£40-£45) if you can stretch to it.

power supply while 650w should just about handle the 560ti sli would be better to go for 750/850w but would be out of budget.
 
not going to be able to knock a couple of hundred off that with the current requirements, as fowler mentioned do you have anything you can re use, monitor by any chance ?

got it to £928 , including the seagate 1tb drive with the win7 software bundle.

dropped the mobo to the Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H (saving about £40 but keeping x8/x8 pci-e).

psu was the Lepa B-Series 750W (£75).
 
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1 option is to go with say a 6870/gtx560 for ~£140(knocks £30-£50 off the cost), then when you get a job you could go for one of the new nvidia cards some time next year(or ati/amd if you're not a nvida fanboy).

oh and now is really the worst time to be building a new pc as the pcises of hard disks have sky rocketed(e.g 1tb were £40 or so just last week but now £60+ and still creaping up).

mp I don't know the differences between the z68xp-ud3 and the one you've picked(other than the number of pci-e x1 and pci slots) but looking at the layout the z68xp-ud3 for £5 more has better expansion upgradability(sound card etc).
 
As far as motherboards go I have no idea what does what even after reading up on them so if the motherboards you've mentioned provide similar long term capabilities then that would be great help. If they support next gen. graphics cards I doubt I'd need SLI as I'd just upgrade to the newer model.

RAM wise G-skills ripjaw sell for £40 for 8GB on Amazon but I downgraded to 4GB to save money in the short term even if it costs more in the long term.

In terms of cases again I'm not sure what is good and what isn't, but theres also the HAF912 which is about £15 cheaper.

Unfortunatly I can't get any parts from my current PC as I'm selling it to fund the PC I'm trying to make so most of the budget set is via getting rid of this one.

My highest possible budget for everything is £900 but that would leave my bank zeroed with no money for Skyrim.

Thanks for the help so far.

I did think about downgrading the graphics card and if I get a none SLI motherboard it would make more sense to do what you stated. And unfortunatly experience with ATI/AMD computers has forced me to become a Nvidia fan boy. I want the cheaper alternative but just can't trust it. Lol.
 
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the best you can do is probably £900:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £173.99
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 560Ti 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £159.98
1 x MSI Z68A-G45-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £114.98
1 x Iiyama ProLite E2208HDD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £104.99
1 x Lepa B-Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £74.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £69.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA160A) £21.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.98
Total : £902.36 (includes shipping : £20.10).



You get Batman free so maybe you could sell that all have enough for Skyrim?
 
have a look at the zalman z9 and bit fenix cases, are they suitable ?

fowler, nothing in particular was looking for a decentish sli/xfire mobo.
 
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