Setup for a friend

Rooster212 · 6 Jul 2012 at 15:32

Got a friend who is coming to the dark side, he wants to run BF3 and other games and his MacBook just isn't up to it!

Put this together, thoughts/tips? We are thinking we will wait for the new i3's before buying so that is already considered, apart from that any tips? He has an OS, keyboard, mouse and monitor.

YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7950 X-Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - AMD 3 for FREE Promotion £269.99
1 x Asrock Z77E-ITX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-120G) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £65.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black £59.99
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £50.39
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £36.98
1 x Alpenföhn Sella CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1155/AMD AM2/AM2(+)/AM3) £17.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £808.28 (includes shipping : FREE).

Edit: he wants it small so it can go back and forth to uni with him!

Greavesy · 6 Jul 2012 at 15:37

Get an i5, an SSD just isnt worth sacrificing the cpu for D:

jeff6475 · 6 Jul 2012 at 17:02

Greavesy said:
Get an i5, an SSD just isnt worth sacrificing the cpu for D:

+1
I agree

Fire_fly · 6 Jul 2012 at 17:57

+1 for an i5. He can add an SSD later.

Doomedspeed · 6 Jul 2012 at 17:59

Why not an i5, SSD and 7850? Best of both worlds.

Also, cheaper RAM. You can get 8GB for around £35-£40.

jamesfreddie · 6 Jul 2012 at 18:00

Well thats not really what you class as small!

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=210

Doomedspeed · 6 Jul 2012 at 18:02

jamesfreddie said:
Well thats not really what you class as small!

Im sure it's small enough though. I used to take my mATX V351b to and from uni. It is a decent size.

The Prodigy opens up so many more options too. It's a perfect little case.

Rooster212 · 6 Jul 2012 at 18:59

That was the other thing, I said 7850 or i3. He also doesn't know the budget yet. I don't really agree that an i5 is necessary, I think the SSD is better personally.

We are undecided on the case too, I suggested that one and he likes it, we will have a better look when we decide on final parts on what to do with the case and what kind of size we want to get.

Rooster212 · 26 Jul 2012 at 14:52

Ok we are looking at this for the moment:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £189.95
1 x Intel Core i5-3450 3.10GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £149.99
1 x Asus P8H77-I Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MiniITX Motherboard £83.99
1 x OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-120G) £79.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005) £67.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £43.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x Alpenföhn Panorama CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1155/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3) £19.99
1 x LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £752.46 (includes shipping : £10.50).

Any more thoughts? He wants SSD, i5 and 7850. The 7850 has gone up in price which is a shame

honosuseri · 26 Jul 2012 at 15:03

The OCZ SSD is pants. A modular PSU will help a lot in such a small case aswell

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x ASRock Z77E-ITX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £123.98
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC128B/WW) £79.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DL002) £64.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black £64.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £39.95
1 x LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £828.86 (includes shipping : FREE).

Rooster212 · 27 Jul 2012 at 12:09

I had thought about the power supply but couldn't find any in the price range that I wanted, but the one you have spec'd looks pretty good.

The Samsung wasn't at that price when i made the spec :rolleyes:

i'll definitely change it to that!

He doesn't want to overclock and he never will so going to stick to the Asus and the non-K chip.

Rooster212 · 27 Jul 2012 at 12:20

So at the moment this is the spec:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £173.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3450 3.10GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £149.99
1 x Asus P8H77-I Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MiniITX Motherboard £83.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC128B/WW) £79.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005) £67.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £65.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £43.99
1 x Cooler Master GeminII M4 Low Profile CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775) £21.95
1 x LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £762.46 (includes shipping : £10.50).

Pretty sure that is what he will go for, the case is nice and small so he can take it back and forth from uni relatively easily.