Spec: £700

gee3000

gee3000

gee3000

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Joined
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Posts
1,586
Location
London
Hi everyone

Putting a system together for general purpose and a bit of video editing/web development. I have the following basics selected already;

  • Corsair Force GT 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CSSD-F120GBGT-BK) £109.99
  • Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl £69.98
  • Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £63.98
  • OcUK Battle 750W Dual Rail High Efficiency Modular '80 Plus' Power Supply £56.99
  • MSI GeForce GT 430 2048MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £49.99
  • Sub Total: £350.94
Can anyone advise on the following;

  • Motherboard
  • RAM
  • CPU - i7?
  • Cooler - I'd prefer an all-in-one kit ie the Corsair H60 for convenience
  • Remaining budget: ~£350
Any other advice on the already-selected parts would also be appreciated. They just seem to be well rated and cheap. I've had the Fractal case before and love it so will definitely want that. Thanks.
 
You bought the 'selected' parts already? Id definatly go for the 128GB M4 over the Force GT. Firstly, its cheaper and secondly its more reliable.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £251.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.38
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
Total : £415.74 (includes shipping : £9.50).



This is what i'd do. The air cooler is great for the money.

If you can't push your budget to the i7 the i5 will defintly be adequate for you, just the i7 will be better.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your suggestions.

With regards to the SSD is the Samsung 830 120gb worth going for for £100 (from another retailer).
 
The 830 is a good SSD but considering the M4 is cheaper id say the M4. They are very simular (with the m4 possibly slightly better).
 
gee3000 said:
Hi everyone

Putting a system together for general purpose and a bit of video editing/web development. I have the following basics selected already;

  • Corsair Force GT 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CSSD-F120GBGT-BK) £109.99
  • Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl £69.98
  • Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £63.98
  • OcUK Battle 750W Dual Rail High Efficiency Modular '80 Plus' Power Supply £56.99
  • MSI GeForce GT 430 2048MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £49.99
  • Sub Total: £350.94
Can anyone advise on the following;

  • Motherboard
  • RAM
  • CPU - i7?
  • Cooler - I'd prefer an all-in-one kit ie the Corsair H60 for convenience
  • Remaining budget: ~£350
Any other advice on the already-selected parts would also be appreciated. They just seem to be well rated and cheap. I've had the Fractal case before and love it so will definitely want that. Thanks.
Click to expand...

dont get that psu! get a good branded one. if u dont wanna sli/xfire in future a 550 one would be fine for future upgrades http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-048-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084
 
Last edited:
Here's what I have in my basket so far - any thoughts?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £239.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £88.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.38
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £63.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £54.98
1 x MSI GeForce GT 430 2048MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £49.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi "Core" USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £46.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
Total : £719.27 (includes shipping : FREE).



The only thing I'm not sure about is the graphics card - I mainly need one to aid photo/video editing, in the past I've not found onboard graphics to be good enough, causing the process to drag. I could allow £50-£70 for a decent card. This pc won't be for any gaming whatsoever.
 
A few changes.

  • Retail CPU and not OEM so you get the stock cooler (nice to have as a spare) but more importantly you have 3 years warranty!
  • Forget the GPU and use the Intel HD4000 and put the savings towards more RAM, much better for photoshop and video editing. Add a more powerful GPU later if needed that supports CUDA.
  • Better motherboard, power supply (albeit non-modular).
  • Cheaper and faster hard drive.
  • Thicker radiator (38mm v 27mm) than the Antec Kuhler 620 and better fan (the antec stock one is quite loud I found).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £251.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £88.99
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) £56.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi "Core" USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £46.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x OcUK H²Flo Extreme Liquid Dual Fan CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1155/1156/775/AM2/AM3) £43.98
2 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99 (£83.98)
1 x Akasa AK-FN059 120mm Ultra Quiet Venom Viper Cool Fan - 3/4 Pin £11.99
Total : £728.36 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
Last edited:
I like the build, as alternative to the H20 you could opt for the OcUK Extreme Flow which is on TWO. It does require you to put your own 120mm fans in though, which would probably make it a tad more expensive but providing better cooling.
 
beejjacobs said:
Good spot, avoid cheap PSUs!

Also, you might find that onboard graphics is sufficient for you, the GT430 isn't too powerful. If you did want one, this is cheaper:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-144-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1863
Click to expand...

shadow_boxer said:
A few changes.

  • Retail CPU and not OEM so you get the stock cooler (nice to have as a spare) but more importantly you have 3 years warranty!
  • Forget the GPU and use the Intel HD4000 and put the savings towards more RAM, much better for photoshop and video editing. Add a more powerful GPU later if needed that supports CUDA.
  • Better motherboard, power supply (albeit non-modular).
  • Cheaper and faster hard drive.
  • Thicker radiator (38mm v 27mm) than the Antec Kuhler 620 and better fan (the antec stock one is quite loud I found).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £251.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £88.99
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) £56.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi "Core" USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £46.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x OcUK H²Flo Extreme Liquid Dual Fan CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1155/1156/775/AM2/AM3) £43.98
2 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99 (£83.98)
1 x Akasa AK-FN059 120mm Ultra Quiet Venom Viper Cool Fan - 3/4 Pin £11.99
Total : £728.36 (includes shipping : £11.25).

Click to expand...

BigChief said:
I like the build, as alternative to the H20 you could opt for the OcUK Extreme Flow which is on TWO. It does require you to put your own 120mm fans in though, which would probably make it a tad more expensive but providing better cooling.
Click to expand...

Ok I've taken all of that onboard and got the following;

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £251.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £88.99
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) £56.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi "Core" USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £46.98
1 x OcUK H²Flo Extreme Liquid Dual Fan CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1155/1156/775/AM2/AM3) £43.98
2 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99 (83.98)
1 x Akasa AK-FN058 Apache Black Super Silent 120mm Fan - 4 Pin PWM £13.99
Total : £726.86 (includes shipping : FREE).



I've kept the PSU though as I really do prefer modular (hate the sight of unneeded cables), I'm sure the CoolerMaster isn't a bad one.
 
Looks good. No you're right, the Coolermaster master is still a good PSU and will be more than enough for the above system with enough headroom to add a decent mid-high end video card if you want to at a later stage.
 
Thanks everyone for your input, all ordered yesterday so should get it up and running by end of week. Also went with 1 x 4GB and no graphics card, will add these if/as necessary.

beejjacobs said:
You probably want this version of the case:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-019-BX&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1850

As it has the mesh, that is the core version designed to add your own colour mesh.

Other than that looks pretty good.
Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing that out, I wasn't sure what the difference was! Ordered the suggested.
 
gee3000 said:
Thanks everyone for your input, all ordered yesterday so should get it up and running by end of week. Also went with 1 x 4GB and no graphics card, will add these if/as necessary.



Thanks for pointing that out, I wasn't sure what the difference was! Ordered the suggested.
Click to expand...

No problem. Will be a good system. Enjoy :cool:
 
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