Spec check before I click "Buy"

chrismox · 12 Jun 2011 at 14:59

Hi,

I've talked myself into an upgrade after my 775 mobo died the other day:

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM - £157.99
Motherboard - MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** - £89.98
RAM - Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit - £32.99
Cooler - Scythe Shuriken Rev.B Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler - £27.98
SSD - OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive - £92.99
Graphics card - MSI GeForce GTX 460 HAWK "Super-OC" 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £133.99

So, a little explanation and a few questions...

CPU - Seems like a no-brainer, OEM because I don't want/need the cooler.
Motherboard - I would've liked the lucid virtu feature of the Z68 series but I need 3 PCI slots and none of the reasonably-priced ones have enough. I don't need SLI so the cheap MSI board seems like a winner.
RAM - Cheap has always served me well in the past.
Cooler - Need a low-profile one (media centre case) and this seems to get reasonable reviews.
SSD - For C: use only. Not sure whether this is faster than the OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive...?
Graphics card - I'll be gaming at 1920x1080 and the 460 seems like a reasonable bang-for-buck card, don't want to spend a fortune on it.

Any obvious errors with this setup?

Many thanks.

paradisiac · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:02

wouldnt say no brainer to the cpu, for the £4 or so you get an additional 2 years warrenty with the retail chip.

RJC · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:04

For the extra £4 I would look at the retail cpu and perhaps the 5850 gpu linked below which is on this weekend only:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711

CPU:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1275

Comparison of the 2 cards:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/295?vs=313

Surveyor · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:06

A 5850 will give the 460 a run for its money and at less than £100:

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive**

chrismox · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:07

Thanks both of you for the warranty tip, I'll take that as good advice.

I've always been an Nvidia user, I hate being pointed in the direction of an obviously better ATI card

I'll have to think about that.

Ta.

stulid · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:39

Review of that HAWK card - http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-geforce-gtx-460-hawk-review/11

Think you should stick with it

Surveyor · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:46

stulid said:
Review of that HAWK card - http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-geforce-gtx-460-hawk-review/11

Think you should stick with it

The HAWK isn't 34% better than the 5850 and it costs that much more.

There's only 1 game in that review where it's appreciably faster than the 5850.

All the others are pretty much even.

And the HAWK isn't even in stock at OcUK.

chrismox · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:46

stulid said:
Review of that HAWK card - http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-geforce-gtx-460-hawk-review/11

Think you should stick with it

Or, even better - http://www.techreaction.net/2010/08/16/review-evga-geforce-gtx-460-superclocked-1024mb-ee/
Same price, about £135.

That said, the ATI card's still looking good.

kmufc77 · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:48

stulid said:
Review of that HAWK card - http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-geforce-gtx-460-hawk-review/11

Think you should stick with it

stulid · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:53

chrismox said:
Or, even better - http://www.techreaction.net/2010/08/16/review-evga-geforce-gtx-460-superclocked-1024mb-ee/
Same price, about £135.

That said, the ATI card's still looking good.

The EVGA is nice too.

cammy5477 · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:56

i would get a agility 3 over the vertex 2 mate...its double the read/write speeds for £3 less this weekend?

chrismox · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:57

stulid said:
The EVGA is nice too.

It is and I think it might lever the extra £35 from my wallet.

Other than that, the spec look ok to you in your well-respected wisdom? The Vertex better than the Agility?

stulid · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:59

The spec is spot on, there seems to be some complaints about the Agility3 SSD's , im not sure what its about.

Edit, its something to do with early firmwares not working with certain chipsets.

cammy5477 · 12 Jun 2011 at 20:15

stulid said:
The spec is spot on, there seems to be some complaints about the Agility3 SSD's , im not sure what its about.

Edit, its something to do with early firmwares not working with certain chipsets.

i put it on a z68 chipset and it was 100% solid
have read that early chipsets and sata 2 ports it doesnt like