Spec check please

Jack Bauer

Jack Bauer

Jack Bauer

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Joined
6 Nov 2005
Posts
1,675
Location
Oxford
As it has been a good few years since I kept up with hardware, would people please be kind enough to spec me a cheapish PC for the kids. I am sick of them nicking my main PC!

The spec below is a guide for roughly what I want. Requirements include performance suitable to play modded skyrim, crysis 2 etc. I am sure the spec below will be fine for this, but perhaps I could go for a cheaper CPU/motherboard combination? I want the large monitor for watching films - I don't care too much about the quality. The kids will not notice. I do not need memory. I have 4 Gig from an old build that will do for now. I want to stick with the 2TB storage as I never have enough. Finally, I don't think I will overclock it (unless I get really bored) as I want it as low maintenance as possible. I have just noticed that I didn't add a custom HS/F so add £20 for that.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus VE276N 27" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £191.99
1 x Asus HD 7850 DirectCU II V2 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £167.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2130 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £107.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £71.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020048-UK) £56.99
1 x MSI B75MA-P45 Intel B75 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £53.99
1 x Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £39.98
1 x Logitech G300 Gaming Mouse (910-002489) £29.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Logitech K120 Keyboard (920-002524) £9.98
Total : £769.99 (includes shipping : £20.10).



Cheers for the help...
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus VE276N 27" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £191.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £169.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £86.39
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £71.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £43.99
1 x Logitech G300 Gaming Mouse (910-002489) £29.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Logitech K120 Keyboard (920-002524) £9.98
Total : £774.20 (includes shipping : £19.10).



• The CPU is faster (clock per clock) and cheaper
• The Gigabyte board doesn't have locked vcore if you place a "K" CPU into it you get full/partial overclocking with a better CPU.
 
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Cheers - am I gaining much by changing motherboard chipset. Really I am being a bit lazy not reading up on this build but there seems to be so many 1155 chipsets. I seem to remember them offering different overclocking capabilities or are you suggesting the change due to future proofing?

Edit didn't see "The Gigabyte board doesn't have locked vcore if you place a "K" CPU into it. "
 
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I was already reading something similar after I got the the word bins in your post :D

I will give it a read though. As I said, I am a bit behind which is either a testimony to how good my i5 750 has done or to how much work and kids have taken over my life.
 
Basically anything that has Turboboost can be overclocked via the limited method using Z77.

"K" CPU's get the full adjustment on Z77.

i3's don't have Turboboost, but you maybe able to increase the 100MHz BCLK (base clock) by a tiny tiny bit.
 
Thanks for the help Stulid - ordered your suggested spec this afternoon. Trying to decide if I should keep my flashed 6950 or use the 7850 in my main PC. They seem pretty close on old reviews, but perhaps the recent drivers for the 7000 series have changed this.
 
If for some reason the the PC doesn't work with the GFX card fitted, but does with it removed and the display connected directly to the motherboard.

Update the BIOS.
 
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