Spec me a build for £1000

Ruaille · 18 Jan 2013 at 19:28

EDIT: We've decided to wait for the price drops in the summer as we just found out our company will be closing down in a couple of months. Thanks for the suggestions!

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Hi guys!

My friend and I work for an advertising company who's clients are primarily game developers. We do a lot of audio/video editing and play a lot of games. We have been using company Macs and PCs for the last year but we would be able to work from home if we had capable computers.

We are looking for some ideas for building our own PCs and each have €1200 to spend (Which works out at £1000 on XE). Our builds will be running Windows 8 and OSX Mountain Lion (Partitioned, not virtual).

Can you spec us a build for £1000 with an Intel processor, at least 2x USB 3.0 ports on the MOBO and chasis, an SSD and a 1080p monitor. Other peripherals are unnecessary.

snips86x · 18 Jan 2013 at 19:39

Would this be any good?
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU) £149.99
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 650W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £41.99
Total : £981.41 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Or would you rather replace the SSD for a large mechanical drive?

Ruaille · 18 Jan 2013 at 20:12

Ah I forgot to say I need an SSD. Thanks for reminding me snips! I'm not sure yet if I need a mechanical drive at all. I have a couple of 3TB USB3.0 external mechanical drives I use for storage. Speaking of which - I need to have at least 2 USB 3.0 ports in the MOBO and chasis!

Looks like I can get quite a bang for my buck. Things have changed a lot since I built my last PC in 2008.

passey89 · 18 Jan 2013 at 20:21

a little over but would rather go with a socket 2011 as 1155 will be obsolete this year.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
1 x MSI X79A-GD45 (8D) Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £153.98
1 x Samsung S22B300BS 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £100.00
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £85.99
1 x XFX Pro 650W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £59.99
1 x GeIL EVO Corsa 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C10 2133MHz Quad Channel Kit (GOC38GB2133C10AQC) £53.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £47.99
Total : £1,109.59 (includes shipping : £14.75).

snips86x · 18 Jan 2013 at 20:27

Ruaille said:
Ah I forgot to say I need an SSD. Thanks for reminding me snips! I'm not sure yet if I need a mechanical drive at all. I have a couple of 3TB USB3.0 external mechanical drives I use for storage. Speaking of which - I need to have at least 2 USB 3.0 ports in the MOBO and chasis!

Looks like I can get quite a bang for my buck. Things have changed a lot since I built my last PC in 2008.

The mobo has 6x USB 3.0 on the back, and you can get 2 on the internal headers.

EDIT:

Best I can do on the Socket 2011 front:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - OEM £224.99
1 x MSI X79A-GD45 (8D) Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £153.98
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU) £149.99
1 x Iiyama ProLite E2208HDS 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor £99.95
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 530W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £66.95
1 x GeIL EVO Corsa 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C10 2133MHz Quad Channel Kit (GOC38GB2133C10AQC) £53.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £1,045.74 (includes shipping : £19.10).

This board only has 4 USB3 ports.

Idleman · 18 Jan 2013 at 20:39

passey89 said:
a little over but would rather go with a socket 2011 as 1155 will be obsolete this year.

What a load of nonsense.

snips86x · 18 Jan 2013 at 20:40

Idleman said:
What a load of nonsense.

I at least gave him the choice

I also agree, it's not going to be useless, loads of gamers will still be using and upgrading to if the stock permits!

stulid · 18 Jan 2013 at 20:42

You people doing socket2011 specs need to include a cooler.

snips86x · 18 Jan 2013 at 20:45

stulid said:
You people doing socket2011 specs need to include a cooler.

ha! well spotted!

Cooler Added:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - OEM £224.99
1 x MSI X79A-GD45 (8D) Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £153.98
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU) £149.99
1 x Iiyama ProLite E2208HDS 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor £99.95
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 530W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £66.95
1 x GeIL EVO Corsa 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C10 2133MHz Quad Channel Kit (GOC38GB2133C10AQC) £53.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £1,097.72 (includes shipping : £19.10).

passey89 · 18 Jan 2013 at 20:54

stulid said:
You people doing socket2011 specs need to include a cooler.

well noticed and adjusted.

passey89 · 18 Jan 2013 at 21:00

Idleman said:
What a load of nonsense.

ok obsolete might not have been the correct word but once haswell is out your not going to get people upgrading to 1155.

its like 1156 your not going to upgrade to the old gen cpu your going to want the new generation.

At least with 2011 there is an upgrade path for the future.

I wouldn't buy an 1155 mobo atm with haswell due out in 4 months prices should drop then.

Idleman · 19 Jan 2013 at 07:29

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £259.99
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £119.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black £64.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer M 520W "80+ Bronze" Modular Power Supply £63.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX16GX3M2A1600C11) £59.99
Total : £1,005.37 (includes shipping : £13.75).

You can always add a cooler for OCing, at a later date, when funds permit.

Ruaille · 21 Jan 2013 at 11:01

Well from the suggestions I gather that the Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB would be a good investment.

However it only has 1 DVI out. What would be the best option for a Mini Display to DVI (Single and/or Dual Link) adapter?

I am considering saving the extra cash to get 2 monitors with this build as I currently use an old 1280*1024 monitor along with my 1920*1200 laptop screen when editing video or mixing music at home and I find the extra screen space really useful.

EDIT: Thanks for the suggestions. It looks like we're going to have to postpone these builds for a while.