Spec me for £800

sjt269

sjt269

sjt269

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Joined
11 Dec 2004
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1,979
Hey all,

So my E2180 with 2GB RAM and an HD2900 Pro has been feeling a bit outdated for a while, and then today it just about bit the dust. I could repair it, with a little effort, but I think it's time for a new computer.

Although I'd like a completely fresh start, I think the budget will dictate me re-using a few old components. Things I can potentially re-use are: Antec Neopower 480W PSU, 500GB Hitachi Deskstar, 2x DVD-RW drives and a Lian Li PC-60 case. I'm completely committed to upgrading my 17" screen to either 22" or 24", I'm undecided on those, but I definitely need a monitor. Keyboard and mouse I can re-use, at least until I find something new that I like better than what I have at the moment.

Budget is ideally £800, maximum of £900 including OS (for which I'll most likely get the student license for Win 7 Pro for £43.50). I think I require the new optical drive, since mine are both IDE and the motherboard doesn't seem to have any IDE connectors? I could save a bit of cash sticking with the 480W Neopower and the Lian Li, but I'm reluctant to risk a new system with a 5 year old PSU that's been running slightly over it's rated limit for years, and I feel that a change of case would be nice.

If I re-use my HDD as a storage drive, and pick up an SSD for the OS, then my (slightly over ideal budget) spec becomes:

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £139.99
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 Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXUKV2) £56.99
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £53.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £45.98
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £899.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).




I'm aware that a bunch of the components on my list are TWO, and that the deals change tomorrow, but I'm looking to order tomorrow so I figure I'll get the outline of the system sorted, then make any changes I can tomorrow morning to take advantage of any new deals and hopefully have the system ordered by tomorrow lunchtime. I wasn't logged in for that spec, but I do get free shipping, so it comes to £884 without shipping.

Questions:

  • Is the Samsung Green worth it over the Corsair low-profile RAM for £10 less? I'm worried about the cooler, so I'd rather go low-profile to play it safe. I want to overclock, but I'm not looking for records, just a nice steady 4.3 or 4.4GHz.
  • I assume that cooler should fit in the Shinobi okay?
  • I'm a bit clueless about monitors, and an earlier thread of mine in that section didn't get any replies. Is the Samsung a good choice? It physically looks more stylish that the Iiyama for the same price, but I'm worried about the 'gloss black' in the title. Does this refer to the bezel, or does the screen itself have a gloss finish? I sit with my back to a winow, so not so keen on a glossy screen.
  • The HD6950 is £20-30 cheaper than the HD7850, and I hear that both clock well. I've checked benchmarks etc and I'm none the wiser, so at the kind of resolution I'll be at, is there a significant difference between the two cards?
  • There's an MSI Z77 motherboard for £77, so £7 cheaper than the Gigabyte. I've used Gigabyte before and had good experiences with them, but should I abandon brand loyalty and jump ship to the cheaper MSI?

Ideally, I'd like this system to last me another 4 years like my last one, maybe with a few small HDD and RAM upgrades along the way. The one thing I'd like to change is to include a new 1TB HDD in that spec, but that pushes me over budget, and there's nothing else in there I really want to compromise on. Fingers crossed for some good deals tomorrow, but in the meantime, can anyone offer any improvements?

Thanks,
Steven
 
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Hi there,

That looks a good spec! Obviously you're ordering tomorrow, so it wont be on offer, but there are some cheaper PSUs with plenty of power:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-055-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098

or modular:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-058-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098

I'd save the £10 and get some corsair low profile. The Samsung overclocks well, but RAM speed doesn't make much difference to performance, so unless you're someone who likes benchmarking and overclocking RAM, stick with some standard 1600Mhz stuff. Low profile is a good idea with that cooler. The cooler will fit fine:

Q: What is the maximum clearance for CPU coolers on Shinobi and Shinobi Window?
Shinobi Window maximum CPU cooler height = 165mm
Shinobi maximum CPU cooler height = 167mm
Click to expand...
http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/chassis/shinobi#support

Can't say I know much about monitors sorry.

The 7850 is the one to get, low power, and great overclocks. Perfect for 1080p
How to overclock a 7850 past 1050MHz?

Either the MSI or Gigabyte is a good choice. I'd go with the MSI and save the money since there is little difference between them.

Hope that helps :)
 
Fast reply! :p

With regards to the PSU, there's a mental block in my head telling me that if I'm going to replace the old 480W, I should get something with a substantially bigger number of watts attached to it. A bit silly, I know, and I'll certainly keep an eye out for well-priced 550W models tomorrow. :)

Thanks for the link about the Shinobi clearance, that's good to know. I may well also drop the Samsung and the Gigabyte and save £17 more if I'll barely see any benefit, and if the Corsair won't affect any 'casual' overclocking headroom.

:edit:

Revised spec with those changes:

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £139.99
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 BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £45.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9B) £43.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £870.28 (includes shipping : £12.50).



£855.28 with free postage.
 
Last edited:
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £139.99
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 BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £45.98
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9B) £43.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £870.28 (includes shipping : £12.50).


£855.28 with free postage.
Click to expand...

looks good
 
I'm now thinking that for £855.28, I might be best just to place to order tonight and take advantage of the TWO deals. Ahh, it's a gamble, isn't it? Order now and potentially find the spec cheaper tomorrow, at which point I could go through the hassle of cancelling and/or asking for components to be swapped out, or wait til tomorrow and find the good offers have disappeared.

If anyone out there is knowledgeable about monitors, I'd love some words of wisdom on the screen, particularly on whether the screen itself (not just the bezel) has a glossy finish, which would be a bit of a turn-off for me.

:edit:

I make that £33.99 worth of TWO savings in there, which may well be worth ordering tonight to secure.

:edit2:

I assume the CM Hyper 612S comes with thermal paste/pads, and I don't need to buy extra myself?

:edit3:

Indeed it does come with thermal paste! And let's hope I don't have to make any more edits, I feel like I'm talking to myself. :o
 
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I was wondering about that too, actually, but wasn't sure if it was worth the hassle of two separate orders. Though I suppose it may turn out to be a financially canny move. :)
 
shouldnt be to bad orders would just come one day after the other. and might save u abit if some offers come up tomoz on ur items
 
Actually, I suspect they might both come the same day if I put in tomorrow's order early enough in the morning. They'd both get dispatched tomorrow (hopefully) if I did that.
 
The hell with it, I'll order the lot tonight. Feels like I'm taking advantage of OcUK's free postage offer if I do it in two lots. Besides, chances are that none of the un-discounted items will come up on TWO tomorrow anyway, right? That's what statistics would say, anyway...

I'll await the new TWO offers with bated breath. :p
 
It is indeed, should be a hell of an upgrade from what I had. I'm really looking forward to gaming on a big screen at decent settings, the 2900 Pro was really starting to struggle, even in modest things like DE:HR and Mass Effect 3. I've got the student-priced Win 7 Pro upgrade disk coming too, and hopefully both the software and the components will be dispatched tomorrow and be here soon. I've heard of various ways to do a clean install using an upgrade CD, so fingers crossed that all works out. For now, I'm furiously reading overclocking statistics, arguements about how best to apply thermal paste and other things like that so that I'm prepared to dive right in. :p

Roll on Thursday! :D
 
Will do, just don't expect any cable management miracles! Going to try harder with this build, but I never was much cop with neat wires. :p
 
I can breathe easy, nothing on TWO that would have saved me any major cash. The Samsung Green dropped a little in price, but was still £4 more than the Corsair, and the Sandisk 120GB SSD would have been tempting as hell but ultimately slower than the Crucial M4. Hell of a deal on the Sandisk though, probably not notably slower in real life tasks than the M4 and it's a fantastic price.

And props to the guys at OcUK for a speedy job - the bits were ordered at roundabout 9pm last night and were dispatched by 10:30am this morning. The weather here is to be grey and rainy for the next few days, so I think tomorrow will be the perfect time to build a new rig and spend the day running it in with some games. :D
 
sjt269 said:
I can breathe easy, nothing on TWO that would have saved me any major cash. The Samsung Green dropped a little in price, but was still £4 more than the Corsair, and the Sandisk 120GB SSD would have been tempting as hell but ultimately slower than the Crucial M4. Hell of a deal on the Sandisk though, probably not notably slower in real life tasks than the M4 and it's a fantastic price.

And props to the guys at OcUK for a speedy job - the bits were ordered at roundabout 9pm last night and were dispatched by 10:30am this morning. The weather here is to be grey and rainy for the next few days, so I think tomorrow will be the perfect time to build a new rig and spend the day running it in with some games. :D
Click to expand...

Sounds like you made a good choice then :)
 
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