Spec my mate

Hzza · 23 Mar 2011 at 17:55

A friend's asked me to spec him an upgrade. He's currently on an E5*** C2D something or other, only uses the PC for gaming, isn't interested in OC'ing/crossfire/sli/RAID etc.

I told him to wait and save to get a beastly SB in 6 months or so, but he wants to upgrade before i42 so wants to spend money now (within the next couple of days) pretty much. He already has a graphics card/case/HDD/DVD/PSU so only really needs CPU, mobo and RAM.

I've come up with the below i5 760 set up, can any of you guys suggest anything else/make sure this will all work together?

i5 760

Gigabite H55 Mobo

OCZ Ram

edit - Budget's £250-£300

Hzza · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:01

Anyone?

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:08

Hi there,

May I ask what graphics he is running?

As for the i5 760 CPU- the Sandy Bridge i5 2500K OEM actually costs a bit less than this. You just need to get a s1155 motherboard - which cost a bit more.

If he isn't interested in overclocking (like never) then he can get away with a H67 board. However, I would strongly suggest going for a P67 board just in case he ever does want to try overclocking (it is very easy with these chips and the performance boost is massive - 4.5GHz is very achievable with a good air cooler).

I think it is worth the extra bit of money to afford the Sandy Bridge upgrade, it is a fair bit faster.

hybrid572 · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:19

i5 2500K - £174
P67 board, B3 revision - £105
2x2GB DDR3 RAM- £35
Hyper 212 Plus - £21

Total cost of that is £335, a scratch over budget. If your mate can't afford to stretch that far, he can always wait before upgrading to aftermarket cooling (and hence a better overclock).

The i5 2500K is absolutely amazing for the money and you shouldn't cut short with the 760.

Hzza · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:33

Thanks guys, I'd originally tried go get him to SB but he said it'd cost too much, so if I could bring an SB board, chip and ram in at under £300 and think he'd probably go for it. I've tried co-oercing the dude into going for an OC before and there is no interest whatsoever, so I guess money could be saved by going for the 2500 and a H67 mobo right?

Looking at the i5 2500 and an Asus H67 mobo for about £250 and then just some ram should be just about under £300. Thoughts?

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:43

With this bundle and using your free delivery you can get the 2500K and a P67 revB board + 4GB RAM for £16 over budget.

You could bring it under budget by using a non-K series i5 2400 CPU and/or H67 board. However, this really prevents overclocking - which is one of the main things these sandybridge CPUs do so well.

hybrid572 · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:47

He may be more interested in overclocking if you tell him it's a 30-50% performance increase for literally pushing one button in the BIOS. It's perfectly safe and you'd have to be mad not to.

Hzza · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:59

cmndr_andi am teh winnar, I'll twist my buddies arm into getting that.

Cheers mate

Just as a reference, what sort of PSU do you think he'd need? He has some no-name random one that I've persuaded him to upgrade as well (gave him the horror story about them exploding and taking out the mobo and CPU) and I have no idea what kind of wattage in the cottage he'll need. He's only running a 4890, a couple of case fans and maybe 2 HDDs.

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 22:07

Hzza said:
Just as a reference, what sort of PSU do you think he'd need? He has some no-name random one that I've persuaded him to upgrade as well (gave him the horror story about them exploding and taking out the mobo and CPU) and I have no idea what kind of wattage in the cottage he'll need. He's only running a 4890, a couple of case fans and maybe 2 HDDs.

Good job - fighting the good fight there.

I would suggest this PSU for that usage.

Hzza · 23 Mar 2011 at 22:10

Nice one mate, for all your help you're welcome to my sister if ever the need/want takes you

.

smiley1987 · 23 Mar 2011 at 22:11

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-042-BQ&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1083

If your buddy ain't intrested in crossfire or sli get the BeQuiet it will provide more then enough power .

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 22:20

smiley1987 said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-042-BQ&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1083

If your buddy ain't intrested in crossfire or sli get the BeQuiet it will provide more then enough power .

I have looked hard at that PSU, BeQuiet are a good PSU make - but I have never found an independent review of this PSU, so I have never been able to bring myself to recommend it to someone.

But going by the specs alone - it looks like it is plenty powerful enough to power the system in question.

Hzza · 13 Apr 2011 at 11:50

Ok, got the SB bundle + RAM this morning (also treated him to an aftermarket heatsink so I don't have to deal with those freaking Intel pushpins) so will be building it tomorrow when I noticed this in the "This Week Only" sale; would that be sufficent for the dudes needs? I'm pretty sure I have a Coolermaster PSU and its never put a foot wrong, but PSU's aren't exactly my strong suit...

cmndr_andi · 13 Apr 2011 at 12:13

I would strongly suggest going for a better quality PSU - those Coolermaster Eilte Powers are not great units, especially if you are running an high power GPU like a 4890 and a quad core. Instead, this PSU should handle a 4890 and a SB system and it reviews rather well.

Hzza · 13 Apr 2011 at 12:18

Yeah, went and did some reading and the reviews on similar Elite Powers weren't all that, just got excited when I saw Coolermaster and £30

.

Thanks again dude.

olivier renault · 13 Apr 2011 at 13:01

in order of preference.
Corsair TX650,
XFX 650,
OCZ StealthXStream 2,
BeQuiet Pure L7.

But it's worth spending on a good PSU, and not some grotty unnamed POS. Shop around, but around £60 is a good price for a solid 650W unit.