Time to get a new system need some help

wildman

wildman

wildman

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pantyhose factory
I think its time for a complete overhaul, my current system is a dual core athlon4600 , 2gb ram, 350gb hdd and a BFG 7950GT, still using XP as my os.

I have had this since late 2005/2006 iirc so I think its time to get modernised and go with a windows 7 build.

Primary use of machine is gaming / photowork

main games played are EvE, X3, TF2, CS, DoD, DDO and the usual offering of RTS games DOW, SC etc.

I haven't built anything for over 5 years so I am now way off the curve as to where we are with regards to processors, GPUs and even simple things like what current ram speeds are :(

Looking to spend around 500-600 quid in total (don't need a monitor got a nice 24" one already) and none of the usual peripherals as they are all currently working order.

Was hoping you guru's of hardware could spec me a reasonable gaming rig in that price range. Only caveat is I want to try and be a little future proof for some new games that might be coming soon (elder scroll V if it ever happens )
 
Stulid..... Do your stuff? LOL
He usually spec's a good system based on budjet of £500 - £600

I'm thinking Sandy Bridge i5 or maybe push for i7
Nvidia GTX 460 or more if Budjet can stretch
SSD for O/S and say a 1Tb Spinpoint F3 for data
just some base pointers to get you thinking......
 
This would be my choice - it would require you to recycle your old case, though (or stretch the budget for a new one);

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Lost Planet 2 PC Game - Retail £199.99
(£166.66) £199.99
(£166.66)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE MOH Game £154.99
(£129.16) £154.99
(£129.16)
Gigabyte P67A-UD3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Corsair Builder Series CX 500W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUK) £47.99
(£39.99) £47.99
(£39.99)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
(£35.99) £43.19
(£35.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM 1yr Warranty (ST31000518AS) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Sub Total : £492.61
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £100.62
Total : £603.73
 
Intel Core i5-2500 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £165.98
(£138.32) £165.98
(£138.32)
MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card ***PRE-ORDER PRICE ONLY!*** £129.98
(£108.32) £129.98
(£108.32)
Asrock P67 Pro 3 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £94.98
(£79.15) £94.98
(£79.15)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £77.95
(£64.96) £77.95
(£64.96)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
(£35.99) £43.19
(£35.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £27.98
(£23.32) £27.98
(£23.32)
LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.48
(£11.23) £13.48
(£11.23)
Sub Total : £514.90
Shipping cost based on delivery to with:
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £102.98
Total : £617.88

Buy the 'k' version of the CPU if you can stretch your budget slightly (and if you think you might want to overclock at some point).
 
Redmint said:
Intel Core i5-2500 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £165.98
(£138.32) £165.98
(£138.32)
MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card ***PRE-ORDER PRICE ONLY!*** £129.98
(£108.32) £129.98
(£108.32)
Asrock P67 Pro 3 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £94.98
(£79.15) £94.98
(£79.15)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £77.95
(£64.96) £77.95
(£64.96)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
(£35.99) £43.19
(£35.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £27.98
(£23.32) £27.98
(£23.32)
LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.48
(£11.23) £13.48
(£11.23)
Sub Total : £514.90
Shipping cost based on delivery to with:
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £102.98
Total : £617.88

Buy the 'k' version of the CPU if you can stretch your budget slightly (and if you think you might want to overclock at some point).
Click to expand...

DOH ! Didn't notice the PSu in the case ! Apologies.... that IS a good deal.
 
Last edited:
BOOM £1.07 over the £600 budjet :-)

Intel Core i5-2500 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £165.98
(£138.32) £165.98
(£138.32)
Asus GeForce GTX 460 1024MB DirectCU TOP GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £159.98
(£133.32) £159.98
(£133.32)
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £113.99
(£94.99) £113.99
(£94.99)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
(£35.99) £43.19
(£35.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Sub Total : £490.39
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £100.18
Total : £601.07

Re Use your DVDRW....

AS REDMINT SAYS THE K VERSION OF THE CPU IF YOU CAN STRETCH THAT BIT MORE
 
Last edited:
Is it really worth speccing a P67 motherboard unless you are speccing a 'K' - you could save further money by going H67 if you are getting a non-K.

That Case/PSU deal looks pretty good though - I wish I'd gone for that instead of messing around with my £50 CX500 and a cheap £15 s/h case!
 
MikeHiow said:
Is it really worth speccing a P67 motherboard unless you are speccing a 'K' - you could save further money by going H67 if you are getting a non-K.

That Case/PSU deal looks pretty good though - I wish I'd gone for that instead of messing around with my £50 CX500 and a cheap £15 s/h case!
Click to expand...

See your point.... I did spec the k version but went way over the £600 so dropped it to the none k.... should have thought about the M/B could have dropped that aswell.

I have that Case & PSU combo got it in Dec 2010 it's awsome quality
Plus I paid £50 for it on a offer
Check my detailed pics here : http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18217982
 
There you go: i5 2500k, brilliant motherboard supporting 8x/8x crossfire, very decent cooler, PSU giving potential of crossfire and a powerful graphics card (more so than A HD6850/HD6870 and beats a GTX460 when OC'd).

Money could be saved by going for Case/PSU bundle mentioned above.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Lost Planet 2 PC Game - Retail
(£166.66) £199.99

MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card ***PRE-ORDER PRICE ONLY!***
(£108.32) £129.98

Foxconn P67A-S Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge)
(£83.32) £99.98

BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply
(£39.16) £46.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)
(£35.99) £43.19

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)
(£23.32) £27.98

Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black
(£22.49) £26.99

Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
(£22.11) £26.53

Sub Total : £501.37
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £102.62
Total : £615.74

£5 over with your free shipping :D
 
Nice try Cookeh but he needs Windows. :p

edit: The reason I went with a P67 board instead of H67 is that the H67s are all micro-ATX and I know from experience that micro-ATX boards can be a bit cramped especially if you have a decent size graphics card on them (issues getting to the SATA ports etc.)
 
Redmint said:
Nice try Cookeh but he needs Windows. :p

edit: The reason I went with a P67 board instead of H67 is that the H67s are all micro-ATX and I know from experience that micro-ATX boards can be a bit cramped especially if you have a decent size graphics card on them (issues getting to the SATA ports etc.)
Click to expand...

FML! Biggest waste of 5 mins of my life. I need to read things closely.

Frankly, its either an non-K series chip with a H67 chipset or PII X4.
 
Do you think "Wildman" is a little ovewelmed and confused to all these posts of specs being thrown at him?

In his eyes being shown all these different specs will just add to the mindfield he already has on what to go for LOL :-)
I was in the same boat just last year and I found that a good mix of all what everyone advised went well to me building a good system within budjet.....
I say to you to do the same decide what you want Intel or AMD & nVidia or ATI once you have made your mind up on that then your halfway there.
If you want future proof then get for a good M/B so you can whack in a better CPU 2 years down the line.......
 
MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card ***PRE-ORDER PRICE ONLY!*** £129.98
(£108.32) £129.98
(£108.32)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £91.99
(£76.66) £91.99
(£76.66)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £77.95
(£64.96) £77.95
(£64.96)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £46.99
(£39.16) £46.99
(£39.16)
Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
(£35.99) £43.19
(£35.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.98
(£11.65) £13.98
(£11.65)
Sub Total : £508.38
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £103.78
Total : £622.66

Best I can do without double checking if the mobo supports that 125w edition CPU.
 
How about this?

Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
(£116.66) £139.99

MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card ***PRE-ORDER PRICE ONLY!***
(£108.32) £129.98

Asus P8H67-M Pro Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge)
(£73.32) £87.98

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599)
(£64.96) £77.95

BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply
(£39.16) £46.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)
(£35.99) £43.19

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)
(£23.32) £27.98

Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black
(£22.49) £26.99

Sub Total : £484.22
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £99.19
Total : £595.16
 
If it was me, I'd rather go for a 2500K and either up the budget for windows 7 or continue to use XP until I could afford Windows 7
 
Looks like its the SB spec above, or the PII X4 by GZA.

SB will be faster even when PII X4 is overclocked, but you don't have the ability to Crossfire any graphics cards with the SB build - and that may be a determining factor.
 
Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £147.98
(£123.32) £147.98
(£123.32)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
Gigabyte H67M-UD2H Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £84.98
(£70.82) £84.98
(£70.82)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £77.95
(£64.96) £77.95
(£64.96)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £43.19
(£35.99) £43.19
(£35.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.98
(£11.65) £13.98
(£11.65)
Sub Total : £494.50
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £101.00
Total : £606.00

With your Free Shipping thats Under £600 ;)
 
MikeHiow said:
If it was me, I'd rather go for a 2500K and either up the budget for windows 7 or continue to use XP until I could afford Windows 7
Click to expand...

XP is rubbish for new builds, will bottleneck entirely.

SB is plenty fast enough without being overclocked - but its amazing overclocking ability is the reason to stretch the budget.

Definitely worth seeing if you can scrap another £100 from somewhere OP!!
 
I have to say...if OP want to get the best out of his new rig, he really should stretch the budget, so that the build would have at least:
2500K (those games listed would love the SB CPU, especially the ones don't use more than two cores)
P67 board
6850/GTX460 1GB
4GB of RAM
Windows 7 64-bit
 
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