What upgrades should I buy?

[Moosilope]

Woops, I thought i needed a DVD RW one aswell.

This would be my first self built PC, so just wanted some feedback, thanks for the help. Would that case be much smaller than my current alienware one?

 

[MORE SPEED]

I know you stipulated intel but AMD offering would give you a true quadcore for BF3 etc...

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=434

The i3 punches well above its weight

 

[MORE SPEED]

Woops, I thought i needed a DVD RW one aswell.

This would be my first self built PC, so just wanted some feedback, thanks for the help. Would that case be much smaller than my current alienware one?

It depends how big your alienware is. You can get a cheaper case, which is a bit smaller as well, and put the saved money into an SSD if you wanted.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-010-BX&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1850

 

[Moosilope]

I was looking at the AMD bulldozer series, but im more familiar with intel.

I think the smaller the space the better, the alienware is one of the old style Area 51s and it seems pretty large to me, not somthing I would want to move around too often. Can you get box like cases that fit the larger parts?

 

[[WU-TANG]GZA]

Here's a cheeky but beastly PC for your uni travels:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (015-P3-1480-KR) £184.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £80.40
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2) £44.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £37.99
1 x Fractal Design Core 1000 Midi Tower Case - Black £32.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £644.83 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 

[Moosilope]

I was looking at the In Win Dragon slayer or somthing like that. Did some more looking and this is what I think I will go with.

INWIN DRAGON SLAYER MICRO ATX USB 3.0 MINI TOWER GAMING COMPUTER CASE + FANS
OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
PowerColor HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM

Total: £654.32

 

[Moosilope]

Im seeing a few complains about the Gigabyte boards getting stuck in a boot loop. Is this a problem that I should be worried about?

 

[Moosilope]

Decided to go with the 7850, thanks for all the help guys. Got my first order on the way, self build. Really looking forward to it!

 

[stulid]

So what was the final order?

 

[Moosilope]

I decided to spend a little more than I intended, as is the way .
HD 7850
i5 2500k
Asus P8Z68
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator - Black
Corsair Enthusiast TX 650W V2
Western Digitcal Caviar Blue 500GB
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB
Samsung SN-208BB/BEBE slimline 8x DVD+RW SATA drive.

Thanks for the help along the way, now I just need to not blow it up when putting it together.
Came to £780 with Postage.

 

[stulid]

very nice.

 

[Moosilope]

Thank you. Just realised I have ordered a slimline DVD RW drive, is that a problem?

 

[stulid]

it is, you want a normal one.

 

[Moosilope]

Ah well, there was bound to be one mistake at least Thankfully not a major one.

 

[stulid]

you are after one like this,
www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-090-LG&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=951

 

[Moosilope]

I'll send off an email, see if I can exchange it or somthing like that.