Build Advice New Computer Build Help£800 Budget

Ah well wont be doing that. Don’t want any issues when I need to patch or upgrade. Ill just need to deal with my 3 seconds of exposure a day to it ha.

 

Try the latest rc no problems for me (so far) on windows 8. And no need to hack at windows to disable metro plenty of paid & free apps to do that :thumbup:

 

Why they don't include their own 'classic look' setting is beyond me

 

Hi guys, I tweaked the build a touch and i've ended up planning on getting the following, just hoping to run it past you guys to make sure its all good:

Intel i5-3570K 3.4Ghz
Asus P8Z77-V LX2 ATX Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance Black 8GB (2x4MB sticks)
MSI GTX 650 Ti BOOST OC Edition 2GB GDDR5 Dual
Crucial M4 SSD 128GB
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 2TB
OCZ 500W ModXStream Pro Modular
Fractal R4 Case
Windows 7
Liteon Blu-Ray
Any random DVD writer drive

I got the Dell monitor already as recommended previously. The only other thing I think I might need is a CPU cooler? Can one be suggested? I've heard the Corsair Hydro Series talked about a lot recently or don't I need something that good?

Thanks all

 

Depends if you want to overclock or not really. A tower cooler like the coolermaster hyper 212 evo or enermax ets t40 would be fine for a bit of overclocking and if you want to go towards closed loop you should consider the coolermaster seidon 120m which is a 120mm closed loop and only about £40 from scan. If you want to really overclock then either a big tower cooler like the be quiet dark rock pro or noctua d14 or just get a better all in one liquid cooling like the h80i or h100i depending on the fan spaces you have.

 

Why a 2TB drive? You stated that you didn't need lots of space - and 2TB is the opposite! Save some cash by going for a 1TB or even a 500GB drive. Still plenty for game installs and music - I have Steam on a 256GB SSD for example.

Also confused as to why you've got two optical drives in there. These days a lot of people don't even bother with one, let alone two. Just get a BluRay drive that can write to DVDs, like this Pioneer. Again, it'll save a few quid.

Add up the savings on optical drive and HD (£30-40 all told) and you can start looking to upgrade the GPU to something a bit nicer, like a 660Ti.

As for a CPU cooler, something like the i30 will be fine.


EDIT: Just noticed you listed a LiteOn BD drive. Is it the really cheap one? If so, I'd still be tempted to have a single optical drive even though it may be more expensive, as opticals do my nut in (plus they take up loads of room).

 

Guys, this is why I come to you! Thanks for the advice and rest assured changes made!

Thanks again

 

When I was upgrading my system I was pondering between that Asus and the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H. In the end I went with the Gigabyte as it seemed just a bit better, for example it has a VRM heatsink.

Personally I think blu-ray drives are overpriced and have little use. Only buy one if you know you're going to need it.

The OCZ ModXStream is getting a bit old (and the 500, 600 and 700W models are made by Sirtec, eww).

 

There are two things I would change.

Firstly, the OCZ ModXStream is a platform which came out in 2008 and it is wildly popular because of its low price rather than performance. It cannot even put out its full wattage. Check out this HardOCP review of its 700W sister PSU. The voltage is also very unstable and the interior components are of questionable quality. I used to have a ModXStream 700W but I retired it because after a year, my PC started suffering random shutdowns and not waking from sleep. My new Seasonic resolved the problem.

You would be better off with a Corsair Builder 500W or, budget permitting, even a Seasonic G Series 550W Gold which are both more efficient and stable.

Secondly, if you're going for the 650Ti Boost, it makes a lot more sense to invest in a 7850. As the name suggests, the 650Ti Boost is a 650Ti heavily overclocked to bring it into the 7850 ballpark. However, the 7850 has a lot of overclocking headroom and is easily overclockable from 860 MHz to >1050 MHz on stock voltages. If you are willing to overvolt, there are some people getting 40% overclocks on the core clocks.

Finally, the 7800 series come with Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite for free, so you can either keep the games or sell them for £20-£25 each to offset your purchase. In fact, working on the assumption that you would sell both games for at least £20, you could effectively get a 7870 (around £180-£190) for the same price as a 650Ti Boost (£150). The 7870 would destroy the 650Ti out of the box and gain an even greater advantage with an overclock.

Good luck!

 

Buying an AMD card only makes more sense if you actually want an AMD card. It's different strokes for different folks, but I don't really like it when something is presented as an absolute better alternative.

Plus, Bit-Tech's review of the 650 Boost! also states Not only that, but the GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB tends to be better than, or at least as good as, its rival from the red team, the Radeon HD 7850 2GB. - definitely not as clear cut as you're making out.

 

650 Ti Boost goes well against 7850 @ 860 MHz. I pointed out that the 7850 separates itself with its excellent overclocking. The thread I linked to has people gaining over 30% on stock voltages and there are hardly any cases where the chip wont hit 1050 at stock.

In this price range, every tenner makes a difference so having the two games (of >£40 resale value) is also an extra boon. 650Ti Boost=7850 < 660 < 7870. They are all in the same ballpark.

Obviously, if someone has a preference for one side or the other, then everything I type is moot as their decision will have already been made.

 

Kodongo thanks for the informative post. I will certainly change up my PSU to the seasonic!

 

tbh win8 metro is not bad if you take the time to customize it. its all the stuff I used to do in rainmeter just not quite as slick. But yes it takes a while to get used to. Especially when you want to turn it off. But Alt + F4 still works

Oh and rainmeter works in win8 too so thats that covered.