Build Advice £550 Budget PC - does this all look okay?

Hey there. I have dwelt long on this, researching each individual part, it's performance and reliability, and I believe I have come up with a final build.
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CPU: Intel i5 2500 - £160.98
GPU: XFX Radeon 7850 Core Edition - £154.79
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) - £38.16
HDD: 1TB Samsung HD103SJ - £59.87
MOBO: MSI Z77A-G43 - £75.32
DVD/RW: Sony AD-7280s - £13.73
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Price (with free P&P): £558
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I know the obvious suggestion is to get a 2500K and a more OCable motherboard. The reason I got the regular 2500 is because I have no interest in overclocking.

My main question is - how can I cheapen the price without reducing performance? This current setup will do everything I need from a computer, but it it a heavy strain on my wallet.

Note: I already have a case, monitor and an OS.
Thanks in advance.

 

I think you can get an Intel i5 3570(k) than a 2500 and grab an AMD 7850 (the VRAM will likely help in future games and has good OC potential) rather than a 6850.

 

Doh, I did enter a 7850, it's one of those awful typos.
How well does the Intel 3570k perform compared to the 2500? I have heard they have some overheating issues?

 

It's work getting the 2500K or 3570K just because they will hold their value much better than the non-K versions.

 

Hmm, looking at the prices on Scan and Amazon, the Intel 3570 is a bit mor epricey than the 2500, which is exactly the opposite of what I need - the current build I have planned already stretches my budget from an original £500 to £560, I can't afford any more. A 2500 will do just fine I think.

 

i5-3570 outperforms i5-2500, not by a huge ammount, but as they're virtually same price, better value + latest tech. Do notice mobo you are using has the highest capabilities, including overclocking. If you are getting 2500 and/or not wanting to overclock, there's no point getting a Z77 board. Wasted capabilities. Personally, I think you'd be better to get the i5-3570K. Then you've got the best performance/capabilities, and at least the CAPABILITY to overclock, should you want to have a "dabble", in the future. If you really want to reduce costs, stick with the i5-2500 (you might be able to get a "deal" on say Scan's today only page), and a H61 mobo. Perfectly adequate, just not most "up to date"

 

I was about to say the same thing about the motherboard.

 

Hmm, thanks guys. I might actually go for a H61 then. Just how well do they perform, and what model of them should I get?

 

In fact, looking at the H61, I really don't want a mATX or uATX mobo. What other cheaper alternatives would you recommend other than the Z77a?

 

You could go for a B75 board such as this which comes with the usual goodies of USB 3 and SATA III for just under £60.

 

As a matter of fact I was just looking at that exact board! I think I may go for this piece - it seems to be compatible with the rest of my hardware, and it's a nice cut on the price. Thanks guys!

 

I've not really looked at the B75 boards before but if you aren't looking to overclock and don't need PCI-E 3, they look pretty good value.

EDIT: That board does have PCI-E 3, I'm a noob.

 

The build has been trimmed down to about £540, which is more than ideal, thanks again!

 

That's my motherboard, it's a great budget board

if the OP doesn't want to overclock he could get a similar speed i3 cpu for half the price of the i5. if he's not overclocking he's effectively paying over £70 extra for two extra cores. Just a thought

 

Thanks for the thought, but I hear that many of the games I want to play, usually MMOs, are quite CPU heavy, so the extra two cores will come in handy!

 

That's good, if it's something you need it's always worth paying for

 

I was considering an i3 myself the other day, but was rightly talked out of it.

Harty, what about this?

 

One thing to bear in mind with B75 board, I'm not certain, but I think it only supports 1333MHz ram, with Sandybridge.

 

You are 100% correct, something which I didn't realise until soon after I'd built my PC (see sig). I have 1600MHz RAM installed but the speeds are locked to 1333MHz as I'm using a Sandy Bridge CPU. If I had an Ivy Bridge the speed would be unlocked.

It's worth pointing out that the speed difference (as I've been assured) is negligible.

 

I may have to have a look at that CPU. How well does it perform in relation to the 2500?

From the MSI website: