Hi all, First post, so be gentle! Anyway, it's time for me to build my next rig, built my last one around 3 years ago and its finally starting to show it's age in some of the bigger games and with my work. Basically I use my PC for gaming and some game development with a bit of video/audio editing thrown in for good measure. Here's what I have planned so far in my basket over at OcUK. Now, I haven't really kept up-to-date with the hardware since my last build so I dunno what's good and what's not. Especially when it comes to motherboards and RAM. What do you guys think of that set-up above? Is the motherboard any good? Is it worth getting that CPU? The ram probably sucks so could someone please recommend the best RAM at around the £100-£125 mark? I'd like 8gigs of the stuff. I like the case so that's not a problem, and I've read it's pretty good at keeping everything cool. How about the CPU cooler? What's the best one around at the moment. I don't want any watercooling, so only coolers like this please. My budget is around £800-£900. I can stretch a little if the performance gains would be worth it. Also, something that would overclock well would be nice. I probably wouldn't overclock it too much, but something to give it a nice boost in a couple of years would be nice. The graphics are sorted, I have a 5850 at the moment which is good enough for me. I have a 24" monitor at 1920x1200. I'd like to buy it all from one place if possible, but obviously if somethings a lot cheaper elsewhere I don't mind buying from multiple places. Anything else you need to know just let me know! I appreciate the help!
Be aware - only the K-series Sandy Bridge processors can overclock. You would probably be ok with the 2500K, which appears to have a much better price/performance ratio than the 2600K. I would consider replacing the motherboard with the Gigabyte UD4, and the HSF with the Gelid Tranquillo. Also, you could consider some 1600 mhz RAM, such as Corsair Memory XMS3 4GB DDR3 1600 MHz or Corsair Memory Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz if you want 8 gig...1600 mhz memory seems to be the sweet spot here
Hi there beck. Welcome to Bit-Tech. There is a few things i would change. I would drop the 2600 to the 2500k as it will give you the unlocked multi allowing you to overclock. Haven't read much about the MSI board but the gigabyte UD4 is sexy as hell for around the same money. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/giga...pci-e-20-(x16)-ddr3-2133-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid The PSU is huge overkill, Scan are doing the Antec truepower 650watt for only 69 pounds which is loads even if you decide to crossfire that 5850. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w...bronze-82-eff-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-120mm-fan You went for 4x2 gb sticks of ram. You should go for 2x4 sticks of ram for better stability/cheaper/possibly better overclock. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-...600)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-150v Reguarding the cooler the Thermaltake Frio/Coggage Arow/ are both great alng with the one you have chosen. It is worth mentioning the the 2500k is a very cool running chip. Something like a Coolermaster Hyper 212 would be enough
What murraynt said. Also you should save a bit of cash from switching the memory kit and processor and PSU so try and squeeze in an SSD.
oh look what I found regarding sandy bridge memory Also for memory, it'll probably be best for you to get 2x2GB instead of 4x2GB. That power supply is overkill, go with an 650HX or Antec TP-650 or maybe even an Antec Earth Watts or Basiq power supply that's in the 500W range. This motherboard and the one you listed seem to be the most popular choices right now everywhere I look at builds . I've never heard of that cooler before (although that doesn't mean it's not good), but since it seems like you're not going to be doing any heavy overclocking, the Gelid Tranquillo is a little cheaper and is known to get the job done pretty well. edit: darn it I need to learn to type these responses faster =/
Some nice replies, thanks guys! I won't be buying for a little while so hopefully I'll be able to get the best PC I can with your help Also been getting some advice from over at OcUK. From what they've said I've got this: I went ahead and got the Antec TruePower 650W from Scan as it was a good deal. I changed the Ram to 2x4GB as the fins on that other ram would have got in the way of the venom cpu cooler. The money saved from that will go into getting the i7 2600k rather than the 2600, and the HAF X case rather than the HAF 932. I've read online that the sandybridge can do 4GHz on air fine. So I might as well overclock it. So will this set up allow me to get 4GHz fine? Is the 2600k much of an improvement over the 2500K? Does the extra 2MB L2 cache make much of a difference? Does it get hot at 4GHz? If I swtich down to the 2500K I could get a SSD. But aren't there better SSD coming out soon? If so I might go with the 2600K and get the next gen SSD's at a later time. Thanks for the input, appreciate it!
The 2600k isn't worth the extra money over the 2500k unless you are doing alot of encoding or something in that lines
I'm not sure if the performance of the 2600K vs the 2500K is worth the £70-odd difference, but if you have the cash why not go for it You should see if you can get hold of an OEM package - Scan have the OEM 2600K for £246 at the moment. Oh, and you should be able to comfortably overclock the chip to 4.5ghz. Theres a handy guide here.
The HAF X is better, as it has some dust filtering My 932 gets dusty quickly! Even though I've got some mesh over the fans.
Sweet, I was worrying about the dust. Didn't realise the HAF X had filters. I sometimes compile maps I make for games and do the odd bit of video editing. But with a 4-4.5GHz CPU it should be fine. I think I'll go with the 2500K then, remove the 1TB and add an SSD. Which SSD would you recommend? Are there new ones coming out soon. Will they be much of an improvement on the current ones? If so, I'll wait a little and get one of the better ones. I've already got a 2TB, so I wont need anything more than 64GB I reckon.
