Hi guys, First time here and I'm really just looking for some Hardware advice, I'm a computing student so like to keep up to date however I'm much more of a software geek than anything else so would appreciate any advice Budget: £1000 - 1200 Main uses of intended build: Gaming Parts required: Everything Monitor resolution: 1280 x 720 (However dependent on cost of the actual build I'd consider upgrading to 1920 x 1080) Storage requirements: 1TB HDD and Preferable a SSD Will you be overclocking: No (Generally I don't mess around with this as I have no experience however if it would increase performance at a safe level I guess I might) Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): None Summary A gaming PC that will last me longer than a few years, I've recently purchased (About a year ago now) a HP HDX Multimedia Laptop and already it seems outdated and for the price I paid that's not good. The PC will only be used for gaming (FPS mainly such as Black ops) and working (So multi-tasking), I know how to build a PC but if the price difference isn't as much any good custom PC building websites would be just as useful to me. If asking for a full parts list seems to much any recommendations on the obvious parts such as what RAM/SSD/GPU/Mobo and CPU to get would be fantastic. Thanks in advance much appreciated.
Have a look at the buyers guide, accessible from the home page. Bit out of date, but likely due for a major update since sandybridge has been released and there are new cards from nvidia and amd/ati now that will change a few items. It'd be worth hanging off until it gets updated, that'll give you a starting point.
Welcome to the forum. I would consider something along these lines: For the processor, I'g go for the i5 2500K. Pair this with the Gigabyte UD4, and you have a pretty respectable base. This will allow you to overclock - which is definately worth a go, as you can get the 2500K to 4.5 ghz quite easily. If you definatley do not want to overclock, go for a cheaper 2500 processor and H67 motherboard. For RAM, consider the Corsair Vengeance 8GB. If you want to save money, you could go for a similarily specced 4GB kit (but given the imminent RAM price rises, I'd be tempted to get 8GB now, even if you don't desperately need it. For the HSF, look no further than the Gelid Tranquillo. Sandy Bridge runs quite cool, so a massive cooler like the Frio is probably overkill. GPU-wise, the new GeForce GTX 560 Ti seems a good choice, but you could just as easily go for a GTX 460 or 6950. In term of 1TB hard drives, there is only one real choice: Samsung Spinpoint F3 As for the PSU, I would recommend the Antec True Power 650w. It has more than enough power to fuel this system, is modular and comes at a great price. I'm not sure what (if any) SSD to recommend. If you want a new monitor (and with a current resolution of 1280 x 720 I suggest you do), take a look at the 23" Viewsonic VP2365wb. It runs at 1920 x 1080 and uses a high quality IPS panel, but only costs £200.
Thanks for the advice, those parts look very nice and well under budget for a pretty good build. Im curious as why you wouldn't suggest an SSD? I read somewhere once that they made a hell of a difference in application loading speeds etc? Also forbid me for my ignorance but why choose an i5 when it's within the budget to get an i7? Would you say for my purpose an i5 would be sufficient or am I just being niave thinking that an i7 is automatically better? Regarding the monitor I currently have a SyncMaster 2232BW - It seemed a good purchase at the time and looks fantastic despite the low optimal resolution, would you say that resolution is more important than the other monitor stats such as Contrast Ratio and Response time (Both of which my current monitor far out-perform the one you linked) Additionally is there any cases you'd recommend either for aesthetics or practicallity as I'd be tempted to spend alot on a good looking case that may cause problems? I look forward to your response and the help is much appreciated Edit: Yet another question (Sorry! ) If I were to overclock to around 4.5ghz would that heatsink alone be sufficient? Thanks
After doing some research and checking benchmarks just ignore the question about i5/i7, that processor is a beast
Welcome to bit tech looks as if ak_2020 has got you a pretty good build there :] however you may have a small problem http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/02/01/intel-sandy-bridge-chipset-flaw/1 this means either holding your build for a couple of months while intel fixs the problem, buying it anyway now before places like scan etc stop selling the boards, but then having to rma it at some point in the future, only alternative to that would be an lga 1366, probably a bit more expensive than sandy bridge system, a decent x58 board an asus sabertooth for instance and an i7 950 would be my recommendation, and that sort of system would easily last you 3+ years. I'd also say if your a heavy gamer the more money you can spend on the gpu the better, but a 560 is an excellent card for the money, also maybe take a look at a gtx 570. I'd recommend if your spending over £1000+ on a build definitely look at getting an ssd, although there are a wave of new ssd's coming soon, which will be considerably faster and will reduce the price of the previous generation of ssd's. Hope that helps :]
Its not that I wouldn't recommend it as such, its just that I don't know much about them - I'm sure someone else could come up with a good suggestion. There is nothing wrong with the i7, it just offers poor value for money compared to the i5...its better, but not £70 better, and in the real world you will not notice much difference. I actually had (probably still have, somewhere) that exact Samsung monitor...and for a TN panel it was actually pretty decent, but you probably should have it at its native resolution (1680x1020 IIRC) - anything lower and it is wasted. The Viewsonic uses an IPS panel, which is more expensive (but also higher quality) than the TN in your Samsung. Have a read of Bit-Tech's review here for some more info. Personally, I quite like the Coolermaster 690 II. The Xigmatek Utgard or Fractal Define R3 would also be a good choice. Should be. Sandy Bridge runs much cooler that the older Intel 1156 chips - apparently, you can o/c it to 4ghz on the stock cooler!
My i3 540 is overclocked to 4GHz on the stock cooler and runs relatively cool on full load and isn't that noisy! SB is out of the question now for atleast a month
Thanks for the replies and the advice concerning the SB's. To be honest I'll probably stick with the i5 and just wait for a while before ordering. When I checked the Anandtech site and compared the 560 with the 570 I didn't really think the extra cost was worth it, I'm thinking of getting the gigabyte super OC'd version as its cheap and got good reveiws. Anyone fancy recommending an SSD within budget? How much difference would it make as I don't really understand them. One last qquery, would you say its worth waiting for AMD's new bulldozer CPU I've heard a lot about it at uni. Thanks again
Could well be, depends are you still thinking of waiting on a sandy bridge system? Sandy bridge will be fixed before bulldozer comes out, and will likely be faster than bulldozer as well(possible)
Thanks folks I'm probably just going to stick with the SB and wait for a fix Right now here's my potential build, would anyone change anything or upgrade anything (Given an additional 200£ say) http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/638ae9e783fa4ca58953b750317f8a59 Appreciate the help alot.
Personally I wouldn't change anything, looks like a great build, and I heard on the bit tech/custom pc podcast that scan have some sort of deal between gigabyte, msi and asus to do with the the chipset problem, because everyone knows about it now and theres still people wanting to buy the boards for a new computer (sometimes you just need a new computer), its kind of limiting people to lga 1156 system or a more expensive(but still slower) lga 1366 system, but from what I know, if in a couple of months time once boards start shipping again, you'll be able to change yours for a brand new one if you wish and thats just with scan as they have a personal agreement with msi, gigabyte, asus and intel. If you buy now your still covered (which is handy) :]
Fantastic, thanks alot everyone for your help and thats great news about replacing SB in future for a new one. This forum looks like one I'll be visiting regulary, who knew hardware could actually be interesting o.0 (Don't shoot me! ) Thanks again.
