Build Advice New PC Build- Budget £500 (Now Increased to £600)

Hi Everyone, first post but been reading the forums for a while.

I'm looking to build a new pc from scratch (existing one has died a slow and painful death) and need some expert guidance from you more knowlegable types.

I will need everything except Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor.

Primary use will be gaming BF3, maybe WoW and Diablo III (If i can be bothered to renew subscription..) although also usual stuff like web browsing etc.

Case : Looking at NZXT Phantom 410 (Gun Metal Edition) I like the styling of this case and the fact there plenty of room to hide cables


CPU:i5 2500K or Ivy Bridge equivilent although not convinced by about the hype around IB and the reported heat issues and if there is any overall performance gains to be had. I plan to keep at stock although may OC at some point in the future.

System Board : Historically I've always had Asus boards in the past as these are rock solid although open to suggestions. Z77 preferably but again depends what I can afford within budget.

Memory : 8Gb should be plenty for now?

GPU : Budget wont allow for high end card but a solid midrange that will meet my gaming needs at reasonable resolution and frame rates. Again historically always had Nvidia, but have heard good things about some of the midrange AMD Cards (HD 6870 or HD7770)

HDD: 1Tb

SSD: would love to get one inside budget but can always get one at a later date

PSU : 650W should suffice and provide sufficient headroom if I decide to turn up the heat a few notches by OC the CPU

DVD RW : Nothing special needed here so long as it does a job.


So, I know this is a big ask try and get this in at around the £500 but hopefully you will be able to point me in the right direction.

Cheers.

 

Based on the specs you have supplied above, it will be impossible to build this PC for £500. You'll have more luck at £600, and even then it'll be tight.

Unless you plan to source some of this gear second hand of course. Soz!

Just to give you a rough idea, Dell are unable to get close to the spec you have listed for £650, and that is a fairly good indicator as they use a much cheaper case, less ram etc. With their massive buying power they generally match or slightly undercut what it would cost to source individual equivalent components.

 

I know you wanted to go Intel but I specced you a PC around your budget using an AMD CPU instead. 4GB should be suffice for gaming and then you can add another 2x2 GB if you wish later on.

http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/472046ecc5094e019087fe7b34ba4e5a - Thanks for pointing that out Zin

Let me know what you think.

EDIT: May I also add that if you get 20 posts on this forums, you will qualify for free delivery on your basket.

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=186923

 

Yeah you're asking the impossible, that build can't be done for £500.

Even if you leave the GPU out completely, get a Carbide 300R and a 64gb SSD (A truly essential part of any new build) and a cheap motherboard you're still hitting £600, and that's with a 500W builder series too.

I suggest you re evaluate your requirements or increase your budget. IB I3s will be out soon, but there very likely wont be an overclockable version.

 

That link is for a rather tasty ITX build my friend.

(EDIT: It might be my own basket because it's um, the exact PC I'm planning, did you click the "share basket" button?

 

If you wait a little longer for these to hit the shelves then I would strongly suggest it if you wish to go IB Z77.

 

Yeah it's a secure link so only suragh is able to view it. If you are also logged into Scan then it will just show you your own saved baskets.

Suragh you need to click checkout, click saved basket, name it, view it and then paste the link for the saved basket in order for any of us to be able to see what you have put together.

 

That would explain why I was all...

"Damn, that's a nice PC but it's going to cost a lot..... wait a minute :S".

 

Woopsiieeee

 

Nice build suragh, it could be brought back into budget by opting for a cheaper CPU cooler as well.

 

He said everything except monitor/keyboard/mouse so presumably he needs windows as well?

 

He could be smart and remove everything off of his drive he has currently, make a system image and use a repair disc or a friends Windows 7 install disc and select the image he made and let it install.

 

Thanks all for the quick relpies greatly appreciated. In regards to the budget I know £500 was tight and I may have a little extra room for manouever but if wasn't a challenge it would be boring right?

Sorry should have stated in my original post, no I have a copy of Win 7 Ultimate 64.

 

OP's online now but probably waiting for his post(s) to be allowed through the moderation queue. Krikkit and Nexxo are on too though so shouldn't be long

Lol ninja'd

 

Hi Suragh, looking at at your choice looks okay. My preference is still for an Intel based system rather than AMD. Is there a reason you included a watercooled heatsink? I could potentiall save a further £43 in I just used stock ..

 

EDIT: Nope, I give up.

 

Why? That build was pretty decent, if Lammie decides to wait he can swap the i5 for an i3 and might have enough for a decent GPU.

 

Yeah it was lovely, but I hadn't factored in storage!

I couldn't in good conscience suggest a new build these days without an SSD.

You could do it with a 2100 (Or whatever the IB variant is) and a second hand 460 including a 1tb HD and a 64gb Samsung 830 but what I'd personally suggest is compromising one completely. For example, this.

And just add a GPU at a later date.

It's a difficult time as well given the imminent release of I3 IB and the 660 series.

But yes basically what you're asking for can't be done OP. You could save £25 on the board and drop to an I3, that would allow you a very, very mid ranged GPU. But if you want a 2500/3570k in that rig you can only do it by sacrificing the GPU or storage.

 

Saved Basket could not be found

 

If you don't plan on overclocking you could opt for the H77 - GA-H77-D3H