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Build Advice Shopping List... (Upgrade with a £1,000+ budget)

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by BloodlessDawn, 26 Mar 2012.

  1. BloodlessDawn

    BloodlessDawn I know nothing.

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    (edited in red)

    First things first, apologies for flooding the forum with posts lately. This is hopefully going to be the last thread I produce based on my current upgrade plan.
    The time has finally come. I actually have money, and I'm ready to purchase a full system upgrade.

    Basically, I'm doing a complete overhaul.

    It's all going inside my Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl. So that's sorted. And I'm keeping my Coolermaster GX 650 Watt Power Supply. But pretty much all the other innards are being changed :)

    Right, this is my current shopping list. I'm either going to be ordering online from scan, or visiting my local branch of Novatech at the weekend. Depends who gets everything in stock first.

    HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (£95)
    SSD: Crucial M4 128GB (£125)
    Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3 (£150)
    RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) @ 1600Mhz (£40)
    CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K (£165)
    Cooler: Gelid Tranquillo Rev 2 (£25)
    Optical Drive: LG GH22Ns70 DVD+/-RW (£13)
    Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX (£60)
    PSU: Keeping Current
    GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 680 2048MB GDDR5 (£430)

    Basically, Does everyone agree that this is the best setup I can get for equal to or less than £1,300?

    If you have any better suggestions, please let me know :D :)

    Okay, so I've upped the limit to £1,300 ish. What can I get for this?
     
    Last edited: 27 Mar 2012
  2. murraynt

    murraynt Modder

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    Looks great.
    Might be worth getting 16gb of ram and upping the HSF to something like the Be-Quite if you have the cash.
     
  3. mucgoo

    mucgoo Minimodder

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    You could get a 580 for £200 less. Is the 20% extra performance really worth that much?

    And same with the motherboard. You'd not notice if you used a £100 board instead.

    Monitor?
     
  4. ninjaplease

    ninjaplease I don't know what I'm doing

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    You sure you need the sound card? mobo has it integrated...
     
  5. lucas4

    lucas4 What's a Dremel?

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    I'd recommend going for low profile RAM. Will save clearance headaches in the future.
    A cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO would be the better cooler choice in my opinion as that cooler is also very quiet and performs better than the Gelid.
    A 680 is nice, but as said above, a second hand 580 may be the better option. Heck for £430, you could probably SLI a pair of 580s
     
  6. BloodlessDawn

    BloodlessDawn I know nothing.

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    Integrated Audio drains system resources (CPU and RAM) which I might as well put into other things. Plus I just like having sound cards because if I get another motherboard which doesn't have integrated audio I can still have sound :)

    With the 680 thing, I'd just rather have one single powerful graphics card than two SLI'd.

    Will reply again later when I'm not at work.
    But yeah...

    Will look into different coolers too.
     
  7. ninjaplease

    ninjaplease I don't know what I'm doing

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    Good point, doesn't change my opinion but if you've got the money then why not.
     
  8. BloodlessDawn

    BloodlessDawn I know nothing.

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    Well then, looks like I'm getting this setup. But maybe a different cooler, will have a look later :)
     
  9. BloodlessDawn

    BloodlessDawn I know nothing.

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    Right.

    I've upped the limit to £1,300, MAYBE £1,400 if it can be justified... xD
    What can you guys build with that?
    (excluding case).

    HDD, SSD, Mobo, RAM, CPU, Cooler, 2 x Optical Drives, Sound Card, GPU,

    Maybe I should just get a monitor with the extra cash?...


    Long story short, my Girlfriend's dad bought more RAM than he needed. So I've already got 8GB sitting around. Once I add the new 8GB we're in business :)
    It's Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz stuff, so the same as I plan to buy anyway :)
     
  10. Jeevus

    Jeevus Minimodder

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  11. murraynt

    murraynt Modder

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    Why two disk drives mate?
     
  12. MrDomRocks

    MrDomRocks Modder

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    One as OS/APPS etc one as storage. Same as me!

    SSD is a great addition!
     
  13. murraynt

    murraynt Modder

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    Sorry, I meant optical drives :duh:
     
  14. mikeyman198

    mikeyman198 Lets pretend this is hilarious.

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    I think he means that you have 2 optical drives in that build... And why are you spending £30 on a DVD drive anyway?!?!
     
  15. thetrashcanman

    thetrashcanman Angel headed hipsters

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    its a bit more than 20% at least according to heaven benchmark anyway, 1 x 680 equals almost 2 x 580's :jawdrop:
     
  16. BennieboyUK

    BennieboyUK CPC Folder of the Month Sep 2011

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  17. BloodlessDawn

    BloodlessDawn I know nothing.

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    I do indeed mean two optical drives. I want two simply because I've always found them useful, and to be honest, an extra £13 for the convenience of an extra optical drive? Yes please.
    DVD on one screen, game on another. That's me AND my girlfriend happy for the evening. xD

    Also, I'm not spending £30? I'm spending £13.
     
  18. Bloody_Pete

    Bloody_Pete Technophile

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    I'd personally wait for IB
     
  19. BloodlessDawn

    BloodlessDawn I know nothing.

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    Aha, Yeah. I was thinking of doing that. But I'll just sell components on when the time comes.

    I've officially ordered my Upgrades by the way!


    CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K
    Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V PRO GEN3
    RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance (Plus another 8GB which is sitting on my shelf to make it 16GB)
    SSD: 128GB Crucial RealSSD M4
    HDD: 2TB Seagate Barracuda
    GPU: 2GB MSI GTX 680
    Cooler: Be Quiet! Dark Rock PRO
    Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX/XD 7.1
    2 DVD/Optical Drives: LiteOn IHAS124-19
    Monitor: 24" Dell U2412M IPS LED Monitor


    I think this is a nice system. :D But even if it isn't... it's ordered now. Aha.
    Cannot wait to receive it Friday and build it saturday evening :D
     
  20. ninjaplease

    ninjaplease I don't know what I'm doing

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    I, for one, am very jealous.
     

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