As others said already, get a P67 mobo, not an H67 one. Also, I might've missed it but did anyone mention that sandy bridge is dual channel? You want a 2x2GB or 2x4GB kit of DDR3 1600MHz. Everything else looks fine. If you overclock your GPU yourself you don't need to get the superclocked version either . Also since you're not going to be doing dual graphics cards in the future your motherboard can be a lot cheaper with only 1 PCI-E slot. That'll give you enough money to get a 2x4GB kit of memory and upgrade the GPU maybe.
I'd have no idea where to start to overclock my GPU myself and I don't want to break anything. I'm only comforable with the CPU so far. As for the motherboard with it only needing 1PCI-E slot what sort of price range would I be looking at? Obviously trying to get a decent computer for as cheap as possible. Later in the year I want to upgrade my monitor and perhaps a new case so anything saved now is an advantage.
If anything overclocking the GPU is far easier than overclocking the CPU. Just use a software overclocker (MSI Afterburner is the best IMO) and it's simply a case of raising the clocks and stress testing (Afterburner comes with MSI's Kumboster stress testing software bult-in) until you're happy with the clocks or it starts to artifact/give errors. You can play with the voltage if you want but even then there's usually only one to play with. Far easier than overclocking IMO, even if Sandy Bridge simplifies this somewhat. Finger's original build seems good but I might argue that you could get the motherboard and graohics a bit cheaper as you seem keen to cut costs. Pretty much good template for you would be: Intel Core i5 2500k; Cheap Asus/Gigabyte P67 Motherboard; 4GB DDR3; Cheapest 6850/460 1GB. Edit: Here's a build I made just now coming in at just over £450 from Ebuyer. Core i5 2500k - £184.79 Asus P8P67 LE - £106.84 Corsair 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 - £39.87 =http://www.ebuyer.com/product/233611]PNY GTX 460 1GB - £125.13 Total: £456.63 Feel free to change the build to suit your needs. The only other thing I can think of at the moment is that you might want to wait to see what the release of the GTX 560 brings, however common consensus at the moment is that it'll probably be around the £200 mark, so probably out of your preferred price range.
I think these two parts are set in stone already. Reading up on that CPU and everyone is recommending it so I think that's a definate one to buy. As for the RAM you guys have persuaded me to downgrade to 4GB instead of 6 so that is a bit more of a save. You guys have knocked off nearly £80 from what I originally priced up about a week ago. I love you all I'll have a mooch around at motherboards and GFX cards. myself; anymore suggestions are greatly welcome. I'll perhaps look into overclocking too if it'll end up being cheaper to do it myself. Are their any particular guides available that people can recommend to use for overclocking graphics cards?
I wouldn't even bother overclocking my GFX, Theperformance difference is so slight compare to the CPU.
There is a useful list of P67 motherboard reviews here: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=201015. The only one that is missing so far that I want to see is the Gigabyte UD3 review, the board is around £100.
It's not the best idea in the world to go 2x3GB because SB is dual channel . If you want more memory the next step is 2x4GB (8GB total). Depending on how close you wanna move to £500, you could get an 8GB kit. As I said earlier in the thread, this one is the cheapest mobo that I'd go with. It's a good almost £40 down from the Asus P8P67 Pro.
Going from the suggestions and looking at various alternatives myself I put together with what I think is the cheapest I can get. It's a whopping £80 cheaper than what I was originally looking to get so thanks to everyone. Motherboard CPU Memory Graphics Any comments on this?
hi, 1st post so be gentle! I am looking to do something similar here (hope I'm not thread jacking...) but I do know that Corsair XMS memory is solid and reliable (in previous experience), GPU looks good as I'm sure you can OC if you want to or need to mobo is cheap for that chipset!! No SLi (not required) and no SATA 6GB but if not required then looks good.... I will be very interested to hear exactly what you do decide on and also when you get it how it all goes! Do you think you would be able to maybe do some benchmarks before and then do the same after the upgrade? If you have the time that is - I plan on doing that when I get my kit to hopefully give other people with a similar build to mine an idea of what to expect. James.
hi, 1st post so be gentle! I am looking to do something similar here (hope I'm not thread jacking...) but I do know that Corsair XMS memory is solid and reliable (in previous experience), GPU looks good as I'm sure you can OC if you want to or need to mobo is cheap for that chipset!! No SLi (not required) and no SATA 6GB but if not required then looks good.... I will be very interested to hear exactly what you do decide on and also when you get it how it all goes! Do you think you would be able to maybe do some benchmarks before and then do the same after the upgrade? If you have the time that is - I plan on doing that when I get my kit to hopefully give other people with a similar build to mine an idea of what to expect. James.
