Hi Chaps, I bought my last machine April 2007 (dual core 2.3, 4gb ram, gtx 520) and it lasted me well over the years and I played some right little beauts on it until the end ha ha. Half Life 2 series, Crysis 2 etc etc .. good times! Anyway it's really creaking now and even started BSOD'ing me so I'm looking to get something else to last me another good 5 years if possible. Don't want to spend any more than a grand. I already have a decent monitor and headphones (prefer to speakers) plus all the usual extra's. My old nemisis in the past with machines has been cooling - ugh, always suffered with over heating. What do you think about this? They want £986 off me for it. I think I want an i7 qud core cpu, a GTX 670 and 16gb RAM (or am I better off getting 8GB of quality RAM for now???). Case: CoolerMaster Elite 310 Mid Tower Gaming Case with see-thru side panel Freebies: None Lights & Illumination: NONE Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default Case Fan Cyberpower Noise Reduction Technology: None CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770 Quad Core 3.40 GHz 8MB Cache LGA1155 + HD Graphics [+192] Freebies: None Overclocking Service: No Overclocking Overclock Monitoring and Media Server Station or Overclocking Media Server Station: NONE Cooling Fan: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling system w/ 120mm Radiator (Asetek CPU Water Cooling ***Overclockable XXX***) Coolant for Cyberpower Advance WaterCooling Kits: NONE Motherboard: Asus P8H61-MX Intel H61 chipset Micro ATX Mainboard w/ 2 RAM slots, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, SATA-II, 1xGen2 PCIe, 1xPCIe , 1 x PCI (B3 Stepping) Intel Smart Response Technology for Z68 & Z77: None Internal USB/SATA Expansion Module: NONE Memory: 16GB(4x4GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz Dual Channel Memory [+76] (Kingston Value Select) Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card [+250] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA) Freebies: None Dongles: NONE Video Card 2: None, or On-Board Integrated Graphics Video Card 3: None, or On-Board Integrated Graphics Power Supply Upgrade: 500 Watts Power Supplies [+10] (CyberPower 500W Gaming Power Supply (No Overclocking recommended)) Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache HDD (1TB (500GBx2) Raid 0 Extreme Performance [+45]) Data Hard Drive: NONE Hard Drive Cooler: None External Hard Drive (USB 3.0/2.0/eSATA): None USB Flash Drive: None Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE. (BLACK Colour) Optical Drive 2: NONE Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO 3D Vision Glasses: NONE LCD Monitor: NONE 2nd Monitor: NONE 3rd Monitor: NONE Speakers: NONE Headset: None All opinions welcome - I am no expert on this, just a keen reader. cheers olly Gaming Gear: None Network: ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT -- As standard on all PCs Keyboard: NONE Mouse: NONE Mouse Pad: None Extra Thermal Display: NONE Wireless 802.11N Network Card: NONE External Wireless Network Adapter: NONE Wireless 802.11B/G/N Access Point: None Bluetooth: None Flash Media Reader/Writer: None Video Camera: None Cables: None Power Surge Protection: None IEEE 1394 Card: NONE USB Port: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports Ultra Care Option: None Operating System: NONE - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY(NO OVERCLOCKING AVALIABLE) Media Center Remote & TV Tuner: None
You really should consider building yourself. After a few weeks of reading up on this forum I reckon I put together a decent pc. Very happy with it and I know if anything goes wrong I can prob sort it out myself. Buy from scan with their insurance if your first build, will help give you the confidence to put it together.
Right, 1K budget. Using Scan, others can amend below in replies, this is just to start you off: LN42848 Intel Core i5 3570K,1155, Ivy Bridge, Quad Core, 3.4GHz, 5 GT/s DMI, 650MHz GPU, 6MB Smart Cache, 34x Ratio, 77W, OEM £144.17 £173.00 The K series is what you want. LN44304 Asus P8Z77-M PRO, Intel Z77, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, PCIe 3.0 (x16), D-Sub (VGA)/ DVI-D/ HDMI, Micro ATX £90.77 £108.92 (-Pro has better VRMs and the mATX is cheaper than ATX by almost 15 quid. Use AutoTuning in TurboV/BIOS if you are not confident with OCing. This should get you ~4.2GHz with just a click of a button) LN39754 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Jet Black LP, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.5V £24.99 £29.99 8GB is enough. LN42667 Corsair Carbide Series 300R Black Mid Tower Gaming Performance Case with USB 3.0, w/o PSU £49.30 £59.16 300R has plenty of fan upgrade options. Other choices are the Fractal Design and Lian Li A05 (I have, it's very nice if you like Aluminum!) for around 65 quid. LN39099 128GB Crucial RealSSD M4, 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD, MLC-Flash, Read 500Mb/s, Write 175Mb/s *New Version* £71.12 £85.34 Quality SATA 6Gbps SSD at a superb price. 128GB is enough for Windows + software. LN35239 2TB Samsung HD204UI/ST2000DL004 SATA 3Gbs SATA II 5400rpm - End Of Life £63.20 £75.84 It's EOL but still 2TB for this price is good. DON'T be bothered about SATA 6Gbps/III HDDs - they aren't worth the premium because they don't even fill the SATA 3Gbps/II bandwidth. LN41326 Sony AD-5280S-0B 24x DVD±R, 12xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6 SATA, Black, OEM £10.83 £13.00 Bog standard DVDRW drive, if you need one. LN42541 Arctic Cooling Freezer i30 CPU DT 4 Heat Pipe Cooler with 120mm Silent Fan for Intel Socket LGA 2011/1155/1156 £24.30 £29.16 The i30 is pretty good and cheaper than liquid coolers. LN39889 520W Antec Neo Eco Modular PSU 82%Eff', 80 PLUS Bronze, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX, PSU *Scan Exclusive £41.52 £49.82 The Neo Eco is a decent PSU. Not that new with 82% but cheaper than others. 520W is enough for a single GPU. Net Total £520.20 Carriage £8.49 VAT £105.73 Total£634.42 GPU - Wait 3 days prepare for +300 on that.
If you are planning to use specific software, that makes use of 8 threads, and a lot of RAM, like HD video editing using Adobe CS6, then there is some point to i7 and 16GB of RAM. Otherwise, pointless. If you are going to use Ivybridge, and a GTX670 (I would want to know make and exact model), at least put them on a decent z77 motherboard. That's a really nice build, that Bindibadgi's put together. If you particularly want liquid cooling, you could substitute that, for slightly more money. The new GTX660ti is released, tomorrow. By all accounts, that is likely to be close to 670 performance, and you could save a few quid.
Thank you, Malbluff That's why I said wait 2-3 days to see what happens to GPU prices and read reviews about the best price : performance Compare 660, 670, 7870, 7950B. An i7-3770K will take you well over a grand but I agree worth it if you're doing serious work. A 16GB upgrade can be had for not much more though, which might be worth it for a 3-4 year investment. Same with a nice case - buy something you really like to look at, that works well, and it's a great investment that'll last upgrades.
thanks guys and especially bindibadgi, i am going to do some serious reading up and go from there. i've started to research already, and already i've got that feeling that by getting someone else to build it, it's going to make me less of a man haha. most confusing bit to me looks like where to put all the wires after you put the psu in, connecting it all up. that and say getting a motheboard that doesn't fit the case or cpu.
hi, i've done some reading and research and come up with this, and i'm going to have a crack at making it myself. i've not bought anything yet so can change anything.. from my old machine i am only brining a monitor, keyboard & mouse, headphones and a dvd-rw drive! £56.98 Coolermaster Storm Scout Gaming Mid Tower Black Case w/o PSU Refresh Version £189.17 Intel Core i7 2700K, S 1155, Sandy Bridge, Quad Core 3.5GHz, 8MB Cache, HD 3000 IGP 850MHz, 95W, Retail £13.25 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro v2 S775/1155/1156/1366/AM3/AM2+/AM2/939 Up to 130 Watts £31.80 8GB (2x4GB) Hynix DDRIII PC3-10600 (1333mhz) 240 pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered CL9 £49.89 1TB Seagate ST31000524AS Barracuda 7200.12, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.5ms, NCQ £249.67 2GB EVGA GTX 670, 28nm, PCIe 3.0 (x16), 6008MHz GDDR5, GPU 915MHz, Boost 980MHz, Cores 1344, 2x DL DVI, DP, HDMI £65.77 Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H, Intel Z77, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 3.0, D-Sub/ DVI-D/ HDMI, ATX £54.70 700W Silverstone Tech. Strider SST-ST70F-ES, 80% Eff', 80 PLUS, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX v2.3, PSU Net Total Carriage VAT £711.23 £8.49 £143.94 Total £863.66 any criticisms welcome. thanks.
Personally, I would have said, if you are having a GXT670, on a z77 board, and you want an i7 CPU, go with the i7-3770K. Depending where you are buying, virtually the same money, and better, all round. If you want to stick with Sandybridge processor, there's little benefit to having z77 board, and the i7-2600K is better value than the 2700.