New Build Advice (< €1200)

kirving

Right, so I plan on building a computer in the next few weeks as this yoke is pretty old at this stage. I haven't built an entire PC before, but I've stuck in graphics cards, ram, HD's and power supplies into a few. I'm not worried about the actual building stage. I'm just a bit out of touch with the latest stuff.

I've really gotta keep the budget under €1200 which is where I'm finding a bit of a problem, and I think I'll need to swap a few things around(or find cheaper suppliers) to get under budget. I have KB, Monitor, Mouse and Speakers.

I want:

Upgradeability(SSD, Blu-Ray, easy stuff)
USB 3.0
Decent Graphics Card - I'm tired of medium graphics on the likes of BF2, etc.

I'm not sure what else really, I'll be doing a bit of SolidWorks next year, and for a while after that. Not having to really worry about specs would be lovely!

I've Chosen:



As for the CPU, the i7 930 is not really any more than the 920, so I'll try and stick with that. I can ditch the Cooler though I think in favor of something cheaper!(unless one is included in the retail pack)

To be honest I'm not sure what I should be looking at when It comes to the motherboard. The graphics card mightn't be the best choice either, its dear enough. I think I'm happy with the rest!

It comes to €1350 all in. What I really need is your help to try and cut down on costs without really sacrificing too much quality. I don't mind where I buy from. I'll gladly take suggestions to swapping around any parts if that's what it takes.

Thanks,
Kev

Solitaire

Here's a build minus OS for €900:



I'd have put in an OS but HWVS have run out of 64bit English-language versions

CPU is better than your selection 99% of the time and much cooler-running. The other 1% is hardcore enterprise/encoding stuff where memory bandwidth is a bigger issue than raw CPU power. I also threw in a Hyper 212 Plus for some decent cooling.

Mobo is much cheaper, still has SATA3, USB3 and a good rep though!

RAM is low-latency 1333MHz stuff.

GPU is an issue: the reason I went with this is because everything is horribly overpriced at the moment especially those rancid little HD5830s! :mad: Best alternative is to get an Asus HD5770 as those allow a limited amount of overvolting in the warranty That way you have much more leeway to tweak the memory speed up, which is the key to sorting out the HD5770 as its bandwidth-limited. By comparison the HD5830 is ROP-limited and the only way to get around that is massive OCing of the GPU or buy a HD5850 instead

HDD is one of the best on the market; close to the Velociraptor in most ways except I/O ops.

PSU is not pretty; it is, however, good quality and dirt-cheap for what it is.

Case has a nice big top exhaust; there's no front fan included with those V9s IIRC so I threw a 140mm Scythe in as well.

youcancallmeal

Nice build Solitaire! The whole socket 1366 setup is not good value for money at the moment. The Motherboards and RAM are significantly more expensive than socket 1156 setups and really don't offer much of a difference to the average user.

I have the Coolermaster cpu cooler myself and it keeps my I5-750 below 40 degrees on average

kirving

Probably shouldn't be saying this in the Building & Upgrading forum, but I went for a Dell XPS 8100 in the end, with:

CPU - i7 860 2.8Ghx
RAM - 8Gb @ 1333Mhz
GPU - ATI HD5770
HDD - 2TB Raid 0 (2x1TB)
OS - Windows 7 HP

Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Card
Blu-Ray Reader
DVD Writer
Memory Card Reader
Keyboard/Mouse Included(Already have my own)
No Monitor/Speakers(I have them)


Came to €1179 delivered.

It wasn't my first choice to be honest, but I think it was a good compromise in the end, probably not for raw computing power vs. cost, but the over all package seemed decent.

I liked that the Blu-Ray drive and Memor Card Reader were included, because I probably would have got them in the near future anyway.

I'll probably get a SSD when I get some money for an extra boost.

I was thinking too, if I ever wanted to switch out the Motherboard and PSU(350W, not great, but if it does the job.....), how easy would that to be on a Dell, is it all propritary stuff in there?

Thanks for your help,

Kev

bl8ckh8art

http://cgi.ebay.ie/NEW-DELL-XPS-STUDIO-8000-2-93GHZ-1GB-Nvidia-6GB-8100_W0QQitemZ250593344628QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_DesktopPCs?hash=item3a5886fc74

€968.50.

I would recommend checking ebay before you buy anything. I must have saved thousand at this stage. It wouldn't be a problem switching your mobo as long as a new one would support your components like cpu, ram, etc.

Solitaire

I think you're just a little bit late...

Plus that eBay machine is a fair bit inferior (and slightly worse value) than the machine he listed

bl8ckh8art

Yes I know. Just because you're a mod, don't get all snotty with me pal. I merely pointed out that on ebay, one can find bargains, a lot of good stuff for lower prices.