Foley2012's PC Build

Foley2012

Hey guys,
I recently decided I wanted a new gaming machine my problem is I've a budget of about €700. I've no problem building it myself it's knowing what to buy is my problem and how to keep it at the right price.

So far I've come up with this.
Specs.
Intel Core i5 2500K - 3.3 GHz - 6 MB L3 Cache - LGA 1155 Socket
PATRIOT 2 x 4 GB Dual Channel DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 CL9 G2 Series
WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar Blue 3.5" internal hard drive - 500 GB
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W PC Power Unit
Thought this was a nice looking case although i haven't been able to find any good sites that sell them.
Advance NeoXblade 8813B PC Tower Case - black
The grand total of this comes to €447.41. This is still missing a graphics card and a motherboard any ideas I'd be greatful note I am trying to keep the price down. If the price is reasonable I will throw in an SSD as well. I already have a copy of Windows 7 so that does not need to be included.

Serephucus

Without knowing what your budget is, I can't really help too much, but something like this would work:

Item|Price
Total build cost: €986.73 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€189.79
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€32.63
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€86.69
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€69.00
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€53.43
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil|€52.88
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€86.09
Club 3D Radeon HD 7950, 3072MB GDDR5, AMD Radeon HD 7950, PCI- Express|€416.22


Fill this out and we can give you a much more accurate parts list.

Foley2012

1. Budget: €700
2. Needed for: Gaming, Internet, Maybe a bit of editing. Games such a BF3 and COD.
3. Already have a copy of windows.
4. DVD drive from my old pc can be used temporarily will update this when I get a chance to take it apart later.
5. No monitor needed.
6. Using a 22" Silvercrest 1080p tv. Yes i plan to upgrade to a bigger size thinking of the 32" LG LCD TV.
7. No I am not willing to overclock.
8. I plan on buying it all myself online on various sites.
9. Plan of purchase is in the next 2 months.

Hope that is better Serephucus

Serephucus

If you've got a timeframe of two months, I'd wait a bit. A new line of cards have just come out, and odds are their prices will drop after a while. You could save yourself €50 or so by waiting, which would help in the GPU department.

Item|Price
Total build cost: €712.46 + €30 shipping
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€32.63
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€69.00
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€53.43
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil|€52.88
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€86.09
Intel Core i5-2400 Box, LGA1155|€166.07
ASRock H61DEL, Sockel 1155, ATX|€52.73
Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Ti, 1GB GDDR5|€199.63


A bit over-budget, but prices should come down (particularly in the hard drive area) enough for that to fit in a month or so.

Foley2012

That's the plan Serphucus once I decide on what I want I'll wait, watch and buy when they drop. I want it for around June so I could stretch it to 3 months wait. My primary goal out of this thread is to get my machine specs so that I can start looking for price drops. Earlier today I had no clue on what was even going into it. I have decided on the following though as a definite.

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 - €189.79

Monotype

If you're waiting all the way until June, Intel's new CPUs will be appearing by then, probably. Your build could look completely different.

By the way, Seagate's warranties have been slashed to 1 year, but there should be some movement in prices by the time June comes so you'll have better choices..

Serephucus

You specified that you're not willing to overclock (You really should). If that's the case, there's no point going for the 2500K. You might as well go for the 2400.

Foley2012

Serephucus I though there was only a small price difference between, the 2400 and the 2500 of €4 or €5 for the extra .2 GHz proc speed but I read the wrong models price looking at it now the extra €30 euro I'd have to spend is not worth it and I can put that to use somewhere else.

I do not want to over clock on my first pc for the simple reason if anything does go wrong I simply can not afford to replace any parts and I'll be left with nothing if anything does happen to it. I plan for future builds when I've more knowledge and can risk it to implement it.

New Specs
Item
Intel Core i5-2400 Box, LGA1155. - €166.07
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9. - €32.63
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's. - €69.00
For now we are going with - BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black. - €52.88
But I'm more than likely gonna switch depending on my final price, if I need to cut costs I'll probably pick this up. - Xigmatek Asgard, ATX. - €29.88

If anyone has any other opinions about the motherboard, graphics and fan please post.

As for the SSD I'm gonna keep an eye out for a price drop hopefully just to save me a few €.

New price for above is €320.58 this is without a motherboard, graphics card, SSD, and Fan.

Monotype

Overclocking these CPUs is very low risk. It's not like in previous generations where you had to be worrying greatly about RAM frequencies etc. It's pretty much just changing a number, running a few stability checks and keeping your eye on the temperatures.
In fact I have almost never heard of someone destroying a CPU due to overclocking and only then when they were going well outside standard procedure to maim their CPU. If there were any temperature or instability problems, the CPU would shut down.
They run very cool and even the cooler that you get in the box is enough to handle 4GHz.

Foley2012

Well I suppose I could research into it and find out how to do it.
There is a simple approach to this. Make two computer builds. One with the system requirements to overclock and one that doesn't have any capabilities to overclock that way I can compare and see if I'm willing to pay the difference to have a better machine.

Serephucus

The overclockable machine will be a lot more future-proof. It costs a bit more (about €80 for a motherboard, and €190 for the CPU) but we're talking about going from 3.4GHz to 4.6GHz (at least) so that should last you a long time, and that's not including the fact that you could always install an Ivy Bridge CPU later on too.

Foley2012

While I understand where you are coming from Serephucus my problem is I'm a Leaving Cert student finishing up looking to go onto college in September. I just need a machine to handle the latest games and games for the next year or so just to get me through college. I've no job that's why my budget is so limited it's taken me a while to save that amount for the pc.

Serephucus

Ah right, well stick with the 2400 so. Maybe you could get a Z68 board (an extra €30 or so) and the i5 2300? This would leave you very open to upgrade your processor down the line, but probably still keep you under budget.

Foley2012

Serephucus looking now after the research I've done and your feedback the i5 2400 is a definite. There is something I don't know about I had picked a H67 chipset mobo and I've gotten alot of feedback saying the z68 mobo is better what is the real difference ?

Serephucus

Again: overclocking. You also get SSD caching and dual-GPU support with Z68.

Foley2012

So if I'm not over clocking on this build but I am using an SSD for booting windows which would you pick ?

Serephucus

H67 will do fine. SSD caching is where you use a small SSD sort of like a pagefile for a bigger mechanical drive, which isn't what you're doing.

Foley2012

Oki now the last thing I am going to ask is If i had a budget of 200 euro after picking the ASRock H67M-GE/HT (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX. What graphics card would you go for at this moment in time in the 200 price range right now and what could come down below 200 after the release of the new GPU's

Serephucus

Well, first off, you could save €10 and get this board instead.

As for GPUs, really, just wait and see. I can't say how the 7800 series is going to perform, so I've no idea what'll be affected price-wise, etc.

Foley2012

Much difference between the two mobos?

Serephucus

Not that I could tell, aside from the price.

Foley2012

Cool ill just have to wait and see so about a GPU. thanks for all your help guys id like to keep thread open if possible and ill update with pics as i build

Foley2012

Gpu either spend the extra few EUR on the MSI N560GTX-TI TWIN FROZR II 2GD5/OC, 2GB GDDR5, PCI-Express or go buy the MSI N560GTX Ti Twin Frozr II/OC, 1GB GDDR5, PCI-Express for EUR30 more. What do ya think?

Monotype

The twin frozr cards are good. The 1GB one isn't that much of a difference in price, but you're into the same price region as the 6950 if you get the 2GB one.

This region of cards is likely to shift with the release of the 7850 & 7870 in around a week.

Foley2012

Monotype if it's not too much hassle could you link me the 6950 on hardwareversand?

Fluffy88

On the left menu go down to,

PC-Components

Graphics Cards

ATI

PCI Express

Then type 6950 in the search box and you'll see them.
Or here is one of them, http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=41890&agid=1165

Foley2012

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=53267&agid=1165 How about this I know its more expensive but GPU is an important part so I'm willing to pay that much.

Monotype

It's a bit steep, also some of the 6950 can be unlocked for more performance.
Don't waste any more of your time looking at these cards. The 7850 & 7870 are to be released in 1-2 weeks and should be replacing this region of cards.

Foley2012

I'll write a post here so in 2 weeks after there release. 260EUR is the most I'll spend on a GPU maxing out my budget. I've sorted everything else and I'll be picking things up as I go along. Is the Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W good enough to handle the following:
Intel Core i5-2400 Box, LGA1155
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's
Xigmatek Asgard, ATX
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")
ASRock H67M-GE (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX
And a GPU that will eventually come to me when I decide what is fitting for my build.

Foley2012

Pc's built and thank you very much for all your help.
Final specs were
i5 2400
Sapphire 6870 1Gb
500Gb seagate HD
Asus H67 Mobo
8Gb DDR3 RAM
Phantom 410 midi (white)
Superflower amazon 550W

Worked out at EUR680 incl shipping .