PC build I'm thinking of ordering, opinions?

#014917

I currently have a CPU, the rest is what I'm currently planning on ordering in a day or 2. May try overclocking and purchasing a second GFX card for SLI/CrossFire in the future.

1. What is your budget? [€700-800 (not including CPU or monitor)]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming primarily and streaming of games. Mainly StarCraft 2 and upcoming games such as Borderlands 2 and Dark Souls. I would like to play on near highest settings at least. Internet, watching TV shows and movies, etc.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes] Will most likely order from www.software4students.ie as it seems cheapest and I am a student.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No.

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080] [Yes/No] Think I should be able to get one from a friend.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] No.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/PayPal/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [In 1-3 days]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Maynooth, Co. Kildare] Shouldn't need help, been looking up vidoes and have taken apart and put together a PC before.


Current Proposed Build:
CPU: Intel i5 3570k
CPU Heatsink: Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO
Mobo: MSI Z77A-G45
RAM: 8GB Corsair Vengence 1600 MHz (4GB x 2)
GFX Card: Radeon HD 7850 (Thinking of going with Sapphire, seems to have the best reviews for value)
Case: Fractal Design R3 (R4 seems a bit excessive for me and I'd rather spend extra money eslewhere)
PSU: 750W Antec True Power New Modular Hybrid (I think I only need about 600W but this would provide some overhead for OCing and a second GFX card)
HDD: 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm

I've been researching parts the past 2 days and think this should be good for me, but looking for outside opinions on this build, anything I should swap out for?

Mainly I'm looking for feedback on where to buy parts, currently I'm planning to but most of the stuff through scan.co.uk and pixmania.ie. I've also seen www1.hardwareversand.de recommended around here. What are their shipping rates like? Scan.co.uk does 1 Parcel (upto 30kg) to RoI at about £13 which seems to be a good deal.

Monotype

Hardwareversand charge €19. Keep your eyes on Scan's today only page - there's often good stuff there.
http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.aspx

You might find better RAM at memoryc.ie
Last time I checked, scan's selection wasn't that great and only had mostly corsair - which isn't bad, but I'd avoid the Vengence with the tall heatsinks and the RAM that runs at 1.65V to reduce possible problems.

#014917

Thanks for that today only link, they have some parts about £20 off that I was about to buy from them at normal price! Will probably just get most of my build from them. Memory from memoryc.ie seems like a good price, but scan also have a deal on the not massive Corsair ram atm so I'll probably just go with that. Cheers for the info about voltage though, seems my CPU only goes up to 1.5V.

Procrastastudy

• PSU seems overkill but I'm not sure what the quality is like so maybe best to play it safe.
  
• SSD would be a wise investment.
  
• If you are definitely going the xfire/SLI route then 3570K - otherwise I'd go for a 2500K to save some money.
  
• I'd possibly wait for the 660ti in a couple of weeks time to see what that does to GPU recommendations.

#014917

I'd also like to spend some extra money just making sure I have a good quality PSU over some generic one that's more likely to fry out, but do you think the PSU would be overkill if I decided to OC and SLI/CrossFire?If so what would you recommend insted?

I'm not too bothered about SSD for the moment. Load speed isn't much of a bother for me and I can always upgrade in the future.

Have already purchased the 3570k. I was in the U.S. recently and swang by a Microcenter. Planned to get the 2500K originally but it was out of stock. Was only about $200 so still great value compared to the market here

Just saw the 660ti is being priced at $300. http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-660ti-spotted-bestbuy-officially-priced-299/ Do you think this will still affect prices in the 7850 range of cards? I can delay building for a week or 2 but I'd rather go ahead sooner to get as much out of it before college starts back in about a month.

Procrastastudy

#014917 wrote: »

I'd also like to spend some extra money just making sure I have a good quality PSU over some generic one that's more likely to fry out, but do you think the PSU would be overkill if I decided to OC and SLI/CrossFire?If so what would you recommend insted?

Look at Monotype's guide - I'm not great on PSUs

#014917 wrote: »

I'm not too bothered about SSD for the moment. Load speed isn't much of a bother for me and I can always upgrade in the future.

I could never go back - but then if you haven't made the switch you won't know any different.

#014917 wrote: »

Have already purchased the 3570k. I was in the U.S. recently and swang by a Microcenter. Planned to get the 2500K originally but it was out of stock. Was only about $200 so still great value compared to the market here

Grand so!

#014917 wrote: »

Just saw the 660ti is being priced at $300. http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-660ti-spotted-bestbuy-officially-priced-299/ Do you think this will still affect prices in the 7850 range of cards? I can delay building for a week or 2 but I'd rather go ahead sooner to get as much out of it before college starts back in about a month.

I've heard many different prices etc we really wont know until it lands. 7850 isn't a bad card so if the money is burning a hole spend it

#014917

Thanks for your input! Will definately consider buying a SSD in the future. I've heard great things about them but for me they only seemed like a nice extra, but nothing that would really change my computer experience. Most likely that's just what I'm telling myself so I don't feel left out for now :P Once they drop in price a little I'll definitely pick one up! I'd rather spend the money elsewhere for now.

TBH I havn't put toooo much research into GFX cards. 7850 just seemed like one of the most price efficient cards out there for the price range I wanted. It was between that and the 560ti. Think the 7850 is a good choice or should I look for something else?