new to forum. good build ? recommend improvements budget $1500/£1000

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kaptainkiely

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Apr 9, 2013
1
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10,510
This is going to be my first ever build. I was hoping that you guys could help with any feedback if you think its good or if you can suggest cheaper alternative i have a rough budget of £1000(from england) $1500 willing to go over if worth it

Approximate Purchase Date: when i have the system all decided

Budget Range: £1000/$1500 cheaper if i can or slightly more expensive if worth it

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, general use, streaming movies, photo editing

Are you buying a monitor: No (already have this)

Do you need to buy OS: no

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: amazon.co.uk seems to have decent enough prices and always been trustworthy

Location: birmingham, england

Parts Preferences: n/a

Overclocking: would like to

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe in future

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 Acer S240HLbid 24

Additional Comments: this is my build at the moment

mobo:Asus P8Z77-V Motherboard (amazon £138.00)

cpu: Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K ( amazon £173.00)

cpu cooler:Corsair Hydro Series H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler(£78.00) ( also not sure if i will need this but i heard for the price one of the best water coolers on the market)

ram: corsair 8GB 1600Mhz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance ( amazon £54.00)

video card: EVGA GF GTX 660Ti SC+ 3GB GDDR5 Graphics Card (amazon £250.00)

hdd: wd caviar black 1TB (amazon £69.00)
ssd: Intel 330 Series 60GB 2.5 inch £66.75)

psu: Corsair CMPSU-600CXV2UK Builder Series 600W Power Supply (amazon £57.95)

cooling fans:Corsair CO-9050006-WW Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition 120mm Low Noise High Pressure Fan Dual Pack (amazon £17.00)

case: Zalman Z9 Plus Midi Tower Case (amazon £45.00)

total so far £947 / $1464 (ouch !! haha) i also will need a new keyboard but i think i can get this very cheap from a friend so not needed any help is really appreciated
thanks.
 
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McLubbin

McLubbin

Honorable
Feb 1, 2013
252
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10,790
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($114.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($107.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.96 @ Amazon)
Total: $1285.84
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-09 17:52 EDT-0400)
 
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burritobob

burritobob

Honorable
Nov 14, 2012
1,082
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Here is what you should really be looking at:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£167.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£59.83 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£99.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£32.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£49.98 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (£309.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: BitFenix Shinobi ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£61.13 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£10.93 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £912.71
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

To start off you have a much better CPU cooler in this that is cheaper. There is no way that the H80 can compete with this beast of a cooler.

The motherboard is the same but different, you really gain nothing by getting the V edition, so instead I chose the V-LK which has the exact same performance literally at a much lower price.

Same ish ram found it at a much cheaper price, RAM heatsinks are really for looks and that's about it.

660ti is simply not going to cut it, you should be looking towards the best single GPU card (besides the titan) being the 7970, if you can fit one of these in there that is SO much power compared to the little offered by the nvidia card. It is on a whole different level of graphical performance.

My 1TB HDD will perform the exact same for a bit cheaper, so why not?

A larger SSD that performs just the same was also in order so I included the SanDisk Extreme 120GB SSD.

Got a modular PSU, that has 20w more for the same price, both are trusted brands you could interchange the two, I just have a personal preference for modular PSUs.

You really do not need cooling fans, the case I suggested comes with a few, and IF you want to put in case fans they should be of the noctua sort.

Cases are again interchangeable I just really like the look of the shinobi.

So in the end you have a build £20 cheaper with MUCH better performance.
 
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burritobob

burritobob

Honorable
Nov 14, 2012
1,082
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11,460


Can't get those deals in the UK, and very few come from amazon
 
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bigcyco1

bigcyco1

Champion
Feb 11, 2012
15,867
2
54,960
Your build looks decent to me.I would suggest GTX 670.Other than that.Looks good to me

 
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synthaside

synthaside

Distinguished
May 2, 2011
184
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18,760
I'd try scan.co.uk for that order , ive always found them good service and price wise , plus you have the option to Scansure for peice of mind.
you can get it all from them , give me a bit and ill spec somthing from what they have
 
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Optimus_Toaster

Optimus_Toaster

Honorable
Jul 22, 2012
458
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10,960
Rather than give you a parts list with links to american websites without anything else I'll just run down the parts you have picked and give my opinion on them.

Mobo: £138 is quite a lot for a mobo in a mid range price bracket. Think objectively about the feature list and ask yourself, "Do I need this?" or "How often would I use this?" I haven't really been following the Z77 motherboard market and thus don't know any specific boards you should consider, but read reviews. Motherboards are quite a hard part of a build to decide due to the plethora of features that may or may not be included so take your time.

CPU: Right now that is an excellent choice. When Haswell is released whether it'll be as worth the £173 you pay at the moment is unknown. Personally I would wait this one out until Haswell gets released and benchmarked then make a decision.

CPU cooler: I would go for the H80i over the H80, as for the £5 you get a pair of smashing fans and in most areas the product has been improved. Yet I would go for a large tower cooler as they often are about £20 less yet offer really good performance as long as your case can fit it. Something like the noctua NH d14 or the U12P would do wonders, if you can bear the colours (personally I actually like them)

RAM: Ram prices are on the up yet I found these that are still "only" £45
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-HyperX-1600MHz-Memory-Module/dp/B0037TO5C0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365545855&sr=8-1&keywords=kingston+hyperx+blue

GPU: The 660 ti is a good card. No doubt. But at the moment 2GB of memory is the sweet spot so you can save another £40 by getting a 2GB variant. Also EVGA tend to use stock coolers which can be loud and not offer too greater temps. Consider one with an aftermarket cooler like the twin frozr varient from MSI or the direct CUII from ASUS, especially as you are looking into overclocking. These cards should be cool enough to allow you to bump voltages up a little to get some more performance. You may also want to consider a HD 7950 especially considering the leaps and bounds AMD is making with their drivers plus the included never settle bundle.

Hard drives: As it will be a storage drive, speed isn't as vital and therefore I would recommend a WD Caviar blue over the black. The blue will still be quick enough, and game loading times shouldn't be affected.
SSD: Here I would recommend a 120GB ssd at least. £66 for a 60Gb drive is a rip off. A 120GB crucial M4 or samsung 840 is only another £22 but gives way more breathing room for application installation.

PSU and additional fans seem fine. £17 for a pair of sp120s is a great deal.

Finally the case is really down to personal preference for the most part. Just make sure that it isn't a nightmare to build in, doesn't it feel like it's gonna fall apart or has terrible airflow and the rest is down to you. It's kinda like mobo shopping in that there are such a wide range of possible features available that finding the perfect case is near impossible on a budget.

Total:
£100 Mobo
£175 CPU
£45 RAM
£60 CPU cooler
£220 GPU
£55 HDD
£85 SSD
£58 PSU
£17 Fans
£45 Case

Total £860.

Finally don't be afraid to shop around for the best deals. Good sites (that I have used) are Ebuyer and Overclockers UK.
 
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burritobob

burritobob

Honorable
Nov 14, 2012
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670 is not as strong as the 7970, you really should get the 7970 in terms of overall value... if they are the same price you should get the more powerful of the two

 
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B

boulbox

Honorable
Apr 5, 2012
1,880
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11,960
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£167.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£101.32 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£36.23 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£49.98 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£73.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (£341.40 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£76.79 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 850W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£103.97 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£10.93 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £986.60
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-10 04:34 BST+0100)
 
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