Advice on Gaming/Graphics Editing Build

[Spacey42]

Hello,

I'm a novice at building PCs but have swapped out PSUs, and Harddrives at work and would like to build my own PC since my laptop died looking for advice.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: In the next two weeks, maybe even today
BUDGET RANGE: £650-£750 after tax

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Graphics Editing mostly loads of photos), Coursework and Surfing.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Scan most likely, or Overclockers for a good deal
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England

PARTS PREFERENCES: no preference

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe, might add another GPU in future

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Using 22" Samsung SyncMaster P2270HD at 1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I'd like a quiet energy efficient PC,

Apart from gaming one of my main pass times is playing with pictures; I tend to have a load open at one, and music playing and the internet browser up, also I’m considering playing with the PLE of Maya.


I’m considering the following but it goes a bit over budget so any suggestions of cheaper substitutes welcome:
Intel Core i5 750 - £152.46
ASRock P55 Extreme - £104.05
Coolermaster Hyper 212 - £21.02
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 - £94.75
1GB Powercolor HD5770 - £116.29
500GB WD Caviar Green - £38.07
650W Antec EarthWatts - £65.18
Antec 200 Gaming Case - £34.77
Samsung SH-S223C 22x DVD +/-R - £18.54
Windows 7 Home Premium 32/64bit - £91.73

£736.86 Overall
Can usually knock a bit off that for offers £716.52 on today’s bargains, and looking to see if I can get the OS cheaper as I’m a student.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Spacey42]

Umm that was supposed to be £650-700 Budget

 

[Spacey42]

No opinions or advice on this build? Would really appreciate some, please?

 

[Silvune]

Change the hard drive to a Samsung Spinpoint F3/Seagate Barracuda 7200.12/WD Caviar Black as they will perform a lot better than a Caviar Green. And barely use more energy.
I don't really know the procedure to getting the Windows 7 discount, if it was me I'd talk to my Uni about it.
Definitely get your RAM from overclockers.co.uk as RAM on scan is overpriced as it is and you can get some fantastic sticks off OCers for fantastic prices.
With the money saved from getting Windows 7 cheap you could get a nicer case.

 

[Spacey42]

Ok, sounds goods, and yeah the memory is more expensive from Scan, I was just thinking that +P&P would probably even it out which it does kinda, but the OCZ is CAS7 which is better that the CAS9 Corsair right?

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 + £7 Shipping = £92.51 save couple of quid

Also was considering the Samsung F3, chose the WD Green partly cause it seemed to have deals on more often, but its not much of a saving against better performance so Samsung it is:

500GB Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200rpm 16Mb Cache = £37.58

Thank you Silvune for your advice.

I did find a Windows 7 upgrade deal for students, I send a query to Microsoft awhile back about it as I don't have anything to upgrade from, but they have not got back, and on checking just now that deals now finished .

 

[Silvune]

Have you had a look at this site: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/studentoffer/ ? It seems that you can still get Windows 7 for less than full price if you are a student, also you could just get the OEM version which is £75. Apparently there are work arounds for getting an upgrade edition of Windows to install on a new machine/hard drive.
And this RAM is a tad cheaper and 1600mhz and CAS 7 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-026-PA&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517 And yea lower CAS latency is best whenever possible.

 

[Spacey42]

That was the site I've been on, I was sure it was for an upgrade, I will try again and hope it is for the full version.
If not I think the OEM is probably the better option, else Microsoft might disable the Upgrade at some point.

The RAM looks good thank you