First Build; Any thoughts

[swara_makil]

Hello all,

Well after months of chopping and changing I finally bit the bullet and ordered the parts for my first gaming rig . On a tight budget (roughly €1100) and I had to buy all the peripherals as well but think I was able to make it work, parts should be here in sunny Ireland by the end of the week. I'm pretty happy with what I have ordered but would welcome any comments, I'll be using it for gaming mostly (The Witcher 2, Arkham City and mostly SWTOR). Wasn't sure about the Mobo but price won out in the end.

Without further ado here's the parts:


COOLERMASTER HAF 912 Plus
£53.98

GIGABYTE GA-P67A-D3-B3 S1155 Intel P67 DDR3 ATX (B3 Stepping)
€103.56

Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz S1155 3MB
€104.45

CORSAIR 600W Builder Series CX V2 ATX PSU
€56.67

CORSAIR XMS3 2 x 2 GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 CL9 Memory Kit
€32.56

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 560Ti 900MHz 1GB PCI-E HDMI OverClocked
€201.65

SAMSUNG 1TB F3 7200rpm SATA 3Gb/s 32MB
€52.22

LiteOn 24x Int. DVDRW Black SATA + S/W
€14.88

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 CPU Cooler
€17.59

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
£71.05

...peripherals

Hama PC Tool Kit (Professional)
£15.33

LINDY Anti-Static Service Kit
£18.00

Logitech Ultra flat Keyboard
€12.97

Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse
£30.50

Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2200
£32.22

...and finally!

ASUS 23.6"Widescreen VH242H 5ms Response with DVI LCD
€162.64

Well that's the lot, what do you guys think?
Hope it's a good setup, fingers crossed!!!!!!!!

 

[swara_makil]

Not a one !

 

[flong]

Not a one !

Don't feel slighted - a lot of people who post are not familiar with the VAT and component pricing in Europe (they are from America) and so they shy away from recommendations to Europeans because they do no feel that they are qualified. Understanding the local pricing is important in giving recommendations and it is hard for non-Europeans to know the ins and outs of computer component availability and pricing half way around the world.

That being said I have a few options for you:

1. If you can, move up to the 2500K CPU. It is just simply the fastest baddest CPU for the money on the market. In reviews of the new AMD Bulldozer CPU, the 2500K stomps it and Bulldozer was supposed to be a big deal

2. Any mid-level P67 board will do for you. The AsRock Extreme 4 was chosen by Tom's Hardware as the best of the big names and it is very cheap. In a perfect world you could get the AsRock Extreme 4 Gen 3 board which is compatible with the new Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs and is PCI-E 3.0 compatible

3. The CM 912 is good, also price the Corsair Carbide 400 and 500 locally to see if you can get a better deal. They are pretty cheap here in America. The Cooler Master CM 690 II is also cheap and it is a good case.

4. Be careful with cheap PSUs, they can ruin your components (the Corsair is OK). Look at the bronze and silver rated Corsair TX650s and the Antec 650 and the Seasonic 650s to see which is the cheapest. Corsair's builder series is ok, but the TX series is better. Here in America, once in a while you can get the HX 750 or even the HX 850 dirt cheap on sale and both of these are great PSUs. The Corsair 600 will work for your system but the TX 650 is better.

5. The 560Ti is a great card - price out an ATI 6950 also to see if you can save some money but usually the 560Ti is cheaper

6. For 1100 pounds you should be able to get 2 x 4GB RAM DDR 1600 CL9. This is the sweet spot in performance vs price. Here in America you can get a set on sale for $45-$50 USD

7. I am not familiar with your CPU cooler but the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo is very cheap here and is recommended A LOT for builders on a budget. I prefer the Noctua NH-D14 but it is not in your budget

8. OK I know I am going to take some flak for this recommendation but if you can beg, borrow or steal enough money to get the Corsair SP2500 speakers instead of the 2200 do it! I bought them for a relative and I cannot tell you in words how AMAZING the Sp2500 speakers are (Christmas is coming ha, ha). They simply blow away every other 2.1 system - even those that cost three times as much. I have a $2000 Harmon Kardon 5.1 system and the SP2500s put them to shame.

9. Any major brand optical drive will work - get the cheapest

10. Your spending a lot on the Logitech mouse - it is probably good but start a separate thread just on the mouse and see what people recommend. I am using a $25 Microsoft mouse and it is much better than the $125 Logitech mouse I used to have (I am not a gamer). It is faster and more accurate and it does not have dead moments like the Logitech did. I am not convinced that Logitech mice are the best - especially for gaming

11. The Asus Monitor you have chosen is very popular with gamers and it does seem to offer the most bang for the buck for a TN panel monitor.

12. Nearly any keyboard will work for you - however gamers often have gaming keyboards set up to play games. I am unqualified to recommend any as I do not game

Hope this helps. Good luck with your build.

 

[swara_makil]

Hi Flong,

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated . Sadly, I've already ordered and received my parts. Had to make one change and that was with the monitor, had to drop in price so I got a Viewsonic VX2239WM, had good reviews online. I'm actually starting to build as I write this and I've already hit a snag...........can't get the right side panel to come off my case, seems to be stuck. At least something went wrong at the start and not when I was nearly finished. Maybe you have some advice.

Thanks again.

 

[AdrianPerry]

Overall build looks good. 560Ti paired with i3 should give some nice gaming performance

As for the side panel, just make sure all the screws are taken out (there could be screws under the front panel that are holding it in place).

 

[swara_makil]

Thanks AdrianPerry.

I can't remove the front panel without removing both side panels and it looks like i've gotten all the screws. Guess it's just one of those things.

 

[flong]

Hi Flong,

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated . Sadly, I've already ordered and received my parts. Had to make one change and that was with the monitor, had to drop in price so I got a Viewsonic VX2239WM, had good reviews online. I'm actually starting to build as I write this and I've already hit a snag...........can't get the right side panel to come off my case, seems to be stuck. At least something went wrong at the start and not when I was nearly finished. Maybe you have some advice.

Thanks again.

If you have a defective case send it back - don't try to fix it. The Corsair Carbide 400 is cheaper and you will have a much better company backing it. Corsair has legendary customer service. The Carbide 500 is also good if it is in your budget.

Good luck with your build

 

[swara_makil]

Thanks flong.

I eventually got it off with a good bit of force and a little bit of patience. Computer is up and running at the moment, everything else went according to plan.

Thanks again man .

 

[flong]

Thanks flong.

I eventually got it off with a good bit of force and a little bit of patience. Computer is up and running at the moment, everything else went according to plan.

Thanks again man .

You are welcome - I wish you many years of happiness with your new computer. I was thrilled when I got mine up and running ha, ha.

 

[AdrianPerry]

That POST beep the first time you boot up is an unforgettable feeling of accomplishment

 

[swara_makil]

I must admit I got butterflies...especially after it didn't turn on the first time :lol: .

 

[flong]

I must admit I got butterflies...especially after it didn't turn on the first time :lol: .

Don't keep us in suspense.... how did it go?

 

[swara_makil]

So far so good guys...two days and no problems yet .
It didn't turn on the first time because I had a couple of LED's in backwards. I got a free download of 'Operation Flashpoint: Red River' with the GTX 560 Ti and my rig is running that game smoothly so good times!

Thanks again for the input guys, really appreciate it!