1st Build in 4 Years

[agthomson]

Well, my PC has served me well, but is now completely non-upgradable, which means a completely new system

I've been looking on and off for a few months now, and have a fair idsea what I am looking for.


Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP, ordered by 5th Jan
Budget Range: £500 - 750
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Photo editing, Word processing
Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor (possibly PSU, it's a ThermalTake TR2 470W +4 pin SATA PSU - mean anything to anyone?)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Dabs.com or Microdirect.co.uk
Country: UK
Parts Preferences: No brand loyalty, but I do like ASUS and Corsair. Must be an Intel build.
Overclocking: Yes
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: 1280x1024 I think
Additional Comments: I'm looking for mATX format if possible.



Here's what I have come up with so far:

CPU: Intel i5-2500k
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 Water Cooler
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS IV GENE-Z S1155 Intel Z68 DDR3 mATX
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB)
GFX: ASUS GeForce 560Ti
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini
HDD: Any, doesn't really matter, but given the current prices probably SSD of at least 120GB. I have a SATA 120GB drive I will be using as a 2nd HDD.


I think that may just blow my budget, but i'd be willing to get all of that stuff above. ANy comments/recommendations. As I said, i'm not sure if my 4 year old PSU is still up to the task, or if it can even connect to MoBo's nowadays!

Cheers,

Andy

 

[casey10]

I would reccommend going with the hyper 212+ Evo cpu cooler instead it's a great budget cooler and has a lot of heatpipes, also don't go with a MATX motherboard you will end up regretting it when you're building it and when you need to upgrade components and also you cant really SLI/Crossfire due to the space on the motherboard, I would reccommend a full tower case (easier to work in + it's a investment).

 

[agthomson]

I have a gigantic ThermalTake Xaser case from 8 years ago that has served me well, however it's far too big and bulky.

That cooler looks good, but the size worries me slightly if I do go for that particular case.

I 100% won't be using SLI or CrossFire. By the time this system can't play modern games on reasonable settings it'll be time for an overhaul anyway, and not another £200 GFX card.

Any other suggestions? Will my PSU hack it?

 

[casey10]

I would recommend getting a lower end motherboard if you're not EVER going to SLI/Crossfire there are no need for the extra things added on the Asus Extreme boards except for looks maybe, the cooler isn't that big it fits in my HAF 912 case (which was 49.99) and has served me great.

 

[agthomson]

There aren't many "low end" motherboards if I stick with mATX. Since I will be OCing (moving from a completely OC'd setup) the ASUS boards, and the Extreme in particular, appear to be very accomodating. Cheapest mATX board with the Z68 chipset I can see is still £99.99 and it's barely a motherboard by the looks of it!

I will take your advice on the cooler though, as it looks good and has good reviews. I might take a closer look at the HAF case as it seems popular as well, and then switch to an ATX board.