Need Advice On New Computer Build around $2000

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fakemail15

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Hello! :hello: It's my first time putting a computer together and I want to to work well. I came to Tom's Hardware because I saw on other topics was that ye know a LOT when it comes to computer. Here are a few things that I would like to mention before starting.

Approximate Purchase Date: I would love to have it for Easter Holidays(1st April) but I can wait a bit longer if it's worth waiting.
Budget Range: £,1300/ $2,000/ €1,500
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, internet usage and office programs such as microsoft word.
Parts Not Required: speakers and headphones.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon.co.uk
Country: I am living in Ireland and want to import everything from EU.
Parts Preferences: I would like to use Intel processor and Geforce graphics cards (I have no idea about any Radeon cards) and well known brands (with good feedback) such as Asus, Evga, etc.
Overclocking: Maybe in future but not at the moment.
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe in the future but not at the moment.
Additional Comments: I don't mind if the computer will be a bit noisy, but I don't want something that sounds like a helicopter.
I have also spent a while looking around myself and came up with these parts for my build:
Graphic's Card: MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004VA9APQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3BTFT52IYP40Q ---> £250
RAM:: Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004QBUL1C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE ---> £40
Hard Drive: Western Digital 1.5TB SATA 3.5 inch Internal Hard Drive - Caviar Black
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004CSIFG2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE ---> £110
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2UK Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 High Performance 750W Power Supply
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004O0P9VC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_8?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE ---> £80
Computer Case: CORSAIR Obsidian Series 650D (CC650DW)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004UE1W9K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&m=A17AS5ETPMZ9A1 ---> £140
Mouse: Razer Deathadder Re-Spawn 3500DPI Gaming Mouse
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002RL9A2O/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE ---> £45
Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 Motherboard
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005T3TLM6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&m=A3BTFT52IYP40Q ---> £155
Processor: Intel Sandybridge i7-2600K
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004FA8NOQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE ---> £225
Monitor: Asus VS247H 23.6 inch LED Widescreen Monitor
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0050Q5OTQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE ---> £140
Optical Disk Drive: Asus DRW-24B3ST SATA Internal 24X DVD±RW Drive
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004L54N1M/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE ---> £20
Keyboard: Razer Black Widow Gaming Keyboard (UK Layout)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0046EDIHS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE ---> £65
Total Cost: £1,270

What Do ye think? Will this work well together? Should I wait for the new Intel Processors to come out (I am not going to buy them if they will be really expensive, and maybe they will push the price down on the current processor I have picked out to save money)? Should I wait for the new GeForce 600's Graphics Cards ( same story as processor)? Do ye have any other suggestions on the parts i.e. get different processor, wait for new ones coming out etc..
Please help me out, I am looking forward to hearing different ideas. Thanks in advance. :)
 

fakemail15

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Thanks for the reply. I'm just wondering, is the SSD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233206) needed? Would i not be better off getting a better CPU instead? And, there are no GeForce 680 Graphics Cards on amazon yet. I read somewhere that they should be released around the 4th April. Another thing that I just thought of is that they might release it over here but for £500 which would be like 1/2 of the build budget. It made me think about that because I saw an offer on NewEgg on a monitor worth $190 and then when i looked for it on amazon it was worth £190(I can't find the links to them anymore). What do you think?
 

serialkiller

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Ok

i would suggest to get a hd 7870 instead of gtx 560.

for a gaming machine the build should contain gpu of 20-30 per cent of the budget.

A i5 2500k is all you need.

The difference between i5 and i7 is that i7 has hyperthreading which does not aid ges but in some cases condition detoriates . ask anybody that should one get an i5 or i7 for 2000 usd budget.

The cpu cooler i suggested is the best cooler for price.

It can oc your cpu upto 4.5ghz without a sweat
 

deadlockedworld

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Your build is good. Its well balanced and high-quality parts. There are some brands I prefer more, but the brands you chose are very good as well.

If you can get it, I much prefer my Samsung disk drive over my Asus one. I've had challenges with my ASUS and its really hard to get good drivers/firmware updates for it. Samsung puts a lot more effort into their website.

In a build of this cost you should really consider an SSD for your system drive. The Crucial M4 is a great choice.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT128M4SSD2-128GB-M4-SSD/dp/B004W2JKZI/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1332576104&sr=1-1

You will get better answers to your questions if you post them so you select "best answer" instead of this voting scheme. People provide more detailed answers if they think they will get points.
 

fakemail15

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What Disk Drive are you suggesting? I don't want to pay too much for one because I will probably use it once in a while (maybe once a month). I would use my old Disk drive that i had in the previous computer, but it doesn't work properly anymore.
What's the point of getting a SSD? they cost as much as a 1TB Hard Drive and can store like 10 times less.
How do i turn this post to "Best Answer"? I am new to Tom's Hardware and I don't really know much about it (only baisics such as reply).
Thanks for help so far.
 

fakemail15

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Ok. Can you help me with gettting a Graphics Card? I have no idea when it comes to Radeon cards. Do Radeon cards support multiple screen and that 3D technology like Geforce supports?
I might think about the i5 2500k processor. And I am a bit worried about overclocking things, because I head that smoke might come out if you do something wrong and it will never work again.
 

fakemail15

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Ok, I looked around.. the Radeon cards look much better than geforce and the price really similar!!!!
what do you think if I only changed the Graphics card from
MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004VA9APQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?ie=UTF8&m=A3BTFT52IYP40Q
to:
MSI R7850 TwinFrozr 2GD5/OC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-R7850-TwinFrozr-2048MB-PCI-Express/dp/B007MUJI86/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1332585369&sr=8-8
There are not too many Radeon 7870 Cards (only like saphire 7870) on amazon.co.uk
since I already picked out the MSI Geforce, I thought i would look around for Radeon 7870 from MSI aswell. I couldn't find any MSI Radeon 7870 cards(only 7850) so I looked on a few sites and compared the specifications, they are similar except the 7870 has better clock core speed of 105MHz(according to their website) and other than that they are the same.
From newegg, I saw that the 7870 costs $370 while the 7850 costs $270. Is it worth spending $100 more?
Or maybe I should go with a different company?
Looking forward to your reply. Thanks.
 

Tavo_Nova

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go with 7850/7870 for cards

stick with 8gb ram you don't need anything less go with g.skill ripjaws X 2x4gb 1600mhz cl9

but if you have a case with big room go with noctua nh-d14 it's a monster of an air cooler looks ugly but it's a monster afterall, of course cm hyper212 evo is not as good as noctua but it's better because of price/performance ratio. but if you like the feeling of L337 go with noctua d14.

I suggest getting a SSD, corsair force 3 120gb ssd or the ocz vertex 3 120gb ssd(this is better) if you can add it to your budget, it should save you some time when gaming.

i5 2500K is good for you but as always you can stretch out to i7 2600K for awesomeness. but it won't be awesome for your wallet.

SSD gives you faster boot up for your windows, makes you load games faster than HDD and not only that when you alt tab and stuff it lets you do it faster less hassle it's worth it and you got a fat pocket so it can fit in there.

so overall my suggestions.

7870 from msi
i7 2600K (it's good to have but i5 is all you need but the extra boost is nice)
SSD from OCZ (vertex 3 120gb SATAIII)
8gb ram from g.skill

overall it's all about if you can afford that specially with the additional cost. but overall with those 3 above + the others recommendation it's a very solid build. but of course going down from an i7 2600K to an i5 2500k is still a solid build little to no loss here for gaming just a few fps.

for cooling the cooler master hyper 212 evo is great with it's price/performance

but I do recommend Noctua Nh-D14 it's got great performance but at a cost of a higher price tag.
 

fakemail15

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the thing is that there is no 7870 on amazon, so i am wondering if it would be worth importing it from other countries just for that small thing(or does it make a big difference?). there is a MSI 7850 on amazon. Also, will Radeon graphics card work with Intel processor? Sorry if it is a stupid question but there are Radeon processors and I am just wondering if they don't make their graphics cards so that they only work with radeon processors.
 

fakemail15

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Is there a big difference between 7850 and 7870 Cards?
Is there a difference between g.skill ripjaws( http://www.amazon.co.uk/G-Skill-Ripjaws-240-pin-PC3-12800-unbuffered/dp/B00339X1EM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1332595006&sr=8-4 ) and Corsair Ram ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004QBUL1C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE )?

I still have no case for my computer but I am planing on getting:
CORSAIR Obsidian Series 650D
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004UE1W9K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A17AS5ETPMZ9A1
what do you think? Or should I go with something else?

Will the SSD make a huge difference in loading time? If it will be like 5 mins loading time shorter then i might consider getting it but if it's only like 1 or 2 mins, i think i will survive without it for now because I used a computer that was over 5 years old and took ages to load, I still would be using it but it broke down. :p

I will probably be able to go with i7 2600k because iI want my computer to last a good couple of years until I don't finish school.

Should I get a CPU Cooler? The Noctua-D14 looks ugly and I would like to have something much nicer looking since I will have it for the next few years... bit if it is a big difference in performance then i might consider the "monster".

Thanks for help so far. Looking forward to your reply.
 

phenom90

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ok... after reading what your usage will be for this build... what i see is your usage not taxing anything more than four threads... so means choosing an i5 2500k over i7 2600/2700k and even i7 3930k makes more sense... as it is cheaper and 2600/2700k even it has hyperthreading... most review shows that it provide little to no performance advantage over i5 2500k at games... not to mention you need to pay almost extra $100 for that feature depending on region... and rarely i saw all the components that you listed above and i found no ssd... while i'll recommend one very much... because your budget can caught up... i need to mention one thing... if you're the type of person who don't bother to wait few more seconds to boot up your pc... or spending more time loading your application... or slower while writing/reading files in your pc then i can say leave the ssd out from your build for the time being... because ssd can do all but one thing... improve your frame rates... ok... since your build is intended for gaming why not choosing something more powerful like hd 7970 or gtx 680? that matters most in gaming... at least you can gaming longer with just one card then pick up second when it becomes cheaper...

cpu: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Sandybridge-i5-2500K-Quad-Core-Processor/dp/B004FA8NX2/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1332593023&sr=1-1
Intel i5-2500K - £160.50

mobo: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z68-Extreme3-Motherboard-PCI-Express-ASRock/dp/B005FGQLQQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1332593874&sr=1-1
AsRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 - £115.43

ram: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CML8GX3M2A1600C9B-Vengeance-Memory-1600MHz/dp/B0058J1Q7O/ref=sr_1_14?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1332594058&sr=1-14
Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9B LP Vengeance Memory 8GB - £37.04

hsf: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arctic-Cooling-Freezer-Manf-Part/dp/B006T0H5J4/ref=sr_1_8?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1332594346&sr=1-8
Arctic Cooling Freezer I30 (Manf Part Code: UCACO-FI30001-GB) - £28.47

odd: http://www.amazon.co.uk/LG-GH24NS70-AUAA-DVD-RW-SATA-Bare/dp/B005MA15CK/ref=pd_cp_computers_2
LG GH24NS70.AUAA 24x DVD-RW - £16.82

hdd: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-ST31000524AS-Barracuda-7200rpm-Buffer/dp/B004HBAGSO/ref=sr_1_8?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1332594929&sr=1-8
Seagate ST31000524AS 3.5 inch Barracuda 1TB - £77.22

psu: http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-ProSeries-Power-Supply-Black/dp/B005TDWI1M/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1332595337&sr=1-3
XFX ProSeries 850W - £115.79

case: http://www.amazon.co.uk/FRACTAL-DESIGN-Tower-FD-CA-ARC-BL-WARRANTY/dp/B006INOPI6/ref=sr_1_9?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1332595586&sr=1-9
FRACTAL DESIGN Arc Midi PC Tower Case - £112.04

gpu: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-gtx-680-28nm-pci-e-30-6008mhz-gddr5-gpu-1006mhz-1536-cores-dl-dvi-dp-hdmi
MSI GeForce GTX 680 - £425.62

monitor: http://www.amazon.co.uk/AOC-I2352VH-Multimedia-1920x1080-Headphones/dp/B006W4Z2M4/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1332596684&sr=1-1
AOC I2352VH - £143.22

total: £1232.15 excluding shipping....
 

fakemail15

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Thanks for your reply. I'm wondering where i would start noticing the difference between the i7 2600k and i5 2500k?

I'll look around and compare the mother boards.

is there a difference between the RAM?
Your sugestion: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CML8GX3M2A1600C9B-Vengeance-Memory-1600MHz/dp/B0058J1Q7O/ref=sr_1_14?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1332594058&sr=1-14
and mine: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004QBUL1C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Is a HSF needed?

I'll look around to see what other people say about the Optical Disk Drive.

Is 850W PSU needed?

I like the looks of the case that I picked out more.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004UE1W9K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A17AS5ETPMZ9A1
CORSAIR Obsidian Series 650D

With the GPU, I was thinking of going with:
MSI R7850 TwinFrozr 2GD5/OC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007MUJI86/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3OGKN9Q7C0HV1

Thanks for your opinion, I'll go and read about the parts you posted.
 

Tavo_Nova

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i5 2500k has 4 cores 4 threads while i7 2600k has 4 cores 4 threads and with hyper threading it goes to 8 threads.

hyper threading is good if by some chance you find a use for it but if you can really get it cheap why not. you have a fat pocket.

Is there a big difference between 7850 and 7870 Cards?
Is there a difference between g.skill ripjaws

1- yes there is a differece between 7850 and 7870 on gaming fps wise and eye candy wise
2- yes there's a difference, corsair ram are normally taller and some of them have a bad make over(not properly sticked heat spreader and some minor stuff)
g.skill ram = so far has been a stable ram for me, and depending on region or country it is much cheaper

in my country a quad channel g.skill ram ripjaws Z16gb - 106.97$
but a corsair vengeance 16gb - 144.18$ is the average price and some with lesser warranty or used are priced at 100$

and ripjaws ram compared to my vengeance ram I had more problems with corsair rams than ripjaws and for me ripjaws sounds better. but overall if you can get a corsair ram cheaper go ahead with it
 

Tavo_Nova

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OH MY .....

that gpu for only 425euro?? thats like soooooooo cheap, in my country the price tag for that is 674.41$ and 517.85euro thats like waaaaaaa no fair oh and these prices i wrote there are vat exclusive
 

fakemail15

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I want my computer to last The next few years but not as in loading a website for 3 mins once it gets a bit old, and if the i7 2600k would make it more(but not by a tiny amout) future-proof I am willing to buy it.

About the Graphics cards, will there be a big difference? I am kind of a person that doesn't see any difference between HD and non-HD TV channels. Mostly, i want a computer that won't "lag" and will be able to play games well in the next few years.

the RAM, The difference is about £7 for g.skill. it's not a big price to pay if it will last longer. would you be able to tell me a good set of 8GB ram (corsair or g.skill won't make a difference really)? Preferably 2x4GB. And blue if it is possible, but if not, the colour won't stop me from buying it if it's good.

Thanks for helping me this far.
 

fakemail15

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It's not €425, it's £425, which is about €500 ($660). :kaola:
 

fakemail15

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Thank you very much for your reply. You wouldn't happen to know any shops in European Union that might sell them? And what company should I go with? As in Evga, MSI etc. I was planing on going with MSI 7870, but they only sell MSI 7850 on Amazon.co.uk
so if you could tell me a site(or shop) that would sell me a 7870, I would be really happy. It doesn't have to be MSI as long as it will be some other good comany.
Thanks in advance. :)
 
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