Hey, I’ve often lurked around this forum when it came to buying new hardware. But I tried fathoming this all out by myself and was getting nowhere. I’m looking for an budget-efficient rig with decent upgrade options in the future. Making use of my old GPU is a possibility, and the games I’ll be playing seem primarily cpu-intensive (for now). This will be my first full build.
Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next three weeks!
Budget Range: Under £450.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, medium-high settings on current titles, a bit of programming, office software.
Are you buying a monitor: No thanks, got a 22in i’m happy with
Parts to Upgrade: I have a 8800gt 512mb from my old desktop. I would’ve been happy using this for a while longer. My processor (an E6850 core 2 duo) was a bottleneck I think. I also have a mid-sized case that's still perfectly functional.
Do you need to buy OS: No, (Found a good student deal)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Pretty much any. But I’d like to stay away from second hand.
Location: Southampton, UK.
Parts Preferences: Heard an awful lot of good stuff about the new intel i5 3570k here and elsewhere
Overclocking: Almost definitely not, I’m too inexperienced with it to risk new hardware like that. It’d have to be super-safe and within warranty.
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe. That 8800gt might come in useful for this later on? I don’t know much about this though and it seems quite advanced.
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
Additional Comments: I’m not a fan of flashy cases. Something functional/understated will do
Guild Wars 2 is my biggest requirement at the moment, medium to high settings at this res will do. I‘ve got a dvd drive I can use.
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: 5-10fps in the GW2 betas at lowest settings made me (and my CPU) cry.
So far I’ve been thinking:
Core i5-3570k 3.4ghz
http://www.waeplus.co.uk/product/848053/INTEL-Core-I5-Ivy-Bridge-3570K---3.4-GHz at £166
Asrock Z77 Extreme4 http://www.waeplus.co.uk/product/827048/Asrock-Z77-Extreme4 at £103
G.Skill Ripjaws 2x 4gb 1600mhz http://www.amazon.co.uk/G-Skill-Ripjaws-240-pin-PC3-12800-unbuffered/dp/B00339X1EM/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1344127263&sr=1-2-fkmr0 at £43
620w Antec Neo Eco http://www.scan.co.uk/products/620w-antec-neo-eco-modular-psu-82eff-80-plus-bronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-quiet-fan-atx-scan-exclusi at £58
Case xclio blackhawk Full
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/xclio-blackhawk-full-tower-case-black-w-o-psu at £65
Seagate 500gb Sata 3 3.5in hdd
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-500GB-7200rpm-Cache-Drive/dp/B005CT56R6/ref=sr_1_5?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1344134266&sr=1-5 at £48
And then using my old 8800gt until I feel like moving on, adding another card or replacing it completely.
That comes to £483, so any help I can get to wrangle it under budget would be appreciated. I’m not quite sure where to make compromises. Also, please point out if I’ve made any mistakes! Many thanks
Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next three weeks!
Budget Range: Under £450.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, medium-high settings on current titles, a bit of programming, office software.
Are you buying a monitor: No thanks, got a 22in i’m happy with
Parts to Upgrade: I have a 8800gt 512mb from my old desktop. I would’ve been happy using this for a while longer. My processor (an E6850 core 2 duo) was a bottleneck I think. I also have a mid-sized case that's still perfectly functional.
Do you need to buy OS: No, (Found a good student deal)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Pretty much any. But I’d like to stay away from second hand.
Location: Southampton, UK.
Parts Preferences: Heard an awful lot of good stuff about the new intel i5 3570k here and elsewhere
Overclocking: Almost definitely not, I’m too inexperienced with it to risk new hardware like that. It’d have to be super-safe and within warranty.
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe. That 8800gt might come in useful for this later on? I don’t know much about this though and it seems quite advanced.
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
Additional Comments: I’m not a fan of flashy cases. Something functional/understated will do
Guild Wars 2 is my biggest requirement at the moment, medium to high settings at this res will do. I‘ve got a dvd drive I can use.
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: 5-10fps in the GW2 betas at lowest settings made me (and my CPU) cry.
So far I’ve been thinking:
Core i5-3570k 3.4ghz
http://www.waeplus.co.uk/product/848053/INTEL-Core-I5-Ivy-Bridge-3570K---3.4-GHz at £166
Asrock Z77 Extreme4 http://www.waeplus.co.uk/product/827048/Asrock-Z77-Extreme4 at £103
G.Skill Ripjaws 2x 4gb 1600mhz http://www.amazon.co.uk/G-Skill-Ripjaws-240-pin-PC3-12800-unbuffered/dp/B00339X1EM/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1344127263&sr=1-2-fkmr0 at £43
620w Antec Neo Eco http://www.scan.co.uk/products/620w-antec-neo-eco-modular-psu-82eff-80-plus-bronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-quiet-fan-atx-scan-exclusi at £58
Case xclio blackhawk Full
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/xclio-blackhawk-full-tower-case-black-w-o-psu at £65
Seagate 500gb Sata 3 3.5in hdd
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-500GB-7200rpm-Cache-Drive/dp/B005CT56R6/ref=sr_1_5?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1344134266&sr=1-5 at £48
And then using my old 8800gt until I feel like moving on, adding another card or replacing it completely.
That comes to £483, so any help I can get to wrangle it under budget would be appreciated. I’m not quite sure where to make compromises. Also, please point out if I’ve made any mistakes! Many thanks
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