Is this system advertised any good for the price? UK

it looks ok but the graphics could definitly be better. also, the guy didnt list the psu, which is very important

I was hoping that cause Morrowind is a 2002 release and not a modern game it'd be able to cope.
Messaged the guy about the PSU. Is this mainly for future upgradability or so that it can handle GFX card overclocked kind of thing?

yeah it will max it out no problem. but for other games not so much

no. its just to make sure that you dont buy crappy psus that can blow up

Ok thanks  

no problem

just found out something.

you need to change the motherboard in order to overclock the system. the h61 motherboard is incapable of that

Wow, that is kinda important  

So what motherboard would be suitable? I haven't built a computer for nearly 15 years.

PS, the guy gave these details for the PSU:

500W CiT Black Edition CIT5000UB 120mm Quiet Fan, ATX v2.2, PSU

A P67, Z77 or Z68 motherboard is needed for overclocking. For that Sandy Bridge chip, would advise a Z68 board.

That PSU is fairly low quality, I can see why it isnt mentioned in the product page.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-cit-black-edition-c...
Only provides 324W through its dual 12v rails (should only have one), which is nowhere near its advertised wattage.
Is not 80+ certified, so its efficiency is below 80% and voltage control is unknown.
Has the bare minimum of power cables, only two SATA and no PCI-E connectors.
Also that I have never heard of CIT. Likely a low quality budget brand.


I wouldnt get this system, you can easily get better for your cash.

CIT is low quality.

getting another system might be better.

Ok, guys. Thanks for the help.

With VAT at 20% I wasn't sure I could build a cheaper system once postage and VAT is added on. I used to use DABS which often offered the best prices. I'll check out how much it would cost to build the same system with the better MB and PSU.

Whenever I find custom or newbuilds there seems to be this snag or other - usually the price  

But for the extra cost, you get quality parts and a more powerful build.
And if a pre-built computer is made of good parts and is balanced in its component choices, often it will cost a ton more than it would to build it yourself.

Ok, did a quick search of DABS and came up with this lot for £410.38 (including postage and VAT)

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.10GHz S1155 6MB
MB: Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 LGA1155 Intel Z68 DDR3 ATX USB 3.0
Mem: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) Ballistix Sport DDR3 1600MHz CL9 1.5v 240pin
PSU: OCZ Technology ZS Series 650W 80+ Bronze Power Supply
Fan: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 CPU Cooler
HD: Seagate 1TB Barracuda SATA 6Gb/s 64MB 7200RPM Hard Drive
(plus mouse, keyboard, case, DVD writer, thermal paste)

GFX: Zotac GTX 460 1GB NVIDIA ZT-40402-10P
Not from DABS
£95.49 (inc VAT+postage)
Same one as used here:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/07/21/ov...

Total including GFX card:
£505.87

My concerns are these:
Will the CPU fan fit onto the CPU above and can any dude use the thermal paste to fit it all together?
Are the CPU, MB, GFX card, and memory all compatible and suitable for overclocking the GFX card?
Are there different versions of the Zotac GTX 460 1GB NVIDIA GFX card and if so am I buying a good one?
The CPU is the same price as a Intel Core i5-3350 3.00GHz S1155 6MB. Erm, what's the difference?

I'm doggedly sticking to using XP pro as it's simple and works and I already own it. I know that means sacrificing 4+GB of memory but if that turns out to be an issue can always buy Win7 later.

you dont need a cooler for a non overclocking chip

get a i5 3330, 3450 or a 3470 instead of the 3350p. intergrated graphics can be good in case you want to detect for a bad graphics card

I tend to use BT shop instead of dabs - usually same prices but cheaper P&P (but look on google shopping)

And the intel CPU fan has thermal paste applied. May be worth getting a SSD

What's with these SSDs? I bought a laptop for a friend with an SSD and although it was specced faster than my current laptop, it ran about 10 times slower even though it was freshly installed. The only reason I could find was that the SSD access was dog slow. Hence I've been steering well clear of SSDs ever since.

Recently though some people have been recommending them again. I've been using computers heavily for over 20 years and never had a failed HD, so the only reason I'd buy an SSD was if I knew it was more reliable, faster, cheaper and longer living. I'm not into just buying tech just cause it's new - can't afford to. So what's the deal?

what? SSDs are way faster than hard drives. laptops that come with SSDs are the ones that cost more than 1000 and are ultrabooks. otherwise i never saw a laptop with a SSD.

you can easily find the boot test where to compare a ssd to a hard drive on a startup boot

maybe that's why that laptop was selling for £60  
so, the Intel Core i5-3330 3.00GHz S1155 6MB MB looks good - it's the same price as the i5-3350P.

so, 1) can I still overclock the GFX card with this?
and 2) if for some reason I wanted to overclock the CPU later, would this be possible after getting the fan etc?

At the moment I'm just seeing if I can push that price down a notch more, but also don't want to break the build.

you cant overclock the CPU unless it has a k in the end.

that's ok, so long as I can overclock the GFX card with that MB it's not a problem.
just need to be sure of that before I can buy

yes. the video card will overclock on any motherboard

Ok, thanks for all the help. Ended up with DABS anyway cause the postage was only £1.27 for the whole lot.

DABS Cost:
£388.13 (inc postage, not including GFX card, monitor, or OS system)

+GFX Card, Total:
£483.62

Will get the monitor 2nd hand locally. May still get it all for under £500.

If it goes well will post a Speed Test thingy for those that are interested in real results. Or will post sobs and tears if it goes tits-up