Student build

step down a notch on the power supply (500-530W), and the motherboard (an H77 or B75 is all you should need), use the money to step up to a 650Ti or HD7850.

Me and you are pretty alike, both love to play RTS games, are students, built our own PC (: ( Except I'm in 10th grade. )

If it's biggest purpose is for gaming then would you be okay with a dual core? The pentium chips are the i3's without hyperthreading. Just like the i5 is the i7 without hyperthreading. So would you be up for it? Hyperthreading gives you no benefit.

Here's the build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G2120 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: AMD Entertainment Edition 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($19.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: AMD Entertainment Edition 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($19.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($229.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($53.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($37.77 @ Mac Connection)
Total: $676.68
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

I'll start from the top:
Processor: Best bang for buck when gamng, with the LGA 1155 socket its very upgradable, and will never bottleneck a single GPU.

Motherboard: Asrock, Z75 chipset ( Built for gaming with no overclocking, fastest chipset along with Z77 ), build for the upgradeable-ness

Memory: Low profile, cheap, 1600Mhz, 8GB

Storage: 2TB like you wanted, if you want you can buy a 60GB-64GB SSD for operating system and favorite games.

Video Card: High end, play games very well at high settings.

Case: Front USB, NZXT quality, all black interior/exterior

Power supply: 550W, XFX lifetime warranty.

^ Plus one internets to the build above - it's amazing. Only thing I'd change is buying a z77 chipset motherboard. You don't need it for the Pentium, but if some money wanders your way and you get an i5, you could overclock it this way.

I'd get an i3 over the Pentium. Its always worth getting that little bit extra, especially in this sort of all rounder PC. For H77, I'd get an H77M-D3H. Rest is good.

Sounds like a good idea - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z77pro3 has all the same features as the other motherboard besides the chipset. Will cost $20 more but for the upgradeability it is worth it for sure.



You say that little bit extra but then recommend the H77 chipset? The i3 is no better than the pentium, i3 can actually decrease frame rates ( However so slightly ) because of hyperthreading.

The one I recommened provides great performance at a low cost and potential for future upgrades.

The OP wants a student PC, if he/she starts to get into video or audio encoding/ripping the extra speed will help as will hyperthreading. Its worth getting that bit extra here. There is no point getting a Penitum when an i3 is only a little more. As for H77, its a perfect fit. Z75 is a retarded chipset that shouldn't exist. You either want Z77 for overclocking or H77 if you don't. The i3 is locked so the H77 is a better choice and it also has more ports than B75.

The OP wants a gaming PC, he IS a student. A student PC is a laptop.

The i3 is $20 more, if he wants it he can buy it. The H77 provides no future potential for overclocking like the Z77 does. The Z75 chipset exists to provide the fastest northbridge chipset without the overclocking.

No one ever said anything about the B75.

that's a good budget build there

What fastest northbridge chipset? There is no difference between H77 and Z75. At all. Its only features. The northbridge is in the CPU anyway.   Overclocking is also irrelevant. Stock clocks are more than sufficient.

Overclocking isn't necessary, sure. Does it mean people don't do it? Nope. According to Newegg the northbridge is still inside the motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Intel-Motherboards/SubCategory/ID...

I think no one noticed the OP is in the UK. notice the use of Pounds, not Dollars