Need some help before ordering tomorrow (first build)

[Koopa4]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/JJIK

Hi guys

So I plan on ordering tomorrow (Friday) but wanted you to check my build for me since its my first.

I want to be able to upgrade to an i5 in the future, is the mobo gonna hold up for that?. No over clocking needed.

Gfx card needs to play as many games as possible but not fussed on ultra settings!

Any tips would be most welcomed!

ANSI

 

[djangoringo]

The motherboard supports the i5 sandy/ivybridge, though, you can find a cheaper b75 motherboard with 4 dimm slots(it will support any lga 1155 ivybridge), also a head up, you only be able to put in there an ivybridge cpu, the new intel haswell cpus that will come in June(from some reports) will be for a different socket(haswell).
I would try to get the 7850, it comes with two games, it pays off, also you can find a pentium from the ivybridge family, and better psu(even though it's 450w it will do, the psu is a seasonic unit)/case.
My suggestion : http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/JKh6

 

[marshallbradley]

Looks good, no qualms. I assume your going for a silent PC by the case you've chosen. If this is not the case, don't bother with an aftermarket CPU cooler.

Motherboard will be fine for an i5.

If you're willing to spend an extra £40 you can get a 7850 graphics card, which will easily destroy the 7770 by maybe 40% better frame rates (or more) in most games.

It would be cheaper probably to order it all from Amazon if you ask me. Mostly shipping is not free. Aria for example is £6.50 (might be different since they changed to DPD). CCL are again going to charge you for shipping. Amazon has the best return policy out of any of them (like seriously, they are fast and if you say something is broken they trust you and replace it ASAP, they don't run endless benchmarks and conclude nothing is wrong then mail it to you at your own expense it a week later), and if you get the Amazon Prime trial, it will be guaranteed delivery by Monday for free.

EDIT: Above build is a good recommendation, better CPU and GPU for the same price. Only qualm is that, again, if you're going for a silent PC, the XFX cards tend to be very noisy. Unfortunately the ASUS 7850, which is whisper quiet, is another £25 over the XFX one. You do gain 2gb Vram though, as well as the much better cooler.

M

 

[Koopa4]

Looks good, no qualms. I assume your going for a silent PC by the case you've chosen. If this is not the case, don't bother with an aftermarket CPU cooler.

Motherboard will be fine for an i5.

If you're willing to spend an extra £40 you can get a 7850 graphics card, which will easily destroy the 7770 by maybe 40% better frame rates (or more) in most games.

It would be cheaper probably to order it all from Amazon if you ask me. Mostly shipping is not free. Aria for example is £6.50 (might be different since they changed to DPD). CCL are again going to charge you for shipping. Amazon has the best return policy out of any of them (like seriously, they are fast and if you say something is broken they trust you and replace it ASAP, they don't run endless benchmarks and conclude nothing is wrong then mail it to you at your own expense it a week later), and if you get the Amazon Prime trial, it will be guaranteed delivery by Monday for free.

EDIT: Above build is a good recommendation, better CPU and GPU for the same price. Only qualm is that, again, if you're going for a silent PC, the XFX cards tend to be very noisy. Unfortunately the ASUS 7850, which is whisper quiet, is another £25 over the XFX one. You do gain 2gb Vram though, as well as the much better cooler.

M

Thanks for the detailed reply! I like the 7850 but also read the 6870 was even better? The gfx are so confusing. Extra £10 her and there and your £60 away in minutes haha,! Yeah aiming for quiet, hence a cheap aftermarket cooler. Do you think I will need extra case fans? Thnks

 

[djangoringo]

You don't need an aftermarket cooler, the stock one is quiet, i recommend the fractal design core 1000 for matx, it's a good case, never heard of the case that you had in the link, the xfx 7850 is a good card, the asus is better, but, don't forget that you need a small card for those cases and the xfx is small and will fit.
The Fractal design core 1000 actually supports up to 350mm cards when using only the top HDD slot in the removable HDD tray.
Meaning it can fit any high end card.

 

[marshallbradley]

Nope, the 6870 is old tech. The 7850 is about on par with the 6950 in most games IIRC.

My advice is to always order case fans after the computer is assembled. It's very hard to tell if you'll need them or not before you've put the build together (at least for simple, non water-cooled or heavily overclocked builds), as the need for case fans depends entirely on the location of the build, ambient temperature etc. Esp. if you're going for a quiet and thrifty PC, it's best not to order stuff like case fans (which -- perhaps necessarily -- add extra noise/cost) until you know you need them. Once you've assembled your build you can easily check load temperatures with a variety of programs, and base your need for case fans upon that.

@djanoringo I believe he's chosen the case due to the acoustic dampening panels, though indeed the Fractal Design Core 1000 is a very nice case. I believe the ASUS card is plenty small for both the cases as well.

M

 

[djangoringo]

The asus 1GB card is 9.8", i wouldn't call it that small, the xfx is 7.8", i can't see what gfx card sizes that case supports, i know the asus fits in the fractal.

 

[marshallbradley]

It's not exactly large either though, and I think it's the noise levels he should be more concerned about, rather than the size.

The case he linked supports up to 350mm cards as well at any rate.

M

 

[djangoringo]

Are you sure ? i don't see any info that says it, and i don't think the xfx is a noisy card, the asus 1GB is also one fan as the xfx, unless you can show the noise levels.
It can support some large card without the hdd cage(but there's no specific size) : https://lolmjw.sn2.livefilestore.com/y1pghatx8DyCkN9xehaUwUIAZVvEb1j2PwqxfjSyGwvFFI0ul4m1Y2po-mBuajD5Ced4gcBjXFocWvj_fhQAqmQHa3l2PdeFGNH/21.jpg?psid=1

Its a decent case, but i recommend the fractal core 1000, it's not a noisy case.

 

[marshallbradley]

If you compare it to the Fractal Design Core, the internal layout is exactly the same, and given that the dimensions of the cases are very similar, I don't see why it couldn't support the same size of graphics card, esp. given that the hard drive cage is removable.

I have admittedly never owned a single fan XFX card, and it seems to be very hard to find reviews specifically about any of the 7850s. I can only base my guidance on prior experience in this case, and comparing my card (check sig) to my previous card (XFX Double D 7950) the difference in noise levels is massive. Granted the Double D is not the same cooler as on the 7850, but single fan cards tend to be noisier anyway IIRC.

And yeah, I'm talking about the 2 gb version, no 1 gb version cards have dual fans unfortunately. For silence dual fan is king though. The Gigabyte 7850 is another good option.

M

 

[Koopa4]

Just ordered my bits and pieces!

Decided to go with the g2020 as suggested.

GFX card is the only part I havent bought, the one you linked me seems to have vanished from the world haha.

Gonna look this weekend for it! Will post some pics once its set up....

Wish me luck, first build ^^

 

[marshallbradley]

Here's a nice quiet 7850 bundled with the new Tomb Raider and BioShock Infinite: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-gigabyte-radeon-hd-7850-oc-windforce-2x-4800mhz-gddr5-28nm-gpu-900mhz-1024-cores-hdmi-mdp-pluscr

This one is cheaper (though not as quiet I fear): http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-xfx-radeon-hd-7850-core-edition-4800mhz-gddr5-gpu-860mhz-dl-dvi-i-2-xmini-dp-pluscrossfire-offer

Both come with BioShock and the new Tomb Raider,

Best of luck with your build! Make sure you check out a guide somewhere on how exactly to assemble everything, there are some good ones on YouTube by Newegg. You don't want to do something dumb and have a breakage!

M

 

[djangoringo]

Just ordered my bits and pieces!

Decided to go with the g2020 as suggested.

GFX card is the only part I havent bought, the one you linked me seems to have vanished from the world haha.

Gonna look this weekend for it! Will post some pics once its set up....

Wish me luck, first build ^^

The xfx in dabs just vanished, in the end, the asus is indeed the better option, since it's cheaper or about it in other places, i guess it's destiny, in scan co uk, you'll pay shipping, you can get it in ebuyer(legitimate website) with the games and with free shipping : http://www.ebuyer.com/393396-asus-hd-7850-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-pci-e-graphics-card-hd7850-dc-1gd5


Did you order the xfx 450 core edition psu ? and the msi b75ma-p45 ?

 

[Koopa4]

I did order the b75. However I ordered the corsair 500w psu due to having 2x 6pin. And was planning on a 7770. I now can afford the 7850! Woo.. Haha will get it ordered tonight!

 

[djangoringo]

The xfx 450W will do for a 7850, if you'd seen toms hardware 600$, they used an i5-3350p and a 7850 in a 400W quality psu, which was the antec neo eco 400C(seasonic unit), the XFX 450 Pro core edition is also a seasonic oem psu, the corsair CX is the entry level series of Corsair psus and it was made by channel well, still it's a decent psu and it will also do for the system, the xfx was cheaper though.

 

[Koopa4]

aye, only reason i took the corsair was because i was planning on getting a 7770 card due to budget, however I have made some changes and have an extra £50 for a gfx card

Think I will buy the Asus, although the red clashes with all the blue in my system! haha.

Only other problem, I was going to order the Mobo from Aria with the gfx card, cant find the Mobo on Ebuyer which is annoying!

 

[djangoringo]

You can find it here : http://www.ebuyer.com/363618-msi-b75ma-p45-socket-1155-vga-dvi-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-b75ma-p45
It seems it has shipping costs.

The other way is to get the motherboard from aria and the card there, you can find the xfx 7850 in aria : https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/AMD+Radeon/Radeon+HD+7850/XFX+Core+Edition+Radeon+HD+7850+1024MB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+%2B+2+FREE+GAMES%21+?productId=51844

 

[Koopa4]

I thought that, but it isnt the micro ATX version, just ATX it says?

Not sure really

 

[djangoringo]

It's matx.

 

[Koopa4]

Ordered all the bits now!

Went for the XFX 7850 in the end, worked out cheaper for me to get it with my mobo.

Will post some pictures once its built

Thank you for all your help!