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Building new computer

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  • Consoles
  • Computers
Last response: in General UK & Ireland Discussions
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May 12, 2013 10:10:37 AM

Hi,

I'm a console owner but have always wanted to have a PC that was capable of playing the high spec games that weren't available to me.


Anyway I'm now in a position where I've got the finances and having done some research it seems that it's not too difficult to purchase the individual components and build it yourself.

I've decided upon roughly what I'd like to get and would appreciate any comments about compatibility, any changes you would make or any items that could be changed for a cheaper alternative without losing performance.

The list is as follows:

Acer S240HLbid 24'' Full HD widescreen LCD monitor with LED Backlight - £121.99 ($187.86)

Corsair Builder Series CXM 600W Modular 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX/EPS PSU - £62.87 ($96.82)

Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Case (ATX, M-ATX, Supports Bottom PSU Installation and Aperture for Cable Management, Anti-Vibration Rubber Stand) - £49.97 (76.95)

LG GH24NS90.AUAA50B 24x SATA Bare Internal DVD Rewriter - Black - £11.99 ($18.46)

Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5 inch SATA Solid State Drive - £73.36 ($112.97)

Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Two Module Kit - £56.99 ($87.76)

Asus AMD Radeon HD 7750 Graphics Card (1GB GDDR5, PCI Express 3.0, 820MHz/4600MHz, AMD Eyefinity Technology Support) - £86.48 ($133.18)

Asus P8B75-M LX Motherboard (Intel B75, DDR3 RAM, SATA 6GB/s, Micro ATX, USB 3.0, PCI-Express 3.0, GPU Boost, Asus UEFI BIOS, Socket 1155) - £46.79 ($72.06)

Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K CPU (4 x 3.40GHz, Ivy Bridge, Socket 1155, 6Mb L3 Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0) - £171.97 ($264.83)

Total Price = £682.41 ($1050.91)

My expectations are that this system would do pretty well at present and would do well over the next few years without requiring upgrades.

As I said I would really appreciate any comments about things you might change, specifically the PSU. I'm not fussed about the brand of any of the items other than the CPU being as described.

Thanks in advance.

More about : building computer

May 12, 2013 10:56:51 AM

If you are buying a K series processor, get a Z77 chipset motherboard. Try the ASRock Z77 Extreme 4.

If you plan on very heavy use or overclocking, you would be wise to get a after-market CPU cooler.
June 27, 2013 9:53:45 AM

If you were going to be playing some high end games (FC3, BF3 etc.) Then I would reccomend a better GPU, maybe a 7850, I know it is alot more but it is also alot more future proof. I was going to get the 7750 and steered away to get the 7870. Huge difference, But I needed it for my youtube channel.

Also
I would get an aftermarket CPU, even if you are not overclocking. Spend around £15 on a cooler. Because any cooler that is better and quieter is always good. The stock coolers are usually vvery loud.

And if you can deal with having some extra wires in your case, I would go for a cheaper non modular PSU
Such as the CoolerMaster B600 (I own it myself and it is fantastic). I understand you would have to route the cables to other places behind the motherboard to keep them hidden but it is well worth it as it is much cheaper.

Another option would be to get some lower profile RAM, I have the vengeance RAM to, and I hate it, It looks awesome (I Know) but when you come to get a good CPU cooler (CM Hyper 212 EVO) then you are in trouble... It is too high for the cooler. That is all. However... If you get one stick of 8 rather than 2 of 4 then you can put that 1 stick in any channel which means you have plenty of room for an aftermarket cooler!

It may look like I changed your system but believe me, it is worth it.
Especially the section on the GFX card!
!