£550 Gaming PC Compatibility

[yiddo]

Approximate Purchase Date: Next week

Budget Range: £550-600

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Internet, Movies, Music, Work

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: ebuyer.com

Country: England

Parts Preferences: No preference

Overclocking: Not bothered

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: Don't know yet

So far:

CPU: Intel Core i3 2120 3.3GHz Socket 1155 3MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Mobo: Asus P8H67 R3 H67 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
Case and PSU bundle: Coolermaster CM690 II Lite with Coolermaster GX 650W PSU
GPU: Sapphire HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card
RAM: Kingston 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz i5 Memory Kit Non-ECC CL9 1.5V
Cooling Fan: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 Socket 775, 1156, 1155, 1366, AM2, AM3 Heatpipe CPU Cooler
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM
Optical Drive: LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW with DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - Retail Black

Just checking it's all compatible and whether there's any improvements I can make.

Thanks.

 

[sosofm]

MOBO : Asus P8Z68-V LX Socket 1155
http://www.ebuyer.com/281367-asus-p8z68-v-lx-socket-1155-onboard-graphics-output-8-channel-audio-atx-p8z68-v-lx
CPU : I5 2500K
http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-core-i5-2500k-3-3ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80623i52500k
RAM : Crucial 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz Ballistix Sport
http://www.ebuyer.com/342352-crucial-8gb-2x4gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ballistix-sport-memory-kit-cl10-1-5v-bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00
GPU : Asus GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1GB GDDR5
http://www.ebuyer.com/254405-asus-gtx-560ti-directcu-ii-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-mini-hdmi-pci-e-engtx560-ti-dcii-2di-1gd5
CASE and PSU bundle : Coolermaster Elite 430 , Coolermaster GX 650W
http://www.ebuyer.com/200491-coolermaster-gx-650w-psu-rs650-acaae3-uk
http://www.ebuyer.com/233740-coolermaster-elite-430-all-black-interior-mid-tower-case-with-side-window-rc-430-kwn1
hdd : Seagate 500GB 3.5" SATA-III
http://www.ebuyer.com/272944-seagate-500gb-3-5-sata-iii-6gb-s-barracuda-hard-drive-7200rpm-16mb-cache-st500dm002
DVD-RW : Samsung SH-222BB 22x
http://www.ebuyer.com/342873-samsung-sh-222bb-22x-dvd-rw-dl-ram-sata-optical-drive-oem-sh-222bb-bebe
TOTAL : £602.71
You can lower the price if you don't overlock changing the cpu with i5 2300 or i5 2400.

 

[tlmck]

Unless you plan on dual video cards later, which that PSU will not handle anyway, you can drop to an h61 motherboard. That is unless the h67 has some other features you desire.

You could save a few dollars by going with the i3-2100. No advantage to the 2120 for your desired tasks.

The Coolermaster case is quite good, but their power supplies are not so good. Even though it says 650w, that one is probably closer to 500w on it's best day. I have a GX 450 and it can barely do the duty of a 300w. It does work well in the low powered HTPC I have. Quiet also. This PSU is light years better quality for the same base price as the Coolermaster. Of course you lose the bundle deal. http://www.ebuyer.com/241554-xfx-pro-650w-core-edition-psu-single-rail-9x-sata-4x-p1-650s-ukb9

Other than that it looks great. You might want to compare prices over at Novatech.com.

 

[metal orient]

How about this:

CPU: Intel i5 2300 £140
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel+Core+i5+%281155%29/Intel+Core+i5-2300+2.80GHz+%28Sandybridge%29+Socket+LGA1155+Processor+-+Retail+?productId=43219

MB: Gigabyte GA-H61MA-D3V £48
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Intel+1155+H61+%28B3%29/Gigabyte+GA-H61MA-D3V+GEN3+Intel+H61+%28REV+B3%29+Socket+1155+DDR3+PCI-Express+Motherboard+?productId=48248

RAM: Mushkin 8GB 1600 cas 9 £35
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR3/Dual+Channel+1600MHz/8GB+Mushkin+Blackline+%23996995+%282x4GB%29+DDR3+1600MHz+9-9-9-24+?productId=44336

GPU: ASUS GTX 560 Ti £167
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/NVIDIA/NVIDIA+GTX+560ti/Asus+GeForce+GTX+560Ti+DCII%2F2DI%2F1GD5+DirectCU+II+1024MB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=43564

HDD: Seagate 500GB £55
https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/500GB+Seagate+Barracuda+7200.12+3.5%22+SATA+III+Internal+Hard+Drive+%5BST500DM002%5D+?productId=46054

PSU: XFX Core 550W £49
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/650W+or+less/550W+XFX+Core+Edition+80PLUS+Bronze+Power+Supply+%28Seasonic+OEM%29+?productId=45332

DVDRW £11
https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/LiteOn+22x+Internal+SATA+DVD-RW+Drive+%5BIHAS122-18%5D+?productId=45290

Case: Fractal Core 3000 £48
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Fractal+Design+Core+3000+Black+Midi+Tower+Chassis+?productId=45752

Total price (VAT + P&P) £564.11

Potentially you could change the HDD for a 64 SSD and still be in budget , but then you'd want an HDD fairly soon if you installed a load of games.

I'd also suggest (if you;re willing) to look on ebay and gumtree for parts, pretty much all of mine came from those 2 and it cost £600 as well

 

[yiddo]

Do I not need a cooling fan?

I'll probably switch to the 560 ti, but I'm still not sure which CPU to get...

 

[metal orient]

The CPU comes with a stock cooler and the case comes with 3 fans.

Since you're not bothered about overclocking you may as well get the cheapest quad core you can which would be the 2300.

 

[yiddo]

I'm not really well educated on all this tech, but I assume that:

Lower clock speed quad core > higher clock speed dual core?