£550 Gaming PC Compatibility

MOBO : Asus P8Z68-V LX Socket 1155
http://www.ebuyer.com/281367-asus-p8z68-v-lx-socket-115...
CPU : I5 2500K
http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-core-i5-2500k-3-3ghz...
RAM : Crucial 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz Ballistix Sport
http://www.ebuyer.com/342352-crucial-8gb-2x4gb-ddr3-160...
GPU : Asus GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1GB GDDR5
http://www.ebuyer.com/254405-asus-gtx-560ti-directcu-ii...
CASE and PSU bundle : Coolermaster Elite 430 , Coolermaster GX 650W
http://www.ebuyer.com/200491-coolermaster-gx-650w-psu-r...
http://www.ebuyer.com/233740-coolermaster-elite-430-all...
hdd : Seagate 500GB 3.5" SATA-III
http://www.ebuyer.com/272944-seagate-500gb-3-5-sata-iii...
DVD-RW : Samsung SH-222BB 22x
http://www.ebuyer.com/342873-samsung-sh-222bb-22x-dvd-r...
TOTAL : £602.71
You can lower the price if you don't overlock changing the cpu with i5 2300 or i5 2400.

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-...

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

How about this:

CPU: Intel i5 2300 £140
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Pro...

MB: Gigabyte GA-H61MA-D3V £48
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards...

RAM: Mushkin 8GB 1600 cas 9 £35
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR3/...

GPU: ASUS GTX 560 Ti £167
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Car...

HDD: Seagate 500GB £55
https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/500GB+Seagate+Barr...

PSU: XFX Core 550W £49
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Suppli...

DVDRW £11
https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/LiteOn+22x+Interna...

Case: Fractal Core 3000 £48
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+T...

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

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...

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.

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

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