My first built PC £1821 advice please

[darquan]

Hi, my last pc is 6-7 years old and I am building a pc for the first time. I play a lot of games of all sorts which is the main use. I plan to buy now and keep it for years before upgrading again. I read some posts here and worked out/copied this setup. I'd like liquid cooling but not sure what to do for this. Can anyone suggest any improvements/problems/places to get cheaper parts in the UK? I got prices mostly from amazon. (all prices inc 20% VAT)

Intel Core i7-2600K (1155 socket) £224

OCZ Vertex 3 Series MAX IOPS Edition SSD 128 GB SATA-600 £249

2x AX6950 2GBD5-2DH Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 2 x £267

CORSAIR 850 Watt ATX/EPS12V ,PS/2, Modular Power Supply £143

G-Skill 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz Ripjaws Memory CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V 2 x £40

Asus P8P67 Deluxe Intel P67 (Socket 1155) MB B3 Revision £187

Windows 7 home 64 bit £133

Samsung - SH-B123L DVD±RW 12x Serial ATA internal 5.25'' LS 1.2 £51

Cpu Cooler/liquid cooling? £50?

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MjcxNQ case £140

Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB Hard Drive – HDD £30

Total £1821

 

[metal orient]

Don't buy from amazon they are hella expensive check:

Ebuyer.com
Scan.co.uk
Aria.net

They tend to be the best.

Poor choice of graphics card i'd say get MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III for £203.63 @ scan
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-hd-6950-twin-frozr-iii-power-edition-pci-e-21-(x16)-5000mhz-gddr5-gpu-800mhz-1408cores

PSU Good, maybe go to HX850? for £127 Or XFX Blck edition for £95
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/850w-corsair-hx-series-modular-80-plus-silver-90-eff-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-7-year-warranty
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/850w-xfx-black-edition-modular-80-plus-silver-88-eff-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-135mm-quiet-fan

Are you buying 2 sets of 2X2GB? Seems a bit odd but if you want quad channel okay.

MB, If you need the extras of the deluxe fine, but maybe ASUS PRO would be better at £139 or a Z68 board.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p8p67-pro-rev3-intel-p67-s1155-pci-e-20-x16-ddr3-2200(oc)-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid

Windows is fine

BluRay cheaper at scan, by £2:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/samsung-sh-b123l-rsbp-12x-bd-rom-and-dvdrw-combo-player-retail-box?utm_source=google+shopping&utm_medium=google+shopping

I'd recommend an air cooler as they are going to be quieter than an all in one liquid cooling and cheaper. e.g. the coolermaster Hyper 212+ £16, maybe Mugen 2 $40?

I'd go to a 1TB, can never have too much space and is double for £10 more.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-samsung-hd103sj-spinpoint-f3-sata-3gb-s-7200rpm-32mb-cache-89ms-ncq

 

[darquan]

Thanks Metal Orient! That helps a lot

I like to use 50" plasma TV for my pc ...are two graphics cards the best option?

Which memory would you recommend?

Which Z68 board would you pick? Is one of those boards preferable for overclockiing? I don't plan to do much else with it

For gaming should I go i5 2500K instead?

Can you recommend a sound and network card?

 

[metal orient]

Getting into things i have no idea about.

I'd suggest you fill this out:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261222-13-build-advice

And you'll attract more people in.

That said.

I assume the 2 TV's are 1920x1080

Would you be playing on 1 screen with the second just chilling? is so you could get away with 1 card i'd reckon.

memory wise 8GB i.e. 2x4GB modules seems like the best move i.e.:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR3/Dual+Channel+1600MHz/8GB+Mushkin+Blackline+LV+%23996995+%282x4GB%29+DDR3+1600MHz+9-9-9-24+?productId=44336

For Z68 i'm looking at the Asrock z68 Extreme 4, but other good boards include the ASUS Z68 V-Pro:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Intel+1155+Z68+%28B3%29/ASUS+P8Z68-V+PRO+Intel+Z68+%28REV+B3%29+Socket+1155+DDR3+PCI-Express+Motherboard+?productId=44425

Well Tom's did an article about 3 Z68 Boards:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/asrock-z68-extreme4-asus-p8z68-v-pro-gigabyte-z68x-ud3h-b3,review-32188-18.html

The Asrock came out the best, if you planned to crossfire and have other stuff i'd go with that, however some people thing the warranty supplied by Asrock is too small compared to the industry standard.

For gaming the i5 will be more than enough, and save you £75:
http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Intel+Core+i5-2500K+3.30GHz+%28Sandybridge%29+Socket+LGA1155+Processor+-+Retail+?productId=43216

Unless you have a really good sound system, you probably won't need a sound card.

No idea for network card, again do you need it? The AsRock comes with a Gigabit ethernet port.

Have you thought about a case? Or do you have one waiting?

 

[metal orient]

A build i'd suggest is:

CPU: Intel I5 2500K £150 Aria

CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 2 £40 Scan

MoBo: AsRock Extreme 4 Z68 £141 Ebuyer

RAM: Mushkin Blackline 8GB 1600Mhz 9-9-9-24 £75 Aria

GPU: MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III £204 Scan

HDD: Samsung 1TB SpinPoint F3 £38 Aria

SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB £215 Scan

BD player: Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP £48 Aria

PSU: XFX Black Edition 850W £96 Scan

OS:Windows 7 Home £117 Aria

Case: matter of choice, I like quiet PC's so maybe the Antec p183/p182 or the Fractal Design Define R3( clone of the p180 series but still very good). Good brands include: Antec, Fractal, Lian Li, Cooler Master, Silverstone, Thermaltake etc. But this is your choice, you'll have to live with the case. say £100 for a case maybe more.

Total : £1224 ( before delivery, for big items use ebuyer as they provide free delivery for large expensive items i.e. case, but can be more expensive overall)

A few comments:

I chose the 120GB OCZ, because you can use the Z68's smart cache utility and 'pair up' the HDD and SSD to get better overall speeds than a noramal HDD, however it will be slower than having an SSD by itself.
However as your budget seems to be able to stretch it could be worth getting a larger SSD i.e. an OCZ Vertex 3 240GB to act as your boot drive (£427 Scan, +£212, but seems excessively expensive to me). Maybe worth holding off on the SSD front so other manufacturers can release their products and thus drive down prices.

You can always double on the GPU, they are flashable to 6970 as well, although i'm not sure i will try. I assume you only play on one screen as 2 would put the crosshairs right in the bezel of the screens.

Scythe Mugen 2 is a good cooler and what i want to use but i'm told its a hassle to install. As Sandy bridge CPU's don't get to hot,the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is a good option (£17 Aria)

 

[darquan]

That's a much better price thanks a lot! I shall get that build.

Is there an SLI or crossfire preference for that motherboard, will those parts come with the MB?

 

[cmadrid]

I was just about to post about aria

 

[metal orient]

No preference on AsRock , as far as i know. It does both SLI and Crossfire.

The MSI 6950 will come with a crossfire bridge.