£750 i5 build, will this work?

[holyroller]

Ok, following up from my last thread, i didn't get many replies after my initial first couple of posts, and i've looking into it a bit more and am now a little wiser, thanks to the help from you guys. Would you mind looking this over and telling me if everything is ok?

Parts not needed: Hard drive, CD drive, Wireless card

Parts needed:

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Socket LGA1156 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £164

PowerColor HD 5830 PCS Edition 1GB GDDR5 825Mhz DVI HDMI Display Port Out PCI-E Graphics Card £180

ASUS P7P55D-E P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard £121

Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V £140

CM Storm Scout + Coolermaster Silent Pro 700W Modular PSU *Special Offer Bundle* £130

There will also be fans etc etc but not really worth listing i suppose. The case and PSU come with all internal fans etc, and for the price I can't seem to beat it.

I have a couple of questions - should i change my RAM down to 4gigs instead of 6 and put the money into a 5850 GPU? Will my motherboard handle everything? Is there anything you would change?

I realise these are big questions but this would be a massive help, thank you for your time and patience

 

[cmcghee358]

What do you intend to do and at what resolution?

Also the i5 can't use triple channel memory so look into 4GB of dual channel DDR3

 

[Silmarunya]

- Indeed, get 4GB or RAM as 1156 is a dual channel platform (besides, it's not noticeable. Anything over 4GB offers 0,0 advantage for gaming)

- Yes! Get a 5850. It's significantly more powerful than a 5830.

- I would never recommend a Coolermaster PSU. Their cases are great, but their PSU's second rate at best. And you should NEVER skimp on a PSU. It's what keeps everything else running. And if it breaks down, there's a good chance everything else breaks down too. I know this offer is hugely tempting, but I'd get a 500-600W Corsair or Antec PSU.

- If you want to further cut price AND improve performance and upgrade paths, get an AMD build. The Phenom II X4 965 is the i5-750's equivalent in everything and AM3 motherboards are a lot better value for money. You could get a chipset that's equal and cheaper (770/870) or a better one for the same price (880/890/790)

 

[asteldian]

Get 4gb G Skill Ripjaw RAM from ebuyer or novatch for £103. Definately upgrade to the 5850.

I agree a cheaper PSU is a gamble. It is something I gambled on recently and so far it has paid off (£50 750W PSU http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/750W-Powercool-PC750UM-Modular-80plus-Eff-Dual-12V-Sli-Xfire-ATX12V-V22-PSU) but then only time will tell, if in 2 years it hasn't ruined my computer I will consider it a good buy, until then though I've no idea if it is something I will risk again.

If you cannot afford the 5850 I would consider dropping to an AMD build for the 955 Black edition as it is good and cheaper than Intel. I would lose a bit of processor performance for a better GPU.

On the otherhand, you could consider dropping the 6gb/s USB3.0 to save money to get the 5850 and Intel if you wanted

 

[ak22]

Would Recommend getting 4 GB Ram and the 5850, Also check out the Cosair 650W PSU very silent.

 

[Silvune]

The best PSU to buy off ebuyer is the XFX 650W as it is a VERY good price for such a high quality unit. It is even more powerful on the 12V rail than the Coolermaster Silent Pro 700. The Silent Pro is high quality apart from that some reviews show the 12V rail going out of spec under extremely low load (under 100 watts), same on 5V rail.

 

[holyroller]

this will be a gaming PC but I will use it for other purposes as well...

So should I get DDR2 RAM? :S

Ok, i'll look at the PSU's suggested here, is there anything I should consider in terms of fitting a PSU into a different case i.e. if I bought a coolermaster case could I fit any PSU into the case? I can afford the 5850 at a stretch, one that i'd be willing to make given that everyone here recommends it over the 5830.

I'll have a look at cases and the PSU and RAM suggested and post my new build spec soon

thank you for the advice everyone, greatly appreciated

 

[cmcghee358]

No on the DDR2

I think you're confusing DDR2 Ram with Dual channel RAM. These are 2 totally different things.

DDR3 can be dual channel or triple channel. You want DDR3 dual channel RAM (2 sticks of 2 GB each) it will generally say in the specs what channel the RAM is.

 

[holyroller]

also, I will be using this on both my 1200 monitor mainly as well as on my 1080 monitor from time to time

 

[holyroller]

No on the DDR2

I think you're confusing DDR2 Ram with Dual channel RAM. These are 2 totally different things.

DDR3 can be dual channel or triple channel. You want DDR3 dual channel RAM (2 sticks of 2 GB each) it will generally say in the specs what channel the RAM is.

Ok thank you, yeh this is what I was getting wrong. I'll check out the ripjaw ram suggested above

 

[holyroller]

i'm almost good to go I think, but could I get an opinion on these 2 cases?


Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced Mid Tower Case
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191197


Coolermaster HAF 922 Mid Tower Case - No PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164961

they're both pretty much the same price, however I prefer the look of the first one (CM690) however I have a feeling that the HAF 922 is better in terms of cooling? The first one doesn't seem to have a top fan, is this a problem?

Which would you pick

 

[holyroller]

OK this is now my build. I've managed to find the 5850 for £225 saving me £25 from a different site, so my build is roughly £775. This will all be on a 1920x1200 24" monitor and i'll be re-using my hard drives and cd drive.

I just have 2 questions now, will my motherboard support 2 graphics cards over crossfire in the future and will my PSU be good enough for htat?

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Socket LGA1156 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755

ASUS P7P55D-E P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/189805

SapphireHD 5850 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Display Port Out PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=137957

G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw Memory Kit CL7(7-8-7-24) 1.65V
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/180490

XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular PSU - 13.5cm Fan 6x SATA 4x PCI-E
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191826

Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced Mid Tower Case
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191197

Thank you for the help guys.

 

[Silvune]

Yea, the HAF 922 will be better at cooling, altho it's not like the CM 690 II would be bad, and CM 690 II does have a top fan. The HAF is bigger so it also has more space for components, namely longer graphics cards, altho again the CM 690 II should have enough space for what you are planning on using with this build. I would also choose the CM 690 II as it's aesthetic is more pleasing to me. I used to think that the HAF 922 was ugly, but others at another forum kinda convinced me that it looks better 'in person' as it were.

The motherboard does have a second PCI-E slot, but it is very slow (x4) which would not be worthwhile adding a second 5850 to. If you did have a second PCI-E slot fast enough to add a 5850 to then yes the XFX 650W would be perfect for it.

 

[holyroller]

I prefer the sleek look of the CM690, although as you pointed out the HAF 92 is cooler with a larger top fan, however I don't imagine my needs to be intense enough for this to be a very large factor.

Would this motherboard support 2x graphics cards? The description says that it's crossfire ready but so did the last one :S

Also, is it possible to crossfire a 5850 with a 4850 or is this just a bad idea?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173450

 

[holyroller]

Sorry I meant this mother board as the other one isn't usb 3.0 ready, i know this may not seem a big factor for many here but it's something that i would like to future proof for.

ASUS P7P55D-E PRO iP55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio USB3 ATX Motherboard

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/194854

 

[Silvune]

Yea the ASUS P7P55D-E PRO has a fast second PCI-E slot (x8).

No I don't think it's possible to crossfire a 5850 with a 4850, pretty sure the rule is that any card of the same series can be crossfired. So any 4000 series card can work with any other 4000 series card and 5000 with 5000. For Nvidia the cards have to be exactly the same.

 

[holyroller]

Ok, brilliant, well thank you for the advice, been very helpful and I appreciate it.

I'm now waiting to just decide between the cases... I've changed my mind to the HAF922 i think, it seems to be an easier case to use on my first real build.