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[raycarley]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Hopefully this weekend/within the next week (while I'm off college)

BUDGET RANGE: Around €800-900 (I hope you don't mind working in Euros )

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: General everyday usage, surfing internet, media collection, office, maybe some light gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: komplett.ie (I can get free delivery if I pick it up from their local office), amazon.co.uk, aything that delivers cheaply to Ireland
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Ireland

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel Processor, ATI gpu, Gigabyte Mobo (these sound the best at least)

OVERCLOCKING: Yes, but nothing extreme
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050 at the moment at least

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: This is my first time building a computer
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Processor:
Intel i5-750
€170 + Free Shipping from Amazon
I don't think I need to break the bank with the i7, as I've heard the i5 does a pretty good job. Amazon was the cheapest I could find.



Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3, P55, Socket-1156
€ 116.03 from Komplett
I've heard Gigabyte are a very reliable make. I don't think I need the Crossfire capabilities the UD4 and higher models offer. USB 3.0 etc. is nice futureproofing.



Graphics Card: I'm not 100% sure here
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5
With Vapor X €159 from Komplett
Without Vapor X €138 from Komplett

Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5
With Vapor X €133 from Komplett

Any advice on this? Should I get the 5770 or is the 5750 enough? And then is the Vapor-x technology worth the extra €20 or so?



PSU
Corsair TX 650W PSU
€83 from Komplett
OR
Corsair TX 750W PSU
€109 from Komplett

I know the 5700 Series Graphics Cards only need 450W or 600W, if Crossfire is ever used, so I would think that the 650W would be enough just in case? But then again I hear that PSU's are usually the one component that is re-used the most in upgrades so would it be worth my while just spending the €25 on the 750w?



HDD
As much as I'd love a SDD for the speed I couldn't find any cheap/big enough to make it worth my while. Unless anyone else has? So I found this:

Western Digital Caviar® Black™ 640GB
€59 from Komplett
I heard this is a great performing Hard drive and although I might want more space in the future, hard drives are the easiest upgrade to make so I think the 640GB will do me for the moment.



RAM
So many different choices here... 4GB should be enough though.
4GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz Ripjaw Series (8-8-8-24) Dual Channel kit for Intel P55
€105 + €5 P&P from Mymemoryc.com
OR
4GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 ECO Series (7-8-7-24, 1.35V) Dual Channel kit
€111 + €5 P&P from Mymemoryc.com

Any opinions? I just heard G.Skill were good and to get either the Rip Jaws or the Eco (for the low voltage)



Case
I'm not sure here either, they all look adequate. I did find this one though (the only complaints people had was the lack of space under the motherboard for cables), oh and I like Blue:
NZXT Tempest
€89 from Komplett



CPU Cooler
I know I need one, but so far I have no idea what to get. Any help?



Optical Drive
I presume any generic Cd/DVD Burner will do the job once it's 24x speed?



OS
I'm a student so I think I'll pick up Windows 7 64bit Professional for €50 from Software4students.ie



Wireless card
I need a wireless card/dongle because my modem is downstairs. I presume any bog standard couple of dollar job on ebay will work fine? I don't need anything intense for file transfer, just something that will get my crappy 3Mb/s Irish broadband through.




Assuming the CPU cooler costs around €30, all this adds up to around €886, which fits nicely in the budget. I don't mind paying anything in and around that as long as it's worth the cash.


Anyway, any help would be much very much appreciated and if you know anywhere I could get any of these components cheaper, that would also be brilliant.
Thanks!

 

[MadAdmiral]

GPU: The 5770 is a much better deal that the 5750. It's a marginally more expensive card for a lot more performance.

PSU: Since you're not going to Crossfire, the 650W is more power than you'll need. You could get away with a 550W easily.

RAM: The 2nd set is better. The main thing you should look for is CAS Latency 7 (Timings 7-7-7-x or similiar). After that, get either 1333 mhz or 1600 mhz.

Case: I'm not a fan of NZXT. They aren't very high quality cases, and the "special" features they sometimes have usually don't work right. Check out an Antec 300 Illusion (it'll be cheaper than the NZXT). If you don't mind spending a little more on it, try to find a HAF 922 or Antec 900 (or 902).

CPU Cooler: Coolermaser Hyper 212. It's cheap (around $30 in the US) and it's one of the best.

Optical: That's true, but make sure it's a SATA drive (not an IDE/PATA).

 

[ares1214]

great build, but i would only fix a few things. get the samsung f3 500 Gb or 1 tb hdd, instead of the WD. get the eco series ram all the way, get home premium, there are barely any advantages to the professional. i would get the 5770, its cheap, and if you crossfire it, it will be like a 5870. case is personal preference, but look into the antec 300 illusion, and 900. xclio also makes good cases (my opinion) and most if not all are blue led. i would get the 650 watt, but since some of my recommendations save some money, it might be worth it to get the 750 watt. the scythe mugen 2 is a great cooler, but any 120 mm cooler from zalman, coolermaster, TT, is good.

 

[raycarley]

Oh wow, quick replies! Cheers guys

GPU: I'll go for the 5770 then. Is the Vapor-X worth it though?

RAM: I'll get the eco set

Case: I found both the HAF 922 and Antec 900 for pretty much the same price as the NZXT, so I'll get one of them

CPU Cooler: That's great, I found a Coolermaster Hyper 212 for €24 on the same site! Will I need to buy some thermal paste as well though?

HDD: Someone else recommended the Samsung F3 to me as well. The 1tb is only €20 more than the WD one I had, so that looks good!



Apologies about the title of the thread as well... I suppose that's what happens when you try to put a € sign in it.
Is there any way I can change it to something like: "800-900euro - Core i5 - General Usage Build - Need Advice" ?

 

[MadAdmiral]

Vapor-X is just a technology that makes it run cooler and quieter. If you care about noise, get on with it. If not, don't bother. See this article for a brief explanation.

You probably should get some thermal paste. The typical recommendation is Arctic Silver 5, though here's a review of a bunch of different ones.

 

[coldsleep]

2 advantages to Professional that I can see, not everyone will use them.

1) Ability to join a Windows domain. If you don't know what this is, then you probably don't need it.
2) XP Mode - run old/incompatible stuff in an XP virtual machine. May be handy if you like to play older games, like Master of Orion or something. (Note: No guarantees that older games won't run fine on W7, and no guarantees that they will run in XP Mode, it's just a possibility.)

 

[ares1214]

yea, and looking at his usage, it doesnt really look like he will need them.

 

[MadAdmiral]

It's also the student price. So I think there's not much of a price difference betwen Home and Pro (if any at all).

 

[ares1214]

yea, the price is probs like 10 euros apart, but if you dont need the features, then why get it.

 

[coldsleep]

Well, only the OP knows whether or not he's going want to join a domain or not.

I have one set up at home so that I can RDP into my current HTPC from my main computer, it's not always just for work.

 

[raycarley]

The reason I'm going to get Windows 7 Professional is because that's the only version I can get a student discount on for some strange reason, so it's cheaper than getting a full priced Home Edition. Actually one question about that, the version I'm getting is the Upgrade version because I have a spare XP license from an old laptop, will I have any problem installing and activating Windows 7 on my fresh hard drive?
I've seen this article, which says I will be able: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_install_upgrade_media.asp

But then on the site I'm buying it off it has this message:

"Please Note: changes to Irish release of Microsoft Windows 7

Software4Students ask all our customers to please note that Microsoft have recently made a number of changes to the European release of Microsoft Windows 7. Please be aware that while this is subject to change, the latest information that we have is as follows:

This version of Windows 7 ships as an upgrade edition. It is NOT possible or permitted to perform a clean install with this product. You must have an existing valid Windows operating system on your hard disk. All editions of Windows 7 will now include the Internet Explorer 8 web browser as standard."

http://www.software4students.ie/Microsoft_Windows_7_Professional_64_bit_Upgrade_Edition-details.aspx

At worst, does that mean I have to install XP using my old license on my new harddrive and then do a clean install of Windows 7 over it? Or will I still be ok?




The only thing now I need to decide on is the case. I've heard that the Antec 900 can be noisy or cramped. So now I'm trying to decide between these:

Cooler Master HAF 922 Midi Tower Black
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=461645

LIAN LI PC-60FN Mid Tower Chassis black
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=578754

Komplett.ie, the site I'm trying to buy off because I can save on postage, doesn't have the largest selection of cases: http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspx?bn=10155
Although I'd prefer to get a case with Blue LED's, I'll happily take the Red on the Cooler Master if the case is better. I did just hear in one review that it was missing some dust filters on some of the fans or outlets. Does it? Or does that even matter?

Thanks again!

 

[coldsleep]

You will have to install XP, then upgrade.

The only major concern would be whether or not your version of XP is SP1 (or no SP at all) or SP 2 or 3 and if you were trying to install XP on a RAID container. Based on your original build, it looks like that's not in the plans. Early versions of XP don't come with RAID drivers, so check your version if you were planning on doing that (or slipstream SP2 or 3 into your XP install).