new build

[dannycelluk]

For the last 3-4 years i have been using my laptop, but id like to build my own desktop pc again.

My last PC was an Athlon i believe, so i am well out of touch with todays market.

Im looking to spend £500-700

And i need:-
CPU (I3/I5/I7???)
Mobo (1155?)
Ram
Case +cooling(Are there any cheap liquid cooling systems that can be recomended?)
Monitor widescreen possibly 23-24"
Wireless mouse and keyboard


I already have a few SATA HD from my last system and i also have DVD RW etc.

The computer will mainly be used for surfing/Word processing/editing photos/video/2D CAD and possibly the odd game.

Any recomendations on a setup?

Thanks!

 

[dannycelluk]

OcUK Tech Lab - V6 Watercooled Case - Zalman Z9 **2011 Compatible** £180.31
IIyama Prolite E2473HDS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £149.99
Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £119.99
Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £101.99
OcUK Swift 750W V2 Silent Power Supply £35.99
Logitech K340 Wireless Keyboard (920-001979) £32.99
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £26.99

Any opimions on this setup?

 

[LJx]

I think you are on the right track, the prices are very expensive though. OCUK is expensive compared to other online sellers like Aria, Scan & CCL online.
The Z68 chipset motherboards have overclocking features but the i3 CPU's cannot make use of them - an i5 2500k or i7 2600k are about the only CPU's that can be overclocked.
You can get 8GB of RAM for about £30

 

[dannycelluk]

thanks for your reply!

Is there much diffence in RAM speeds. i.e 1600/2000?

Any difference in speed? or the way they can be overclocked etc?

Thanks

 

[shadowboxer]

Agree with LJx that the overall spec isn't looking too bad. OcUK are a bit dearer once you add in delivery costs (assuming no free delivery) but I've always had a good service from them. I would however make a few changes to your build. If your not planning on doing any (serious) overclocking (esp as i3's don't allow it) then don't bother with a custom water loop. High end air coolers are better but if you really want water then consider a closed loop water cooling unit. I've got the Antec Kuhler 620 and cooling performance is excellent and it performs virutally on par with the more expensive double radiator Corsair H70 (and that's with just the single stock fan, in push/pull config with a couple of aftermarket quite high airflow fans it's very very good).

Get a reputable branded quality PSU, that OcUK one is cheap and nasty and won't provide anywhere near 750W.

Don't expect and gaming performance without a dedicated graphics card.

8GB of RAM can be had for £35. Will make a big difference in CAD work.

I would persoanlly forget the whole custom water loop and put your money towards better higher performance components. Given you've selected the i3, I guess your not really interested in overclocking - if so even the stock fan will do for you.

Hows this spec for top end of budget,

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Iiyama ProLite E2409HDS 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black Iiyama ProLite E2409HDS 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £43.98
(£36.65) £43.98
(£36.65)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Sub Total : £575.74
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £19.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £118.97
Total : £713.81

Much better overall spec.

*edit*

faster RAM will not make any noticable difference in performance, get 8GB of 1600MHz, 2x4GB.

 

[dannycelluk]

Thanks for your advice

i finally went for:-

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £149.99 1 £149.99

IIyama Prolite E2473HDS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £124.99 1 £124.99

Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.99 1 £99.99
BeQuiet Pure Power L8 730W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £66.66 1 £66.66

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £66.66 1 £66.66

Cooler Master Silencio RC-550 Silent Tower Case - Black £58.32 1 £58.32

Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £36.65 1 £36.65

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99 1 £29.99

OcUK Ultra-Slim Wirelesss Desktop Set (6311ARF) £16.66 1 £16.66

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £7.49 1 £7.49

at slightly over £800
I think i will wait until next month and buy a decent gfx card.

Thanks again.

 

[shadowboxer]

Good decision not to bother with the massive over the top case & cooling combo. Very solid looking system you have there now.

 

[dannycelluk]

All of the components turned up yesterday and i have now built the PC!!

What can i say...the case is perfect, the case came with 2 fans, there are cable routing compartments and sound deadening within. There are HDD slots so the HDD just slot in for very easy installation/removal. No more screws like my previous case!

The CPU cooler was also simple to install and appears to be doing the job, CPU currently sitting at 24 degrees! although i havnt tried overclocking yet.

The motherboard is ideal with a windows style bios that can be controlled by the mouse! it also has various overclocking menus for me to have a play around with, when i get abit more confident!

The only problem i have at present is that one of the chassis fans is currently in alarm and running at 450rpm? I can lower the alarm point, but is there a problem with the fan? in any case the motherboard and CPU are sat at very low temperatures so im not to bothered.

all in all a great setup, now i just need to wait until next month so i can buy a decent gfx card!

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[shadowboxer]

Glad to hear it's all working well. You should be able to disable the fan alarm or just up the speed of the fan a little. How loud is the case?

 

[dannycelluk]

case is very quiet, only thing i can hear is my SATA HDD, need SSD next

Ive tried to up the fan speed but it wont for some reason

 

[jasonr2000]

Hi Danny turn the alarm warning off the fan is fine it's warning u cause it's running at low rpm's no issue there

 

[panny100]

Hi, what graphics card do u think u will put in this? Would a 560ti go with it?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-GeForc...TF8&coliid=I16HDEGZV21HWT&colid=1T8GKEV6HNF3Q

 

[dannycelluk]

I believe it will fit yes. The motherboard has atleast 2 PCI-E slots.

I was actually thinking about getting one of those!

That link seems quite cheap too! Thanks

 

[panny100]

I believe it will fit yes. The motherboard has atleast 2 PCI-E slots.

I was actually thinking about getting one of those!

That link seems quite cheap too! Thanks

Cool let us know how it goes!!

 

[shadowboxer]

Cheaper here. This is the best mid-range card around at this price at the moment. A good deal.

Asus GeForce GTX 560 Ti 822MHz 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express HDMI £154.99 free delivery @dabs.com.

 

[dannycelluk]

So i went for a 570gtx in the end.

and im having problems:-

First of all i started with the asus from Overclockers. This would crash the system after playing battlefield for about 2 mins. This appeared to be a faulty card so i sent it back

Today i bought a new card a KFA2 570 GTX from Novatech.

The system still appears to crash but now after 30mins or so. Max temperature of GPU is at 75 degreesC. (is this normal?)

The PSU i have, has two 12v rails. each of which are rated to 30amps. The spec says 55amps combined.

The GFX card says 38amps required min on 12v line. Is the PSU sufficeint?

Currently i have 2 seperate cables going to the card, a 6 pin from PCI-E 1 on the PSU and a 6 pin from PCI-E 2 on the PSU.

Any ideas?

 

[shadowboxer]

Temperature is fine.
PSU is more than enough.

Is the CPU overclocked at all?

 

[dannycelluk]

System is completely stock, I've also had to move the hd sound cable that connectors to the front jack connectors, when it gets anywhere near the gfx card I get a loud buzzing sound when using headphones. I've also had a few gfx issues with swtor, the system hasn't crashed tho.

 

[dannycelluk]

Is there any bios settings for pic-e or anything I need to change?

 

[Sinbadio]

When exactly does it crash when play BF3 as it could just be crashing when your in GPU intensive scenes? What settings are you using?