Advice for Medium Gaming PC Build

Zatoichi

Hi, I'm looking for some opinions and advice on what I've come up with so far.

The budget is €900 and since I don't have a credit card, and I live very close to their distribution point, I've decided to go with Elara.ie for the build. This is also my first build, so I'd prefer to have parts that don't require a lot of tech-knowledge to get working.

CPU: i5 2500k
MOBO: Asus MB P8P67-M PRO
GPU: GTX560ti
HDD: Seagate barracuda green 2TB / Western dig Caviar 1TB
RAM: Corsair DDR3 1333MHz 8GB/4GB
PSU: Antec 550plus modular
CASE: Antec Three Hundred
OS: Win7 OEM
Cooling: TriCool Fan/120mm Blue LED lights X2
Optical drive: DVD drive from current PC
Audio: XFi from current PC.

I'm happy with the CPU and GPU, but I'm not sure exactly which P8P67 to go for. I'll be looking to upgrade the GPU in the future, and may even use SLI. It will primarily be a gaming PC, and I may wish to overclock the CPU later on.

I'm also not sure about the PSU. I know I want modular, but is 550W enough to run the above specs efficiently? I know I need at least 30 amps on the 12V rail for the GPU, but I can't see where that is mentioned in the PSU specs. I'd be willing to go to at least €100 for another PSU if this one doesn't match up. Here's the options.

As for HDD, the 1TB will keep my budget down but if the 2TB has any more advantages, other than just extra space, I might opt for that. I already have external HDDs to keep music/movies on.

RAM; again, to keep costs down I'd prefer to get the 4GB for now, with the option to get the 8GB down the road. Unless, there's no real point in having the 64bit OS, and i5 running with only 4GB?

Case: not bother about looks, just want something that has enough space to hold the hardware and not get too hot.

Since I won't be OC'ing right away, will the stock cooler for the i5 be good enough? Or will it be less hassle to get an aftermarket CPU cooler now?

Thanks for any help.

Mister Man

I'm not going to comment on the motherboard part of the build, I'll let one of the lads that actually knows what they're talking about (In terms of MoBo's) look after that.

CPU Should be fine with the card, but if your thinking of OCing & SLI, you'd be as well off buying a good corsair PSU (modular or not)
If your looking at SLI, I would think 600watt should be ok? Of course, it would have to be a good PSU. But have a look at corsair's range of PSU's

2tb HDD doesn't offer any really advantage of a 1tb apart from the space.
I recommend a Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB drive, & if your budget can cover it (I don't think it will though) a SSD to install your OS on?

4GB Of ram is fine with a 64bit OS. If you were to opt for the 32bit, it will only see 3.2gb or so. In future, it would be worth going for the 8gb, but on a budget you will be fine with the 4.

The Antec case if fine. I've heard great things about Antec in general in terms of case's & Also the one you picked has some good reviews. Seem's like a solid case.

Stock cooler is fine if you aren't OCing, in future, when you are considering it, you will defo have to go with a aftermarket cooler. (On a side note, the Coolor master Hyper TX3 is only 13 odd quid most places (Haven't check Elara though) I personally use it for my Phenom, & temps are great OCed from 3.2 to 3.7, temps range from 20-27.

Hope that helps you a bit.

Moon54

If you're spending that much on a new build, I'd highly recommend going for an SSD.
Maybe something like the Crucial 64GB Real SSD C300;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-64GB-Real-2-5inch-Transfer/dp/B003YNX3TU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1307405189&sr=8-3
The SSD will boost system performance nicely, and a 2TB drive or any other drives can be used for storage.

Definitely go for the 64Bit Win 7, yeah.
Also, go for the one with the latest service pack built in;
http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE2162127
That'll save an hour or two of updating when setting it up.

I'd recommend the Corsair TX650 watt as a solid PSU, it'll have the headroom for later expansion; dual GPU cards etc.

Monotype

Have you got a debit/laser card? You can buy some of the items like hard drives from memoryc.com for cheaper. They have free delivery.

Get this RAM instead - lower voltage and faster
http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE2085049

HDD
http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=MME1411168
or
http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=GCE11706

PSU - not a fantastic selection, but this is a good PSU
http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE1750673

Think how likely SLI is. You should get a lower rated PSU if you think that you will be using 1 GPU for quite a while.

Edit: There are more PSUs than I thought, but I'm not sure about the prices until they fix them.

deconduo

How are you paying? If you can do a bank transfer then hardwareversand.de have the cheapest prices.

Doge

Anyone notice the price of the PSU the OP posted?

€659.45?????

WTF has gone wrong there!

Doge

Also the case is coming up as €561.44,

when the same case is $60 on new egg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042


Now forgive my ignorance, but the Irish price should not be over 100 euro!

Maybe the price has been multiplied 10 times due to a bug on their system?

andy g

ye 800 for the case Im after lol , was only 80 last night...

Zatoichi

Thanks to all for the help so far. Some great pointers that I never would have noticed.

I definitely have moved away from that PSU now, and not just because the price just skyrocketed.

I really would have preferred a modular one, but the Corsair HX** series looks like my best bet for now.

Just to clarify my situation, I only have a Maestro laser card so I'm very limited in what sites I can order from. I've used Elara before and I can just walk to their dist. centre and collect my stuff If I need to.

The SSD really would break my budget, especially since the PSU, and MOBO are now going to cost more than I expected. Does anyone know, If I install windows on a HDD of a new system, can I get an SSD later on and switch the OS to that? Or does the OS become locked to whatever MOBO and storage device it's first installed on? I think it's just the MOBO but I'm not sure.

Mister Man

Zatoichi wrote: »

Does anyone know, If I install windows on a HDD of a new system, can I get an SSD later on and switch the OS to that? Or does the OS become locked to whatever MOBO and storage device it's first installed on? I think it's just the MOBO but I'm not sure.

You would be better off just doing a fresh install. Moving the OS To a new drive would be much more effort then it's worth (Assuming it can be done)