First Build!

Hey guys, first time poster in here, looking to be buying my first build! Hopefully I'll get some help here from anyone willing to help out! I'll try and tell you exactly what I need

1. What is your budget? [€1,300 - can stretch]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? 
Gaming, work, using flash programs for trading/betting

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes] (Not 100% necessary)

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes, preferably two with decent resolution and circa 24 inch.

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [24"]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? 
[Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes]

8. How can you pay? [Credit Card/Moneybookers/Bank/Cash]

9. When are you purchasing? [ASAP]

Anybody....?

MRTULES

Just for a starting point here. I have never built a PC so wait until one of the lads get on and check it out but while your waiting.
Item|Price
16GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9|€70.34
Samsung SSD 830 256GB SATA III Basic|€156.40
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€86.09
WD Caviar Green 2TB Sata 6Gb/s|€93.44
LG GH24NS bare schwarz|€19.12
Ultron Cardreader 75-in-1, intern, schwarz|€9.93
LogiLink Wireless LAN 300 Mbps PCI Karte 802.11n 2T2R|€14.64
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil|€53.03
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€54.98
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition, 2GB GDDR5, PCI-Express|€226.02
2 x BenQ GL2450|€268.30
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€208.05
Shipping|€18.99
Total |1279.33


Savings could be made on the following
Ram: 16gb is probably overkill. 8gb would be loads so save €35
SSD although she's a beauty I dont know if you want or need one. Could always drop to a 128gb one and save €70
A 2TB HDD might be too much for you too but as with the others, I picked them cause the prices are decent atm.

As always there are plenty of places where you could spend more (not that you need to).
+€100 for an i7 3770k
+€50 for a quieter case (this may be very important to you?)
+€??? for better monitors
A better graphics card? depends what you playing ect...

Lots for you to think about anyway :pac::pac::pac:

Monotype

You're up late MrTules... or very early.

Forget wireless for a desktop, in my opinion, and get homeplugs instead if you're not willing to do proper wiring.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-PA411KIT-AV500-Powerline-Adapter/dp/B0084Y9N3O/
Select amazon.co.uk on the right-hand side for free delivery.

Changes to the above build - yeah, I'd go with 8GB really.
Maybe a 1TB blue drive as well?
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/7200+RPM/62133/WD+Caviar+Blue+1TB+6Gb's.article
I'd throw in a heatsink since there's a reasonable budget as well:
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Intel+AMD/52672/Thermalright+True+Spirit+120.article

MRTULES

MRTULES wrote: »

Just for a starting point here. I have never built a PC so wait until one of the lads get on and check it out but while your waiting.
Item|Price
16GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9|€70.34
Samsung SSD 830 256GB SATA III Basic|€156.40
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€86.09
WD Caviar Green 2TB Sata 6Gb/s|€93.44
LG GH24NS bare schwarz|€19.12
Ultron Cardreader 75-in-1, intern, schwarz|€9.93
LogiLink Wireless LAN 300 Mbps PCI Karte 802.11n 2T2R|€14.64
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil|€53.03
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€54.98
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition, 2GB GDDR5, PCI-Express|€226.02
2 x BenQ GL2450|€268.30
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€208.05
Shipping|€18.99
Total |1279.33


Savings could be made on the following
Ram: 16gb is probably overkill. 8gb would be loads so save €35
SSD although she's a beauty I dont know if you want or need one. Could always drop to a 128gb one and save €70
A 2TB HDD might be too much for you too but as with the others, I picked them cause the prices are decent atm.

As always there are plenty of places where you could spend more (not that you need to).
+€100 for an i7 3770k
+€50 for a quieter case (this may be very important to you?)
+€??? for better monitors
A better graphics card? depends what you playing ect...

Lots for you to think about anyway :pac::pac::pac:

Really appreciate the input, thanks mate, I do think now that 8gb would probably be enough for RAM and the 128gb SSD would be sufficient, but I would want the 2tb HDD, is the 7870 not one of the better models on the market right now?

Are you sure the 550W would be sufficient, I might be tempted in getting the 650W Corsair instead. Also, checking benchmarks, would their be much of a point in getting the i7 instead of the i5?

I guess a quieter case would be better too.

@Monotype I would actually need the wireless connection as it'd be upstairs while the internet connection is downstairs. I do agree though a heatsink may be helpful.

Dothehustle

@Monotype I would actually need the wireless connection as it'd be upstairs while the internet connection is downstairs. I do agree though a heatsink may be helpful.

That's the whole point of homeplugs u plug one in beside the router and connect the router to one home plug and have the other one plugged in beside your pc and a cable running from that homeplug to your pc.
There are much faster than wireless

MRTULES

So with the changes you were thinking about

Item|Price
Samsung SSD 830 128GB SATA 6GB's Basic|€87.56
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9|€35.47
WD Caviar Green 2TB Sata 6Gb/s|€91.05
FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Arctic White|€112.00
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 650W|€70.80
LG GH24NS bare schwarz|€19.12
Ultron Cardreader 75-in-1, intern, schwarz|€9.93
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€87.14
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€208.05
Thermalright True Spirit 120|€26.99
2 x BenQ GL2450|€268.32
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950, 3GB GDDR5, PCI-Express|€282.12
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1317.54

Ok some difference from original are:
Ram down to 8gb.
Case upgraded. I picked white cause its the new black(supposedly) and also the most expensive R4 so black or grey will knock a little off the price
SSD down to a 128gb
GPU up to a 7950 (ah hayer, leave it ouh)
PSU up to a 650w
Oh and I dropped the wireless card too if your getting home home plugs.

Am I sure the 550w will be enough?? I would not like to pretend like I know, in fact I would not even be sure that all these parts will fit together :pac: (pretty sure though). If you are planning on slapping in a load more HDDs or throwing in a 2nd GPU in the future then maybe more power will be needed. The one thing I will say is that a 650w corsair will not nessasrailly be "better" than the 550w superflower. Besides the fact the Corsair is probably a rebranded seasonic from what I have read. But when they slap that nice Corsair sticker on it everyone feels "safer" :cool: myself included.

Again, get someone who actually knows what they are talking about to look this over and confirm it all for you. I am just regurgitating info I have learned on here, like a parrot

Monotype

You could safely run an overclocked system with a 7950 and a 450W PSU!
The card only hits 180W maximum and about the same for the rest off the system.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7950/25.html

650W would only really be necessary if you wanted two...
... and you'd need a different board then.

I might get the Blu-Ray instead of the DVD, unless people think it's pointless?

Monotype

Blu rays are kind of annoying on a PC. Support is desperate. You have to get proprietary, expensive software which even at that mightn't work. You can also use VLC with an add on or something, although they tend to be a bit behind with the titles and the disc often doesn't play with its full features at that. It's been a while since I tried though.

If there was a cheap blu ray drive, like €40, it might be worth it.

I mean for reading games like, a lot of the newer games are over 4.7gbs, right, so they won't work with a CD drive, although I guess I could just use a steam account.

Monotype

Games probably won't be on bluray for another while yet, if ever.

Dual layer discs provide 8.5GB or so. They'd probably throw in two or more discs if they were short on space. As you mentioned, digital media is become more popular.

The Blu Ray group have shot themselves in the foot with their heavy DRM. People just aren't buying the drives as a result and we won't see the media to utilise it. Now it's looking like it's too late to change it. We might still see blu rays surge in popularity if the price drops to DVD range so that people just throw them into their builds.

Ah so for now I'll stick to the normal drive instead of Blu-Ray.

I'm not so sure about the home plugs as I've no idea how they'd work. Is the current motherboard sufficient in case I were ever interested in upgrading?

dwighet

Take a look at this you tube clip about home plugs...That should help explain how they work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv0LNew05bU

They've brought up their prices

the FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Arctic White seems to be out, are there any other suggested cases? Don't really like white either to be honest.

tuxy

Damn most the Fractal Designs are out of stock. They are perfect for someone look for the really understated but solid look.

How about something completely different?

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?adp=0&aid=53132&agid=632&apop=4

Been advised against getting the normal green or red hard drives, as they're for servers and the PSU isn't recommended.

tuxy

If going for WD Caviar get the Blue or Black.
This is better value though
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/7200+RPM/53881/Seagate+Barracuda+7200+2000GB%2C+SATA+6Gb+s.article

What's wrong with the power supply, apart from it being out of stock?

Loads of people on here are using the amazon. I have been using the 650 watt amazon on a overclocked system for 14 months now. Great bronze rated PSU. If you want a more efficient PSU you will end up pay a good bit more.

tuxy

tuxy wrote: »

IWhat's wrong with the power supply, apart from it being out of stock?

Loads of people on here are using the amazon. I have been using the 650 watt amazon on a overclocked system for 14 months now. Great bronze rated PSU. If you want a more efficient PSU you will end up pay a good bit more.

Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 650W is the one which was recommended on here.

I was told to please get a recognised PSU, "Anything by; seasonic, antec, Corsair (not the builder series) or XFX, or Be-Quiet!, OCZ are good too."

tuxy

It is very important to get a solid PSU whoever recommended that to you is giving good advice but has probably never heard of the amazon. The amazon has been really solid for me and many others on here and has got a good review from anandtech.com http://www.anandtech.com/show/2643/9

Of course if you would be happier with one of the makes you listed just pick one thats between 550 - 650 watts and in your price range.

Monotype

The red drives are good as they have 3 year warranty as opposed to 1 offered by Seagate. They're actually quite fast even though they're 5400 RPM. The seagate would be around 20% faster though.

BeQuiet and OCZ have made their share of crap PSUs. You do need to be careful but Superflower make good and bad PSUs too. The amazon series are good and the golden green are excellent, so don't write them off.