How does this potential setup look?

Noobsaibot21

Looking to get on the ladder of PC gaming but I'm starting from the very bottom so looking at a builder PC before I leap up to the top in 2 years or so. Here's the setup I'm looking at:

Asus P8Z77-V Intel Z77 Socket 1155 Ivybridge Ready Motherboard - £126.92

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Overclocked NVIDIA Graphics Card - 2GB - £97.98

Corsair CP-9020015-UK CX 750W - £67.64

Corsair 200R Carbide case - £49.99

i5 3570K Quad Core IvyBridge - £167.94

Corsair Memory Vengeance Black 8GB DDR3 - £38.16

All of the above delivered costs about €700 in doomed currency (or €800 after interest if I pay over 7 months - very tempted with that as funds are very tight and I cant go beyond 700 without staggering payment). It's not top of the line however, this is for use on a 1080i HDTV and is designed as a stepping stone into PC gaming before I get an improved setup and TV down the road (at that time, new board, card and an i7 - done).

I won't need Windows 7 as I already have it and I have a 1Tb HDD at the ready. I'll just pick up a wireless M&K in tesco or something. Is there anything missing from the above? Do I need to buy a separate fan for the processor or does it not already come with one? And what are the guru's collective opinions on the above considering my budget?

challengemaster

Order from HWVS

You'll only need a different cooler if you're overclocking - which you haven't said.



Item|Price
ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP, Sockel 1155, ATX|€77.69
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€205.99
8GB Corsair XMS3 PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24|€32.38
Corsair Carbide Series 200R, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€56.68
Club 3D Radeon HD 7850 royalKing, 1GB GDDR5|€160.37
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€53.91
Shipping | €18.99
Total | €606.01


No need for anything near 750W. Even the 550W is more than enough.

Tij da feen

challengemaster wrote: »

Order from HWVS

You'll only need a different cooler if you're overclocking - which you haven't said.



Item|Price
ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP, Sockel 1155, ATX|€77.69
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€205.99
8GB Corsair XMS3 PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24|€32.38
Corsair Carbide Series 200R, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€56.68
Club 3D Radeon HD 7850 royalKing, 1GB GDDR5|€160.37
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€53.91
Shipping | €18.99
Total | €606.01


No need for anything near 750W. Even the 550W is more than enough.

Go with this board instead. The K processor is able to overclock but a H77 board can't. You can even drop down to 450w with that build but 550w will leave you more open in the future with upgrades.

Noobsaibot21

I've no plan to overclock from day one but maybe way down the line I might delve that way - I'll chiefly be gaming on this and treating it like the media centre my 360 pretends to be. I'm a bit concerned about that PSU as i've never heard of super-flower. A reliable PSU from a well known brand is not something I mind spending up to €100 of budget on for efficiency rating and component safety reasons. It has a pretty good review here but it is over four years old. I'm hoping the PSU will fit in with the upgrade in 2 years or so which is why I chose 750. Is there anything in particular which is wrong with the PSU I've selected or is your recommendation purely for pricing reasons?

As for the MoBo, is there any large difference with my initial thoughts over the others recommended (apart from price)? The one I selected has WiFi options built in which is a benefit to me. Same with the graphics card - I notice it has less vRAM - is this recommendation based on my crummy HDTV? And is it for pricing reasons or for technical reasons?

challengemaster

The Amazon PSU's are one of the best on the market tbh. They're not a cheap POS. And unless you plan on adding 2 more graphics cards to the system, it still wont need 750W.

Motherboard choice is up to you tbh. See what fits your needs. Usually Asrock are cheaper bang per buck.

And the graphics card will hammer the one you chose.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=681

/edit: Here's the same card with 2GB

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsps?aid=59765&agid=1165

Tij da feen

Noobsaibot21 wrote: »

I've no plan to overclock from day one but maybe way down the line I might delve that way - I'll chiefly be gaming on this and treating it like the media centre my 360 pretends to be. I'm a bit concerned about that PSU as i've never heard of super-flower. A reliable PSU from a well known brand is not something I mind spending up to €100 of budget on for efficiency rating and component safety reasons. It has a pretty good review here but it is over four years old. I'm hoping the PSU will fit in with the upgrade in 2 years or so which is why I chose 750. Is there anything in particular which is wrong with the PSU I've selected or is your recommendation purely for pricing reasons?

As for the MoBo, is there any large difference with my initial thoughts over the others recommended (apart from price)? The one I selected has WiFi options built in which is a benefit to me. Same with the graphics card - I notice it has less vRAM - is this recommendation based on my crummy HDTV? And is it for pricing reasons or for technical reasons?

PSU-wise a 750w isn't going to be much benefit unless you plan to overclock. Power consumption keeps going down so there's no need to get a big PSU. Super-Flower have a good few ranges and their Amazon range is very good. Don't trust a PSU just because of their brand. Corsair have released some fairly bad PSUs.

VRAM only really comes into play at resolutions above 1080p but it's not the most important thing. The 7850 outperforms the gtx650, and by a good bit. There's no point in spending too much on a motherboard with inbuilt WiFi since you can just get a USB WiFi or a Internal Card. Both will perform the same as the inbuilt.

U_Fig

If you are getting a 3570k I'd prob spend the extra couple of euros on a z77 motherboard.. Haswell will be changing the socket for CPUs so you won't have the option to upgrade without changing the motherboard but then I can't see the 3570k being a bottleneck for games anytime soon especially if you overclock it which you can do at any point down the line should you need to.. If you are looking for a psu other than the SF amazon (which is a great psu) the be quiet range have been rock solid for me.. Unless you want to sli or crossfire 550w will be more than enough even if overclocking

One thing that you may consider is a SSD. For day to day tasks and in general the speed difference it adds is immense.. If its not in budget at the beginning I wouldnt drop any of the core system parts to accomidate but something I'd be looking into the future..

Noobsaibot21

U_Fig wrote: »

If you are getting a 3570k I'd prob spend the extra couple of euros on a z77 motherboard.. Haswell will be changing the socket for CPUs so you won't have the option to upgrade without changing the motherboard but then I can't see the 3570k being a bottleneck for games anytime soon especially if you overclock it which you can do at any point down the line should you need to.. If you are looking for a psu other than the SF amazon (which is a great psu) the be quiet range have been rock solid for me.. Unless you want to sli or crossfire 550w will be more than enough even if overclocking

One thing that you may consider is a SSD. For day to day tasks and in general the speed difference it adds is immense.. If its not in budget at the beginning I wouldnt drop any of the core system parts to accomidate but something I'd be looking into the future..

SSD, i7, a new mobo and graphics card will be when I upgrade in two years or so. This one is just to prepare for that upgrade by getting a case, PSU and RAM as cheaply as possible which will survive 2-3 upgrades. My DVD drive will be my 360 HD-DVD player

U_Fig

Noobsaibot21 wrote: »

SSD, i7, a new mobo and graphics card will be when I upgrade in two years or so. This one is just to prepare for that upgrade by getting a case, PSU and RAM as cheaply as possible which will survive 2-3 upgrades. My DVD drive will be my 360 HD-DVD player

You won't see much Benifit In games with an i7 over the i5 at least not at the moment possibly in times to come.. DO NOT cheap out on the PSU it'll be loud inefficient and more than likely cause problems ram is cheap enough and there is a few good cheap cases around.. Make sure you get one with good airflow

if you are definitely upgrading you could skip the overclocking stuff you could go Asrock b75 chipset or h77 and i5 3450 and save some € but usually k series have better resale value

Noobsaibot21

Based on advise from here & elsewhere, along with painstaking research on all recommendations, I've decided to basically go for the following at is suits my needs perfectly well:

Item|Price
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H|€124.94
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€205.99
8GB Corsair XMS3 PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24|€32.38
Corsair Carbide Series 200R, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€56.68
Club 3D Radeon HD 7850 royalKing, 1GB GDDR5|€160.37
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€53.91
Shipping | €18.99
Discount code obtained online | -€10.00
Total | €643.26


However, I am struggling to find a finance option on the German website. Does anyone know how on earth I can get this? Or can we even get it in Ireland? I can only "prepay" or pay by Paypal - No finance options anywhere

challengemaster

No finance options on HWVS for residents outside of germany

III

Noobsaibot21 wrote: »

Based on advise from here & elsewhere, along with painstaking research on all recommendations, I've decided to basically go for the following at is suits my needs perfectly well:

Item|Price
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H|€124.94
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€205.99
8GB Corsair XMS3 PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24|€32.38
Corsair Carbide Series 200R, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€56.68
Club 3D Radeon HD 7850 royalKing, 1GB GDDR5|€160.37
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€53.91
Shipping | €18.99
Discount code obtained online | -€10.00
Total | €643.26


However, I am struggling to find a finance option on the German website. Does anyone know how on earth I can get this? Or can we even get it in Ireland? I can only "prepay" or pay by Paypal - No finance options anywhere

do you want to share that discount code... pwease

Noobsaibot21

Damn on the finance option. I'll have to look elsewhere as I was really relying on the finance option. Do you know of any other sites which offer finance to Ireland? scan.co.uk do but it's a bit more expensive

BTW, the voucher code is V5UFEDNXXA