Another €1k Build

Tropheus

Hi,

I nearly bought last year until my wife's car decided to act up and swallowed the budget. I'm ready to go again over the next couple of weeks:

1. What is your budget? [€1k (maybe a little over)]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming (mainly PES/FIFA and Flightsim)/Internet/mail/MS Office] (If gaming include which games)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes

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

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes

5a. If yes, what size do you need. 24'

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] [Yes/No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No] Yes, why not.

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser] Flexible.

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days] 15-30 days

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? North County Dublin, but should manage it.

Here's what I have so far, but I need to trim the cost back a bit if possible.

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155[/URL]|€207.02
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9[/URL]|€53.22
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition, 2GB GDDR5, PCI-Express[/URL]|€213.97
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX[/URL]|€82.94
FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Black Pearl[/URL]|€95.35
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 128GB SATA 6Gb/s[/URL]|€114.90
Seagate Barracuda 7200 2000GB, SATA 6Gb/s[/URL]|€81.89
LG 24EA53VQ[/URL]|€169.00
Samsung SH-224BB bare schwarz[/URL]|€17.18
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W[/URL]|€59.07
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1113.53

Serephucus

You can drop back to a 450W PSU and be perfectly fine. You can also ditch the optical drive if you don't need it. Windows can be installed via USB drive. The Nanoxia Deep Silence One is better case, and is €3 cheaper. If you need to trim it down further, you could drop back to a 120GB Samsung 840. That's about €65 saved in total.

Tropheus

Thanks. I'll delete the CD-ROM. I have a laptop with a DVD drive so I can use that to copy Windows to a USB key. I'll drop the PSU to 450w and switch to that case. It does look better.

Tropheus

Revised build, comments welcome.

Do I need any additional fans or cables?

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€207.02
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€53.22
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition, 2GB GDDR5, PCI-Express|€213.97
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€82.94
LG 24EA53VQ|€169.00
Nanoxia Deep Silence One Dark Black, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€92.31
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€46.53
Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€85.16
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.83
MS Windows 8 64bit (SB-Version) Englisch|€85.50
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1084.47

Serephucus

You don't need this, but I'd maybe recommend adding a better fan to that cooler. Cooler Master isn't known for fantastic fans.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/120mm/49144/Scythe+GentleTyphoon+120+mm+L%C3%BCfter+1150+rpm.article

BloodBath

I'd change the graphics card to this.

Only €15 more with free delivery for the better tahiti chip. It performs in between a normal 7870 and a 7950.

Serephucus

You linked to a currency converter page. :P

BloodBath

Doh. Cheers, fixed

Tropheus

Resurrecting this as I'm going to purchase in the next few days.

I've dropped the case to a BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower and upped the GPU. I've also added a SATA cable and a 3x fan adapter. May not need the SATA cable, but will need the fan adapter. Everything bar the SSD is in stock at this stage - any alternatives?

I didn't go Haswell in the end as the overclocking temperatures seem to be not worth the hassle. Anyone want to convince me otherwise before I order.

Cheers!

Item|Price
BitFenix 3-Pin zu 3x 3-Pin Adapter 60cm, sleeved blau/schwarz|€7.23
LogiLink SATA 0.9m Kabel mit Sicherungslasche,|€1.22
2 x BitFenix Spectre PRO 140mm Lüfter - all black|€24.76
Club 3D Radeon HD 7950 13Series, 3GB GDDR5, AMD Radeon HD 7950, PCI- Express|€267.63
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-10667U CL9|€60.14
Seagate Barracuda 7200 2000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€79.79
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil|€53.03
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€202.90
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€81.89
LG 24EA53VQ|€159.00
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€46.38
Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€81.99
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.18
MS Windows 8 64bit (SB-Version) Englisch|€84.65
Ultron Cardreader 75-in-1, intern, schwarz|€9.93
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1208.71

BloodBath

Looks good. You could get normal spectres if you wanted to save some money. The pro's are higher rpm and noisier. Not ideal for case fans as even the normal spectres are too fast/loud. You would be turning them down a little in the BIOS anyway. They are also 140mm fans. Only the top 2 exhausts would take these. You want to be adding 120mm intakes as it comes with a rear exhaust already.

This to me would be better value. The case comes with 3 stocks fans instead of 1 on the bitfenix. Your total cost for case, splitter and fans was €85 with 3 case fans and a far inferior case. It comes in 4 colours as well but all are out of stock atm.

Tropheus

If I opt for the Nanoxia Deep Silence One do I need extra fans? If so, what would you recommend?

Looks like I'll need to go for the 265gb SSD if I want to order now.

Thanks again for the advice.

Tropheus

Actually the 120gb SSD is back in stock tomorrow so I'll stick with it.

BloodBath

The one also comes with 3 fans. You won't need any additional fans. More will improve airflow of course. You could add 2 x 140mm ones if you wanted. The Enermax TB silence ones are decent case fans for the price.

Tropheus

Thanks BB. Ordered the Nanoxia Deep Silence One without the additional fans. I can add them at a later date if needed. The SSD will be back in stock today or tomorrow, but the monitor is out of stock with no date as yet. I've waited this long so another week or so won't matter.

I'll post a pics when I start the build.

Tropheus

Was on holiday for 10 days a picked up the stuff from UPS today. Here's a pic of the build. I need to tidy up the wiring a bit. Only problem is that the system isn't recognising the Seagate Barracuda 7200 2000GB. I can see it in the BIOS and drivers, but can't see it in My Computer. Any suggestions?

marco_polo

Its probably unformatted, if you go into disk manager you should be able to format it and assign a drive letter.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/disk-management-windows-7.htm

Danger781

Tidy up the cables

Tropheus

Thanks MP, that worked!

Tropheus

Thanks to everyone for their help on this build. It took me about 4 hours from beginning to end. I do have experience from about 20 years ago (worked in Tech Support for a large PC manufacturer) , but this has been my first time to get deep into a build in some time.

It is pretty straight forward once you follow the instructions. The wiring from the case and PSU are a bit daunting, but I just took my time and figured it out. The connectors are all different so it's not possible to put something where it shouldn't be.

I'm surprised how quiet the system is compared to my old Dell XPS 600. This has a lot more fans, but is way quieter. The Nanoxia case is very good quality way above that of the old Dell.

I'm in the process of overclocking and have achieved 4.5 Ghz with a max CPU temperature of 72c. I'm stress testing it at the moment with Prime95 and it seems pretty stable. I won't push it any higher than that.

And yes, I will tidy up those cables:)

Tropheus

Tidied up the cables and also removed some of the hard drive bays that I'm no using to improve air flow. Also installed a couple of roof fans to be on the safe side.