First time thinking of building a new PC

[Gaz1701]

Since I'm still new to all this, I'd like your opinions on what you think of this potential setup that I'm thinking of making - thankfully PCSpecialist.co.uk will be doing the actual building and testing of this, and not me

So you know, I go on the internet a lot, don't do much artistic-wise, but I do like my gaming - I enjoy games like Burnout: Paradise, Just Cause 2 [replacing Far Cry 2 as an exploration game], (would like to buy Crysis 2... when it's reduced in price), and Unreal Tournament 3 (among others which aren't that graphics intensive).

I'm hoping this will last me for some years to come! It's a real shame I can't transfer my old DDR2 RAM to this new PC

Any questions?

"Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-960 (3.20GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)

Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6670 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11
Free Item

Free Item
FREE Total War Shogun™ 2 with any AMD® Radeon™ Graphics card!

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)

Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1366 STANDARD CPU COOLER

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED (already got Win 7 64-bit)

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE (don't use it)

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE (got Norton Anti-Virus 360 - 1 PC left I think)

Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days


Price: £655.00"

 

[linnemeyerhere]

First things first the PSU is undersized in my opinion. I would look towards a minimum 600-800 watts and go modular. Then the next thing that catches my eye is a primary hard drive with only 8gb of cache is going to be a dog of a drive (slow) upgrade to at least 32gb to 64gb of cache.

 

[Gaz1701]

According to PCSpecialists, when I put it higher it says this:

You have selected a 600W power supply, but based on our calculations you actually only need a 450W power supply. We have calculated your specification to require around 366W of power including a 20% allowance. Although it is not a mandatory requirement to select a lower wattage power supply, doing so will save you money and the last thing we'd like to do is over charge you!

Also, what do you mean by modular exactly?

 

[pendragonfalls]

3gb sata drive, when the mobo supports 6gb sata..? Agree you need fast cashe as well 64mb.

I would use a SSD as your OS drive, if you can afford it though. I have one on my system and its like lightning..!

only 4gb RAM? Go to the max, its fairly cheap, and win7 64 bit will use it.

 

[bobkn]

At this point in time, I'd suggest going with a second generation CPU Core I5-2500k or I7-2600k. Both are quad core; the I7 supports hyperthreading. The 2500k is approx. 2/3 the price of the 2600k, so I suggest that.

You'd need a Socket 1155 motherboard to go with it. If you want to overclock, it'd have to be a P67 or Z68 board. (For overclocking, you'd best get a third-party CPU cooler as well.) If you go Socket 1155, be sure to get 1.5V DDR3 memory that is compatible with it.

If you stay with the Socket 1366 board, I suggest getting triple channel memory. The board will support dual channel, but performance will be better with 3 channel.

(The Socket 1155 board will only support dual channel, but its improved memory performance over the X58 board will narrow the gap.)

You don't mention a make of power supply. A good 450W PSU can be superior to a poor 600W PSU. A "modular" PSU has cables that plug into the PSU; you don't use the ones that you don't need.

The graphics card is a midrange unit. A 6850 would have significantly better performance. (It would cost more as well, but I tried to suggest an alternative that would be more nearly a high-end card but at a relatively low price.)


I'm not convinced that PCSpecialist.co.uk is offering you the best combination to fit your needs. The X58 board would have been a high-end choice, back in early 2009. The Socket 1155 systems basically outperform them for most purposes, even though 1155 is basically a midrange platform. (Socket 2011 will be the replacement for 1366, but it won't be available for a while.)

Why not build your own? (Tools required: one medium Philips screwdriver. An old credit card to spread the heatsink compound on the CPU. A few paper towels.) There's a first time for everything. Why not now?

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Gaz1701,
bobkn is absolutely right, this is the time to do this build with top shelf components and save money and learn a ton. By doing this you won't fear to open the case and make changes later as you'll realize just how simple it all goes together. So many added benefits and you are at the right place to ask the questions and get great answers. We need to know how you use your computer, where your live in the world and what's your budget. You'll have a blast in the process and the hardest part is selecting the components because you'll have tons of quality options....but this too is a blast then the worst part is waiting for it all to arrive and wait for the day of the build.

 

[NTFSStream]

back in the day building a pc was definitely ideal, cause you could easily get the most bang for your buck. Now adays there's a lot of pre-built pc's that you can't make any cheaper, newegg.com has a lot of great pc's, and I recommend getting parts from there too.

 

[essenbe]

I agree with bobkn and linnemeyerhere. With what's available today and considering price/performance, there is nothing that can compete with Sandy Bridge for most users. Pick out the parts yourself and put it together yourself. Put the money you were going to pay them to build it on better quality parts. If you need help, we will help you with parts selection. You will be amazed at how easy it really is. Another advantage to building yourself is if something goes wrong with it, you know how to fix it and you know where everything is. It's so easy, well...

 

[bobkn]

back in the day building a pc was definitely ideal, cause you could easily get the most bang for your buck. Now adays there's a lot of pre-built pc's that you can't make any cheaper, newegg.com has a lot of great pc's, and I recommend getting parts from there too.

Gaz1701 seems to be from the UK. Newegg serves only the US and Canada.

 

[JaidynM]

Hiya Gaz1701,

RAM I would go for more than 4GB RAM. Say around 8GB+.

GRAPHICS CARD nVidia in my opinion is just that little bit better than ATI. For example, Call of Duty players using ATI cards have complained that smoke appears to be a grey wall while nVidia users have found no problems with the graphics. I also think that ATI is slightly overpriced but that's just my opinion.

POWER SUPPLY 450w PSU is not all that much. Sure, the minimum for a HD6670 is 400w but to be on the safe side, I'd be getting a PSU that's at least 550w.

ANTI-VIRUS Norton in my opinion is terrible. I use Trend Micro. I would go for something that's not made by Symantec.

Hope that helps. Oh, and by the way, you might want a 1TB HDD. I have found that 500GB disappears quite quickly.

Jaidyn

 

[Seeliewight]

Let me reinforce what bobkn and the others say:

- get a "good brand" PSU - Corsair, Antec, Silverstore, Seasonic, XFX all make excellent power supplies. I would get 500-550W, but not more than that for your current needs. The PSU is the heart of your system - do not scrimp here!

- you don't mention your monitor's resolution? The graphics card you need will change (read: get more expensive) as the resolution goes up. Based on that, we could give you a better recommendation.

- get the Core i5-2500 and a socket 1155 motherboard. Cheaper than your current choice and faster in many applications, including games. If you are not planning to overclock, you can get the base i5-2500 (not the i5-2500k) and save a few more pounds. Also might be able to get a cheaper motherboard then.

- if you can, get an 80GB or 120GB SSD as your main boot drive. Your system will speed up immensely. All the big brands (Intel, Corsair, OCZ, Crucial) are good, get the cheapest one. If you do get an SSD, you may want to get a "green" HDD (one that spins at 5400 rpm), it will be quieter.

Hope this helps!

 

[Gaz1701]

Hi all, thanks for all your advice.

TBH, most of this is WAY over my head.

I have Asperger's Syndrome, and I don't have an online bank account (I normally get my brother to order things for me with his account - and I pay him back when I get the chance), so it'd be a bit of a fuss for my brother to have him order all these parts from all the various places.

I also wouldn't know where to get all these parts for the best deals anyway. As bobkn said, I live in the UK, so I can't use NewEgg.

We don't have that much time, money, or patience to spend so much time trying to put a PC together. I'm trying to go for the simplest and easiest approach possible.

I should've said this at the beginning really, so sorry about that.


Besides, I'm hopefully going to send my [current] computer in to Currys (my dad's a salesman there) to see if they can sort out my graphics card problem. I've printed out everything that went wrong with it, right from installing that new 2GB RAM to now.

 

[Dwarf]

Your propsed PSU will be the Achilles Heel in this system. Given that the total cost is £655, why are you only considering splashing out £29 for a cheap and tacky PSU? The PSU is one of the most important components in the system, and, as such, deserves careful consideration when choosing one. I would be looking for a minimum 650W model given your hardware, and I would be looking at a price of no lower than £65-£70.

Where are you getting all the components from?

 

[essenbe]

Gaz1701, Listen to what everyone is telling you. Make wise decisions, not only for today but for the future. We can help you pick good parts for your computer. If you buy it from someone else, you are going to pay more for the parts and are probably get inferior components. You can assemble a computer in 2-3 hours. If you don't want to do that, go to some local computer stores and ask them how much they will charge to assemble it for you if you provide the parts.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If you want to buy a pre-assembled system, at least provide us with the web site of your possible suppliers so we can root through their hardware and possibly find you the best deal on those specific websites--separating the wheat from the chaff.

I assume you will NOT be overclocking??

What will be the primary uses of this computer?

It's entirely possible you may not need a lot of power--a low level Sandy Bridge PC may be just fine.

More details please, and some web sites.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I just configured a reasonable system at PCSpecialist.co.uk for 492 pounds, including VAT.

Windows 7 Home premium, Intel Sandy Bridge 2100, no monitor, 4 gb ram, 650 watt Corsair PSU, integrated video and audio, 500 GB drive. Asus H67 chipset motherboard, micro ATX.

The only reason I chose the Corsair 650 watt PSU was because that was the cheapest option for which I could choose a name brand. The cheaper options were "no-name" brands of unknown quality.

includes Office Starter edition.

I don't think it includes keyboard or mouse?

No antivirus.

The point is, you can do pretty good at that supplier if you know what to look for.

 

[essenbe]

I just configured a reasonable system at PCSpecialist.co.uk for 492 pounds, including VAT.

Windows 7 Home premium, Intel Sandy Bridge 2100, no monitor, 4 gb ram, 650 watt Corsair PSU, integrated video and audio, 500 GB drive. Asus H67 chipset motherboard, micro ATX.

The only reason I chose the Corsair 650 watt PSU was because that was the cheapest option for which I could choose a name brand. The cheaper options were "no-name" brands of unknown quality.

includes Office Starter edition.

I don't think it includes keyboard or mouse?

No antivirus.

The point is, you can do pretty good at that supplier if you know what to look for.

That is a very good price. Good job.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Gaz1701:

I see from your original post that you already have Windows and that you will be gaming at some mid level.

So you should delete Windows from the configuration I made and add back in the video card you had chosen.

You should still be under 600 pounds somewhere.

The point is to avoid the 900 series of processors from Intel. Nothing wrong with them, but they are outperformed by the more recent 2000 series.

Set your budget peak and then refer to my configuration. Move your processor up from the 2100 until you hit your budget maximum. Going to a 2500 rather than 2100 might add 50 or 75 pounds. I did not check on that.

Post a revised configuration and also provide the web site of any other sources you may have.

You can acquire decent anti-virus and anti-malware applications at no charge.

You might consider adding in another hard drive for backup purposes, probably an external unit.

Most of your chosen parts are OK--the exceptions being (in my opinion), the motherboard and processor.

Someone else may be better able to comment on your choice of video card as I do not game.