Spec for new PC

[mitchell65]

My old PC has died
The mobo and CPU are kaput so it is time to bite the bullet and invest in new. Below is the spec I intend to purchase. Cost will be just under £700. I think it looks good value, what do others think?

Case COOLERMASTER ELITE 311 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® P8H77-M: M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st Hard Disk 180GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Sound Card ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence

 

[maxie]

Sounds good to me , I take it you will be making it yourself .?

 

[pebbly]

Have you had a look here John ? Award winning supplier, performance hardware & systems - Scan.co.uk

 

[mmkarimi]

why have you selected two HDD?
why not choosing one 1T HDD instead!

 

[smarteyeball]

why have you selected two HDD?
why not choosing one 1T HDD instead!

1st Hard Disk 180GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD,

2nd Hard Disk 500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM

Is why.

 

[mmkarimi]

That's brilliant choice dude

 

[mitchell65]

I should have pointed out in my first post that although I have built my own PC's before this one comes ready built with a full 3 year warranty for under £700. You get to choose exactly the components you want together with a choice of Win 7 or 8 pre installed but absolutely no bloat ware so you get the PC in the condition you get after a clean install!

 

[pebbly]

Is the intergrated graphics good enough for your needs John ?

 

[mitchell65]

Is the intergrated graphics good enough for your needs John ?

Yes more than adequate thanks. I was trying to keep the cost down below £700 so a better graphics would have been a luxury. It's always difficult to know when to stop in the configuration but the wallet shouts a bit if I go too far! This rig should last me well. If i needed better graphics in the future there's no reason why I can't fit a new card but I doubt I shall need it. My main consideration was power for photo (RAW format) and HD Video editing. The fact that I mentioned HD video might lead someone to suggest I need a Blue Ray burner. Very few of my videos are more than 30 mins long so I use a hybrid system. I can get 25 - 30 mins of HD video on a standard single side DVD and it plays perfectly in a Blue Ray player attached to my TV.

Thanks for all the responses.

 

[LittleJay]

I went with a build to order PC about 2 years ago and have been very happy with it, although I would like to build one from the ground up sometime. Your proposed build looks good to me. I would be interested in knowing how well the onboard GPU works. I am not a gamer and would like to go that way myself.

 

[Dwarf]

Looks good to me. Just a few things that I might change, depending on the cost implication.

1) CPU: Get the i7-3770K (allows for easy overclocking).
2) RAM: DDR3-1600 (use the XMP profile) and possibly increase the amount.
3) Optical Drive: Get a BluRay unit instead.

 

[pebbly]

"The fact that I mentioned HD video might lead someone to suggest I need a Blue Ray burner. Very few of my videos are more than 30 mins long so I use a hybrid system. I can get 25 - 30 mins of HD video on a standard single side DVD and it plays perfectly in a Blue Ray player attached to my TV."

Who did'nt read the thread Dwarf :roflmao::devil2:

 

[Dwarf]

I did read it. I was thinking more along the lines of future-proofing.

Here are the specs of my optical drive: http://www.lg.com/us/products/documents/BH10LS30%20spec%20sheet.pdf

 

[mitchell65]

Looks good to me. Just a few things that I might change, depending on the cost implication.

1) CPU: Get the i7-3770K (allows for easy overclocking).
2) RAM: DDR3-1600 (use the XMP profile) and possibly increase the amount.
3) Optical Drive: Get a BluRay unit instead.

Thanks for the input. I had considered the last two ideas and they took me past my budget and I didn't think I could justify either more RAM or a BluRay burner. Why would i need to overclock the CPU?

 

[bigmck]

It looks like a really nice build. I think I read where you are getting a 450w PSU. That just seems borderline to me. You might consider a bigger one if you can stay in your budget.

 

[mitchell65]

It looks like a really nice build. I think I read where you are getting a 450w PSU. That just seems borderline to me. You might consider a bigger one if you can stay in your budget.

Thanks for that. I selected all the components and found that the total wattage was 227w. The Company who are building the PC show a compatibility chart and that showed a 350w PSU was sufficient. I thought that a bit low so upped it to 450W.

 

[bigmck]

Sounds good. Be sure and take some pictures of it when it is built.

 

[Pedroc1999]

Sounds Like a solid Pc Rig, with great gaming potencial if you put a dedicated gpu in it...

 

[mitchell65]

Sounds Like a solid Pc Rig, with great gaming potencial if you put a dedicated gpu in it...

The main reason why I didn't put a dedicated Graphics Card in the rig was that I have never played a computer game nor have i the inclination or desire to do so. Remember Pedro that I am more than 60 years older than you and have never been exposed to the world of gaming. I think I can understand the attraction for some but it holds nothing for me at all. Indeed I would regard it as a complete waste of time! But I would not condemn anybody else who enjoys gaming. Each to his own!

 

[Pedroc1999]

Yes i understand. It was a bit of a compliment to the choice of parts as a gaming computer needs all parts to be quite high end. I agree the igp will be enough for you