Review my build, any suggestions?

[dylanchisman]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy myself a new desktop and I want the best value for money I can get, but I want to the best performance I can... basically, I'm trying to find a balance between cost and performance with leniency on the performance side. Could anyone suggest some changes to this build? It's currently £870 to build it for me.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 300R COMPACT GAMING CASE

Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-3570k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.60GHz)

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 3 Capable
Free Item
Free Item
FREE BIOSHOCK INFINITE & TOMB RAIDER with AMD 7850/7870 GPUs!

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)

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

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)

Processor Cooling
Corsair H40 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£39)

Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£9)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)

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

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Office Software
FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2013

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE (£5)

Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK260 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£22)

Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)

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


Overview of system:
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 300R COMPACT GAMING CASE
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-3570k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 3 Capable
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE
Corsair H40 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler

 

[Fendle]

That seems pretty expensive for 870 quid, have you tried to use PC Part Pickers to get the best prices.

 

[MMA]

Are you buying this off cyberpower or something cause $1300+ for this build is ridiculous.

 

[dylanchisman]

Are you buying this off cyberpower or something cause $1300+ for this build is ridiculous.

Well i'm not going to lie, I've never built my own computer before so I'm a bit hesitant to buy everything separately and attempt to put it together myself. I know all of these parts are compatible and I'm sure I could whack it together with a step-by-step guide.

There's just little things putting me off doing it myself. When I buy the case for example, does it come with all the screws and shit to whack like.. hard drives etc in to their ports?

 

[dylanchisman]

That seems pretty expensive for 870 quid, have you tried to use PC Part Pickers to get the best prices.

Well, I've got this down as a setup now, any opinions?

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/EEbI

 

[Fendle]

Jesus, get rid of that hard drive. 68 Pounds for a 250GB hard drive is day light robbery. Yes it is easy to build a system and you get everything you need and most motherboards are labeled with where you put the wires.

Also do you plan to overclock the CPU if not get rid of that cooler its really not needed the CPU comes with a stock cooler anyway. Plus UK is pretty cold anyway. ;p

Also use this Hard Drive imo - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex

 

[MMA]

Like fendle said you don't need that cooler. The stock cpu cooler that comes with the i5 works great for general use and comes with thermal paste pre-applied. You could save a few bucks and get a cheaper asus motherboard if you want to. I would personally go with G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) as it's the same price and I've had nothing but good experience with G.skill.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

 

[dylanchisman]

Hiya again. Thank you for the feedback - it's much appreciated again!

Now.. I think I've made a few changes that make sense from what you've said.

Here's what I've got up to now

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/EKly

Would there be anything you'd change here? All the help is greatly appreciated Little bit nervous with building it however, but I'm sure it'll be easy when I get it. At the end of the day, the majority of it is just plugging things in slots really I suppose

 

[szskateman22]

Hiya again. Thank you for the feedback - it's much appreciated again!

Now.. I think I've made a few changes that make sense from what you've said.

Here's what I've got up to now

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/EKly

Would there be anything you'd change here? All the help is greatly appreciated Little bit nervous with building it however, but I'm sure it'll be easy when I get it. At the end of the day, the majority of it is just plugging things in slots really I suppose

I'll tell you now that you're going to need a more powerful PSU than a 430W; the Graphics card requires a "Minimum of a 500 Watt power supply." ~ Newegg. Not to mention the PSU is NEVER something to go cheap on unless you really want to gamble. If the PSU fails, you can end up frying your whole computer -> £600+ down the drain.

And I still don't understand why people go for a smaller SSD... an extra £16 ($20USD?) you get a 128GB::6GB/s::SSD... £0.55/GB as opposed to the £0.84/GB for the brand I've never heard of. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/sandisk-internal-hard-drive-sdssdhp128gg25

 

[Fendle]

I'll tell you now that you're going to need a more powerful PSU than a 430W; the Graphics card requires a "Minimum of a 500 Watt power supply." ~ Newegg. Not to mention the PSU is NEVER something to go cheap on unless you really want to gamble. If the PSU fails, you can end up frying your whole computer -> £600+ down the drain.

And I still don't understand why people go for a smaller SSD... an extra £16 ($20USD?) you get a 128GB::6GB/s::SSD... £0.55/GB as opposed to the £0.84/GB for the brand I've never heard of. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/sandisk-internal-hard-drive-sdssdhp128gg25

This,


If you want to do future upgrades then you will be limited due to your small PSU, also go for a good quality and it will last you. Also 64GB SSD is pretty small and I have also never heard of that make either.

But other than that pretty good build there.

 

[dylanchisman]

I'll tell you now that you're going to need a more powerful PSU than a 430W; the Graphics card requires a "Minimum of a 500 Watt power supply." ~ Newegg. Not to mention the PSU is NEVER something to go cheap on unless you really want to gamble. If the PSU fails, you can end up frying your whole computer -> £600+ down the drain.

And I still don't understand why people go for a smaller SSD... an extra £16 ($20USD?) you get a 128GB::6GB/s::SSD... £0.55/GB as opposed to the £0.84/GB for the brand I've never heard of. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/sandisk-internal-hard-drive-sdssdhp128gg25

Hero! Right, I've got a build with well-known branded parts, swapped out the Radeon 7850 to the 7870 (it was only like £14 more so I thought I might as well) and I've got the larger SSD and a better PSU at 750 watts. It's only an extra ~£75 for a better graphics card, double the SSD storage, a 2TB hard drive as opposed to a 1TB one and much better power supply, so here's the final outcome:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/EL1V


I think I'm getting there now Or would you opt to change something else? I actually much prefer the look of this one than the one at the start by a country mile. It's a much better system and a much lower price

 

[szskateman22]

Much better! Seems you have everything to make a really strong build with more than enough room to expand if you ever decide to. I'm honestly kind of jealous. Nice job!

 

[Fendle]

Nice, the Hard Drive you selected will be slower as its RPM is lower but it won't effect you so just keep it. Toshiba is a good make anyway. I would personally go for 16GB of RAM but that is just me.

 

[szskateman22]

Nice, the Hard Drive you selected will be slower as its RPM is lower but it won't effect you so just keep it. Toshiba is a good make anyway. I would personally go for 16GB of RAM but that is just me.

7200 is just about the standard HDD spin. No need to go higher than that if it's just for storage. Not to mention the major programs will be going on the SSD.

 

[dylanchisman]

Much better! Seems you have everything to make a really strong build with more than enough room to expand if you ever decide to. I'm honestly kind of jealous. Nice job!

Right, on that note I'll get all that then, but what about fans?? I haven't got any there, I've got some old ones but they're pretty gash and I don't even think they work. Will I need new ones and if so, are the vents like... already on the case itself I take it??

 

[szskateman22]

Right, on that note I'll get all that then, but what about fans?? I haven't got any there, I've got some old ones but they're pretty gash and I don't even think they work. Will I need new ones and if so, are the vents like... already on the case itself I take it??

Most cases come with fans set up inside of them. If you want to add extra, you can always go and buy a few extra (Varies by case- don't just go & buy).

The CM Storm Enforcer you have linked in the build provides 3 fans:
Cooling System
120mm Fans
1 x 120 mm Rear Black Fan, 1200 RPM
200mm Fans
1 x 200mm Top Red LED Fan, 1000 RPM (optional)
1 x 200mm Front Red LED Fan

~ Provided by Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119240

 

[MMA]

The Storm enforcer is a nice case I have one and if you don't plan on overclocking your cpu you can save like $20 by getting a regular i5-3570 there's no difference besides it can't be overclocked.

 

[risk it nerd]

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/EMGm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/EMGm/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/EMGm/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£62.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£36.23 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£65.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£69.96 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (£296.09 @ Aria PC)
Case: Inwin MANA137 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£4.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£48.61 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £759.83
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-20 19:28 GMT+0000)
Well, this case is $60, on sale for 5 pounds, don't waste this deal, it's not the best case, but for 5 pounds it baws
7970, happy?
PSU is 620W, it's modular, no mess inside the case incase it had no good cable management options.
Everything else is great, I challenge anyone to come up with a better build!

 

[dylanchisman]

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/EMGm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/EMGm/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/EMGm/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£62.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£36.23 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£65.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£69.96 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (£296.09 @ Aria PC)
Case: Inwin MANA137 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£4.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£48.61 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £759.83
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-20 19:28 GMT+0000)
Well, this case is $60, on sale for 5 pounds, don't waste this deal, it's not the best case, but for 5 pounds it baws
7970, happy?
PSU is 620W, it's modular, no mess inside the case incase it had no good cable management options.
Everything else is great, I challenge anyone to come up with a better build!

Hi,

This is very very nice for the price, but when you try to buy that case, it's actually a link for a case fan? The actual case is like £40 lol

 

[risk it nerd]

Hi,

This is very very nice for the price, but when you try to buy that case, it's actually a link for a case fan? The actual case is like £40 lol

WOW, LOL, I'm really sorry, I didn't check it, here goes a nice cheap case:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-s210002