First Build (For a friend)

[vettieboo]

Hey, I was building a very budget machine for a friend and was hoping for some advice. Last build was about 2 years ago so I may be completely out of touch, any advice would be appreciated. He has a budget of £500 (or close) and I've been struggling. He wants a new machine that can play games to a reasonable level, but I've been finding it a challenge.



Few things to note: I'm aware there isn't a HDD for storage, I'm hoping to negotiate it up to £550 to allow that. Also would be happy to go to different places for sourcing (as I plan to do for the windows 7, I just was listing it for completeness on here.)

Thanks!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The following build is not made for overclocking,but comes to around £500 if you use the free Scan postage.



An SSD is nice,but for a gaming system is not essential IMHO.

Scan does special offers every weekday:

http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/

If you can up the budget I would suggest getting the following graphics card:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-112...6453410&sr=8-5

[vettieboo]

I've had a talk with him, he's happy to go to a maximum of £600, no more however. Think that would allow a better spec in another area, adding an SSD, or should I stick with what I have and just get the better graphics card?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Excellent!

So,I would get the HD7850 2GB I suggested off Amazon.

Novatech sell this OEM Core i5 2400:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...155socket/?o=1

The OEM CPUs come with a shorter 1 year warranty but TBH,either CPUs tends to be DOA or lasts for years IMHO.

You can get some cashback too:

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/novatech/

http://www.quidco.com/novatech/

You can get the Intel stock cooler for £5:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...t-sink-fan-oem

I would get this motherboard:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-b...dvi-d-hdmi-atx

The RAM should run fine at 1333MHZ and 1.5V,which is what it will default to with Intel CPUs. The CPU cannot be overclocked,but a Core i5 2400 is fast enough.

The total should come to around £600.

A Core i5 2400 and an HD7850 2GB will be a good combination. Moreover,the HD7850 2GB cards are known for being decent overclockers too.

[vettieboo]

Well just added it all together and comes just under £592, pretty great! I just wanted to ask (As I've never really gone the OEM Processor route before) if I'd need to get thermal paste if I bought the Intel stock cooler, or does this come with the standard thermal pad? Don't worry about overclocking, he has no interest in doing so at any point in the near future.

I may have to wait a bit before buying, he's just informed me that he doesn't get paid till end of this month so may have to come back and check over deals nearer the time.

Thanks again!

[asderferjerkel]

That cooler should come with paste pre-applied.

[ladcrooks]

Change the Hardrive for sure! Seagate, yuk! Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB

[vettieboo]

Is it better to get a SATA II in this case then? I also saw this and was wondering if that was better?

Thanks.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Is it better to get a SATA II in this case then? I also saw this and was wondering if that was better?

Thanks.

The Samsung HDD business is part of Seagate now.

[vettieboo]

The Samsung HDD business is part of Seagate now.

Thanks, I personally have no issue with Seagate (used them in the past) so was a bit confused the with the statement. I'll stick with the original HDD then.

[vettieboo]

Still waiting for the main bulk of money to come in for this, but I have a couple of updates:
1. I bought the case already, a Zalman Z9 Plus as it was on offer. So that knocks my budget down to £560 ish for the rest of the build.

2. I am currently on the look out for offers on the graphics card and saw a deal for a HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB at £149.99, is this worth snapping up? I was also looking at the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 Overclocked for £159.59 and MSI AMD Radeon HD 7850 Twin Frozr III for £159.98, both 2GB, but the price difference is extremely tempting. Is there anything wrong with HIS? I'm only really familiar with Sapphire and ASUS myself.

Thanks!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Still waiting for the main bulk of money to come in for this, but I have a couple of updates:
1. I bought the case already, a Zalman Z9 Plus as it was on offer. So that knocks my budget down to £560 ish for the rest of the build.

2. I am currently on the look out for offers on the graphics card and saw a deal for a HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB at £149.99, is this worth snapping up? I was also looking at the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 Overclocked for £159.59 and MSI AMD Radeon HD 7850 Twin Frozr III for £159.98, both 2GB, but the price difference is extremely tempting. Is there anything wrong with HIS? I'm only really familiar with Sapphire and ASUS myself.

Thanks!

HD7870 and GTX660 cards are now hitting £180 for the cheapest ones. It might worth seeing what the next round of price reductions will do!!

[vettieboo]

Any idea when these price reductions will be? I only ask because I'm aiming to order all the parts at the end of this month, plus the budget it already quite close with the 7850! Are the cards I mentioned no good then?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Any idea when these price reductions will be? I only ask because I'm aiming to order all the parts at the end of this month, plus the budget it already quite close with the 7850! Are the cards I mentioned no good then?

They perfectly decent and the HD7850 2GB cards do overclock quite well.

[vettieboo]

Are there any major differences with the brands? I don't really have much experience with HIS, Gigabyte or MSI, so was hoping someone could help me on picking one that isn't going to be a dud. Is it worth paying more for either the MSI or Gigabyte? Is £150 a good price for a 7850?

Thanks, I'm grateful for all this help!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

MSI and Gigabyte have good warranties AFAIK. However,like I said there were price cuts announced for the HD7850,HD7870 and HD7950.