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SpikeTheMaster
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Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Tue May 22, 2012 2:46 pm

Hi guys, I am looking to build myself a PC, I have upgraded PCs in the past, but never built one completely from scratch, please point out any mistakes! (I live in Guernsey and so don't pay VAT.. :D)

So far I have picked out the following components:

Motherboard  - Asus P8Z77-V                           £141.98
CPU          - i7-3770                                £229.39
RAM          - Corsair Vengeance Black 16GB (2x8GB)   £179.99 (Should I go for 4 sticks?)
Graphics     - EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Classified        £239.99 (Is this the best card, I don't really want to spend much more than this on a card.)
SSD          - Corsair Force Series GT (240GB)        £196.24
HDD          - Hitachi 1TB Deskstar SATA II 7200rpm   £61.00
Case         - Antec 302                              £54.98  (Not willing to spend much more on a case, unsure if I need a bigger one?)
PSU          - Corsair TX 650W V2 '80 Plus Bronze'    £74.99
DVD/CD       - OcUK 22x DVD±RW                        £17.99

Total                                                 £1,103.57

I chose not to go with the K variant as I dont want to overclock for fear of reducing the lifespan of my components, it would be nice if this build could last as long as possible.. I am a heavy multi tasker (work with virtual machines, and Visual Studio, for .NET development) and I enjoy gaming, so hopefully I have chosen most of the right stuff!

My current screen is a 24" Benq @ 1920x1080

Thanks in advance for your comments :D
 
Arclight
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Tue May 22, 2012 2:53 pm

EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Classified £239.99 (Is this the best card, I don't really want to spend much more


Pls don't....
nVidia video drivers FAIL, click for more info
Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.
 
SpikeTheMaster
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Tue May 22, 2012 3:12 pm

Arclight wrote:
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Classified £239.99 (Is this the best card, I don't really want to spend much more


Pls don't....


Ah I see from your signature that you don't approve.. Could you suggest an alternative of similar price?
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Tue May 22, 2012 3:38 pm

SpikeTheMaster wrote:
Arclight wrote:
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Classified £239.99 (Is this the best card, I don't really want to spend much more


Pls don't....


Ah I see from your signature that you don't approve.. Could you suggest an alternative of similar price?


From a glance at his signature, I'd say he has a beef with Nvidia. That's fine, but it's not reality for everyone. The card you are looking at is an excellent card for the price- if I were to make a separate recommendation, it'd help for you to price out a GTX560Ti 448 and an HD7850 and HD6950 for us so we can help you evaluate relative cost vs. performance. Also, we're going to need to know what resolution you intend to run at.

Next, addressing your whole list, I'll make a few comments:
Motherboard: superb choice, but if you're not overclocking and don't need the extra slots, you can get something significantly (like half) less expensive without any affect to your build's performance.
CPU: Great CPU, but we typically recommend the almost-as-fast i5-3570. Hyperthreading is nice and cool, but it really doesn't add that much.
RAM: Stick with what you have unless you have a usage case for >8GB.
Graphics: Consider the above, but also consider this- you would do yourself extremely well to cut the cost of other components so that you can stretch for a GTX670. There really isn't a better all-around card on the market right now.
SSD: that's fine, but you don't need that much space* ~120GB will be fine, and you don't need to spend so much. The nicer SSDs are not perceptibly faster than Crucial's now budget priced M4, and that gets my recommendation. If you can find Samsung's 830 on sale, consider that too.
HDD: If you have a fast SSD, you do not need a fast HDD- get more space with a slower 2TB 'Green' drive, or save cash with a smaller 'Green' drive. I've found that my 2TB Green from WD is more than fast enough for most games and any media.
Case: This is intensely personal with respect to style, but the Antec 302 looks well built and versatile, while being inexpensive.
PSU: That's a good one, but if you don't need power for multiple video cards, you don't need more than 500w. Also, Antec has an inexpensive 650w (JAE links it often) that may be less expensive.
DVD/CD: Generic is fine, you'll probably use it twice (I'm over-estimating).

You didn't add an aftermarket CPU cooker- Coolermaster's Hyper 212 Evo gets the nod around here for inexpensive, quiet cooling. Also, if you plan on overclocking, you can get either the i5-3570K or i7-3770K instead which overclock effortlessly. It makes even more sense to get the i5 here, as the already small performance gap nearly disappears with higher clockspeeds.

*You can install things like games (even Steam, Origin, etc.) to your spinning drive, and then use a Windows feature called 'symbolic links' to move them individually over to your faster SSD.
 
SpikeTheMaster
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Tue May 22, 2012 4:30 pm

Thanks for your suggestions.

I think primarily I would like to ensure that my build is future proof, so having room for extra stuff later is quite important.

Motherboard:I will certainly look for a cheaper motherboard. Many review sites are aimed at these more expensive models.. (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-201-MS - £93.59 looks reasonable, but I would need a WiFi card.
CPU: I would like an i7 so I can see 8 boxes in task manager :P
RAM: Virtual Machines can eat RAM like no tomorrow, so I would be inclined to have plenty (Also, I currently only have a laptop, so no other parts are available)
GFX: There are a few offers on at the moment (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=1914&subid=2294) at around the £250 mark, which is not that much more expensive than the card I mentioned.

From Overclockers.co.uk:
KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 EX OC: £279.99 (Week only Offer)
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560Ti "448 Edition" OC: £166.66
HIS HD 7850 IceQ X: £199.99
Sapphire HD 6950 OC: £141.66

SSD: Looks like I could get an M4 for around £165 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=2104&sortby=nameAsc&subid=1427&mfrid=30) .
HDD: Mainly for future proofing, it would be nice for the HDD to be fast (as HDDs go), but I will have a look at the alternatives.
PSU: Again mainly for future proofing, it would be nice if this could be used in later builds rather than requiring a new purchase.
DVD/CD: Yes it would mainly just be for playing movies + installing drivers.
Cooler: Thanks for the recommendation, I will see how loud the stock cooler is after I have built the PC.

Thanks very much for your suggestions.
 
chasscF1
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Tue May 22, 2012 5:42 pm

I would step back to 1600mhz ram and put the extra 50 towards your graphics. I don't think an ivy bridge really sees much improvement from higher ram speeds under most usage senarios.
Ahhhhhhh!
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Tue May 22, 2012 6:12 pm

chasscF1 wrote:
I would step back to 1600mhz ram and put the extra 50 towards your graphics. I don't think an ivy bridge really sees much improvement from higher ram speeds under most usage senarios.


Not sure where the OP states that he's using faster than 1600MHz RAM, but you're right- there's no advantage.
 
Chrispy_
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Tue May 22, 2012 6:41 pm

How many screens are you using for VM's? AMD's multi-monitor support is far superior in my opinion, and unless gaming is your absolute priority, the AMD card will also be better for compute, encoding and non-gaming stuff - I'd go with the HIS HD 7850 for a "gaming capable" workstation.

Also, VM's eat IOPS for breakfast, so you're best getting a really high-IOPS drive like the Vertex 4 (which is only average in most situations, but a clear champion for things like multiple VM pagefiles).
If you have an OCZ aversion, the Samsung 830 is almost as good in the IOPS department, and any of the asynchronous NAND Sandforce drives like the Intel 520 or Corsair ForceGT will be better than drives based on Marvell, Intel, or asynchronous Sandforce ones.

Oh, and you won't need a bigger case than the 302 unless you plan on having more than eleven drives. It's well-made and cheap, but it's also really awkward to clean the front dust filter, and it comes with almost no fans so you need to add about £30 to it to give you the "real cost" compared to other mesh-design cases.
  • The Corsair Carbide has a much friendlier layout for the same price.
  • The Fractal Design R3 is nice but it's not great value here in the UK (feels overpriced for its quality)
  • The Coolermaster Silencio RC-550 is a real gem, and very quiet without any modifications needed
  • My personal favourite is the Lancool PC-K9X: Looks great, smart layout like the Carbide but you get more fans and more aluminium panels as standard
Congratulations, you've noticed that this year's signature is based on outdated internet memes; CLICK HERE NOW to experience this unforgettable phenomenon. This sentence is just filler and as irrelevant as my signature.
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Tue May 22, 2012 7:34 pm

I agree with everything Crispy_ listed, except maybe the monitor support, if you consider Nvidia's 600-series, and the encoding stuff, as from what I understand this still hasn't been exposed in drivers by AMD.

For the SSD, it looks like the Samsung 830 probably is the best option when speed, reliability, and cost are all taken into account.

For the case: I love my Define R3, but it's definitely not for everyone, and I did add 4x140mm fans and filters to the build, which could be avoided with a different case. The Lancool mentioned looks like a good budget case, as long as the front intake fans can be/are filtered.
 
Chrispy_
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Tue May 22, 2012 8:47 pm

Unless they've revised it, it's the usual Lian-Li affair - the whole front panel is on spring clips, just pops off and then the filters are right there in front of you.

I just like it because the cost in the UK is similar to the cheaper Antec stuff, but you get the Lian-li build quality and a more modern internal design.
Lian-li also give you anodised aluminium side and top panels - meaning it looks nicer than every other steel case on the market since they're all covered in cheap matte-black spraypaint.

Getting an idea of "value" of PC bits in the UK can be a little tricky because the prices are so different to what you pay in the US. "There are no bad products, only bad prices" so what might be an editor's choice at US prices can easily be a complete rip-off over here.
Congratulations, you've noticed that this year's signature is based on outdated internet memes; CLICK HERE NOW to experience this unforgettable phenomenon. This sentence is just filler and as irrelevant as my signature.
 
Arclight
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Wed May 23, 2012 1:44 am

SpikeTheMaster wrote:
Arclight wrote:
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Classified £239.99 (Is this the best card, I don't really want to spend much more


Pls don't....


Ah I see from your signature that you don't approve.. Could you suggest an alternative of similar price?



I'm sorry but you misunderstood what i meant. GTX 570 is an old card, though still capable, you shouldn't be looking at it in May 2012, considering your budget. A custom cooled GTX 670 should be your best bet right now. Adjust the other components if need be to accomodate the higher price for the video card, but if you are really into gaming you will do it.

Best of luck.
nVidia video drivers FAIL, click for more info
Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.
 
SpikeTheMaster
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Re: Ivy Bridge PC Build ~£1000 Budget

Thu May 24, 2012 3:51 pm

Thanks for your suggestions, I made a few changes to my build:

i7-3770K
Corsair Force GT 240GB
EVGA GeForce GTX 570
Asus P8Z77-V PRO
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.D 1TB
Antec 302
OcUK 22x DVDąRW

Got it for £1000 ish with delivery thanks to some special offers :)

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