Computer build for £500 (800$) - advice needed

Hi guys,

first time poster and from across the pond aswell so be gentle lol
Im going to be getting a new system for around 800$ and have rounded down to 3 options. Im liking the systems from overclockers.co,uk (options 2 and 3 below) but a few slight issues. Im wanting an i5 (jus coz ive always had an AMD and want to try an intel CPU) but the system from ocuk comes with an i3 only. The other option from the same place comes with an AMD x4 850 and also twice the HD space and twice the memory but slightly more expensive than its i3 counterpart. Overclockers.co.uk are a solid company here in the uk selling mainly components but also specialising in overclocking and building pcs, so if i order the system from them it would be steroided slightly.

The other option is the system from novatech (option 1). Comes with a i5, twice the HD space, but with an GT550, which i think is not as good as the GTX 460. And im not really liking the novtech branded components and would like to pick my own case like i get to do with the systems from overclockers.co.uk (Cooler Master Storm Scout Gaming Case, looks far to sweet to let it pass)

So the question is the age old one better AMD x4 850 or intel i3 550 and the GTX460 or GT550 from novatech. Am mainly considering the 2 from overclockers.co.uk but need some advice on choosing one. And help you guys give would be much appreciated. Thanks. Peaaace. Taj


OPTION 1
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/pc/range/iconquer.html
Intel Core i5 2400 Processor
2 x 2GB DDR3 1333Mhz Memory
2 x 500GB 6Gb/s Hard Drive
SATA
Novatech ATX Gaming Case
200(w) x 440(d) x 430(h)mm
22x DVD Writer
Novatech GTX 550 1GB Graphics Card
Novatech PowerStation Gaming 500W Silent Modular PSU
Intel H67 Chipset Motherboard

OPTION 2
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-237-OK&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat=
Case: BitFenix Shinobi - Black
- Power Supply: OCZ ZS 650w PSU
- CPU: Intel Core i3 550 3.20GHz Clarkdale
- Motherboard: Intel H55 (Socket 1156) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
- Cooler: Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
- RAM: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Hard Drive: 500GB HDD
- Graphics Card: OcUK Geforce GTX 460 1gb
- Sound: Onboard 7.1 Audio
- Optical Drive: LG DVD+/-RW SATA Drive

OPTION 3
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-210-OK&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat=1444
System Specification
- Case: Antec 300 Gaming Case
- Power Supply: OCZ ZS 650w PSU
- CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 850 "95W Edition" 3.30GHz Processor
- Motherboard: nForce 630a (AM3) Motherboard
- RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Hard Drives: 1TB HDD
- Graphics Card: OcUK Geforce GTX 460 1gb
- Sound: 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)
- Optical Drive: OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black)
- Cooling: x2 White LED 120mm Fans

CASE
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-175-CM&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=
Cooler Master Storm Scout Gaming Case - Black

Option 1 - is OK, I would upgrade the PSU. It's significantly priced higher than Option 2 and 3.
Option 2 - is weak, this is the last generation Intel CPU not Sandybridge.
Option 3 - is weak for similar reasons as option 2

Also notice that none of these systems comes with an operating system.

If it was me I'd play around more with this system:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/syscon_int.php?prodid=FS-291-OK

Intel i5 - 2500K Sandybridge - best value gaming CPU right now.
Xigmatex Asgard mid-tower case
No OC option - save some money and do it yourself...not that difficult
Stock cooler for now. See if you can ask them to upgrade to a Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Gigabyte Z68A-D3 Intel Z68
OCZ Gold 4GB 1333MHz CAS9 Memory Kit
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 Single Slot 1024MB GDDR5 (talk to them about upgrading to 6850)
Western Digital Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s HDD
OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black)
OCZ ZS Series 750W PSU
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Price: £598.91 (Higher than £500 but is within range of option 1 but with better processor, PSU and Win 7.

This is a solid base system with some room to upgrade. The two highest priority upgrade is 1) stock cooler to Hyper 212+ which will allow for much higher OC and 2) upgrade the GPU to a 6850 or better for better gaming performance.

Concerning overclocking: The Sandybridge CPU with a "K" after the numbers are easy to OC. Don't pay someone to do it. It's not that difficult. Lots of info here on this forum and lots of folks willing to walk you through it. You'll learn lots in the process. Once you learned to OC 1 system it's a skill that is very useful for future systems.

Why don't you build it yourself? At that range, I'd try to squeeze in a 2500K. The only new Intel CPUs that can overclock are the 2500K and 2600K.

Hmmm interesting, will play around with the base u suggested and will call them up and haggle a little and ask about the upgrade. So the HD5770 is better than the GTX460? And u dont think an AMD would be better than the i5? For the same price as an i5 could probably get an x6 or x8 if i built it myself. I built my own computer years ago but think now the difference in price is neglible no? I can most likely OC myself but havent done so before but can learn how to do it id say. Regarding the OS i can most likely acquire one lol hence saving a little money.

randyravage said:

Hmmm interesting, will play around with the base u suggested and will call them up and haggle a little and ask about the upgrade. So the HD5770 is better than the GTX460? And u dont think an AMD would be better than the i5? For the same price as an i5 could probably get an x6 or x8 if i built it myself. I built my own computer years ago but think now the difference in price is neglible no? I can most likely OC myself but havent done so before but can learn how to do it id say. Regarding the OS i can most likely acquire one lol hence saving a little money.

Click to expand...

The GTX 460 is decently better then the 5770. Not by a huge amount, but IMO it's worth the extra money. The 6770 is the same card as the 5770.

The i5-2500K will kick any Thuban's butt. AMD's releasing Bulldozer which is rumored to be slightly slower at the same clocks as Sandy Bridge, but there will be octocore varients. IMO, no game really uses 8 cores (except maybe for BF3 in the future). You can't go wrong with Sandy Bridge.

People tend to overcharge for prebuilt machines.

randyravage said:

Hmmm interesting, will play around with the base u suggested and will call them up and haggle a little and ask about the upgrade. So the HD5770 is better than the GTX460? And u dont think an AMD would be better than the i5? For the same price as an i5 could probably get an x6 or x8 if i built it myself. I built my own computer years ago but think now the difference in price is neglible no? I can most likely OC myself but havent done so before but can learn how to do it id say. Regarding the OS i can most likely acquire one lol hence saving a little money.

Click to expand...

What's your intented/primary usage for this system? That answer will go along way toward component selection.

I like AMD video cards and the 5770 is good. Haven't checked against the 460 on benchmarks. Maybe worth your time to check.

Number of cores beyond x4 is just not very practical except for some very rare usage requirements. If you're considering the older i5 and AMD, I'd recommend the AMD 955 BE over both as it OC really well and is great value. The Sandybridge 2500K will run circles around all of them.

Building it yourself will definitely save some money. I highly recommend it. It's not that difficult these days. Mostly plug and play. Unlike the old days of fiddling around with jumpers and the like. Also the satisfaction and confidence that you'll have if you need to troubleshoot down the road is well worth it. You also get the benefit of hand picking each and every component.

If I was looking to build a system today I'd look at a system around an AMD 955 BE or Sandybridge i5-2500K (better). If you can wait a month, AMD's new Bulldozer CPU is "suppose" to be released next month (but who knows). Bulldozer is suppose to be more competitive with or better than Sandybridge. When Bulldozer is finally released, compare the performance of the two, then buy the better one.

so looks like the base of my system will be i5 2500k and the GTX460. Am really considering doing it myself now, as in the build. But want everything to be neat and tidy and ready to go. Wat motherboard should i be getting. I can figure out the rest of the stuff to buy but i feel Mobos have so many variables, find it abit difficult to which ones the right one. Thanks for the help so far dude

You want a P67 or Z68 motherboard, ASUS and Gigabyte make good ones. With Sandy Bridge, overclocking doesn't really stress the motherboard at all. Something in the $100-$150 range is good, not sure what that is in Euros. I like the Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H, but it might be a little expensive for you.

Yep what Knufire said.

Im building this for mainly gaming, want it to run the new cod and bf nicely without glitches. Jus started working so want to splash out on a little something something as a present to myself lol. So far ive decided on these

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
MSI GeForce GTX 460 HAWK "Super-OC" 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Gigabyte Z68A-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Cooler Master Storm Scout Gaming Case - Black
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX)
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK)
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/775/1155/1156)
Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM)
OcUK Crusade 650W Dual-Rail High Efficiency Power Supply

So far its just over 600£ (including VAT lol) so will be jus under 700 wen i get a 22" monitor and keyboard/mouse and speakers. But again i havent built a computer for 7 years. A little scared of doing something wrong or not correctly making it not run at its max so im thinking getting the site to build for me. Will see the difference in cost first and take it from ther. Is the 550W PSU enough? And any changes to that system which would improve it without leaving a dent in my wallet? thanks guys for the help, thought would be looking voer the site for days checking if someones posted but seems like im gonna get this organised over this weekend.

Looks good. In the future you'd probably want to upgrade the GPU for better gaming.

I would upgrade the CPU cooler to an Hyper 212+ for only a few dollars more.

I don't trust no name cheap PSU. So I wouldn't trust OcUK. Never heard of them and not a lot of reviews (based on a quick Google search).

A good PSU is important. I would pick from one of these:

Antec Truepower New 650W - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-117-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

OCZ ZS Series 650W - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-056-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098

XFX Pro 550W Core Edition - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-007-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1497

Of those 3 I'd choose the Antec or XFX, leaning towards the higher power Antex. Both made by Seasonic, a highly regarded PSU manufacturer.

Honestly, you could get a Corsair CX500. You can't use multi-GPU for that system, so there's no need.

No need for new windows copy yet. Will work around it for now. Wat you guys think of this system? y not go with the MSI gtx460 super oc? is it no better than the one u suggested or am i jus dazzled by the word super? think max 600 on the system, 700 in total now including monitor and peripherals.. cost keeps going up but i guess wont be upgrading for 2 years or so. or at most one year. and regarding the mobo, y is the LE edition of the asus one we selected 40£ (65$) less expensive than the other one? Im going to be getting a wireless network card aswell so will ther be space for all the cards?

Get the regular 460 and OC it yourself. Unless of course the cost of the Superclock card is the same as regular. The LE version is usually the light version which means it has less features. There's not much performance difference between MB within the same chipset class, the extra $$ is usually in features and bling.

The system you list above looks good. That's a nice case you got there, I recommend it but a cheaper case can be had to cut additional cost. You shouldn't have any problem fitting everything inside that case.

Yeah this is an expensive hobby considering it's only expected to last 2-3 years. Having said that, your proposed system above have some room for future expansion. I wouldn't be surprise if it lasts you longer than that.

I dont think ill have much of a problem building it all myself its jus the overclocking. lasat time i built a machine i remember ther being loads of stuff with jumpers like u said above? wat do i have to do nowadays to speed up my system? u make it sound like anyone can overclock without any problems lol

That's a "green" hard drive. It's really slow, consumes less power, usually used for storage. Stick with the Samsung Spinpoint.

All your cards will fit on the LE, don't worry.

Corsair PSUs are better the OCZ. Also, OCZ dropped out of the RAM buisness, getting support might be hard. And their RAM wasn't that great to begin with IMO, stick with G.SKILL. The G.SKILL is faster anyway...

The Hawk is the same card with a different heatsink and a factory OC. Might be a tad cooler, a tad quieter, and a tad better performance, but I say just OC it yourself.

I agree, why spend so much on a case when you're pushing your budget?

so looks like this is the one. how about the overclocking? as ive sed before ive built a system before but overclocking im not 100% sure about. would it be easy to learn how to do it for the gfx and cpu? can u guys suggest one of the GTX460s from the site, too many to choose from, still like the super OC version lol

and the case is prob the thing im not gonna be changing for a while. Im thinking im gonna upgrade every year or so everything inside is likely to change, so the case will remain. think one of the nice looking ones out ther. last machine i built was a aopen cube which was rather basic, but im confident in my abilities so the build should go smoothly. will most likely look through the forums for OC tips and guides. The budget limit isnt really set in stone, jus dont want to spend my whole wage slip on a pc lol, but i think 700 is ok. was 600 before with monitor included but thought id push the boat out for once

You don't need bigger then a 500W PSU, I'd go with the Corsair CX500.

Good cases last, that is true, it's an investment. Same thing with the PSU, but I don't think you're going to ever build high end enough to need more then 500W.

I'd go with the ASUS, they're a good company and it's one of the cheaper ones. Other then that, it looks good.

OCing has gotten much easier in recent years. Don't worry about OCing the GPU at first, stick to the CPU.

Hows this one instead of the superOC MSI GTX460?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-140-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830

or the asus one would be
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-236-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830
only difference i see is the core clock speed. guessing thats wat i will need to OC



can the mobo take another pci-e? or should i go with a pci wireless network card?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-004-TP&groupid=46&catid=1597&subcat=1622 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-002-DN&groupid=46&catid=1597&subcat=1622