Sapsh
New member
Hi guys, I was wondering whether you'd be able to help me out please.
I am looking for a new rig, built completely from scratch. My 4-year old gaming laptop just died, needs a new mobo, which I can't find anywhere. It was good enough that after I OC'd the GPU, I could play Skyrim...
. But anyway, I am looking for a new rig (preferably mATX, but doesn't matter that much), still haven't sorted the finance (should get that done by the end of the month), but as the title says I have settled with a rough £900 in total, including a decent monitor. I have a mouse xD and will get the cheapest keyboard possible (which will be the first thing I'll update).
So, what I have and plan to use in the rig to start with (all these things will be upgraded fairly quickly):
Basically not much, but will do till my next salary.
I have been reading around and have picked some things already, but not quite sure if the components are well balanced or whether there are better things out there. Plus, with some I am really confused. I will try to explain my choice (when needed) as I go along with the best possible prices I sourced, whether with the Parts Picker or other well known retailers (without taking delivery charges into account).
So, here we go:
PCPartPicker part list
As you can see I'm a little over my £900 limit (mainly due to GPU and the mobo) and would like to cut it down, but dont know where. Also as I already mentioned, I do not need HDD for now, hence its absent from the list.
No components are set in stone, anything can be changed. I dont care much for the colour scheme (black, green, red, purple, orange, any toxic colour, etc) but I really dislike blue and yellow. Unless there is a good deal, of course
Forgot to mention, this would be my only computer for everything: software development, films (potentially editing/special effects/post production), music, you name it (when in power saving mode) as well as a gaming rig (when overclocked).
I also already have a copy of Windows.
Any help would be really appreciated, thanks in advance.
P.S. I'm really sorry to have written so much, was just trying to give as much detail as possible and explain my choices.
I am looking for a new rig, built completely from scratch. My 4-year old gaming laptop just died, needs a new mobo, which I can't find anywhere. It was good enough that after I OC'd the GPU, I could play Skyrim...
. But anyway, I am looking for a new rig (preferably mATX, but doesn't matter that much), still haven't sorted the finance (should get that done by the end of the month), but as the title says I have settled with a rough £900 in total, including a decent monitor. I have a mouse xD and will get the cheapest keyboard possible (which will be the first thing I'll update).So, what I have and plan to use in the rig to start with (all these things will be upgraded fairly quickly):
- 500Gb 2.5 inch SATA HDD
- 400Gb 3.5 inch PATA HDD
- Intel WiFi Link 5300 (yes, I will need wifi for the rig as I move around a lot)
Basically not much, but will do till my next salary.
I have been reading around and have picked some things already, but not quite sure if the components are well balanced or whether there are better things out there. Plus, with some I am really confused. I will try to explain my choice (when needed) as I go along with the best possible prices I sourced, whether with the Parts Picker or other well known retailers (without taking delivery charges into account).
So, here we go:
PCPartPicker part list
- CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£173.94 @ Scan.co.uk)
- CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.65 @ Scan.co.uk)
Picked it only because its fairly cheap, decent performance, I am hoping to replace it with something better later on (but not in the very near future), maybe a watercooling loop, or H100. - Motherboard: Asus Maximus V Gene Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£146.38 @ Amazon.co.uk)
This is the fun part.. I'll admit to being an ASUS fanboy. I do know that there are decent mobos on Z77 out there for much less, but I really don't like blue as a colour (and most of them are blue), plus I am leaning more towards a mATX build. Also I can use my laptop's WiFI card with it out of the box. I do understand that this mobo might be a bit too much of an investment - Memory: Corsair 8GB Vengeance LP Arctic White 1.35V (£47.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
The cheapest 8GB kit I found with a decent overclock potential (mainly because there is room for voltage increase), although white probably would not go with other parts, but I can live with that. - Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card (£208.54 @ Scan.co.uk)
This is something that I spent hours looking up, decided to go for a 7850 card, but cannot pick the manufacturer. Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 OC seems to be getting extremely good reviews, so do MSI 7850 Power Edition and XFX 7850 Black Edition DD. They are roughly the same price, and I love the looks of the XFX card (Sapphire is blue and looks odd to me). Saying that, I know that you can get a graphics card on the same die for cheaper, but as far as I know die for overclocked models are cherry picked. Hence went for the more expensive cards, please correct me if I'm wrong. I also dont care whether its AMD or NVIDIA, so if there is a good card you know of, plz suggest. - Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£62.75 @ Scan.co.uk)
Another hard one, I am looking for a mATX case because of portability, but do not mind a midi tower either. I do care a lot for looks, but prefer minimalistic designs. Initially thought about going for a Fractal R3, mainly because of the possibility of a window (I really want a window) but the non-removable HDD cage really put me off. Also I'm thinking of watercooling in the future, and R3 isn't good for that. So in a nutshell: i want a minimalistic looking chassis with potential of watercooling and a window. I don't have tools to cut one myself (but will have to get them if I go for the Arc Mini) - Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£86.09 @ Ebuyer)
Here I am absolutely lost, just put one to take place. Would like a modular PSU, especially if I end up going for a mATX case. According to my calculations, I would need a 750W-ish PSU, a bit of an overkill for the current setup, but I am planning to add another GPU for crossfire / sli in about a year's time - Monitor: Dell U2312HM 23.0" Monitor (£178.20 @ CCL Computers)
Again, seems to be geting good reviews, I would rather have the extra space of a 1920 x 1200 monitor, but for cutting the spending this Dell doesn't seem like a trade off
As you can see I'm a little over my £900 limit (mainly due to GPU and the mobo) and would like to cut it down, but dont know where. Also as I already mentioned, I do not need HDD for now, hence its absent from the list.
No components are set in stone, anything can be changed. I dont care much for the colour scheme (black, green, red, purple, orange, any toxic colour, etc) but I really dislike blue and yellow. Unless there is a good deal, of course
Forgot to mention, this would be my only computer for everything: software development, films (potentially editing/special effects/post production), music, you name it (when in power saving mode) as well as a gaming rig (when overclocked).
I also already have a copy of Windows.
Any help would be really appreciated, thanks in advance.
P.S. I'm really sorry to have written so much, was just trying to give as much detail as possible and explain my choices.
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