Advice for a new rig

[Farra]

Hi all, currently looking at building a new rig in the next month or so, ideally something that I can get good use out of. Wouldn't mind replacing the GPU next year if needed. Ideally I would like an i5 CPU (would possibly consider an OC in the near future), 8 gig of ram and an SSD. With that many variables on parts however, I'm struggling to come up with anything and hoping some of you fine brains can help me out!



Budget : £400-£500
Resolution : Unsure atm, running a 5 y/o Acer monitor at 1680/1050 currently (input on whether to upgrade monitor appreciated)
Games / Settings Desired : WoW, GW2, Diablo 3, possibly some others but not too fussed as most are available on console too.
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc) : Music Production, limited photoshop work
Country : UK
Parts that can be reused : M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard, Antec 900 Two v2 Case
Do you need an OS? : Considering it for the option to upgrade to Windows 8 for £10
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)? : Possibly monitor (read resolution part)

[Deleted]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£177.80 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£71.72 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£39.74 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£77.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: OCZ 550W ATX12V Power Supply (£63.98 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer (£13.31 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £444.53
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-08 10:03 BST+0100)

Now you'll need a GPU besides that or did you have one you can use for now and replace later on?

This only includes an SSD so either add a HDD or use an external. You can get a Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB for £68 or Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB for £49 for storage.

For GPU I'd recommend this card:

MSI HD7850 Twin Frozr - £182

I don't if it was something along those lines you were looking for?

[Farra]

Looks exactly what I'm after!

As for the HDD, I'm currently using a 500gb Caviar Blue so wouldn't mind reusing that. (Forgot about that while writing my post)

I should have also mentioned that I'm currently using an Atrix 800W PSU (was advised on this one due to the GPU I bought years ago (GeForce 9800GT, I'm guessing that pretty outdated by now :P). Would you recommend replacing that PSU for the one you suggested?

Again, thank you for your help!

[Deleted]

Looks exactly what I'm after!

As for the HDD, I'm currently using a 500gb Caviar Blue so wouldn't mind reusing that. (Forgot about that while writing my post)

I should have also mentioned that I'm currently using an Atrix 800W PSU (was advised on this one due to the GPU I bought years ago (GeForce 9800GT, I'm guessing that pretty outdated by now :P). Would you recommend replacing that PSU for the one you suggested?

Again, thank you for your help!

Since you're on a strict budget and knowing your PSU has worked fine I see no reason to replace it.

[Farra]

Great, thank's for your reply. Been a massive help!

[Deleted]

Great, thank's for your reply. Been a massive help!

You're welcome, if you have any questions/concerns don't hesitate to ask.

[Farra]

Hi again, sorry for the bump.

Still waiting on payday coming to finalize this build. This afternoon I received my usual PC part picker price drop list, and noticed this GeForce GTX 560. After reading various reviews I'm not sure what to make of it, any thoughts on whether this? or is 7850 that you previously suggested still worth the money.

[Deleted]

Nah the 7850 will still be a much better purchase both now and in the long run. Try this, should only be like an extra £10 compared to your GTX 560:

XFX Core Edition Radeon HD 7850 - £162

[Farra]

Oh excellent! Thanks very much

About the SSD, my version of Windows 7 came already on my Caviar Blue, is there anyway to put that on the SSD with a backup disk? Or will I have to buy another version of Windows 7?

[glo]

Was it preinstalled from a manufacturer? If so, download the official ISO of the same version and burn it, then install on the SSD. Here's links to all of them:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/downlo...ownload-links/

Then call up Microsoft and explain to them you upgraded your machine and need to reactivate your OEM key. There should be a sticker somewhere on your case with it.

[Farra]

Was it preinstalled from a manufacturer? If so, download the official ISO of the same version and burn it, then install on the SSD. Here's links to all of them:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/downlo...ownload-links/

Then call up Microsoft and explain to them you upgraded your machine and need to reactivate your OEM key. There should be a sticker somewhere on your case with it.

Yeah it was pre-installed, I also found the sticker Thanks for the advice and link!