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+1 for the 2500k.
If you are even remotely sensible (plenty of guides online) and don't push it too far, then there is practically zero chance of an overclock making anything go foom. Worst case scenario is that it won't boot at x frequency, y voltage and you have to set it slightly lower.
If you are even remotely sensible (plenty of guides online) and don't push it too far, then there is practically zero chance of an overclock making anything go foom. Worst case scenario is that it won't boot at x frequency, y voltage and you have to set it slightly lower.
Original post by majikthise
+1 for the 2500k.
If you are even remotely sensible (plenty of guides online) and don't push it too far, then there is practically zero chance of an overclock making anything go foom. Worst case scenario is that it won't boot at x frequency, y voltage and you have to set it slightly lower.
If you are even remotely sensible (plenty of guides online) and don't push it too far, then there is practically zero chance of an overclock making anything go foom. Worst case scenario is that it won't boot at x frequency, y voltage and you have to set it slightly lower.
Im more worried about being sent a faulty cpu which then stops working after i've began overclocking it.
But yeh, after reading through some reviews now it is starting to become much more of a possibility. (the i5 2500k that is)
Original post by Darkphilosopher
Im more worried about being sent a faulty cpu which then stops working after i've began overclocking it.
I've been building PCs professionally (working for a computer store and building my own for customers) since 2006 - I have overclocked maybe half of the systems I've ever built.
Want to know how many I've broken?
1.
Out of well over 100.
The only failure I've ever had was using one of Gigabyte's super low-end motherboards, which seem to overheat and blow mosfets if you so much as look at them funny.
So in over 100 systems I've never had an actual CPU failure - and so long as you don't neglect to clean the cooling system for several months at a time or turn the voltages up to a ludicrious extent, the CPU should last at least several years too.
So long as you have reasonable cooling and halfway decent quality components, the sheer level of stupidity and recklessness you'd require to be able to actually break a modern-day CPU by accident would put you in the running for NASCAR.
And the positives are huge.
The i5-2500k I overclocked last week was putting out performance numbers far beyond an i7-980x before I was done with it.
Hi,
I'm looking at building a desktop pc. I'm pretty confident I can put it together however I'm finding it more difficult to pick compatible and cost effective components.
My budget is £500. The pc will primarily be used for internet browsing, films and word processing however I would like to use it for occasional gaming (FSX and racing simulations) at acceptable frame rates. I'd prefer an Intel processor.
Most importantly I want a pc that has capacity to upgrade in the future. I understand that £500 won't get me the best components so I'd like to add to it as and when I can afford it.
I would be grateful if anyone could spec me a pc.
Thank you.
I'm looking at building a desktop pc. I'm pretty confident I can put it together however I'm finding it more difficult to pick compatible and cost effective components.
My budget is £500. The pc will primarily be used for internet browsing, films and word processing however I would like to use it for occasional gaming (FSX and racing simulations) at acceptable frame rates. I'd prefer an Intel processor.
Most importantly I want a pc that has capacity to upgrade in the future. I understand that £500 won't get me the best components so I'd like to add to it as and when I can afford it.
I would be grateful if anyone could spec me a pc.
Thank you.
Original post by C17TWM
Hi,
I'm looking at building a desktop pc. I'm pretty confident I can put it together however I'm finding it more difficult to pick compatible and cost effective components.
My budget is £500. The pc will primarily be used for internet browsing, films and word processing however I would like to use it for occasional gaming (FSX and racing simulations) at acceptable frame rates. I'd prefer an Intel processor.
Most importantly I want a pc that has capacity to upgrade in the future. I understand that £500 won't get me the best components so I'd like to add to it as and when I can afford it.
I would be grateful if anyone could spec me a pc.
Thank you.
I'm looking at building a desktop pc. I'm pretty confident I can put it together however I'm finding it more difficult to pick compatible and cost effective components.
My budget is £500. The pc will primarily be used for internet browsing, films and word processing however I would like to use it for occasional gaming (FSX and racing simulations) at acceptable frame rates. I'd prefer an Intel processor.
Most importantly I want a pc that has capacity to upgrade in the future. I understand that £500 won't get me the best components so I'd like to add to it as and when I can afford it.
I would be grateful if anyone could spec me a pc.
Thank you.
Unfortunately £500 is a small budget and FSX is fairly processor hungry, could be wrong but I seem to remember it being so. At £500 you'd get your best overall performance with AMD. However, if you're looking to upgrade over the years you'll get better performance later on with an Intel rig, although £500 won't buy you much of the Intel cake. The latter option is much much more expensive.
If you're adamant on Intel I'd suggest saving up ~£100 more and going that route, at least then you'll be able to last a year or so until your next upgrade. If you're adamant about buying now, consider AMD for the time being and when you've saved up a little selling the parts to buy into the Intel clan.
Thank you for the reply,
What would be your £600 build? I'd rather take the time to save the extra £100 and start with Intel rather than have to sell the AMD parts to switch over in the future.
What would be your £600 build? I'd rather take the time to save the extra £100 and start with Intel rather than have to sell the AMD parts to switch over in the future.
What would be the best "budget" motherboard to go with the i5-2500k?
Im looking for one that is both reasonably cheap and capable of playing modern games with mid-high settings. (I don't want it to be a bottleneck)
Im looking for one that is both reasonably cheap and capable of playing modern games with mid-high settings. (I don't want it to be a bottleneck)
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by Darkphilosopher
What would be the best "budget" motherboard to go with the i5-2500k?
Im looking for one that is both reasonably cheap and capable of playing modern games with mid-high settings. (I don't want it to be a bottleneck)
Im looking for one that is both reasonably cheap and capable of playing modern games with mid-high settings. (I don't want it to be a bottleneck)
depends, i'm guessing you're into a bit of overclocking. what else are you adding to the board?
I usually stick with Asus boards cause well they've given me a good history.
The Asus P8P67 looks pretty feature filled; bit-techs given it a pretty clean review and can be found for ~£125.
Original post by Darkphilosopher
What would be the best "budget" motherboard to go with the i5-2500k?
Im looking for one that is both reasonably cheap and capable of playing modern games with mid-high settings. (I don't want it to be a bottleneck)
Im looking for one that is both reasonably cheap and capable of playing modern games with mid-high settings. (I don't want it to be a bottleneck)
Higher end motherboards don't really tend to resolve any appreciable bottlenecks.
What they DO bring to the table is better build quality and more features.
On an MSI P67-GD65 last month I got one of those chips to well over 5Ghz on air, no trouble at all. The lower end MSIs are also very good though, as the cooling on all of the boards is very good.
Don't go for a motherboard without dedicated mosfet cooling.
Hi, I'm thinking of buying an all-in-one - the Lenovo B310.
>>http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0049SQ8BY/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0PTHC5AWH7GCVZA73XK4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294
The Spec looks good, although not to sure about the graphics component (with only 512mb memory). Will it handle FSX? It has the Intel i3 550 (3.2 GHz) and 4GB of RAM.
I'm mainly looking to get this as my entertainment hub for my room at uni. It has a built in digital tv tuner..which means I can watch freeview channels etc. However, I was wondering can I play my xbox 360 using the screen? It's full HD if that helps.
>>http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0049SQ8BY/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0PTHC5AWH7GCVZA73XK4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294
The Spec looks good, although not to sure about the graphics component (with only 512mb memory). Will it handle FSX? It has the Intel i3 550 (3.2 GHz) and 4GB of RAM.
I'm mainly looking to get this as my entertainment hub for my room at uni. It has a built in digital tv tuner..which means I can watch freeview channels etc. However, I was wondering can I play my xbox 360 using the screen? It's full HD if that helps.
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by Mombasa Raha
Hi, I'm thinking of buying an all-in-one - the Lenovo B310.
>>http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0049SQ8BY/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0PTHC5AWH7GCVZA73XK4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294
The Spec looks good, although not to sure about the graphics component (with only 512mb memory). Will it handle FSX? It has the Intel i3 550 (3.2 GHz) and 4GB of RAM.
>>http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0049SQ8BY/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0PTHC5AWH7GCVZA73XK4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294
The Spec looks good, although not to sure about the graphics component (with only 512mb memory). Will it handle FSX? It has the Intel i3 550 (3.2 GHz) and 4GB of RAM.
No.
It's not a memory issue with the graphics, it's just a very slow graphics chip.
Original post by Mombasa Raha
I'm mainly looking to get this as my entertainment hub for my room at uni. It has a built in digital tv tuner..which means I can watch freeview channels etc. However, I was wondering can I play my xbox 360 using the screen? It's full HD if that helps.
I don't see any video in connections anywhere on that PC, so no, probably not.
You could get more for your money with a seperate tower and screen really...
Original post by TShadow383
You could get more for your money with a seperate tower and screen really...
You could get more for your money with a seperate tower and screen really...
Hmm, debateable. He'd have to build his own and even then wouldn't save much. £550 budget minus ~£150 for the screen, then another £40 for a keyboard and mouse and finally £40 for the OS leaves very little room to maneuver. If he needs the space go with an AIO, if he needs the power he'll need to build his own.
Just saying it's not as clear cut as you make it out to be
Original post by Zorg
Hmm, debateable. He'd have to build his own and even then wouldn't save much. £550 budget minus ~£150 for the screen, then another £40 for a keyboard and mouse and finally £40 for the OS leaves very little room to maneuver. If he needs the space go with an AIO, if he needs the power he'll need to build his own.
Just saying it's not as clear cut as you make it out to be
Just saying it's not as clear cut as you make it out to be
True enough, and as AIOs go it certainly isn't bad.
I'm thinking of building my own PC but I'm on a very tight budget. The main purpose of the PC would be to play the latest games at a respectable setting. So far, I'm thinking about a Core i3 and an a 5770 with 4GB DDR3 Ram. I can't afford to splash out on the motherboard but what would be the cheapest i could go far? My budget is probably £400. Feel free to exceed that if you guys can find a better configuration. I want to be able to run Shogun 2 at a good level and the upcoming Battlefield 3.
Original post by zxh800
I'm thinking of building my own PC but I'm on a very tight budget. The main purpose of the PC would be to play the latest games at a respectable setting. So far, I'm thinking about a Core i3 and an a 5770 with 4GB DDR3 Ram. I can't afford to splash out on the motherboard but what would be the cheapest i could go far? My budget is probably £400. Feel free to exceed that if you guys can find a better configuration. I want to be able to run Shogun 2 at a good level and the upcoming Battlefield 3.
£400 won't get you far at all on a gaming machine, particularly if you want legal windows, and more still if you need any peripheral bits.
Would you consider buying parts second-hand?
Original post by TShadow383
£400 won't get you far at all on a gaming machine, particularly if you want legal windows, and more still if you need any peripheral bits.
Would you consider buying parts second-hand?
Would you consider buying parts second-hand?
I have a monitor and can provide Windows 7 for myself. I don't mind having a cheap keyboard and mouse either. Basically, £400 for the base unit.
Original post by zxh800
I'm thinking of building my own PC but I'm on a very tight budget. The main purpose of the PC would be to play the latest games at a respectable setting. So far, I'm thinking about a Core i3 and an a 5770 with 4GB DDR3 Ram. I can't afford to splash out on the motherboard but what would be the cheapest i could go far? My budget is probably £400. Feel free to exceed that if you guys can find a better configuration. I want to be able to run Shogun 2 at a good level and the upcoming Battlefield 3.
Hmm. i3 and 5770 is going to be difficult to get at £400 with a motherboard and 4GB ram. I'll have a look at alternatives, sah. AMD and ATI might be a good start for reducing costs.
EDIT: https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/SavedBasket/Show.aspx?id=e8727ec755634805b6fcbef7ef07541b
There you go, an i3 and 5770 build, around £430 with ScanSure (quite important, if you make any mistakes during construction you can get a new piece). Good quality pieces, used quite a good PSU as that's important. Shouldn't cut corners with PSUs - the lynchpin of your computer really. You can also stick an i7 or higher end graphics card later if you want.
EDIT2:https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/SavedBasket/Show.aspx?id=77f04622fa114012a433e74a253da794
Within your budget but goes for an AMD Phenom X4 build and the 5770.
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by Fusilero
Hmm. i3 and 5770 is going to be difficult to get at £400 with a motherboard and 4GB ram. I'll have a look at alternatives, sah. AMD and ATI might be a good start for reducing costs.
EDIT: https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/SavedBasket/Show.aspx?id=e8727ec755634805b6fcbef7ef07541b
There you go, an i3 and 5770 build, around £430 with ScanSure (quite important, if you make any mistakes during construction you can get a new piece). Good quality pieces, used quite a good PSU as that's important. Shouldn't cut corners with PSUs - the lynchpin of your computer really. You can also stick an i7 or higher end graphics card later if you want.
EDIT2:https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/SavedBasket/Show.aspx?id=77f04622fa114012a433e74a253da794
Within your budget but goes for an AMD Phenom X4 build and the 5770.
EDIT: https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/SavedBasket/Show.aspx?id=e8727ec755634805b6fcbef7ef07541b
There you go, an i3 and 5770 build, around £430 with ScanSure (quite important, if you make any mistakes during construction you can get a new piece). Good quality pieces, used quite a good PSU as that's important. Shouldn't cut corners with PSUs - the lynchpin of your computer really. You can also stick an i7 or higher end graphics card later if you want.
EDIT2:https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/SavedBasket/Show.aspx?id=77f04622fa114012a433e74a253da794
Within your budget but goes for an AMD Phenom X4 build and the 5770.
Cheers mate, that's brilliant. I'm willing to dish out the extra £30 for the insurance alone.
Original post by zxh800
Cheers mate, that's brilliant. I'm willing to dish out the extra £30 for the insurance alone.
That's only fitting insurance mind you, a gauranteed rapid return within 28 days. After that you're with the manufacturer's warranties (which are generally rather generous) but don't cover fitting errors.
(edited 13 years ago)
Hi I've been quoted £580 (inc VAT) for this spec below:
- Galaxy Black Case
- 1 x 120mm Standard Case Fan
- Coolermaster 500W 1 x PCI-E
- Intel Core i3 540 Overclocked To 3.80GHz Per Core
- Quiet Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro With 92mm Fan
- Asus P7P55D-E, ATX (USB 3.0, SATA 3.0)
- 4GB (2 x 2GB) Mushkin PC10600 1333MHz DDR3
- nVidia GTS 450 1GB
- Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
- 1000GB SATA II
- 22x Dual Layer DVD +/- Rewriter
- Integrated 10/100/1000Mbps
- 2 Front + 4 Back Ports
- Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit Version)
- 2 Years Return To Base (1st yr. Parts & Labour, 2nd yr. Labour)
I priced the above items on Ebuyer for a self build and it only comes to £20 cheaper.
Is it a good build for the money?
Thanks
- Galaxy Black Case
- 1 x 120mm Standard Case Fan
- Coolermaster 500W 1 x PCI-E
- Intel Core i3 540 Overclocked To 3.80GHz Per Core
- Quiet Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro With 92mm Fan
- Asus P7P55D-E, ATX (USB 3.0, SATA 3.0)
- 4GB (2 x 2GB) Mushkin PC10600 1333MHz DDR3
- nVidia GTS 450 1GB
- Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
- 1000GB SATA II
- 22x Dual Layer DVD +/- Rewriter
- Integrated 10/100/1000Mbps
- 2 Front + 4 Back Ports
- Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit Version)
- 2 Years Return To Base (1st yr. Parts & Labour, 2nd yr. Labour)
I priced the above items on Ebuyer for a self build and it only comes to £20 cheaper.
Is it a good build for the money?
Thanks
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