Building new computer

[FireStorm1010]

Hello,

I am building a computer for my friend and would be grateful for advices/opinions.The computer will be used for usuall stuff ( lot of office, internet browsing, maybe some light web page building/dtp/video editing) and for gaming.No overclocking, stability is key. There are reasonable budget constraints.

What i have in mind atm:

GPU
Radeon 7850 Gigabyte 2GB HDMI&DVI&2xminiDP (PCI-E) OC
( Gigabyte HD 7850 Overclock review | Graphics cards Reviews | TechRadar )

CPU
Intel Core i5 3550 3,30 GHz BOX

MB
Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
( Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H Motherboard – packs a punch at £80 | KitGuru )

DISKS
OCZ Vertex 3 MAX SSD 2,5" 120GB 550/500 MB/s 75k IOPs - system disk + most used apps
( OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS SATA III 2.5" SSD - OCZ )

WD Red 1TB WD10EFRX 64MB cache SATA/600 - rest of the apps + data storage, small but budget constraints

Memory
Kingston HyperX DDR3 2X 4GB 1600MHz XMP X2 CL9 Grey Edition (Sandy Bridge)

Windows

Case and power supply will be canibalized from previous comp.

Any advice/suggestion will be welcome but here are my own top indecisions:

1-Should I suggest Windows 8 or 7 ?Havent seen Windows 8 in action, read its designed for touchscreens, dont know how it is for compatibility issues as its a rather new OS. Windows 7 i have and I like it, but im not sure if suggesting an older version is good idea.

2-Is the OCZ SSD as system disk comfort worth the rather hefyy additional cash?Is it reliable enough time wise for system disk?

3-It seems that for socket 1155 all new chipsets got integrated GPU-s, which i dont really need.Choose the Z77 as i read good reviews.Am i missing something, as usually in past the less economic aimed motherboards had chipsets without GPUS.

 

[MrTechProWannabe]

Would help if you told is your budget so people can know what to replace etc. And if you're British you'll want to buy From www.scan.co.uk cheapest prices and most known.

That doesn't matter though because you won't be using the onboard graphics anyway.. Don't look too much into different socket types, stick with 1155. Z77 is more of Intels high end-ish boards that support overclocking etc, so stick with the B75 board. And if he won't be doing any overclocking don't buy an overclockable GPU, makes no sense. And if your budget allows it, upgrade to a 2GB GeForce GTX 660. But if your budget won't allow it, the 7850 is still a good GPU, just don't buy an oc'd one. And depending on the games your Friend plays you won't be able to play many games on ultra, but on the hole it's good. And if Corsair Vengeance 8GB RAM is cheaper to with that.
No to OCZ, no 100%. You will definitely be disappointed. Go with an Intel 330 Series or Corair Force GT/Corsair Neutron. They're both Fast and reliable.
OS is entirely up to your Friend, I'd to with windows 7 but its down to preference. Can't tell you much about bits either, 64/32 doesn't matter imo, I go For 64 bit. Either Home Premium or Office will do.

Take in my suggestions and you have a great budget system. CPU is great, standard Intel Heatsink is alright, just read what I've said and depending on your budget take in my suggestions. You say you're going to add your old PSU in which is ok, but you may want to buy a new one because one thing you do NOT want to skimp on is the Power Supply, take it from someone who learnt the hard way.

 

[FireStorm1010]

Thanks for the replies so far

Would help if you told is your budget so people can know what to replace etc. And if you're British you'll want to buy From Computer Hardware - Scan.co.uk cheapest prices and most known.

That doesn't matter though because you won't be using the onboard graphics anyway.. Don't look too much into different socket types, stick with 1155. Z77 is more of Intels high end-ish boards that support overclocking etc, so stick with the B75 board. And if he won't be doing any overclocking don't buy an overclockable GPU, makes no sense. And if your budget allows it, upgrade to a 2GB GeForce GTX 660. But if your budget won't allow it, the 7850 is still a good GPU, just don't buy an oc'd one. And depending on the games your Friend plays you won't be able to play many games on ultra, but on the hole it's good. And if Corsair Vengeance 8GB RAM is cheaper to with that.
No to OCZ, no 100%. You will definitely be disappointed. Go with an Intel 330 Series or Corair Force GT/Corsair Neutron. They're both Fast and reliable.
OS is entirely up to your Friend, I'd to with windows 7 but its down to preference. Can't tell you much about bits either, 64/32 doesn't matter imo, I go For 64 bit. Either Home Premium or Office will do.

Take in my suggestions and you have a great budget system. CPU is great, standard Intel Heatsink is alright, just read what I've said and depending on your budget take in my suggestions. You say you're going to add your old PSU in which is ok, but you may want to buy a new one because one thing you do NOT want to skimp on is the Power Supply, take it from someone who learnt the hard way.

Valuable info thanks.Will look into memory, corsair also works for me.Hmm the ssd reply , i also read intel is a bit mor ereliable but also a bit zlower then the ocz, its also more expensive..Why do you say ocz is ssd is bad, any personal experience or read somwhere...?

The Radeon 7850 Gigabyte 2GB HDMI&DVI&2xminiDP (PCI-E) OC is overclocked from factory, its clock is slightly higher then the standard radeon, it adds a framerate or 2...Maybe will go with the tiny cheaper standard radeon and with intel ssd.

The budget is at a limit as it is , so no Geforce 660 , and beside my friend plays age of Conan which supposedly got some issues with this geforce series.

About the power supply also valuable advice, also undecided about this.On one hand its alot of cash i can put into better components, on other hand i know psu is important. If i decide new one, will go with be quiet straight power series,a 700 watt probably, had very good exp with this companies psus.

Im from Poland, my budget is around 830 Euro, buying mostly fromt this shop Komputronik RTV AGD Notebooki, komputery i elektronika ...

 

[PP Mguire]

If cash is an issue then do this.

Grab a B75 ASRock or Asus motherboard. You don't need Z77 for a rig that wont overclock.

Drop the OCZ SSD. Not reliable and I can't recommend it. Get a Samsung 830/840 or Corsair Force GT.

Don't get the Red drive. It is over priced and intended for NAS use. Either get a WD Black or Seagate Barracuda. A Seagate will usually be cheaper and still just as fast.

Go with an Nvidia 660ti with the saved cash. Better drivers, better productivity suite compatibility.

Windows 7 over Windows 8 from me. I'm on 8 now and have been having another hissy fit with it.

All Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs come with an iGP. It's built directly into the CPU. When you add a dedicated card it gets disabled automatically. It comes in handy for troubleshooting or just putting some picture on another screen when you want it.

 

[MrTechProWannabe]

Fair play, but don't you think a 660Ti is a little overkill For what his Friend want's and needs to do? I guess he could of elaborated more on "Gaming" But I'm sure he would of specified certain games if his Friend was a heavy gamer. With that being said do you think what I suggested would be reasonable?

 

[PP Mguire]

One can assume if they are going for a 7850 then they want decent performance in games. A 660 would still even be better in that general price range. My point was to go with Nvidia for the better driver support.

 

[MrTechProWannabe]

Then therefore wouldn't he be better upgrading Case/PSU? Or if he doesn't want to do that, and I know you're not much a Fan of AMD but perhaps go with a 7870? Seeing as that's more in the price range of standard 660.

And may I please ask you to check out this page? It's an Intel i5 3450, I'm considering upgrading From The i3 3320 I currently have but it's OEM boxed and it says 'none' under Heatsink, so I'm worried if I buy it it might not come with the standard Heatsink&Fan that other Intel CPU's come with. My current Heatsink broke just in case you were going to say just use my current one, don't really want to explain how it broke, kind of a dumb-arse moment on my end.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/inte...s-dmi-650mhz-gpu-6mb-smart-cache-31x-ratio-77

 

[FireStorm1010]

Thanks for all replies, much appreciated.

I actually already have written a reply some time ago , but it vanished, no idea what happened, hope i dont double post again.

Anyway here we go again:

Would help if you told is your budget so people can know what to replace etc. And if you're British you'll want to buy From Computer Hardware - Scan.co.uk cheapest prices and most known.

That doesn't matter though because you won't be using the onboard graphics anyway.. Don't look too much into different socket types, stick with 1155. Z77 is more of Intels high end-ish boards that support overclocking etc, so stick with the B75 board. And if he won't be doing any overclocking don't buy an overclockable GPU, makes no sense. And if your budget allows it, upgrade to a 2GB GeForce GTX 660. But if your budget won't allow it, the 7850 is still a good GPU, just don't buy an oc'd one. And depending on the games your Friend plays you won't be able to play many games on ultra, but on the hole it's good. And if Corsair Vengeance 8GB RAM is cheaper to with that.
No to OCZ, no 100%. You will definitely be disappointed. Go with an Intel 330 Series or Corair Force GT/Corsair Neutron. They're both Fast and reliable.
OS is entirely up to your Friend, I'd to with windows 7 but its down to preference. Can't tell you much about bits either, 64/32 doesn't matter imo, I go For 64 bit. Either Home Premium or Office will do.

Take in my suggestions and you have a great budget system. CPU is great, standard Intel Heatsink is alright, just read what I've said and depending on your budget take in my suggestions. You say you're going to add your old PSU in which is ok, but you may want to buy a new one because one thing you do NOT want to skimp on is the Power Supply, take it from someone who learnt the hard way.

Im from Poland and the budget is around 830 Euros. Plan to buy from this shop Sprz, tough I doubt many of you are Polish speaking.

This is some valuable info , thanks again. The Gigabyte Radeon 7850 oc is slightly higher clocked from factory , within warranty , giving you a few extra framerates, thats why i wanted it. The budget is strained as it is , so no Geforce GTX 660, but apart from cost, the 660 GTX has supposedly some issues with Age of Conan which my Friend plays, thats why I opted for a Radeon.

I will look into the ram , thanks for tip , Corsair works as well for me.

Now for the SSD, I also read some opinions intel is more reliable, but its also more expensive and seems a bit slower.Then there are some really good reviews of OCZ like this one on this forums http://www.techist.com/forums/f38/ocz-vertex-3-120gb-ssd-250232/#post1953176

So why do you think OCZ is bad, some personal experience or...?

Ok so leaning towards Windows 7, 64 bit for sure, buying a 32 bit in todays time imho is archaic, it wont see more then 4 gigabytes of ram, adressing limits.

The PSU tip , good point , i know PSU is important but its a fair bit of cash more, that could go towards other better components.If i go for a new one, I plan to buy be quiet , ~700 wat, have very good experience with this company's psus.

If cash is an issue then do this.

Grab a B75 ASRock or Asus motherboard. You don't need Z77 for a rig that wont overclock.

Drop the OCZ SSD. Not reliable and I can't recommend it. Get a Samsung 830/840 or Corsair Force GT.

Don't get the Red drive. It is over priced and intended for NAS use. Either get a WD Black or Seagate Barracuda. A Seagate will usually be cheaper and still just as fast.

Go with an Nvidia 660ti with the saved cash. Better drivers, better productivity suite compatibility.

Windows 7 over Windows 8 from me. I'm on 8 now and have been having another hissy fit with it.

All Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs come with an iGP. It's built directly into the CPU. When you add a dedicated card it gets disabled automatically. It comes in handy for troubleshooting or just putting some picture on another screen when you want it.

Ok so 2 votes against OCZ.Again some personal bad experience or....? Thanks for clarifying the the ivy bridge igp , true it can be handy for troubleshooting, havent tought about it.

Again for Nvidia 660Ti my friend primarily plays Age of Conan , which supposedly has issues whith that serie of cards atm.

Fair play, but don't you think a 660Ti is a little overkill For what his Friend want's and needs to do? I guess he could of elaborated more on "Gaming" But I'm sure he would of specified certain games if his Friend was a heavy gamer. With that being said do you think what I suggested would be reasonable?

He is definitely a casual gamer, with Age of Conan being the favourite, like 1 time a week.

 

[PP Mguire]

Why would he want to do that? If they are decent he shouldn't have to upgrade case/PSU. Would be a waste of money. No on the 7870 or 7850. That's been my point. AMD graphics drivers are a no no and I don't recommend them with a reason. I'm now running the 13.1s on my fiances PC and they STILL suck.

It says OEM right there and that means CPU only. What are you using on the i3 then? Just use that.

 

[MrTechProWannabe]

Because we don't know if his Case/PSU is good which is why I asked. Not much point having a decent computer if your PSU will Flop on you. I know you're not a personal Fan of AMD Graphics Cards and your knowledge stacked on a Bar Chart next to mine would reach the Eiffel Tower. But AMD GPU's aren't as bad as you make them out to be. There's no doubt about it NVIDIA are better, but if AMD were so terrible as you say they wouldn't be so popular and they'd be out of business.

And oh I didn't know what OEM mean't. I'm using the i3 For anything, I just want an i5 because I have the money to upgrade.