On-going gaming build, UK

Approximate Purchase Date: Soon/Now

Budget Range: open .. ongoing build when money is availiable.

system Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, movies, general internet usage,

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, mouse, speakers, case, PSU, HDD

I have purchased:-
Cosair Special Edition Graphite Series 600T Mid-Tower Gaming Case - White

Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2UK Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 High Performance 750W Power Supply (I know its not modular and wont look quite as handsome with an octopuss banging on my side window but im hoping i can tuck them away somewhere ^_^)

I have a 500gb Samsung HDD kicking about that I intend to use for storage until prices settle down. Not sure on Model.


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Any reliable UK suppliers. Ive used Amazon so far, but Dabs.com seems ok and friendly RE. delivery arrangements.

Country: England, UK

Parts Preferences: Intel i5 2500k Processor, some kind of SSD

Overclocking: Yes, when required.. hoping to educate myself

SLI or Crossfire: Definately when price permits

Monitor Resolution: Currently 1680 x 1050 but im more than open to the idea of replacing my current monitor when funds are availiable. Im toying with the idea of gaming on some kind of new Television, but im not sure if thats feasable?

Additional Comments:

I would like to build a decent system for modern gaming, sadly i can't realisticly afford the more expensive GPUs at the moment but when the system is up and running i'll be able to impulse buy when ive got spare money.
I have been advised to go Nvidia 560ti, but im not sure which card would be the best choice... superclocked?.. 1gb 2gb, which brand.. etc etc.

I dont really have too good an idea which motherboard to get, i'd like to to be able to handle any overclocking experiments but im not too concerned about it being future proof as i'll be sticking with the i5-2500k for a while.

I thought perhaps -- Asus P8P67 PRO REV 3.1 Motherboard (Socket 1155, ATX, DDR3, Quad USB 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s Support)

I would like the system to be realatively quiet and im not opposed to the idea of making it look sexy. I thought to this end that some kind of simple water cooling system would cut down on the noise and any future heat issues.



Sorry this post is such a train wreck, im trying to do it on my break so that I might be able to recieve your wise advise and order some parts to start construction on my day off I do appreciate any and all advise and having read a few similar posts i've been very impressed with this forum and its members.

intel i5 2500K (since you might overclock in the future)
asus P67 Mobo those pro version ones
gtx 560ti 1gb/ gtx570 1.2gb or get those sapphire hd 6950 2gb if you cant afford those 7970/7950
corsair 650w/750w 80plus bronze/silver/gold
8gb g.skill ripjawsx/sniper/corsair vengeance low profile
get noctua nh-d14 cpu cooler if you like the big sure cooling but if you want a smaller version go with cm hyper 212 evo it should give enough cooling

and since you already have some nice psu stick with it,

Despite the jumbled-up-ness of the post I'll give you my reccomendations.

i5 2500k - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/int [...] he-95w-oem

ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asu [...] d-hdmi-atx

8GB Corsiar Vengeance Black 1600Mhz RAM - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb [...] 4-xmp-150v

Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/pha [...] -intel-amd

Corsair Force GT 2.5' 60GB SSD 555/495MB/s R/W - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/60g [...] te-495mb-s

MSI GTX560ti Twin Frozr II 1GB - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb [...] -384-cores

Pros - The 2500k is a given pro, no explanation needed.

The ASUS P8Z68-V is a popular motherboard with all the needed features of LGA1155, as well as IGP support, PCI-E 3.0 Support and direct support for Ivy Bridge. It also supports SLI and Xfire @ 8x/8x and has excellent OCing capability. If you want to shell out an extra £40 for the PRO you can do, I did it just to be sure I don't skimp out on the Motherboard, but rest assured the P8Z68-V is excellent, ask any of the owners on Toms.

Corsair Vengance Black gives amazing Price/Performance - 8GB for £35, and it can OC! wonderful kit - And you can always trust Corsair to provide the most reliable memory.

The Phanteks cooler is currently the top performing Air Cooler, it looks nicer than the Noctua NH-D14 and keeps 2500k's a couple of degrees cooler. The white version also looks BEAUTIFUL in your case - Ive seen a few builds with it and jesus does it look good. I can personally vouch for this beast, 4.6ghz 2500k @ 54C Max load 4 hours Prime95. Amazing.

The 60GB SSD speaks for itself - look at the R/W speeds - Windows will be booting in 5 Seconds.

The MSI Twin Frozr variants of the 560ti's are the quietest and the coolest of the bunch, with a hell of a lot of OCing headroom too. If your gaming @ 1680x1050 then 1GB will suffice, if you want to play @ 1920x1080 you will see a small increase of performance by going up to 2GB, the extra £30 might be worth it. These cards scale VERY well in SLI too, and are designed as such. Very good cards, the awards don't lie.

And finally - SCAN is a very trusted site with amazing customer service and perfect delivery. 2011 PC Supplier of the year.

Oh, more replies

Thanks, I really do appreciate any and all help/advice and im aware im just one of a hundred clueless people that beg for your help every day.

I work for a Hospital in IT Support, You're not clueless, most of the folk I deal with dont know the Difference between a PC and a Monitor.

Ooops missed out the SSD. Im thinking 120gb so I guess it'll be two orders after all ^_^

Just a quick update as to how things are going with my build.
I've recieved the following items:-

CASE - Cosair Special Edition Graphite Series 600T Mid-Tower Gaming Case - White

PSU - Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2UK Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 High Performance 750W Power Supply

MOBO - Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3, Intel Z68, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 3.0 (x16), D-Sub/DVI-D/HDMI, ATX

GPU - 1GB MSI GTX 560Ti OC Twin Frozr II 40nm, 4200MHz GDDR5, GPU 880MHz, Shader 1760MHz, 384 Cores

CPU COOLING - Phanteks CPU Cooler Premium White Edition S2011/1155/1156/1366/775 AMD AM2/2+/AM3

RAM - Corsair Memory Vengeance Black 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 XMP Dual Channel Desktop

SSD - 60GB Corsair Force Series GT, 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD, SandForce SF-2200, Read 555MB/s, Write 495MB/s

And I will be purchasing the following very soon


PROCESSOR - Intel CPU Core i5 2500K Unlocked Sandy Bridge Quad Core Processor OEM

OS - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM Operating System

The 60gb SSD is for a boot drive and I had intended to reuse a HDD until prices bottomed out but unfortunately that isn't a viable option and I must purchase one.

What i'd really appreciate now is some advice re. which would be the best HDD to purchase around the £100 mark.

Also, prior to adding the HDD...I strongly suggest you return that RAM.

I thought I would've linked the Vengeance LP RAM - But I didnt.

The Normal Vengeance RAM won't fit underneath the Phanteks Cooler.

If you haven't installed it there is no harm done, If not I owe you £40 I believe.

Would :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CM [...] 115&sr=8-2
Be a more appropriate choice?