HardwareHeaven.com

HardwareHeaven.com

Looking for the skin chooser?
 
 
  • Home

  • Hardware reviews

  • Articles

  • News

  • Tools

  • Gaming at HardwareHeaven

  • Forums

 

Go Back   HardwareHeaven.com > Forums > Hardware and Related Topics > Hardware Discussion & Support


Hardware Discussion & Support Discuss your computer - its components or ANY hardware, past/current/future you want, or ask our forum experts if you have a general problem with your hardware.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old May 14, 2011, 07:19 AM   #1
Going Insane.....
 
kris23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,018
Rep Power: 131
kris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refute
System Specs

Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? UK Version! (5/11/11)

If you have clicked this link , you are either a newcomer to PC building or are someone who wants ideas and a base to start on for your next system.

In this thread are a few different examples of systems built with the latest technologies at different price points.

In this particular post are no-frills systems that are designed to deliver performance more than offer any particular features. They are generally cheap considering the performance they offer and can be easily adjusted to fit anyone's needs!

£450 inc. VAT - Entry Level

A relatively cheap system built with parts sporting the latest and greatest standards of today's high performance technology. With the release of Intel's Sandy Bridge line of CPUs and chipsets, it is very hard to find a suitable alternative that can match the performance and efficiency of the Intel i3 2100 processor, which has its own built-in GPU. This computer is a system that is meant for the demanding consumer who wants a powerful, cool running computer to handle everyday tasks like web browsing and the playback of HD media but doesn't want to drop a huge amount of money on an expensive off-the-shelf machine.

CD/DVD - Samsung 22X DVD Combo Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
Chassis - NZXT BETA EVO Mid-Tower ATX Chassis (UK) Ebuyer.com
PSU - Corsair Builder Series CX430 V2 430w ATX PSU (UK) Ebuyer.com
HDD - Seagate 7200.12 1TB SATA III Hard Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
Motherboard - ASRock Z68 PRO3 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard (UK) Ebuyer.com
Memory - Corsair Vengeance 4GB Single Module CAS 9 DDR3 1600 (UK) Ebuyer.com
CPU - Intel Core i3 2100 3.1GHz Dual-Core LGA 1155 CPU (UK) Ebuyer.com
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit (UK) Ebuyer.com

£700 inc. VAT - Mainstream Level

A cheap, yet powerful system with the latest technologies for the power user. This system is another Sandy Bridge based computer with more improvements made on top of the above system, the dual-core CPU was swapped out for a stronger quad-core, the RAM has been doubled, and an Nvidia GTX 550 Ti has been added into the system to give it more graphics processing power. The new Z68 based motherboard is a base that adds a whole new slew of features to the Sandy Bridge platform.

CD/DVD - Samsung 22X DVD Combo Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
Chassis - NZXT BETA EVO Mid-Tower ATX Chassis (UK) Ebuyer.com
PSU - Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650w ATX PSU (UK) Ebuyer.com
HDD - Seagate 7200.12 1TB SATA III Hard Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
GPU - ASUS GeForce GTX 550 Ti (UK) Ebuyer.com
Motherboard - ASRock Z68 PRO3 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard (UK) Ebuyer.com
Memory - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) CAS 9 DDR3 1600 (UK) Ebuyer.com
CPU - Intel Core i5 2400 3.1GHz Quad-Core LGA 1155 CPU (UK)Ebuyer.com
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit (UK) Ebuyer.com

£800 inc. VAT - Performance Level

This system is an upgraded version of the above system, the GPU has been upgraded to a much more powerful GTX 560 Ti. The main highlight is the Intel Smart Response Technology, a storage system designed to take advantage of smaller SSDs and use them as a hard drive cache to increase all around system performance; thanks to this, an otherwise too small Corsair F40 SSD is used to increase system performance.

CD/DVD - Samsung 22X DVD Combo Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
Chassis - NZXT BETA EVO Mid-Tower ATX Chassis (UK) Ebuyer.com
PSU - Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650w ATX PSU (UK) Ebuyer.com
HDD - Seagate 7200.12 1TB SATA III Hard Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
SDD - OCZ Vertex 2 Series 40GB SATA II Solid-State Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
GPU - ASUS GeForce GTX 560 DirectCu (UK) Ebuyer.com
Motherboard - ASRock Z68 PRO3 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard (UK) Ebuyer.com
Memory - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) CAS 9 DDR3 1600 (UK) Ebuyer.com
CPU - Intel Core i5 2400 3.1GHz Quad-Core LGA 1155 CPU (UK)Ebuyer.com
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit (UK) Ebuyer.com

£900 inc. VAT - Performance Level

This system is a further upgrade of the above system that was set up to allow the user to upgrade more easily. The biggest change comes from the upgrade to the Cooler Master 690 II chassis, A more spacious, well ventilated case that can take even the longest, hottest video cards and most powerful CPUs and cool them without fail, provided enough fans are used of course. The other upgrades, the jump from the i5-2400 to the 2500k allows for a computer that can be easily overclocked with its unlocked multiplier. Lastly, the upgrade from the ASRock PRO3 to the EXTREME4 allows for a more stable system with its 8 phase CPU power transmission.

CD/DVD - Samsung 22X DVD Combo Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
Chassis - Cooler Master 690 II Lite Mid-Tower ATX Chassis (UK) Ebuyer.com
PSU - Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750w ATX PSU (UK) Ebuyer.com
HDD - Seagate 7200.12 1TB SATA III Hard Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
SDD - OCZ Vertex 2 Series 40GB SATA II Solid-State Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
GPU - ASUS GeForce GTX 560 DirectCu (UK) Ebuyer.com
Motherboard - ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard (UK) Ebuyer.com
Memory - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) CAS 9 DDR3 1600 (UK) Ebuyer.com
CPU - Intel Core i5 2500k 3.3GHz Quad-Core LGA 1155 CPU (UK)Ebuyer.com
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit (UK) Ebuyer.com

£1100 inc. VAT - Performance Level

This system has had three considerable upgrades made to it; the first being the jump from the 2500k to the Core i7-2600k. The 2600k is a Quad-Core CPU with hyperthreading, basically this means that the computer sees the CPU as an 8-Core CPU and treats it as such. The 2600k is also unlocked which allows for easy overclocking. The second upgrade is the upgrade to the bigger and faster Corsair Performance 3 SSD. Installing the OS and programs on this drive allows for a considerable boost in responsiveness and the overall performance of the system improves a bit further than simply caching data. The final upgrade is the upgrade from the Z68 Extreme4 to the more durable P67 Extreme6, which has 16 power phases and more USB 3.0 ports. With the larger SSD and faster parts, the features included with the Z68 are no longer necessary.

CD/DVD - Samsung 22X DVD Combo Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
Chassis - Cooler Master 690 II Lite Mid-Tower ATX Chassis (UK) Ebuyer.com
PSU - Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750w ATX PSU (UK) Ebuyer.com
HDD - Seagate 7200.12 1TB SATA III Hard Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
SDD - Crucial C300 Series 64GB SATA III Solid-State Drive (UK) Ebuyer.com
GPU - ASUS GeForce GTX 570 DirectCu II (UK) Ebuyer.com
Motherboard - ASRock P67 EXTREME6 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard (UK) Ebuyer.com
Memory - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) CAS 9 DDR3 1600 (UK) Ebuyer.com
CPU - Intel Core i5 2600k 3.4GHz Quad-Core LGA 1155 CPU (UK)Ebuyer.com
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit (UK) Ebuyer.com

$1750 - Performance Level

This Core i7 system is an upgraded version of the above system, the main changes being the use of a faster SSD and HDD to improve storage capacity and performance. the Corsair drive was changed to the much faster OCZ Vertex 3 120GB and the HDD was changed to the Barracuda XT 2TB model. Both drives are about the fastest available with SATA III connectors.

CD/DVD - Lite-On 24X DVD Combo Drive (US) Newegg.com (UK)
Chassis - Cooler Master 690 II Advanced Mid-Tower ATX Chassis (US) Newegg.com
PSU - Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750w ATX PSU (US) Newegg.com
HDD - Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB SATA III Hard Drive (US) Newegg.com
SDD - OCZ Vertex 3 Series 120GB SATA III Solid-State Drive (US) Newegg.com
GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD (US) Newegg.com (UK)
Motherboard - ASRock P67 EXTREME6 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard (US) Newegg.com
Memory - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) CAS 9 DDR3 1600 (US) Newegg.com
CPU - Intel Core i5 2600k 3.4GHz Quad-Core LGA 1155 CPU (US) Newegg.com
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit (US) Newegg.com (UK)

$2000 Performance Level

This system is about as far as one can take a standard configuration Sandy Bridge platform before bottlenecks begin to form in the PCI-E pipelines. The upgrade being the addition of a second GTX 570 HD to use in SLi. With the PCI-E slots limited to 8x speeds for two cards, that pretty much means that you can only use single GPU video cards before you hit bandwidth problems. Though minor at this point in time, running a dual GPU video card does take a hit of a couple frames per second in gaming if run in a half speed 8x slot.

CD/DVD - Lite-On 24X DVD Combo Drive (US) Newegg.com (UK)
Chassis - Cooler Master 690 II Advanced Mid-Tower ATX Chassis (US) Newegg.com
PSU - Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750w ATX PSU (US) Newegg.com
HDD - Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB SATA III Hard Drive (US) Newegg.com
SDD - OCZ Vertex 3 Series 120GB SATA III Solid-State Drive (US) Newegg.com
GPU - 2x EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD (US) Newegg.com (UK)
Motherboard - ASRock P67 EXTREME6 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard (US) Newegg.com
Memory - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) CAS 9 DDR3 1600 (US) Newegg.com
CPU - Intel Core i5 2600k 3.4GHz Quad-Core LGA 1155 CPU (US) Newegg.com
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit (US) Newegg.com (UK)
__________________
Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator

last updated (5/18/11)
Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length.

Building a PC: Step by Step Guide

Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder
Edited by Allan Campbell

Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Last edited by kris23; May 14, 2011 at 07:11 PM.
kris23 is online now  


Old May 14, 2011, 07:19 AM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #2
Going Insane.....
 
kris23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,018
Rep Power: 131
kris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refute
System Specs

Re: Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? UK Version! (5/11/11)

reserved
__________________
Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator

last updated (5/18/11)
Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length.

Building a PC: Step by Step Guide

Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder
Edited by Allan Campbell

Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!
kris23 is online now  
Old May 14, 2011, 07:19 AM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #3
Going Insane.....
 
kris23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,018
Rep Power: 131
kris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refute
System Specs

Re: Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? UK Version! (5/11/11)

reserved.
__________________
Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator

last updated (5/18/11)
Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length.

Building a PC: Step by Step Guide

Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder
Edited by Allan Campbell

Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!
kris23 is online now  
Old May 14, 2011, 07:20 AM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #4
Going Insane.....
 
kris23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,018
Rep Power: 131
kris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refute
System Specs

Re: Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? UK Version! (5/11/11)

reserved..
__________________
Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator

last updated (5/18/11)
Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length.

Building a PC: Step by Step Guide

Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder
Edited by Allan Campbell

Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!
kris23 is online now  
Old May 14, 2011, 07:20 AM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #5
Going Insane.....
 
kris23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,018
Rep Power: 131
kris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refute
System Specs

Re: Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? UK Version! (5/11/11)

reserved...
__________________
Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator

last updated (5/18/11)
Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length.

Building a PC: Step by Step Guide

Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder
Edited by Allan Campbell

Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!
kris23 is online now  
Old May 14, 2011, 07:20 AM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #6
Going Insane.....
 
kris23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,018
Rep Power: 131
kris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refute
System Specs

Re: Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? UK Version! (5/11/11)

reserved....
__________________
Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator

last updated (5/18/11)
Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length.

Building a PC: Step by Step Guide

Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder
Edited by Allan Campbell

Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!
kris23 is online now  
Old May 14, 2011, 07:21 AM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #7
Going Insane.....
 
kris23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,018
Rep Power: 131
kris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refutekris23 has a reputation beyond refute
System Specs

Re: Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? UK Version! (5/11/11)

thread locked until list is complete.
__________________
Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator

last updated (5/18/11)
Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length.

Building a PC: Step by Step Guide

Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder
Edited by Allan Campbell

Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!
kris23 is online now  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools