It's time to start buying!

[Frustration96]

It's probably a little late now, but If I start now I think I can make it...

So I'm hoping to be able to build an "amazing" PC for my birthday (10th of Feb)...Yeah I left it a little late, I'm lazy :)

Here's the build I have so far :

Processor:
Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz - [url]http://amzn.to/wq3ebp[/url]
£90

Graphics Card (GPU):
Saphire HD 6770 - [url]http://bit.ly/Acu0uC[/url]
£80

RAM:
Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2x2GB) - [url]http://amzn.to/yMN8yR[/url]
£23

Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-H61M-S2-B3 Intel H61 - [url]http://bit.ly/xVHTyn[/url]
£52

Hard Drive:
Seagate 500GB - [url]http://bit.ly/yP73q2[/url]
£64

Case:
Bitfenix Merc Alpha Case - [url]http://bit.ly/yuTpbr[/url]
£33

Power Supply:
Corsair Gaming Series 700W - [url]http://amzn.to/xJfqOm[/url]
£73

OS:
Windows 7 Home Premium - [url]http://amzn.to/xRY0NI[/url]
£71

TOTAL = £486

It SHOULD all be ok, like not any major changes will need to be made, but I have a few questions...

1. Will all these parts work together? (this is the part I am most worried about as I have never done this before and dont want to be all excited and then realise it doesnt fit together right or something)

2. Is there anything better I could use for something? (Has to be same price or less, I'm pushing it at £486 since they said £350 was my limit, something like a total change of £20 wont matter though, but nothing more than that)

3. Is the case big/good enough? (it just seems rather cheap comapred to the other parts)

Thats all I think, would appretiate it if I could get rather fast replys as I'll probably start ordering things tomorrow.

Thanks for any help, it's appretiated :)

[Ooops: 404]

If your a student you get Win 7 Pro for 40 quid
[url]http://www.software4students.co.uk/[/url]
The includes any school, High Scool Primary School or Uni and college.
Its an "Upgrade" but you can use it as the full thing.

[Frustration96]

[QUOTE=Ooops: 404;34513254]If your a student you get Win 7 Pro for 40 quid
[url]http://www.software4students.co.uk/[/url]
The includes any school, High Scool Primary School or Uni and college.
Its an "Upgrade" but you can use it as the full thing.[/QUOTE]

How does this work? It says I dont need a Student ID so how do they know I am a student?

[Ooops: 404]

Give your school and your name, they email your school, unless you have a glow account, then use that email.

[:smugspike:]

I'd recommend swapping out the H61 chipset for something better if you intend to overclock or anything.

[Frustration96]

[QUOTE=:smugspike:;34515543]I'd recommend swapping out the H61 chipset for something better if you intend to overclock or anything.[/QUOTE]

What do you suggest? And I do plan on overclocking but not at first

[Ooops: 404]

P8z68/GEN3

[:smugspike:]

What he said, Z68 is the way to go.

[Kaabii]

[QUOTE=Frustration96;34516532]What do you suggest? And I do plan on overclocking but not at first[/QUOTE]

You can't overclock the i3-2100 beyond changing the base clock which is a very limited method.

[:smugspike:]

Just cause you can't change the multiplier?

[Kaabii]

[QUOTE=:smugspike:;34518319]Just cause you can't change the multiplier?[/QUOTE]

No. Only on K series chips.

[Frustration96]

I've decided that I dont really need to overclock since later on when I want to upgrade I'll get an i7, which is surely powerful enough without overclocking :)

My main question now is will all these parts work together? Is there any website or something that will tell me?

And also is the case a good case? I feel comfortable with all the other parts but the case scares me a bit because I'm not sure it will be big enough. Probably is I'm just scared since it's my first build xD

Also I kinda need feedback fast because I need to order everything today :)

EDIT: Motherboard just went out of stock -_-, Any one know any good motherboards for £60 or less?

EDIT2: OK I found two motherboards that look "good"; [url]http://bit.ly/xgTaux[/url] and [url]http://bit.ly/zUsH6S[/url] Which is best? And will everything still work on them?

[Ooops: 404]

Ram isnt supported on either.

[Chubbs]

You don't need a 700W PSU unless you plan on SLIing.

[Frustration96]

[QUOTE=Ooops: 404;34541554]Ram isnt supported on either.[/QUOTE]

Was just doing a little more researc and noticed this, thanks :)

These will be fine for gaming right? [url]http://amzn.to/xSClfu[/url]

[QUOTE=Chubbs;34541597]You don't need a 700W PSU unless you plan on SLIing.[/QUOTE]

SLing? What's that?

I picked the 700W PSU because I just wanted to mkae sure I had enough power, what do you guys recomend? I do plan on upgrading to an i7 and probably a better graphics card in the future.

[Ooops: 404]

SLI is when you run two GPU's at the same time.

[Frustration96]

[QUOTE=Ooops: 404;34541877]SLI is when you run two GPU's at the same time.[/QUOTE]

Dont think I'll be doing that, so shall I get a cheaper Power Supply?

EDIT: WIll this one have enough power? [url]http://amzn.to/xw2Yo8[/url]

[Ooops: 404]

Yes, and what about the student OS thing.

[Frustration96]

[QUOTE=Ooops: 404;34542036]Yes, and what about the student OS thing.[/QUOTE]

Dont think I'll bother, only a £30 difference (which is quite a bit) but It's less hassle just to buy the builders version :)

OK so I think I have my final build ready;

Processor:
Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz - [url]http://amzn.to/wq3ebp[/url]
£93

Graphics Card (GPU):
Saphire HD 6770 - [url]http://bit.ly/Acu0uC[/url]
£80

RAM:
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) - [url]http://amzn.to/xSClfu[/url]
£23

Motherboard:
MSI H61M-E33 Intel H61 - [url]http://bit.ly/xgTaux[/url]
£53

Hard Drive:
Seagate 500GB - [url]http://bit.ly/yP73q2[/url]
£64

Case:
Cooler Master Elite 430 - [url]http://amzn.to/y8Z8CN[/url]
£40

Power Supply:
Corsair Builder CX600 (600W) - [url]http://amzn.to/xw2Yo8[/url]
£53

OS:
Windows 7 Home Premium - [url]http://amzn.to/xRY0NI[/url]
£71

Optical Drive:
Sony 24x DVD - [url]http://amzn.to/zPG0AK[/url]
£14

TOTAL = £491

I changed the Power Supply to 600W and found a better case and added a DVD drive (almost forgot that O_O), everything looks like it will work together, I think I'm done :)

If you can see anything wrong with this final build then let me know, if not I will order it in an hour or two :D Thanks for all the help :)

[Chubbs]

You could try and get a 6850, though it might be too high for your budget.

[Frustration96]

[QUOTE=Chubbs;34542198]You could try and get a 6850, though it might be too high for your budget.[/QUOTE]

Was going to get the 6850 but the sale ran out before I bought it, gonna get 6770 for now and then upgrade later on when I have the money :)

[Ooops: 404]

FFS dude A: Its the pro version and B: Its "only" £30 pounds but its £30 you wouldnt otherwise have.

[Frustration96]

[QUOTE=Ooops: 404;34542609]FFS dude A: Its the pro version and B: Its "only" £30 pounds but its £30 you wouldnt otherwise have.[/QUOTE]

OK I'll get that instead then :)

Is the last build I posted ok? Will it all work together? I'm gonna buy the parts today and I just want to be sure it will all work :)

[:smugspike:]

[QUOTE=garrynohome;34533250]No. Only on K series chips.[/QUOTE]

This reply doesn't make any sense. :I

[Fate]

[QUOTE=:smugspike:;34563872]This reply doesn't make any sense. :I[/QUOTE]

Any processor with K on the end is an unlocked processor. (E.G. i5-2500k)
Unlocked means you can change the multiplier.

[:smugspike:]

I know what it means.
How he replied doesn't make any sense.

[img_thumb]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26426931/howdoesthisreplymakesense.png[/img_thumb]

[Kaabii]

I misread and thought it said "can't you just change the multiplier". My apologies, I have no idea how I did that. The word 'just' isn't even in your post.

[editline]6th February 2012[/editline]

Oh also you really can't get very good clocks with the locked multiplier. You can only get it running like 200-300MHz faster which is basically an i3-2120.

[:smugspike:]

From my experience you can get between 700-800 MHz faster clocks by only changing the bus clock, [url=http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26426931/e8400OC_load.png]I got my e8400 up around ~3700MHz from the 2998 stock clocks.[/url] My board isn't even decent either, it's some ancient Asus business board with a G31 chipset.

Although I'm not denying that having an unlocked multiplier would be infinitely better than not.

[Kaabii]

[QUOTE=:smugspike:;34568709]From my experience you can get between 700-800 MHz faster clocks by only changing the bus clock, [url=http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26426931/e8400OC_load.png]I got my e8400 up around ~3700MHz from the 2998 stock clocks.[/url] My board isn't even decent either, it's some ancient Asus business board with a G31 chipset.

Although I'm not denying that having an unlocked multiplier would be infinitely better than not.[/QUOTE]

...Wow have you ever even used any chip beyond the Core 2 series? Your e8400 can obviously get overclocked 800MHz faster, it's an LGA 775 chip where altering the FSB clock was how you overclocked. That was ditched when the north bridge was integrated into the CPU with LGA 1156 and now we have BLCK which like I said, is very limited. You can not get an i3-2100 running 800MHz faster, it's not possible.

[:smugspike:]

No I haven't, actually. I've been waiting for IB before I get a new processor since I hadn't a need to upgrade until I got my 560. My mistake.