Spec Check

s0680302

Hey folks,

I'm planning on building my new pc and was wondering if you could take a quick look at the spec, check I'm not missing anything etc.

Unfortunately I can't post with links, so this'll be a bit more difficult!

Base is the Novatech Barebone icore 3 bundle - Copied and pasted spec below

Harddrive:
Western Digital Caviar 1TB SATAII 64MB Cache 3.5-inch Green Internal Hard Drive OEM - on amazon

Graphics:
Palit Nvidia GeForce GT 520 1GB DDR3 HDMI Graphics Card PCI-E - on amazon

Optical Drive:
Samsung SH-B123L - on amazon

Was also thinking of adding another 2GB of memory and a USB 3.0 Hub - Transcend 2-Port USB 3.0 PCI-E Card - on amazon

All totaled, with Win 7 Home Premium, about £480.

I can go up to about £530.

Your thoughts would be appreciated!

Cheers

Processor
Clockspeed 3.10Ghz
Manufacturer Intel
No. of Cores 2
Description Intel Core i3 2100 Processor
Cache 3MB

Memory
Speed 1333Mhz
Description 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333Mhz Memory

Case
Description Novatech Gaming Tower Case
Colour Black With Blue Lights
Dimensions 48cm (H) x 48cm (D) x 19.5cm (W)
Drive Bays 3 1/2" 9
Drive Bays 5 1/4" 3
Form Factor ATX

Power Supply
Description Novatech PowerStation Gaming 400W Silent ATX2 Modular PSU
Wattage / Rating 400W

Motherboard
Chipset Intel H67 Chipset
Description Intel H67 Chipset Motherboard
Form Factor uATX form factor (9.6" x 8.8")
RAID Supports SATA RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5
SATA Ports 6 ( 2 x 6.0Gb/s / 4 x 3.0Gb/s)
PCI 2 PCIe x1 slots
PCI-EX 2 PCIe2.0 x16 slots(1x16,1x4)
Memory Slots 4
Max Memory Capacity 16GB
CPU Support Supports LGA 1155 for Intel Sandybridge processors
Audio Supports 5.1 channel HD Audio
IO 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
1 x VGA port
1 x DVI port
1 x Audio jack supports 3 jacks
1 x RJ45 LAN port
6 x USB 2.0 ports
LAN Gigabit LAN
Socket Type 1155
USB Supports up to 12 USB 2.0 ports (Rear panel x6, pin header x3 support 6 ports)

Mista_C

If you can afford to do so splash out the extra £20 for the Western Digital Caviar BLACK instead of the Green. It really makes a big difference when attached to one of those boards.

GeoffX

If you're not planning on playing games then you can drop the graphics card as the Intel i3-2100 has a GPU on it. If you are planning on gaming then I'd forget that particular graphics card as it's not good enough.

I don't think you can customize the bundle so I've picked components from Novatech's site:

£94.98 Intel Core i3 2100 3.1GHz (Sandy Bridge) Socket LGA1155 - Retail
£82.99 Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3-B3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) Motherboard
£34.99 Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
£79.99 Novatech ATI Radeon 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe
£40.98 Samsung Spin Point F3 SATAII 1TB 32MB Cache Hard Drive <8.9ms 7200rpm - OEM
£16.98 Sony AD-7280S-0B 24x DVD+/-RW SATA Black - OEM
£52.98 Novatech PowerStation Gaming 600W Silent ATX2 Modular Power Supply
£79.99 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit DVD - OEM - Service Pack 1
£24.98 Novatech Vulcan Midi Case

That comes to £508.86.
Notes:
- If you're not gaming then lose the graphics card and consider ugrading the CPU to an i5-2500K.
- If you are gaming and have a 1080p monitor then consider upgrading the graphics card.
- I couldn't find the bundled case on the site so included a cheapish one pretty much at random.
- OEM versions of Windows 7 come with limitations.
- If you want to upgrade the memory then get 2x4GB, not 4x2GB. You can get 8GB of good quality memory for £60 or less.
- The Z68 motherboard will allow you to use the CPU's integrated graphics and also allow the greater overclocking capabilities of the "K" processors. The H67 boards only permit the former.
- I'd seriously consider upgrading the PSU to one that is at least 80+ Bronze rated. For instance: Antec High Current Gamer 520W PSU