[Locla]

Hi Phill,

 

You're quite right about the other two slots appearing as unusable, I still want to test this but unfortunately I can't borrow the other RAM sticks for at least a week due to other commitments; I hope to get round to doing this purely out of curiosity though. 

 

As it stands, I have decided to finally build a new system. As you can see from my previous Speccy posts I am running a 10-year-old machine which I've upgraded to its furthest limits (almost). I have on my desk an ASUS P8Z77-V LK motherboard and I am virtually decided on buying an i5-2500k to go with it in the next few days (unless you would dispute that choice). Right now I'm trying to decide which PSU, (I'm thinking it should be circa 850 Watts) case and cooler (air, liquid?) to invest into, bearing in mind that I already have a decent GPU (Gigabyte R9 270), an HDD and SSD, low-grade RAM, old-school IDE optical drives, (SATA-to-IDE adapters necessary) OS and peripherals. 

 

I will need to upgrade the RAM (to 1600MHz ideally) after I get the system built, so I guess I'd put my budget at about £200 for these 4 items (PSU, case, cooler, RAM) unless you think that budget is unsuitable. This will preferably be a gaming build with a viable upgrade path, so I don't mind making a variation to the budget.

 

As ever, any advice you can provide would be much appreciated I'm sure I could research and build the system myself, but it's always beneficial to have someone else with experience give a second opinion!

 

Many thanks,

 

Dan

 

 

P.S. Should I create a new topic as this is a new build, or should we keep using this one? 

[Advertisements]

Hello Dan,

 

Ram details acknowledged 

 

Aye it would be best if you started a new thread as the two topics are completely unrelated 

 

Couple of things that I will mention here though if only for the benefit of others that may only read your reply #46 above;

 

The i5 2500k CPU is still an outstanding CPU but unless you intend purchasing a used one the very hard to find new ones are ridiculously expensive, example here

 

Your budget of £200 is doable but I would do away with a third party CPU cooler to begin with, this if any CPU that you purchase is out of the box new and comes with a HS and fan included, an example of what you can obtain for under £200 here we can make sure of compatibility such as an adequate PSU output etc in your new thread once you decide on which way you wish to proceed.

 

Possibly some less favourable information now I`m afraid, you may need to purchase a new licence key for Windows, please see canned text below;

 

Just a cautionary note, unless your OS disk is the full retail edition you cannot use it with a new MB as an OEM disk is tied to the original MB it was paired with, to use an OEM disk with a new MB is software piracy and therefore illegal.

Exceptions to the above are 1: If your MB is replaced under warranty and 2: If your MB is replaced out of warranty with an alternative type but same brand due to the original model no longer being available, an upgraded MB however will require the purchase of a new OS licence. 

 

If you have a full retail disk and a product key that is not in use on another computer the OEM restriction/s is/are not the same.

 

 

[phillpower2]

Hello Dan,

 

Ram details acknowledged 

 

Aye it would be best if you started a new thread as the two topics are completely unrelated 

 

Couple of things that I will mention here though if only for the benefit of others that may only read your reply #46 above;

 

The i5 2500k CPU is still an outstanding CPU but unless you intend purchasing a used one the very hard to find new ones are ridiculously expensive, example here

 

Your budget of £200 is doable but I would do away with a third party CPU cooler to begin with, this if any CPU that you purchase is out of the box new and comes with a HS and fan included, an example of what you can obtain for under £200 here we can make sure of compatibility such as an adequate PSU output etc in your new thread once you decide on which way you wish to proceed.

 

Possibly some less favourable information now I`m afraid, you may need to purchase a new licence key for Windows, please see canned text below;

 

Just a cautionary note, unless your OS disk is the full retail edition you cannot use it with a new MB as an OEM disk is tied to the original MB it was paired with, to use an OEM disk with a new MB is software piracy and therefore illegal.

Exceptions to the above are 1: If your MB is replaced under warranty and 2: If your MB is replaced out of warranty with an alternative type but same brand due to the original model no longer being available, an upgraded MB however will require the purchase of a new OS licence. 

 

If you have a full retail disk and a product key that is not in use on another computer the OEM restriction/s is/are not the same.

 

 

[Locla]

Hi Phill,

 

I'll post the results of the RAM test when I can, so as to conclude this thread

 

As a bargain hunter who doesn't mind using yesterday's gear (mainly because I'm still a student haha) I try to buy everything pre-owned. I imagine I will be able to score a used i5-2500k for under £100 without much difficulty I also plan on overlocking so a decent cooler will probably be necessary. 

 

Thank you for the parts list which I will link in the new thread. If I do need to get a new license key then that's what I'll have to do! That expense can be considered as external from the budget though.

[phillpower2]

You are most welcome and thanks for the update Dan 

 

As you plan on O/Cing a good cooler and thermal compound are a must, some light reading to help you with both [Guide] Budget, Mid range and High end Heatsink choice Price/Performance

 

64-bit Windows 7/8  or 8.1 will cost circa £75 + keep in mind that Windows 10 is not far off release, upgrading to 10 from Windows 7/8 and 8.1 will be free for the first 12 months - possibly even longer.