Building a MAX CPU P.C for around ?500...ish

[Escape-To-88]

Howdy guys n gals,
was going to provide a pre-built system, but am looking for a desktop around the ?500 mark that can run high-end emulators. I did post before, and went for an iMac which was great - but no longer need the Mac side for design as don't do that any more, so thinking of going for a self-build P.C

I basically need maximum CPU speed and will overclock so going to go for a 2500k. Also a fairly GPU would be good! I will also use it as a media centre of sorts and use my 42" LCD as a monitor - so need HDMI out. Just wondered if someone might take a look at this and see if it's any good? Obviously I need a case!

		Qty	Product	QuickFind	Stock	Price	Line Total
			Asus P8H67 R3 H67 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard	260484	22 in stock	?78.68	?78.68
			Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V unbuffered	247674	79 in stock	?34.38	?34.38
			Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor plus FREE Trackmania 2 Canyon and Roxio PC Game Capture voucher	251596	496 in stock	?167.78	?167.78
			(free accessory) Intel Trackmania 2 Canyon and Roxio PC Game Capture coupon	281325	137 in stock	?0.00	?0.00
			Corsair 600W CX Series V2 PSU - 6x SATA 2x PCI-E	269259	1 in stock	?52.77	?52.77
			Gigabyte GTX 460 OC 1GB GDDR5 OC Edition Dual DVI HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card	232853	33 in stock	?146.49	?146.49
					Cart total inc vat:		?480.10
Cart Weight: 5.50Kg (with shipping offer)
				Cheers

[eastyy]

how much would a 560 ti card be ?

[Escape-To-88]

Looks to be around another ?30 - worth the upgrade you reckon?

[Brad]

An h67 motherboard is no good for overclocking a 2500k because you can't change the clock multipliers. You need a p67 variant.

A regular p8p67 is pretty good but if you're going nVidia then you're stuck with just 1 gfx card i.e. no SLI support. It supports 2 x ATI cards though. If you want support for SLI you need the P8P67 Pro variant. Both those boards are full size ATX so make sure you get the right case.

The p67 variant boards support 1600MHz RAM so you'd be wise to upgrade the ram a bit too.

EDIT: You'll need an alternative cooler if you O/c too. Even at 4GHz the cpu will reach over 90c in seconds with the stock intel cooler.

A p67 + cooler will let you o/c to 4.4GHz+ with ease and Dolphin will render any* cube/wii game at 1080p with loads of the cool stuff switched on.



*Xenoblade dies immediately on my system but I seem to be alone. Monster Hunter looks ace.

[eastyy]

Looks to be around another ?30 - worth the upgrade you reckon?

well having a look online a 560 ti is roughly about 10fps faster a standard 560 is about 5fps faster