Hi everyone, looking to build a gaming desktop as ive just sold my laptop. Below is what ive put together and is what im willing to spend. Please note my os will be on a crucial m4 ssd which ive taken out of my laptop. Any screen suggestions would be welcome also.

a question though if you dont mind

Ive built a 1155 socket desktop before for a friend and was worried about how much force was required to pull the clamp down for the cpu socket and how the pins were making noise as i pulled it down. Are all 1155 socket boards this tough to seat? It did work fine afterwards so i guess its normal.

Thanks heres what ive got so far anyway:

Case: Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two V3 Gaming Case****
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/Midi+Tower/Antec+902+Nine+Hundred+Two+V3+Black+Midi+Tower+Windowed+Chassis+w%2F+USB3.0+?productId=49625
￡84.95


PSU:Corsair 850W HX Modular PSU ****
http://www.ebuyer.com/164951-corsair-850w-hx-modular-psu-cmpsu-850hxuk
￡124.60


Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V Socket 1155 VGA DVI DisplayPort HDMI 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/363230-asus-p8z77-v-socket-1155-vga-dvi-displayport-hdmi-8-channel-audio-atx-p8z77-v
￡132.41

Cpu
Cpu Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/349029-intel-core-i5-3570k-3-4ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80637i53570k
￡177.50


GPU: Sapphire HD 7850 2GB DVI HDMI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/349747-sapphire-hd-7850-2gb-dvi-hdmi-dual-mini-displayport-pci-e-graphics-card-11200-00-20g
￡190.09


RAM: G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V****
http://www.ebuyer.com/264750-g-skill-8gb-2x4gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ripjawsx-memory-kit-cl9-9-9-9-24-1-5v-f3-12800cl9d-8gbxl
￡39.93

HDD: Seagate 1TB Barracuda 3.5" SATA-III Hard Drive - 7200RPM 64MB Cache****
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Storage/Hard+Drives+-+Internal/3.5+Inch+SATA+Drives/640GB+-+1TB/1TB+Seagate+ST1000DM003+Barracuda+7200.12+SATA+III+6Gb%2Fs+Hard+Drive+-+HDD+?productId=48501
￡69.00

Optical drive: LiteOn iHAS124 SATA DVD Optical Drive | OEM****
http://www.ebuyer.com/176026-liteon-ihas124-sata-dvd-optical-drive-oem-ihas124-19
￡14.87

Total ￡816.83

The new Ivy Bridge CPUs are out now, so you may want to get one of those instead of that Sandy Bridge i5.

It's normal for there to be resistance, yes.

That depends how much he wants to overclock. Ivy Bridge gets HOT fast if you go anywhere past stock voltage.

Not bothered about IB and will be doing some oc'ing on the cpu. And yeah i heard Ib get a lot hotter than Sb when oc'ing.

Have you read anything about typical OC headroom on Ivy Bridge chips without over-volting? I'll typically only overclock until I'd have to exceed the maximum voltage spec for the chip. Increasing the voltage on newer chips with such tiny lithography makes me nervous...too easy to damage the pathways.

Anyway, I'd personally rather have a stock Ivy Bridge chip than a Sandy Bridge that I could overclock. Chances are you're not going to be able to get that kind of a performance increase out of the SB chip without an extreme overclock.

Sandy Bridge can get pretty close to Intel's max recommended voltage and maintain reasonable temperatures. Ivy Bridge can barely exceed stock voltage without massive temperature increases based on everything I've read so far. And clock for clock, the performance improvements of Ivy Bridge are minimal, generally less than 8%. Balance those improvements with the limited overclock potential, and Ivy and Sandy come out pretty much equal. The only reason to pay extra for Ivy is if you want the slightly lower power consumption or stronger IGP, both of which are irrelevant for almost all gamers.

I just did some looking around. It looks like Ivy only starts having real problems over 1.3v, which is higher than I would over-volt anyway, so I don't think it would be an issue for me.

I'd actually argue that the IGP is more meaningful than being able to overclock a tiny bit more. That 8% out of the gate is as much as you're likely to get from a typical 24/7 overclock, while still having similar overclocking potential until you get into 1.3v+ voltages (so, within the voltage range I'd be comfortable with the Ivy is going to be the faster chip).

While most gamers are going to use a discrete GPU as their main source of graphics horsepower, Intel, AMD, and nVidia keep coming up with new ways to take advantage of that un-used IGP that are pretty compelling (like compute muscle for media encoding and Quick Sync). Anyway, I don't have a Sandy CPU...skipped that generation...so I've got Ivy in my sights for my next upgrade. I think it's the better choice for me.

Im now tempted by ivy but getting put off by the higher temps :/

Yeah, you'd really need to decide how important getting really big overclocks is to you. If you'd be happy with a slightly smaller overclock I'd go the Ivy route for sure. I doubt you'd want to run a Sandy 24/7 on the kind of overclock that would get you significantly better performance than the Ivy with a modest overclock. Either way you're probably not going to notice much of a difference. A 200 MHz difference in CPU clockspeed is nowhere close to noticeable in most games. The Ivy comes with some updated features and consumes less power. At the end of the day it's all about how much you care about overclocking, IMO.

Ok say i dont want to oc YET. But will intend to in the future and will get a better cooler. If i get the i5 3570k will it suit me at stock speeds with the stock cooler?

Edit when i do oc it will be by a small amount

I would personally go for the 3570k over the 2500k. They're nearly the same price right now and the trade for newer tech at the expense of a little bit of overclocking headroom is (IMO) worth it. The difference in overclock-ability isn't going to make much of a difference at all in games, while the power consumption and IGP are significantly better.

Thanks i will go for the 3570k.

Im now having problems finding me a case.

My perfect case would be a bit smaller than the haf 932 (not the 922), has the 932's hdd config/layout, has atleast 3 fans, has dust filters and good sleek looks with blue led fans but not too crazy. And idealy under ￡100 but am willing to pay more.