Hi, I'm new to PC building and wanted to see if this was a good possible system. All prices in UK£ CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor - 122.01 Graphics card - Inno3D 9800GT Esave Edition 1GB GDDR3 DVI VGA HDMI Out PCI-E Graphics Card - 82.40 Case - Coolermaster Elite 335 Case -28.04 PSU - Sumvision 450W 20+4pin SATA Power Supply PSU - 15.32 RAM - Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 Lifetime Warranty - 70.58 Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-M52L-S3P nForce 520LE Socket AM2+ 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard - 40.12 Hard-drive - Seagate ST3500418AS 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM - 37.41 Optical drive - Samsung SH-D162 16x48x DVD-ROM Internal IDE (Black) - 13.36 All from eBuyer, including vat and shipping Total price = 409.24 I have all the extra's (mouse, speakers, moniter, OS's, spare IDE hard-drive)
Overclockers have the 4870 1GB vapor-X card in at £99.99 i think its free del if you join their forum too. So id swap out the 9800gt and you should be fine.
Just noticed your psu. Id atleast get this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135101. if your on a tight budget instead of the psu and case you have picked. Or this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159920. I know its expensive the last choice but the psu is very important. The budget option i pointed out isnt bad but future upgrades would be borderline at best.
all looks fine appart from the PSU. its the (sometimes expensive) lesson that every computer builder learns. dont get a cheap PSU! it will work for maybe 6 months, then go bang. If you're lucky it will just be a new PSU you need, if you're unlucky it could take you're mobo/CPU/gfx card with it. In my case i bought a cheap one, it went bang, my friend lent me a spare cheap one, that went bang. i spent £60 on a corsair one - havnt had a problem. Check the recommended PSU thread for a list of PSUs that won't blow up Edit: i got beat to it but i'd agree with getting the 4870 as well... although PSU and 4870 will drive up the price a lot... maybe swap the CPU for a dual core... either an intel that you can overclock the hell out of, or an amd and hope you can unlock an extra core or two
I think that the case/PSU would be a good swap. Thanks, though I'm not to sure on what you mean with the graphics card.
Sorry. The 4870 1GB vapor-X is much more powerful for only £15 more. Also the vapor-x cooler is much quieter and cooler and for £99.99 a bargin. Id say for the extra £40 for the case and psu plus the 4870 is your best option.
The 4870 beats the 9800 hands down. The 9800 is just a renamed 8800GT, and that card struggles with new games on high graphics, but the 4870 flies through them. Also as MrGumby says, the Vapour-X cooler is really nice and quiet (i've got the 4870 vpour-X). heres the card we're talking about: Clicky
What size monitor do you have and what resolution will you be running? Can't really recommend what GFX card to buy without that information.
Spend a bit more on the case and get Antec 300. Coolmaster Elite have build quailty issues, panels gaps. I know I have one! and replaced with Antec 300
+1 regarding psu - definately get a decent brand name Also agree with antec 300 for budget case 4870 is a really fast card for its price, vapour - x design also makes it quiet !
Obviously, nobody else has spotted the ridiculousness of the CPU/MB combo. a) Phenom X4s don't make sense on bang for buck, you should get an X2 550 BE instead. (Or go Intel) b) AM2+ is old hat and you should be buying an AM3 board. The PSU is shash. Look at a Corsair 400CX, or 450/550VX for a little more juice. Agreed on the 4870. Although, tbh I would consider the 5770 at £120ish which will be at least as good, probably better, and use way less juice and have DX11.
Is this looking better? AMD Athlon X2 6000 Bundle Deal Including X2 6000 3.0GHz Processor with Cooling Fan 1GB Branded DDR2 800 Memory and M2N68-AM SE2 Motherboard - Combo - 106.86 - eBuyer Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 Vapor X PCI-Express Graphics Card [11133-16-20R] - Overclockers - 99.99 Antec 200 with X-Case Green Power 650W 80+ Dual 12v V2.2 High Efficiency Black - 71.75 -Xcase RAM - Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 Lifetime Warranty - 70.58 Hard-drive - Seagate ST3500418AS 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM - 37.41 I will add an old cd-drive I have knocking around and an old IDE hard-drive so as to dual boot Windows 7 64bit and linux.
Why not use the Budget PC setup recommended by Custom PC as seen here: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2010/01/11/what-hardware-should-i-buy-january-2010/1 It's pretty close to what you are already looking at.
I don't think the Athlons are worth considering unless budget is ridiculously tight. If you don't need a HDD or optical drive try this: Phenom II X2 550 BE £70ish Asus M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 board £70ish Antec Three Hundred case £40ish 4gig Corsair XMS3 1600Mhz £90ish Corsair CX400 PSU £40ish That's £310. Prices from Scan with the odd few quids rounded up or down. You've then got £90 towards a 4870 if you can get it or 4770/5750/5770 depending on where you shop, how much you can stretch. Of course with the board I've mentioned, you could use the onboard GPU for another several weeks until nVidia bring their latest card. This MAY allow you to pick up a bargain
Will that be able to cope with dual-boot (Windows 7 64 bit and Linux, They will be on seperate Hard drives) and run mass effect 1
Using the setup suggested by CPC as a guide, I think this might be alright: CPU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168971 Motherboard: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175765 RAM: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173105 CPU Cooler: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176157 PSU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150985 Hard Drive: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158860 DVDRW: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145450 Case: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151368 Case Fan: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/138586 - for intake at front GFX: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-093-GW&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939 Everything from Ebuyer apart from 4870 which was from OCUK as Ebuyer don't seem to sell any 4800 series cards anymore. This is just a suggestion, have a look at everything (others welcome), but this all comes to: £405.02
By using the existing storage, you free up more than £50 for use elsewhere. And once again, Athlon is a waste of space next to Phenom II.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135101 Coolermaster 330 case with Coolermaster eXtreme Power 460W PSU ..... £51.99 Better PSU and £20 cheaper....
The Motherboard you used needs DDR2 memory and you have specified DDR3 memory Which of these would be the best replacement? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148036 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149202 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164796
Ok, this is my last post in this thread as I'm clearly invisible. PLEASE DO NOT USE DDR2!! I wouldn't go with that board, but if you're going to anyway, he means this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165438
