Hi! I'm just about to start my first project "StEaLtH", but I need a bit of advice as I am not sure what hardware would suit my needs. I need to find it for a small form factor pc what will be used for playing games on a projector, listening to music on decent speakers, but from the mobo sound card, watching tv and surfing the net etc: My budget is 250 pounds from when I sold my main rig. The rest of the part will come for later cash. -A good MATX mobo for AM2. Must be in black for athetic reasons! -2 gig of ram to go with it decent, but not costing th earth. -A cheap AM2 processor, for less than £50 if thats a possability. -A secondhand gfx card on ebay for about £30, is there anything I should go for there? -I also need a riser that allows my gfx card to be angled running parallel with my mobo. -A low prfile processor fan. Any advice would be of great help because I don't really have a clue tbh!
Would a low profile graphics card not be suffcient? Seams to be quite a range from both ATI and Nvidia. Can also get low profile bracket kits for the low profile cards with large brackets, opens up the range a little bit I guess your limited to the interface on the limited black MATX board selection tho.
Thanks, but I dunno. Is a low pro really going to be any good for playing games? If there are anyout there that could be recommended I'd go for it! I still can't find a black matx, tho...
i dont think there is such a thing as a black AM2 mobo, can you not go intel ? because aopen have a range of black boards .. http://global.aopen.com/Products.aspx?id=52
This is the nearest to a black matx board you're likely to find http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=622461 as for ram, im not a fan of overclockersuk, but this is a good deal http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL and these are pretty good low profile coolers http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=614467 as for a processor, as you're looking to build something small, you might want to consider one of the 'be' low power a64 chips like this http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/130495 , though you can get a faster normal athlonX2 for the same price
I've got a x2 4000+ Brisbane in an AN-M2HD - seems to run pretty well. if the box code quoted is correct this should be a Brisbane http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=537550
I guess that depends on the games you wish to play no it, but I have seen low profile g-force 7600gs cards about. I done a little search, found this PCI-E right angle riser for £7 which may be of use http://www.bvm-store.com/ProductDetail.asp?fdProductId=369
Thanks very much for this advice! This might sound really fussy, but is that motherborad extra thin from the side view it looks like the board is not even straight. Is it just the pic, or are they really like that in reality? If it is likely to be straight I'll defo buy that. For the ram. Should I buy 4 gig as it's such a good deal. Or do you think this is a better deal?: http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=43nd I'll definately go for the cooler, to thats that sorted! I'm going to be using a 300watt one fo these: http://www.shoeboxcomputers.com/product_info.php?products_id=2289 Does this mean I could get away with a more powerful processor, like a 4400? Thanks very much for your effort!
Thanks, yes thats just the ticket. The way things are going I may be able to order this weekend! thanks!
Thanks Buff! I'll keep an eye out for that one. I think the 4000 is the lowest powering I'd want. I had the 3500 before and thought is was great!
Thanks. I could get to see the mobos for some reason, but are there intel cpus that are as good as AMD for the price?
TBH only if your going to be running a 64bit OS, otherwise not worth it... specially if your planning on using a 300w psu as below. My concern here is that it wont be man enough, your looking at using a pci-e graphics card right? I just checked the minimum power requirements for some cards... Gforce 6800 requires 350w PSU (draws about 110-120w). Gforce 7800 requires 330w PSU (draws about 100-110w). Gforce 8800gts requires at least 400w PSU (draws about 310-330w). ATI 9800 and 9700 both require at least 300w psu. So a larger PSU would be more ideal The cheapest and lowest intel core 2 duo cpu at about £60 and performs only marginly better.
Thanks for the bit of research there. Yes, I see what you mean there, but I really need this size of psu. Any bigger and it won't work in my design and the design I can't afford to compromise, tbh. I;d rather a less powerful pc. My last pc had an x800 pro agp on a 350watt psu. What could you suggest considering I really have to use the 300 watt?
I found this article, appears that the geforce 7900gt is the most economical at no more than 50w on load. This card should perform nicely EDIT: or better yet somewhere in stock.. 1 2
Thsnks bud. stroke of genius there I wouldn't have had a clue what to do there. Another question though. Can I get this secondhand?
Welcome Secondhand, yer im sure you could, I just put 7900gt into ebay search and it listed some cards for sale. I highly recommend the Gainward cards if you can spare the cash!!
The AN-M2/AN-M2HD are on special offer at SCAN today (Today Only). Most mobos have some flex in fact iirc it's actually part of the spec. for Intel's heatsink retention design. Btw you can always overclock the x2 4000+ if you need a bit more power.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/xfx-7900gt-25...ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting Delphium: Would the above be a good buy? Buff: I've decided to stick with AMD motherboard. Do you know which is the best of these two? http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=pricegrabber25.13&prodID=C-B67320 http://www.afterhours.co.uk/msi-690...rabber&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=pricegrabber
