Build Advice First timer in some serious need of help

Hi all,

So, I am an avid gamer and have always bought pre-made gaming rigs, but I have decided that its time I build my own, for fun and for the knowledge of how my machine works. However, I did not realise how many different kinds of parts there were, a bit naive!

Anyway, I was wondering if post the parts that I'm looking at, maybe you guys could tell me if I'm being silly or am right on the money. I'm not looking to throw down any more than 1800 all inclusive and this is what I know so far....

I'm going for ATI 5870 Saphire
i7 960 3.2 CPU
6GB RAM

thats about as far as I got. I had decided on a an P6T deluxe, but i saw the P6T SE is 80 quid less and does pretty much the same thing. any thoughts on motherboards?

About RAM, there are just so many different kinds and it seems quite expensive also....any advice on that front?

I was advised to go for an 850W PSU, but is that necessary? What about coolers? I have no idea about that too.

Case - Would a midi suffice or do I need a large case like antec 902 etc? Optical drives and hard drives are fairly straight forward i guess. Mainly motherboard and RAM thats got me spinning...

Anyway, any help you can give will be much appreciated! Cheers

 

Hello and welcome to the forums.

Building yourself is a sensible option but it would be easier to advise if you let us all know your budget. For CPU I would go with the i7 930 and the P6TD for the motherboard. You wont need as much as 850w for your specs but if you can afford it, it is good to have a cushion and the option to add another card in at a later date. You wont need a huge case and the Antec 902 is a very good case with good airflow. As for ram, just get any 6gb kit you fancy as the really expensive stuff is more suited to extreme overclockers.

 

Save yourself a chunk of pennies and get the i7 930 instead, the 960 fits in your budget but imo is a pointless buy.

As for ram corsair, ocz, G.skill are all good, I think an 850W PSU is overkill, a good quality 650 would be enough, Corsair and seasonic are my personal choices

Cant comment on the mobo havent used an asus board for ages now.

 

for motherboard, as long as the cheaper option have all the features you need, you can go for the cheaper option.

i think a Corsair Hx650 or Tx750 will be enough, 800w+ is really for multi-graphics card.

 

Don't touch the i7 960, utter waste of money, do what everyone else does and get the i7 930. The Asus P6TD Deluxe supports SLI and the SE doesn't, and the Deluxe is a better overclocker. If your not too confident about overclocking, and your buying a ATi GPU, the SE should be fine for you. A 850W PSU is overkill really for a single GPU setup, a Corsair 650 or 750W will power that system a treat.

 

thanks for the feed bac everyone.

the reason i looked at 850 corsair PSU is because I think ill want to double up my GPU at some point, 5870 is good for now, but eventually, it will be a slow horse carrying new games. No?

For the RAM I was under the impression that you had be very careful as what you chose so that its compatible with everything on the board?

also, what about coolers and all those wee extras? necessary?

thanks all again, seriously. i didnt expect such fast help!

I did notice that the 960 is 200 pounds more, but its 3.2 and the 930 is 2.8, isnt that a fairly large gap, especially if i'm building to last?

 

Right then, more questions so I shall give you more answers!

1) Corsair 850W could be needed if you wanted dual 5870 later, but theres a few caveats to that. Yes, eventually, the 5870 will be considered a slow card. But by setting yourself up to add another, your really trapping yourself in terms of choices. Its possible the next nVidia generation will be much faster, or the next ATi generation, meaning that doubling up with another 5870 might not make sense.

2) As long as you get triple channel DDR3 memory, you'll be OK.

3) The one thing you will find everyone agreeing on its the 960 is an absolute waste of money. If you want higher speeds for less money, consider an overclocked bundle - http://www.scan.co.uk/shops/3XS/bundles?_s_icmp=yH5WRg6u That way you will get your memory, cooler, CPU and motherboard all together and stress tested. That means its guaranteed compatibility and a warranty too. You could get the 3.8GHz or 4GHz bundle, which is obviously even faster than the 960 for much less money.

 

Ph4Zed, thanks, i had a look at the bundles and i feel they are almost a bit too good to be true...are they? I mean, are they reliable, stable etc, do they have shorter life spans? Also, the quality of the RAM that comes with, is it good do you think? Also, what about the motherboards they come with? the two that i had thought were they best are P6T D or the gigabyte models above the ones in the bundle.

About the GPU. doe you think the 5870 is the way to go? are should i stick with NVIDIA, im currently running 8800gtx and I like it...though its old. Also, whats all the fuss about saphire or xfx, aren't the cards just the same?

thanks again mate!

 

forget doubling up graphics when the card starts to show its age, far better value for money to just sell and upgrade.

Right now it would be most retarded to purchase anything other than a 5870, nvidia's GTX480 is a beast of a card, but runs hot a consumes a lot of power its mental. Not to mention the cost!!!

The i7 920 or 930 are the worth the look, plenty of speed very overclockable and make the 960 seem like a waste of money.

 

No they aren't too good to be true, actually it's 960 that's too bad to be true! So the overclocked bundles are a good way of getting extra power for a little extra cash. I wouldn't worry about the lifespan side, they will be using cherry picked chips which require tiny voltage increases to get stable. You need not worry about the RAM or motherboard - tech heads like me will argue over the benefits for each, but for someone like yourself I'm not sure it really matters.

The 5870 is considered the card of the moment due it's low temperature, power consumption and performance. I wouldn't even look at nvidia as they can't really offer a competitive solution currently.

 

thanks for all the help mate

 

Oh, get 1600Mhz RAM

 

how do i know if the bundle has 1600 mhz ram and not less?

 

Email/Phone and ask.

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-020-OB&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=1675

Has 1600MHz memory, and 4.0GHz i7 930.

 

redsnake, what package do you think is better though, the one you posted or the EDGE on this link

http://www.scan.co.uk/shops/3XS/bundles?_s_icmp=yH5WRg6u

 

also another question. about the ati 5870, is the saphire vapour the one to go for? there seem to be so many varieties. there is even the 2gig version, is that worth looking at?

 

You'll only notice the difference with a 2gig 5870 if you plan to run a high resolution monitor. The Sapphire Vapour X will be quieter and cooler than the a stock cooled 5870 so if you can afford the extra £20-£30 it's definitely the one to go for.

 

you dont need the 2gb version thats a start point

duel 5870 is not really a risk most would take in the long term ( price will never drop enough to merit the investment)

850 watt is overkill

960 is waste of money

the SE is the standard edition of the asus board the one everyone recomends is the TD its an overclockers dream the TD. If you dont wish to overclock the SE is fine

 

I'm not seeing a budget... Also, are you planning on using multiple graphics cards or no (what size / resolution monitor are you running)?