I think I might be grabbing that too... it's about 10 quid off the 5770 I was going for (which was a bargain basement product from Aria anyway) and since I've got a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, I could use that to drown(?) out the sound of the HD 4890 when I play Supreme Commander 2 on it... ;p Got the noise level ratings for the 4890... gee... at 47 under full load, that's fairly loud unless I've got a soundproof case. FYI 50 decibels is the sound level of moderate rain and 30 is the sound of a whisper. No matter, I guess I'll stick to my above mentioned plan so I don't drive myself nuts with the noise.
According to that, it's the quietest card in that roundup - with the exception of a 4870. I would have supposed that's a good thing! I game with headphones too - they do block out most of the ambient noise.
Also remember that the better the airflow in the case, the cooler the graphics card runs and the quieter the fan is.
Latest build based off recommendations thus far. CASE: Coolermaster elite 335 £29.95 (recommended by adam_bagpuss) PSU: SST-ST50F-ES - 500W Silverstone Stride $43.39 (Recommended by Moyo2k) HDD: 500GB Samsung F3 £33.45 (recommended by adam_bagpuss) MOBO: MSI 770-C45 £52.64 (recommended by adam_bagpuss) GPU: XFX ATI radeon HD 4890 1GB £109.99 (recommended by a heck of a lot of you and promo found by Fingers) MON: Viewsonic 20" VA2013BW 1600x900 £94.34 (recommended by adam_bagpuss) CPU: AMD Athlon 255 £54.78 (recommended by adam_bagpuss) RAM: 4GB DDR 1333 Corsair £72.97 (recommended by adam_bagpuss) Total = 491.51 (Sweet! A sub-£500 system) Edit: And £5 less than the previous build too.
That will be a good build plus you came under budget- well done I have gone more than £100 over my budget and I have still not got the GPU or heatsink yet I don't mind really as I am building it for my son who lives on his PC/laptop. I have come in at just over £600 and am expecting to spend at least another £150-£175 on the GPU & heatsink. I did buy 2 cases though so one is going back. I let him choose his own case but when it arrived it was no where near adequate for what I wanted to build for him. So we got his second choice the Cooler-Master Storm Scout and it seems fine but not heard too much about it TBH. This build will be his first gaming rig though so he is very excited.
congrats its not often that we manage to keep a build under budget usually ends up been £100-200 over lol
Lol... well... if you want to keep under budget, it helps if you ahve a wife who keeps reminding you that you don't have much money to spend (on yourself)... Therefore, every pound I get below budget, helps me get what I want without going through the grumbling
Looks like this post by Fingers has had a beneficial effect on the sales level of this particular 4890. It was 18 units when he posted that. It's 8 units left now...
Also should definitely say that the lot of you who commented in this thread really helped me keep under budget with some off your suggestions. Cheers!
Update: Can't believe I've staggered my purchases over a 6-month period (a mistake when it came to buying the HDD early). I've finally settled on the following setup with some concessions based on the timing of the recommendations by the good people in this forum. I was also handed down an LG 18.5 inch monitor and since beggars can't be choosers, I ended up saving money (for now at least!) on the monitor. It's a pretty clear monitor too, if a little on the bright side. I'm quite likely to hunker down for a 24 inch monitor in 6 months time when I figure LCDs (or even LEDs) would be really cheap. Onward with the build: Case: Coolermaster Elite 334 - 23.49@Scan PSU: 650W Antec TruePower modular - 58.73@Scan HDD: 500GB Samsung F3 Spinpoint - 33.45 (yeah, sucks now I could get 1TB for only £6 more. Them's the breaks) - 33.45@eBuyer Mobo: MSI 770-C45 - 52.64@eBuyer Memory: Corsair 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz Module CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5v - 59.99@eBuyer Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE 3.2Ghz - 113.92@Scan Total outlay: £463.90 Edit: I should add that I had previously never considered the OS cost. I think I should add it in to give a true picture of the total cost. I picked up Windows 7 Ultimate retail edition for £75, so the total cost of my build should actually read as £538.90 From this experience, my fav e-tailers were Scan and eBuyer thanks to 0 shipping charges. I'm also liking Scan's insurance protection scheme. Gives me piece of mind when I try to fit my processor into the board.
