Okay, so after revising the hardware, I believe I have come up with my final build. I'd like to game with everything maxed out at 1920x1080, mostly Skyrim, Borderlands 2, Arma 2 and Guild Wars 2. Now my budget can't stretch any further, it's gone up quite a lot already to get these parts, and I already have the case, monitor and OS: CPU: Intel i5 3450 http://www.ebuyer.com/349022-intel-...mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80637i53450 GPU: Radeon XFX 2GB 7850 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-...gpu-860mhz-1024-cores-dual-link-dvi-i-hdmi-2x PSU: Corsair CX600W V2 http://www.ebuyer.com/269259-corsair-600w-cx-series-v2-psu-6x-sata-2x-pci-e-cmpsu-600cxv2uk Mobo: Gigabyte GA-B75-D3V http://www.ebuyer.com/351613-gigaby...vi-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-b75-d3v RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 8GB (2x4GB) http://www.ebuyer.com/264750-g-skill-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ripjawsx-memory-f3-12800cl9d-8gbxl HDD: Toshiba 1TB http://www.ebuyer.com/393828-toshiba-1tb-hard-drive-dt01aca100 Disc drive: Sony AD-7280S http://www.ebuyer.com/273174-sony-ad-7280s-sata-dvd-optical-drive-oem-ad-7280s-0b Now, I have no interest in overclocking the CPU, which is why I didn't go for an unlocked CPU or mobo, though I might 'overclock' in the Catalyst Control Centre. What I was wondering was is 600W necessary? I may go a bit cheaper and get a 500W, anything to make the build cheaper really. The reason I'm getting the majority of my things from eBuyer is because it totals out to be cheaper. What's their returns policy like, should there be an issue? So yeah, just in general - how's this build? Any way to make it cheaper without sacrificing much performance? (I know I had a thread last week, but everything has been revised, including the budget.) EDIT: In particular, I was looking at this PSU...http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w...u-120mm-fan-80plus-efficiency-3-year-warranty.
Where's the case for your components? Memory speed cap is kinda low so getting higher frequency memory isn't a viable upgrade on your motherboard. That shouldn't matter much (if at all) to you though since you're not overclocking and the speed gains from higher clocked memory are minimal. Dual Graphics cards as a future upgrade is also fairly bad on that board since the second x16 slot will only work at x4. You only get 1 SATA 6Gb/s port so you're not going to be able to RAID (or even have multiple) SATA 6Gb/s devices together. Your build would probably do fine at 500 or 550W. Maybe even lower '''. AMD recommends minimum 500W, but you could probably do fine with 450W. However with your PSU that low you wouldn't be able to easily upgrade. Not sure I'd go for that 500W PSU exactly. Antec and XFX are pretty good around that range.
Looks to be a cracking build , should run those games no probs. as for the psu , dont skimp, if you can afford the 600w , buy it a little headroom is a good thing in my opinion. Never had a problem returning stuff to ebuyer , scan is worth a look too free shipping for bit tech members. But if you are going to spend that sort of cash i would recommend you have a look in the sales forum , you will get a LOT more for your money good luck
Yeah, a little headroom is good, but with a 600W unit you're going to have around 400W headroom. A decent 400-500W unit is plenty for that system.
I would say look in the mid 500's, for PSU, not so much on the basis that that's what you actually NEED, but there are some good choices, in that region, in terms of quality. Exactly 500w is a bit of a "bare patch"
True , just done the sums , should be fine with a 500w , you should be pulling between 300-350w on that system
I have measured the power consumption of Q9550/4870 system, and on full load (FurMark and Prime95) it hardly reached 250W. Mind you, the Q9550 is a 95W chip versus the 77W 3450, the 4870 has two PCI-E power connectors versus a single one on the 7850, and these figures don't take 80% PSU efficiency into account.
Already got the case, a Bitfenix Alpha Merc. And thanks for the help guys, but what PSUs would you suggest in particular? I only really want to change if it gives a significant price decrease, otherwise I think I'll stick with this Corsair.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-11...I5AK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1347979466&sr=8-2 By posting this here, I'm worried someone might nab it. But too good to be true? Might pick this up, if I can. But the only thing I'm worried about is would it fit in a Bitfenix Merc? EDIT: Post is irrelevant now, someone was selling it for about £100.
Prefer to buy it from dabs to be honest... http://www.dabs.com/products/sapphi...le&utm_medium=product+search&utm_content=Q200 £205 plus a free game!
So I was looking at this... http://www.ebuyer.com/390921-sapphi...-displayport-pci-e-graphics-card-11200-14-20g Is the extra fan worth the fiver? I'd think so... EDIT: The sale ended, damn.
Bah sorry, the link didn't post. Also guys, what is wrong with the 500W CoreXStream? It'd save me a fair amount of money...
Or there's also this alternative PSU... http://www.ebuyer.com/352618-coolermaster-gx-lite-500w-86-single-12v-rail-230v-rs500-asabl3-uk
I guess my biggest concern with the OCZ (and the CoolerMaster one you just linked) is that I can't find any reviews for either of them... Both brands are ones that I will trust to a certain extent, but if I were making the purchase I would want more information before buying =/. Regarding the graphics card, more fans means more noise (doesn't always mean better cooling ). I doubt I'll be able to find acoustic reviews on those exact 2 graphics cards, but I'd stick with your single fan choice.
Two fans don't equal more noise! Just the opposite. If the designs, and airflow are the same, it's how hard fans are working that sets noise. Two fans, each have to work less hard, for the same cooling. That reduces noise, far more than having two adds noise.
I've had two OCZ psus and they have been good. No problems to report. I'd say, there is no competition choosing a seasonic over them, or enermax or corsair, but ocz aren't trying to fleece you. JonnyGuru has reviewed some ocz psus before and not had much bad to say for the price range.
Hmm, so I was looking at this XFX PSU...http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w...-plus-bronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-fan-atx-v2 Is it better quality than the Corsair?
I would say yes to that XFX PSU being better than what you have up there currently. But it's not like the Corsair is going to break down on you and die...
