Hi guys, Right so I'm looking at building a second PC for my partner by using some of my current components and upgrading my PC at the same time. Here is the PC I currently own: CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 Ghz, OC @3.6Ghz Motherboard: Asus P5Q-PRO Memory: 4GB (4x 1GB) DDR2 800Mhz CL4 Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD5870 Vapor-X 1GB PSU: Antec Sonata 500W PSU CPU Cooler: Ninja Scythe II Case: Antec Sonata III Case Optical drive: SATA DVD-RW Storage: WD 640GB Caviar Blue Screen: 24" HP ZR24W 1920*1200 Now I also already have: - a Belinea 20" 1680*1050 IPS screen - a ATI Sapphire HD4850 512MB Dual-slot cooler - a Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - a Asus Xonar DX Pci-E sound card Now here is what I am looking at building. Budget: £700 Main uses of intended build: Gaming, films, music. Monitor resolution: 1920*1200 and 1680*1050 Will you be overclocking: yes, but reasonably to keep noise as low as I can. Any motherboard requirements: I don't want any x-fire, and need 4 USBs, no firewire. Extra information about desired system: Best possible gaming PC for me, and a reasonable gaming PC for my partner using most of the parts I already own. I should also say that I will be starting to play around with Windows Server 2008 on my partner's PC. So here we go: Paterner's PC CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 Ghz Motherboard: Asus P5Q-PRO Memory: 4GB DDR2 800Mhz Graphics Card: HD4850 512MB PSU Antec Sonata 500W PSU CPU Cooler: Ninja Scythe II Case: Antec Sonata III Case Optical drive: SATA DVD-RW Storage: WD 640GB Caviar Blue Screen: Belinea 20" 1680*1050 IPS Overall Price: £0 My PC CPU: 2.8GHz Intel Core i5-760 £145 Motherboard: !! Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 £85 !! Looking for something in the same price-range but I need a PCI-E port for my Asus Xonar DX sound card, which this MB lacks. Memory: 4GB 1,600MHz DDR3 £65 Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD5870 Vapor-X 1GB (owned) PSU: !! Antec TruePower New 650W / XFX Black Edition P1-750B-NLG9 £85 / £90 !!, bit-tech recommends the 650W PSU for this type of build, but for an extra £5 you get the 750W which has great reviews as well, wouldn't that be more worthwhile ? CPU Cooler: Gelid Tranquillo £23 Case: Fractal Design Define R3 £90 Optical drive: SATA DVD-RW £15 Storage (HDD): 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3 (owned) Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX (PCI-E) (owned) Screen: HP ZR24w 24" 1920*1200 IPS (owned) Overall Price & Grand Total: £513 What do you guys think or would recommend ? I appreciate your input.
Looks pretty solid. I can't recommend a different motherboard for you, but as far as PSUs go... both are rebranded Seasonics (as far as I know) You probably don't need 750w for that build, but it is only £5 more... IMO, go for it if you prefer the look of the XFX.
Have you had a look at a Asus P7H55-M? This has a PCIe slot available for the sound card. You should be able to pick one up for around £80
Thanks for the input. Will go for the 750W PSU. As for the P7H55-M mobo it looks good, would however prefer if I could get USB 3, even if that means a pricier mobo. Also... I was wondering looking at my Asus Xonar DX requirements, it says 1 x PCI Express 1.0 (or higher) X1, X4, X8, or X16 slot. Does that i mean that I could use the second PCI Express x16 of the Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 mobo ?
Well there is a version of the P7H55 that has USB3 built in. I think its only got 2 USB3 ports but another 10 USB2 if thats any better. You can pick one of those up for about £90. Not sure about the PCI slot, it certainly sounds like it's plausable though.
You could do your friend a favor and give him 2x2GB of DDR2 memory so he can get dual channel. Also, since you didn't say in your new build be sure that your own memory is 2x2GB of DDR3 1600MHz for dual channel. I believe this is the cheapest P7P55D with USB3 in it Why do you want USB3.0? If you never plan on doing crossfire/sli I would say to even get a 500W or 550W psu instead of the 650W psu, but if the 750W psu is only £5 more then you might as well go for it if you might want to do dual graphics in the future.
Think thats a different MB entirely. I was thinking more this one... P7H55/USB3 Not checked to see if its cheaper elsewhere though.
Yes i will be taking advantage of dual channel. The Asus P7P55D-E LX does look very good... has SATA 6Gb/s, eSata, and one 1 x PCI-E 2.0 x16 which is enough as I am not a fan of using 2 graphic cards. The USB3 is for a potential USB3 memory stick or external hard drive, and to be as future proof as I can really... Do you guys kknow if the Asus P7P55D-E LX have decent OC capabilities for a Intel Core i5-760 2.8GHz ?
So after much thought going after this: CPU 2.8GHz Intel Core i5-760 Motherboard ASUS P7P55D-E LX Memory 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V Graphics Card ATI HD 5870 1GB (owned) PSU Antec TruePower New 650W CPU Cooler Gelid Tranquillo Case (UK) Fractal Design Define R3 Optical drive SATA DVD-RW Storage (HDD) 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3 (owned) Sound Card Asus Xonar DX (PCI-E) (owned) Antec TruePower PSU, Fractal Design Define R3, and Gelid Tranquillo will all help make the case quieter which I was also looking for... Any last minute advice ?
I did post this earlier, but it looks like its been swallowed by a blackhole There is a cheaper alternative to the mentioned P7P55D-E LX (allbeit about £8) - P7H55-M/USB3, its got USB3 as the name suggests and 2x 6Gb sata connections. You can pick one up from CCL for just under £92, not checked to see if they're cheaper elsewhere.
Yeah it's actually £74.67 on scan instead of the £99.35 of the P7P55D-E LX, so £25 difference. Will however stick with the LX as it has 2 more USB2, the e-Sata, 2 more PCI-E and 1 more PCI making it a bit more expandable. Thanks for the input though
Yeah, I sorta missed the H55 in the name the first time around But that chipset is supposedly made for dual core CPU's (sauce) but that was just one article on google that I read a little while back when I was curious about the chipsets. Since he's getting an i5 760 then it'd be better for him to do P55 anyway according to that. Also, TheLink, the P7H55 is £91.37 when you include VAT which makes it not that much cheaper .
Marone was talking about the P7H55-M/USB3 which is indeed £74.67 inc. VAT But order is through now anyway with the P7P55D-E LX. I even got greedy and bought a 64GB Crucial RealSSD C300 I will hook this baby up on one of the two 6 gbs Sata but is there a point hooking the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB on the other one ? Or will a 3 gbs sata be sufficient ?
3 GB/s is usually sufficient. And I was referring to the link he posted . I see that scan has the mobo for £74.67. Anyway, enjoy your system .
I'd save around £40 and go for an i3 550. Quad core is not needed unless you're planning on doing video and audio compressing, benchmarking, or folding tbh. The i5 760 is Quad core and not Hyper Threaded. the i3 530, 540 and 550 are Dual core, have higher clock speeds, Hyper Threaded, cost less, stress the MOBO less and produce less heat. You'll benafit more from the i3 in games than you would with the i5. Unless you plan on running 2 games at once! Also, if you're going for a P7P55D-E, don't get the LX version, just get the P7P55D-E. The chipset is much better and the difference in price isn't much. It's a VERY good motherboard. Kingston HyperX memory is quite cheap at the min too and very good stuff.
