Build Advice Anyone help me out with a build please?

Hi all not built a pc in a long time, and struggling to find what i need.

Only got a budget of 500-550 pounds but comp dose not have to be amazing just enough to run ps cs5 and dreamweaver, plus play games, dont have to be at high settings but enough to at least play bc2 half decent.

i think i am dreaming but i can only try, ive been scanning scan and then googling each item for reviews and every one of them seems to have to many plus and negs lol.

Also struggling to decide between amd or intell dam this comp building has changed.

I dont need monitor or periphals (or however you spell it) as i still have my old g15 etc etc.

i know this sounds a bit rude but could some one please help me out and post up some parts to help me on the way.
Thanks all
Steve

 

As you've not stated if you have any reusable parts, a good starting point is, if buying new:
i5 cpu, approx £150 (or AMD Phenom II, about the same price)
mobo, pick up a decent one for about £60-75
2Gb ram, about £100
1Tb hdd, approx £50
psu, about £50
DVD-RW, approx £15
case, that depends what you want looks wise, can pay from £20 to £200!
OS, if you need one, will be around £80-100.

That's pretty close to your budget. Of course you can buy much better hardware if you buy second hand. Lots of stuff is sold on here. I bought 4Gb of DDR2 for £50 not long ago.

 

Thanks for the reply mate, i have nothing to reuse mayby a pcu but will have to get a good luck at it. thanks for metntioning the items needed, could you please help with actual parts though. as in the type of mobo etc.
Thanks again

Oh not to fussed on overclocking if needed will do it, just have to get my head back into it again.
Cheers all

 

thanks for the reply mate, and gives me a budget but could you please explain more on the parts i'e wich ones lol.

I have nothing of use myself apart from screen etc so just the system itself. I cant overclock at the moment but if the parts need it then will learn fast lol.

Thanks again.
Steve

 

DK63's rough outline is about right, I would just say that 4GB of RAM will be better if you are using CS5, Dreamweaver and gaming.

The AMD route might be cheaper if your emphasis is on the video/photo editing side of things.

The only thing DK63 left out was the graphics card. A 5770 for around £125-£130 will suffice for BC2 on lower resolutions and detail, if you want better gaming graphics performance then a GTX460 @ £150 for 768mb or £170 for 1GB is the better bet.

What resolution is your monitor?

Of course, a new graphics card pushes your budget up.

Edit: this build will be good but replace the CPU with a Phenom II: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2010/08/09/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-august-2010/2.

Phenom II CPU @ £111: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-...ion-Sok-AM3-32GHz-8MB-Total-Cache-125W-Retail.

The affordable all rounder with a Phenom II CPU will work out at around £536. Shopping around will reduce this slightly.

 

This build is completely insufficient for any sort of gaming, mainly because you didn't include a graphics card, in fact i'm not sure you'd be able to get any output from the computer as I don't think any P55 boards have on board graphics & the i5 750/760 which I assume you wre recommending aren't Clarkdale so wouldn't support the H55/H57 integrated graphics.

I'd suggest looking at the affordable all-rounder in the buyer's guide: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2010/08/09/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-august-2010/2. That should then leave you with enough to get Windows 7 or, if you already have it, i'd suggest looking at upgrading the cpu & motherboard to an i3/h55 combo.

 

I think fingers is spot on - that will be pretty perfect for your needs.

 

Cheers Roo although I did forget to include Windows 7 in the price.

Sibster: do you already have a copy of Windows 7 or do you need to buy it?

 

I already have a copy of windows 7 so that is not needed. The monitor I have not got yet but the wife has already agreed to buy it with a budget of 150 pound for it so that's sorted. And tbh I will be using the full 150 on the monitor as it's not very often the long haired Sargent Major buys me anything lol.

 

can i recommend 4GB of ram in dual channel. It helps loads with photoshop. I mentioned it on another thread yesterday but a decent GPU also gives it a big boost

 

This was an oversight, as I was multitasking at the time. Can I have a fire extinguisher now??

 

Would you think this is sufficient?



Thank you.

 

Sorry for getting a bit heated, I assumed you just didn't include the graphics card altogether as you're touching the max of his budget with the parts you listed. I just get annoyed when people give bad advice but sorry for jumping to conclusions.

 

It's not a biggie, we all do it, hell, I even did it on this thread with the O/S.

Now let's hear from the OP...

 

ive upgraded the psu to a ezcool 700, i have 2 sata hd's here 250 gb each so that will be fine till i have some more money, also changed the graphics card to a ati 5770 as that is better for a amd i belive.

 

how over clockable is the amd phenom II x4 955

 

First off, you have actually downgraded your PSU. The Corsair unit is a better bet.

Also, a different case would be beneficial. Spend the extra tenner you're saving on the PSU on the Antec 300.

If you already have the HD then personally I'd go for the following build and chose between the GPU (Step down to 768MB or a 5770) for what your budget allows. Obviously the one I've listed would be best but the other two are good also.



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It doesn't leave you much room for power. The PSU calculator suggests 405W PSU but that's with a 465 GPU and that corsair unit is so stable it will run this machine A OK!

EDIT: If you've changed the system because your budget has been reduced then obviously my above spec isn't much use, but it's definitely a better PC than the AMD sys but then it's also more expensive so it all depends on your budget.

 

nice spec but realy needs to be more nearer the 500 mark if you get me. But defo will look into it.
Thank you for the help. Its deffinately opened my eyes to more options

 

Just swap out the i5 760 for the i3 530, that'll save around £65.

 

I wouldn't use a Freezer 7 cooler with an i5-760, especially if overclocking. I uses one and my i5-750 kept overheating at 3.8GHz when running folding@home.

Nor would I use a ga-h55m-ud2h since it's designed to utilise the onboard graphics of the newer lga1156 chips. I'd use a gigabyte ga-p55m-ud2.