Hello! I was recommended to ask for help by someone on another forum (pcadvisor) - they said you guys were the experts, so here I am. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, so thanks in advance . Without further ado: * Budget: As per title, I am looking to config a pc for under £1000, although I say that loosely - basically I am going to buy this in France, where I live, and my setup so far comes to ~1000EUR which =~£820. So, there is some room to go higher, but I'd only be up for increasing the budget if something was really necessary or a fantastic buy, v highly recommended by someone here, etc * Carry-over peripherals: only speakers * Main usage: gaming, with internet surfing * The native resolution of your monitor: the monitor in my current config is Illyama ProLite E2208HDS-B2 with NR: 1920 x 1080 * Overclocking: no, I am basically scared of my PC * Storage: I was thinking about 500Gb should be enough really: a couple games installed at any one time, some music, video, etc * Special requirements? none that I can think of The probable setup as it stands Case: Antec Three Hundred (EUR 57.99) PSU: Cooler Master GX Power - 550W (EUR 61.89) HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 S-ATA - 500 Go - 16 Mo (EUR 41.49) DVD-R: LG GH22NS50 - Bulk (EUR 19.99) CPU: AMD Phenom™ II X4 945 (EUR 135.99) Motherboaard: Asus M4A87TD EVO (EUR 95.49) RAM: Corsair XMS3 2 x 2 Go DDR3 PC10600 CAS 9 (EUR 98.89) GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD5830 1 Go (EUR 179.99) Screen: Illyama ProLite E2208HDS-B2 (16:9, 22", 1920 x 1080, TN, 2 ms, DVI-D) (EUR 169.95) Keyboard/mouse: Advance Desktop Bluelight (EUR 23.96) OS: Windows 7 Famille Premium 64 bits (EUR 114.90) Any comments? Advice? The main thing i want is for the system to be stable, durable and somewhat futureproof. Performance is games is second to that, but obviously still very important as it is the whole reason I am buying a new PC! Thanks!
For a 1000 euro you should be looking at an i5 build and a 460 GTX. Have a read of this except i would change the 5770 for a 1gb 460 GTX. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2010/05/07/pc-hardware-buyers-guide-may-2010/3 This would be an excellent build. If you have any more questions feel free to ask. EDIT: I forgot to say hello
As murraynt said, if the main purpose of this PC is gaming you should definitely upgrade the graphics card and a 1gb 460GTX seems right on the money at the moment and leaving the option to SLI them in the future should you need to. If you have the confidence to build a PC (not that its too challenging!), you should not be scared to OC, even if its just a mild one - bumping a i5 750 to 3ghz for example. I'm also thinking that you should maybe consider an aftermarket cooler like the Gelid Tranquillo also in the link murraynt gave. This will allow you to do a small overclock should you wish to but will also keep your new cpu cooler and and system quieter even if you decide not to.
Hi and welcome to the forum (see - I didn't forget ) murraynt's idea is a good one. At this price range, the i5-760 is a powerful choice. I would personally stick with your AMD direction however, given that we're expecting the bulldozer processors in 10 months or so. These are expected to be faster than the existing Intel Nehalem parts and will slot into the AM3 board you've mentioned. The intel 1156 socket is pretty much end-of-line now. The X4 chip will be more than enough to keep your games running smoothly. If there's any budget left over, then try to feed it into a further GPU upgrade - that will be your gaming bottleneck. EDIT: Just saw a post somewhere from 45 minutes ago suggesting that AMD has backed of on AM3 support ... currently unfounded as far as I can see ...
I couldn't confirm if that PSU uses modular cables? You might be better looking at something like the Corsair 520 W HX Modular PSU. We like Corsair PSUs for their quality and current stability. Also, the Antec 300 case (without modding) isn't the best case for keeping cables neat. Having a modular power supply will mean that you can just not use the power cables that you don't need. EDIT: I see that it isn't modular. That will be a real mess in the 300.
Nobody still knows the full story with the upcomming cpu sockets yet, so its blind leading the blind in that way. I think you should look at overclocking slightly as there is plenty of head room and will give you some experience. If you want you pc to be a silent as possiable get the fractal R2. If you are looking at sli you should think about getting a SlI board.
Thanks all for the many useful replies so far! Easily the best advice I've got yet (posted on pcadvisor and one French forum too). So, to resume what's been said: 1. change up to a 1Gb 460 Gtx 2. possibly change to an i5 750 3. may need additional cooling 4. consider changing PSU to modular cable system And my initial reactions: 1. yep I considered this already, will depend on final budget really. Is it significantly better than a 5830 for the extra price? 2. reading roosauce's post I think I'll stick with the X4 3. the Three Hundred case has a 120mm fan (low, back) and a 140mm fan (top, back). It can accept two more 120mm fans at front (low and mid), and another at side (mid, I think for the GPU). DO you think the two initial will be enough or should I install more? (GPU?) 4. not so sure I understand this modular business - is it just to keep cables tidier? In any case you didn't mention the power output of the PSU so I guess that must be OK? the research I did on it seems to support the decision to go for 550W EDIT: murraaynt, just saw your post. I may read up on OCing, but bit wary at moment - I dont know much more about PCs than what I've been researching in the last few days on this build! Think I'll still stick with the X4 due to £ considerations, same for the Antec Case, although I'll have a closer look at that R2. Don't think I'll be needing SLI really.
with a budget of less than £1000 forget about SLI/Xfire not thats it worth it anyway provding rubbish bang per buck. If you are not overclocking although i do suggest you do go with the i5-750/760 as its still better than the 955 or even 965 at stock. if the cost is a lot less for the 955 though id go with that as its not much slower than a i5-750 when gaming. opt for a 1GB 460 instead as since the 460 release the 5830 just isnt worth buying really.
The 460 id deffentally worth the extra. I cant see the point in adding an extra fans as the point of the 300 is that it is cheap I think you should look at a better case. After all it the one part of the pc every body will see and will carry on for further builds, the extra space is great aswell. The modular is just to keep things nice and tidy. What ever PSU you buy just make sure its a good one.Buying a poor PSU is probally the worst thing you can do.
I have a R2 and it is very good if you want the system to be quiet although the system will run slightly hotter which can be prevented by introducing more fans.
The Antec 300 is decent with the fans that are included. I had a GTX 295 - very hot card - and overclocked i7 in one with no additional fans. It wouldn't hurt to put one additional intake fan at the front however ... A quality 500-550W will be OK for this system. EDIT: Having a modular PSU means that you can just unplug the cables that you are not using. This results in less clutter, and generally better airflow inside the case. Performance varies by game, but the 460 generally sits between the 5830 and 5850. There's plenty of reviews to see online. I did see a 5830 arrive on Scan (UK online retailer) for just £123.35 - at that price, the bang-per-buck is excellent. The 460 is definitely a touch faster however ...
I spotted one very recent post suggesting that AMD may have backed off from (widely rumoured) bulldozer AM3 support. I don't know how valid this is as my German is very rusty and I am not familiar with this site. We do know that we already have AM3 Hex cores in abundant supply in any case, so you're pretty well hedged.
If you get an i5 you wont need to upgrade it again.Just wait and get a new system, thats what im dooing with my core 2 duo.
Check my sig if you want to know what a difference a modular PSU can make in an Antec 300. Also, in my experience I found that adding a side fan to the Antec 300 made absolutely no difference to my temps - I run a 4870 Vapor-X. Tests results are in sig.
Thanks Fingers v useful to know. Seems like a decent case overall then for a basic model. OK, so I'm leaning towards dropping the HD5830 for a 460 gtx - do I need to change anything else if I do this? PSU? Cooling? Or would a straight swap be OK? Also, I've read many benchmarks which put even the 768 Mb 460 Gtx above an HD5830 - they sell for roughly the same price so is it worth skipping the 1 Gb version 460 or will I regret the lack of memory in the long run?
That's a hard to question to answer. The general consensus is to go for 1gb model if you can because it will probably last a bit longer - its hard to know if what will go on with games in the next few years so its a good idea to to spend a little extra now rather then regret it. There is of course the fact that it performs slightly better now too so it won't be money wasted immediately either. If you budget can accomodate it, I would recommend the 1gb model.
theres only about £20 difference between the 768MB and 1GB versions and its worth it as the boost is fairly significant especially at higher resolutions like 1680x1050 and 1920x1080 the latter of which your going to be gaming at.
The Cooler Master GX 550 is made by Seventeam. All the other Cooler Master GX's are made by Seventeam, and the 750W model was reviewed by both jonnyguru.com (twice) and hardwaresecrets.com, and in all three reviews, it was shown to perform badly. I believe the noise and ripple were out of spec on the 3.3V rail. And it didn't like heat, not providing anywhere near it's rated power in ~45C heat. So the GX 550 is highly likely to have similar problems, so I don't see how it can be recommended. Get something else if you can.
Regarding the 460 - it is also not just about the RAM. The 1GB model also has a wider memory bus and therefore better memory bandwidth. It is a worthwhile upgrade.
