New Build 1st Timer

[george1979]

Hi all,

I have been looking at either buying a new pre built system from Scan or building my own. I have wanted to try building myself for a while and the scansure thing would give me some reassurance. This is the build I have been looking at:

https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/Basket.aspx

For the pre built 3xs system I was gonna go with the i5 760 but for my 1st build I would prefer start smaller and have more upgrade potential, hence the AMD choice. What do you think of this?
My main concern is the mobo. I like the Asus core unlocker and auto overclock features but I want to get a gtx460 and maybe SLI so that led me to this:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...3Gb-s-RAID-ATX

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated...

EDIT: I just realised after posting that I meant to put this in the hexus hardware section. Sorry.

[phrozen]

Build your own! It is very simple these days.

We can not see your build, you would be better off screenshotting your basket or posting links.

I tend to stay away from AMD as a personal preference, and prefer Gigabyte motherboards over Asus, but again it is my preference.

Any reason for the SLi? The GTX460 would be plenty on it's own unless you are a real enthusiast and/or do alot of GPU assisted @Home work. If you really did want to SLi you'd be better off going with the 1136 Intel socket too, in my oppinion.

[george1979]

Yeah sorry about that - I tried to post the screenshot but the 'insert image' button only took the link location.

Anyways here is what I was gonna go for:

Antec 300 (might splurge on the CM 690 II)
Athlon II X3 445
AKASA Nero S Premier Cooler
Coolermaster 700 W Silent Pro M Modular PSU
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) Dual Channel Desktop Memory
1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 Hard Drive
Pioneer DVR-S18LBK DVD drive
Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3
1GB Asus GTX 460

Still thinking about going for the SLI capable board just for the upgrade potential but I can still sell the 460 and get whatever ATI has when it comes time.
I wanted to go for intel i5 but after paying for everything its not much more to have scan build it and the upgrade potential isn't very good as far as I know but I'd be happy to be proved wrong!

[DavidM]

Don't forget - if you're logged in, you can use the "save cart" option to generate a copy of your basket contents.

[phrozen]

What is your maximum budget, george1979? And what is the PC going to be used for?

[george1979]

Hi Phrozen,

It will be used mainly for gaming, general college work (i.e. word etc) and some photo/video editing.

I was thinking around £800 for the build. Bearing in mind I also have to buy to windows 7, wirless card and whatever tools I will need.
Should I just spend the extra £100 for the i5 760 build? i'm worried that the 1156 platform will be dead within a year (intel being intel) and my only upgrade path is to replace most of the system.

[phrozen]

I'd go for something like this: http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/a7...923baa5728b053

If you are doing college work, I assume you are either a teacher/lecturer or student, in which case you should have a .ac.uk email? You should be able to use that to get a cheap Windows 7.

I wouldn't worry too much about upgrade paths, the i5 can overclock nicely, and if you use the EVGA software you should be able to get that card a better OC. This should tide you over for a while.

I personally prefer Intel/nVidia combos, so I am biased towards those

[ehhhhhhh]

I personally prefer Intel/nVidia combos, so I am biased towards those

george, I'd advise to avoid biased people...you will save some trouble for yourself if you ignore them too....

no offence, it's just a friendly advice..

No matter which brand you choose, both are very reliable (amd or intel, asus or gigabyte...it does not matter)

[george1979]

Thanks Phrozen,

Your build does look mighty tempting. This is the i5 build I had saved.

http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/ed...03ae15c56c0d01

I can shave £30 to £40 off by getting a student windows 7. Thanks for reminding me as I had forgotten about that!
I wanted a slightly beefier PSU as I definitely want to SLI in a few months or so - hence the CM 700W choice.
I was looking at either the MSI GD65 or Asus P7P55D Pro. Both are SLI compatible but the MSI has the instant OC feature ( I've never OC'd before so it's a nice gentle intro to it). Asus has a better reputation though.

Also I do like the look of the H50 but its a little expensive for me once you add on the other bits like windows, tools and so on...

EDIT: I just noticed your post ehhhhh. I think most people have a personal preference/bias towards one or the other. I have always liked AMD going back to the old athlon dual cores but I know the intel has a serious performance advantage right now and the i5 760, when overlclocked, can even outpace some i7's at stock so I would like to get this as long as its not gonna cost too much.

[phrozen]

No matter which brand you choose, both are very reliable (amd or intel, asus or gigabyte...it does not matter)

Good advice and everyone's entitled to thier oppinion! AMD are good for budget PCs and I have built two AMD/ATI combos recently for my Parents, but they just needed them for bog standard Browsing and Office work.

Thanks Phrozen,

Your build does look mighty tempting. This is the i5 build I had saved.

http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/ed...03ae15c56c0d01

I can shave £30 to £40 off by getting a student windows 7. Thanks for reminding me as I had forgotten about that!
I wanted a slightly beefier PSU as I definitely want to SLI in a few months or so - hence the CM 700W choice.
I was looking at either the MSI GD65 or Asus P7P55D Pro. Both are SLI compatible but the MSI has the instant OC feature ( I've never OC'd before so it's a nice gentle intro to it). Asus has a better reputation though.

Also I do like the look of the H50 but its a little expensive for me once you add on the other bits like windows, tools and so on...

EDIT: I just noticed your post ehhhhh. I think most people have a personal preference/bias towards one or the other. I have always liked AMD going back to the old athlon dual cores but I know the intel has a serious performance advantage right now and the i5 760, when overlclocked, can even outpace some i7's at stock so I would like to get this as long as its not gonna cost too much.

Your build looks fine, although I would go for a higher quality cooler if you want to OC. Overclocking is pretty simple too these days, the auto-overclock functions typically do not release the full potential of a CPU, they will do what I would consider a 'moderate overclock', so it depends what you are after? There are so many guides these days on how to do it. I would either go for an Asus or Gigabyte MB as they typically have better features in thier BIOS and I find are the easiest to overclock.

I still do not think you would need to SLi, the only reason I would consider an SLi is to e-peen Vantage scores or GPU assisted @Home crunching numbers.

I also do not think you would need the tool kit. I think I have one philips screw driver that I use and that is it! If you were concerned about static you might consider an anti-static wrist band.

Edit:
For arguements sake, if I had to do an AMD build, I would go something like this: http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/88...4bdec79a31f720 (although this build still has the nVidia card).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What is the main use of this build BTW??

[Disturbedguy]

hi phrozen,

it will be used mainly for gaming, general college work (i.e. Word etc) and some photo/video editing.

- cat

[george1979]

Ok I did it, placed the order with Scan I will be popping my system building cherry shortly! I will probably be on the forums buggin you all for help before long
Here is what I ordered:

1 Edimax EW-7728In 802.11n v2.0 300Mbps wireless PCI card £20.97 £24.64
1 Belkin F8E062U Tool Kit (55 Piece) Ideal for repairing or upgrading common electronic devices £24.63 £28.94
1 700W Coolermaster Silent Pro Modular Whisper Quiet PSU SLi Ready £64.98 £76.35
1 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V £63.12 £74.17
1 1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM £39.49 £46.40
1 Pioneer DVR-S18LBK 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, RAM x12, SATA, Black, Retail Labelflash £14.89 £17.50
1 Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced, Black, Mid Tower Case w/o PSU £64.98 £76.35
1 Intel i5 760, S1156, Lynnfield Quad Core, 2.8 GHz, 8MB Cache, Core Ratio 21x, 95W, Retail £125.98 £148.03
1 Asus P7P55D PRO, Intel P55 Express, S1156, PCI-E 2.0(x16), DDR3 2200(OC), SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX £97.49 £114.55
1 Corsair H50-1 Hydro Series High-performance CPU Watercooler, LGA775/1156/1366, AM2/2+/AM3 *NEW V2* £47.89 £56.27
1 1GB Gigabyte GTX 460 OC, 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 715MHz, Shader Clock 1430MHz, 336 Cores, DL DVI/ mHDMI £149.46 £175.62

Wish me luck!

EDIT: As you can see I gave in and went for the H50. I just hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew here!