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hey im new here and to PC making, basically i have a really bad "multimedia centre" and have decided i am gonna build me first PC, i have a budget of around £700
primarily i would use it for gaming, along with web browsing, and creating the odd word document
could any of you help me on which components i should get etc?
any help would be much appreciated, ty in advance.
CPU: Core 2 Duo E5200
Graphics Card: Palit ATI 4850
Motherboard: Abit IP-35 Pro
Harddrive: Western Digital 6400AAKS - 640 GB SATA II You could get two and put them in a RAID array? :)
Memory: 4GB Corsair TwinX XMS2
DVD Drive: Optiarc DVDRW drive
Case: Antec Solo
Power Supply: 425W Enermax Modu82+
Optional extras :
CPU cooler : Xigmatek HDT-S1283 If you want to overclock, and are concerned about noise, this is a great heatsink (although the fan isn't as quiet as it could be).
GPU cooler : Arctic Cooling Accellero S1 rev 2
I have this on my 8800 GT and with one nearby case fan blowing air on it, and it runs passively, with 52 degrees load temp (thats good). If you don't have any nearby casefans to blow cool air onto it, you can get the turbo fans which clip on, but the 4850 should run passively without trouble.
About 530 inc VAT (17.5%) with the optional extras.
If you're new to building don't be changing the gfx cooler. Voids the warranty and they can be a pig to do. Spend extra on one with a decent cooler. HIS and Powercolor do variants like this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olmy
The motherboard is great but old now, you might consider a P45 board just in case a miracle happens and we need the bandwidth that PCIe 2.0 offers (which P35 doesn't have).
I would get a scythe ninja II now the xigmatec price is so close to it, it's bigger but comes with an awesome silent fan.
The case is really nice for noise but average for cooling. I would get a coolermaster CM-690. Better on cable management, great on cooling and with the fans shifted around a bit it's fantastic on noise as well.
The E5200 is the way though, some would suggest an E8400 etc.. but given their newly inflated prices they simply aren't worth it for a bit of extra cache which games don't even really care about :) It's also a good chip to get your overclocking feet wet with.
Don't get a Palit- I'm fairly sure they have a sideline in hairdryer production. :P
If the Scythe is getting into the S1283 price territory, i would maybe go for that, but it doesn't cool any better and is heavier so theres not much between them, but there is that quieter fan...
If this is your first build, maybe messing with the GPU cooler isn't a great idea as it voids the warranty like Mike says (with the CPU its not such a problem because its not really possible for the manufacturer to tell if you've changed it from the stock cooler).
If you're at all worried about sound, maybe look for the 4850 with the dual slot cooler found on the 4870. 2 friends I know bought the same 4850 with that cooler and its apparently pretty quiet.
Just a question Mike, how close are mid range cards to hitting the P35 PCI-e bandwidth limit now?
AFAIK absolutely no where near.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olmy
PCIe 2.0 comes into play a little bit on P45 when you are running crossfire cards at 8x I believe but not single cards.
I am also building a new machine. My details:
CPU: Quad Q6600
Cooler: Ninja II
Graphics Card: ATI 4850 (still undecided model/brand)
Motherboard: DFI Lanparty DK P45-T2RS Plus
Harddrive: 2x640Samsung + 1Tb Samsung (bought - Today Only Scan)
Memory: 4GB Corsair TwinX XMS2 (bought - Today Only Scan)
DVD Drive: LG DVDRW drive (bought - Today Only Scan)
Case: Akasa Infiniti
Power Supply: 520W Corsair Modular (bought - Today Only Scan)
I reckon I should spend around £780
Sounds good to me. What is it for though?Quote:
Originally Posted by pardal51
wow, ty for the speedy replys, ill be sure to but this info to good use and tell you my outcome when i finally come round to getting all the components.
i don't know much on components but i do know a lil bout the CPU's, E8500 and Q6600, i know there in the same sort of price range, and i read somewhere that the Q6600 may be better in a few years time for games etc. but the E8500 is better now, could you clear this up for me please and tell me what is the difference between them both.
also could you tell me which OS i should get.
Well the Q6600 is a quad core (4 cores) which most games don't utilise very well right now, they only really use two. So a higher clocked dual core (E8500) will out perform the lower clocking quad (q6600).
As time goes on that will even out and probably hand the advantage to the quad.
If you are going dual core though save the money and get the E5200. £60 and it's got all the gaming grunt you will need as there is no noticable improvement in games after about 2.4Ghz on a dual core.
Vista 64 bit is a good choice as long as you aren't trying to run particularly old software.
Hi Mike,Quote:
Originally Posted by staffsMike
It is for Flight Sim X and VMware Lab. I will add an extra 4Gb RAM so plenty for running my virtual lab. Hope the lifespan will be around 3 years
* I have advised few bit in another thread I have started
My mate put this together for me, what you think?
CPU: E8500
Cooler:Xigmatek HDT-S1283
MotherBoard: Biostar TP45 HP
Case: Antec 900
Disc Drive: LiteOn DH-20A3P
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
PSU: Antec EarthWatts 650W
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD 4850
RAM: Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2
I'd go for a lower power PSU, such as a modular Corsair or Enermax PSU. If you're like me and you care about cable clutter you'll appreciate the modular design (I have an Antec Truepower Trio 650W and its a cable organisation nightmare in my Antec P182. No removable cables, and about 2 times more power than I need). I'd go with the Enermax 425W MODU+ or the upcoming Corsair 450W modular supply available soon.
Your mate sounds very well informed :)
The coolermaster CM-690 is £55 on scan today only. It has the same sort of cooling performance as the antec 900 but better cable and drive management. It's also very quiet so I would get one at that price.
Mirror what OLMY has saod but steer clear of that 450W corsair it is just tto expensive the Enermax is the way to go there and 425W is more than enough :)
For me personally.. with my money would then change the E8500 to an E5200. It saves around £100 (it;s £57 on scan today only) it runs 2.5Ghz out of the box and can clock up to 3.0Ghz without thinking about it.
Since 2.4Ghz ish is all you really need for gaming right now as all of the work is really falling on the graphics card, I don't see the point in anything more than an E5200 unless you need the cpu cache (which i doubt you do, games won't) or you want/need a quad core.
Oh and I don't like seagate, I prefer Western Digital.
EDIT: not sure why I wrote all that, might as well have just pointed you to Olmy's original post lol Nevee mind.
Food for thought.
Wonders if pardal51 used the Akasa Infiniti case in his build?
solti