First build

[Dakkon]

My friend is looking to build his first computer and he's asking for advice, I've never done it myself so I thought I'd ask for advice, current thoughts.

processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139971

ram: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR2 PC2-8500
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-(...P-DHX-plus-Fan

power supply: OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159...roduct_reviews

graphics card: ASUS HD 4850 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDCP HDTV
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146705

case: Coolermaster Elite 335 Case
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151368...roduct_reviews

mobo: ASUS P5QL-E
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149276...roduct_reviews

extra fan: Hiper 120mm Case Fan
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/105137...oduct_overview

He also has a 250 gig sata hard drive, one dvd drive and is using a 22" wide screen monitor (not sure on the details here).

Any advice / suggestions are welcome and I'll relay it to him, oh he was looking to spend about £500, that's not strict but he doesn't want to go overboard.

Thanks

edit: changed power supply

[kevpuk]

Looks nicely balanced......certianly a good foundation - bear in mind that the full 4GB RAM will not be available unless using a 64-bit version of operating system

[Dakkon]

Indeed vista 64 bit will be used, was a bit uncertain on the power supply, is only a 450w but Corsair seem to have a very good reputation.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The RAM is not worth the money. Use PC2-6400 memory instead as the difference is very small. You can save over £40 getting this instead:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146051

If your friend likes gaming I would put the extra 40 quid towards an HD4870 instead:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...VI-I-HDTV-HDCP

This will make a make a much larger difference when gaming than slighly faster RAM. You may need to get a new DVD drive if both his existing drives are IDE. A SATA DVD drive should cost around £15.

[Dakkon]

I should have probably mentioned that this will mainly be used for gaming and he isn't into overclocking and will most likely never use crossfire. Thanks for the recommendations.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It maybe worth waiting for a few weeks for a couple of reasons:

1.)Phenom II is coming out in January and seems quite competitive with the latest Core2 processors(not the Core i7 processors which are very expensive).

2.)New 55nm revisions of the Nvidia GTX series are coming out sson

3.)There maybe newer revisions of the HD4800 series coming out to counter the new 55nm GTX series although these are rumours at the moment

4.)The value of the pound has dropped recently and hence prices are higher.

[Dakkon]

We both start back at university on January the 12th and he wants to do it before he goes back, is it worth waiting until after the first week of January?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If time is at a premium then it makes sense to build the computer over christmas so that any potential issues are ironed out. It is most likely that availability of Phenom II maybe limited upon launch and the same goes with the newer graphics cards although this is speculation.

Has he got an OS BTW??

You can save nearly £10 on the PSU by getting this OCZ 500W from Ebuyer:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159

[Dakkon]

he'll be using vista 64-bit version, apart from that I'm not actually sure if he has bought it already.

is it only worth getting pc2-8400 over pc2-6400 if you know what you're doing and want to overclock?
also if he goes for pc2-6400 is there a better value for money mobo?

is the MSI P43 Neo-F
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148024...ctype=extended

a significant downgrade to the

ASUS P5QL-E
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149276...roduct_reviews

is it worth saving the £12 and putting it towards say a 4870?

[Salazaar]

I don't think there's much to choose between those two mobos (though others may disagree - I don't know what either is like to use).

Absolutely go for the PC2-6400, you really won't see any difference at all against the 8400 unless you're planning a really heavy overclock.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The MSI board can be had cheaper at Scan:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-P...00-SATA-II-ATX

It is more expensive at Play but seems to be in stock as both Ebuyer and Scan are out of stock:

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/701406...TX+Motherboard

For a budget motherboard it has got good reviews:

http://www.computershopper.co.uk/lab...-p43-neof.html

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/mainbo...f-i43p-p1.html

The money saved is worth going towards a HD4870 as this is signficantly faster than an HD4850!! I think it is around 20% to 30% faster than the HD4850.

If you are overclocking it is worth spending 10 quid on an aftermarket cooler:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134773

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you get the following bits from Ebuyer using free Supersaver postage:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £135.26

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800Mhz/PC2-6400 REAPER Memory Unbuffered CL5 DUAL CHANNEL £37.75

OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W PSU - 1x PCI-E 6/8pin, 2x SATA 12cm Fan £42.29

Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - No PSU3 £27.98

Hiper 120mm Case Fan - Clear HiperFlow Frame & Blades - 3pin with Adaptor/Screws Included £6.74

Akasa AK 965 (Socket 775) Aluminium with Copper Base Processor Cooler £10.64

Total: £260.66

You can get the graphics card off Scan with the free Hexus postage offer :

512MB Sapphire HD 4870, PCI-E 2.0, 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 750MHz, 800 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV, HDCP £175.84

Total: £175.84

The motherboard will cost £65 off Play unless you can get it for around £50 from Scan:

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/698/905...archtype=genre

So the total cost will be £501.49

[Dakkon]

managed to find the motherboard on novatech for £63.25, every pound helps .

the 512MB Sapphire HD 4870, PCI-E 2.0, 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 750MHz, 800 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV, HDCP

£175.84

off scan does appear to be the cheapest one around provided you can get free delivery, what is this free Hexus postage offer? can't find any relation to that or am i just being blind?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Check the top of the Scan forum:

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-hexus/

[moogle]

managed to find the motherboard on novatech for £63.25, every pound helps .

Don't forget to factor in delivery as well

Also about the Scan thing you need 20 posts and you qualify for the free delivery.

[Dakkon]

ah i see, with the free delivery on scan the entire thing comes to £501.49 including vat and delivery as CAT-THE-FIFTH posted.