Yet Another Beginner Build - Please be Kind !

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Why do you keep adding a EZCool PSU?? Do you want the rest of your components to go up in smoke??

Search on Hexus and you will see many tales of woe with EZCool PSUs!! They have a nasty habit of going bang and destroying motherboards and graphics cards!!

A 650w EZCool will be lucky enough to produce half the rated power on a good day.

With a quad core you DEFINITELY need a good PSU as they have much higher power consumption than a dual core!!

The following PSUs are more akin to what you need for your system:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500W-...n-Dual-plus12V

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/450W-...PLUS-certified

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-...2-QUAD-SLI-PSU

Phenoms work much better with lower latency RAM. It is also advisable to buy a matched set too!!

I would get the following RAM off Ebuyer for 3 quid more:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143844

The 640gb WD hard drive is also cheaper on Ebuyer too:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144339

Get the RAM and the hard disk off Ebuyer and you will get free postage as the total it will be above £49.99!

If you just change the memory and PSU you will be fine!! Drop the soundcard and will still be the same overall cost!!

[staffsMike]

Corsair CX 400W ~£40
Corsair 2GB PC6400 ~£35
Phenom II 920 ~£160
Biostar 790GX or Asus 780G ~£70 (or £60ish)
The amazon HD4850 ~£108
Edimax wireless card
Whatever case.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Corsair CX 400W ~£40
Corsair 2GB PC6400 ~£35
Phenom II 920 ~£160
Biostar 790GX or Asus 780G ~£70 (or £60ish)
The amazon HD4850 ~£108
Edimax wireless card
Whatever case.

I think that the VX450W or the Silverstone 500w for £10 more is a wise investment. You can 4gb of Crucial Ballistix for £38. The rest of the spec according to what staffsMike has suggested!!

[staffsMike]

didnt know that ram was still so cheap. I have the ballistix good stuff

Also have the 450W VX but either is more worthy than the EZmule

[Blaineoliver]

Get that HD4850 quick their nearly out of stock.

[scaryjim]

didnt know that ram was still so cheap. I have the ballistix good stuff

I think CAT, like me, has something of a preference for ebuyer. On certain poroducts they are significantly cheaper than the other etaliers, so they're probably worth checking once you've specced up a rig to see if you can save yourself a few squid!

[PaulBrum]

Final Spec ?

Mobo – choice between:

Biostar 790GX £71.25
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Biost...-SATA-RAID-ATX

or

Asus 790G £66.95
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150949...oduct_overview

CPU
AMD Phenom II x4 920 £ 153.53 (today only)

http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=27913


Storage
WD 640Gb £55.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144339

RAM
4 gig Crucial Ballistix £37.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143844

GPU
Sapphire 4850HD £121.92

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148468

Case
Coolermaster Centurian £37.25
http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=15702

Power
Corsair 650W TX PSU £77.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135514


Wireless
Edimax £13.04

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Edima...eless-PCI-Card

Optical
LG 22x Lightscribe £16.67

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/156231


All for the bargain price of £585

Comments ?

- Mobo Choice – which one is easier to overclock with?
- Do I need a CPU cooler – have read elsewhere that the AMD comes with a good one
- Thermal Paste required?
- Any other leads or accessorites that I have forgotten

And finally, will it go like stink? – have I made the right choice with AMD ?



Paul………..ever nearing the checkout

[scaryjim]

Comments ?

- Mobo Choice – which one is easier to overclock with?
- Do I need a CPU cooler – have read elsewhere that the AMD comes with a good one
- Thermal Paste required?
- Any other leads or accessorites that I have forgotten

Theoretically, the Biostar should OC better because the 790GX has an enhanced Southbridge* compared to the 780G. On the other hand I know nothing about Biostar MBs, so I can't advise you on that specific one: However, if the choice is *definitely* between those two, go for the Biostar 790GX

*Yes, I know it's weird, but it's something to do with tuning the whole system. Read the Hexus 790GX review if you don't believe me

I've never had a problem with the stock fan for any CPU I've used, but I've never tried much overclocking. I'd suggest you have a go with the stock one, and if you're not getting the overclock you want upgrade later! You shouldn't need thermal paste unless you upgrade your cooler - just be careful putting the cooler on because if you smear the thermal paste that's pre-applied you might have issues.

And finally, will it go like stink? – have I made the right choice with AMD ?

I'm biased as I've always been a bit of an AMD fanboy, but I think you've probably hit the perfect balance point of power for money. Beyond this I think you'll find costs rising disproportionately to the performance gains (until you cough up big bucks for a custom i7 system!). So yes, you've made the right choice

[PaulBrum]

Scaryjim - thanks for the comforting words

I've noticed th Corsair I've specced isnt modular - what does this mean?

Do I need any extra internal wiring??

[Pob255]

Well unless you plan sticking a 2nd graphics card in there later that PSU is a bit overkill and overpriced, but in the current PSU market it's not that bad.

better would probably be this 650w Xigmatek modular. £57.04
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-...2-QUAD-SLI-PSU

Modular means all the cables (execpt the main motherboard ones normally) are seperate it means you can only plug in the cables you need which can seriously reduce the number of lose cables flapping about in the pc and makes cable management easier.
This has also become more importantly recently, as with cases getting bigger the cables have been getting longer which makes keeping things neat has become harder.

[PaulBrum]

Thanks Pob255 - I like it (Xigmatec) - going to go with that - presume it is modular - sounds like modular makes your life easier

Staffsmike / CAT any comments - am I doing the right thing with the system as specced

BTW, going to go for the Biostar Mobo by the looks of it

Paul

[Max Tractor]

The Biostar is a good choice, I have it, ran it with the crucial speced, no problems with it. Another choice for the psu is the fsp, it is on today only on a regual basis, -£30+

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/700W-...201-EPS12v-OEM

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Biostar is a good choice, I have it, ran it with the crucial speced, no problems with it. Another choice for the psu is the fsp, it is on today only on a regual basis, -£30+

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/700W-...201-EPS12v-OEM

How is it for overclocking?? The review I have seen says that it is not the best overclocker:

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/mainbo...-790gx-p3.html

The 790GX ASUS M3A78 PRO is meant to be a fantastic motherboard for overclocking:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...A-RAID-ATX-VGA

With the 20 quid saved on the PSU perhaps the OP can get this instead??

If not the Biostar should be OK for a mild overclock!

The rest of the spec looks fine!!

[Max Tractor]

How is it for overclocking?? The review I have seen says that it is not the best overclocker:

Dejavu?

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...rd-advice.html

wr for biostar 790gx http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-...5;t=000332;p=1

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Just looked at the forum link and it seems to be capable motherboard!!

Here is the link:

http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-...5;t=000332;p=1

Looks like the Biostar will be fine!

[staffsMike]

I'd save on the PSU too, 650W is a bit OTT. Looking much better though.