Non-newbie New PC Advice Pleeeease!

[Webby]

I linked a review a bit earlier in the thread (Here it is again) basically at stock the AMD is the better chip they overclock a bit the reviewer only got theirs to to 3.1GHz I have seen other examples getting past 3.5GHz though, AMD chips are a more complicated to overclock to the limits although the BE's off unlocked multipliers for a quick and easy boost.

The review also looks at the 7750 at 2.5GHz so a clock for clock comparison is also available there.

If overclocking is on the cards either will be more than enough the E5200 will go further and is probably easier to do but then again they both probably offer more than enough power for most things even at stock.

[Pob255]

Ta Webby, I missed that last time.

wow they got the e5200 up to 4ghz nice going there and boy does it shift at that speed.
Intresting to look at the 7750BE vs e5200 at the same clocks (2.5ghz) they seem to be neck and neck, amd better in some intel in others.

Definately puts the AMD X2 7750 BE in the running for a good system

What where the AMD x3 like? only thing I can find in the £100 range for AMD is the Phenom X3 8750 BE, just wondering how it would fair against the e7400 which should clock to 3.5ghz with ease and without problem and probably 4ghz with a bit of work.

Also how much does memory effect the current AMD cpu's? I remember in the past you always wanted the ram to run faster than the cpu for the best resaults.

[shbris]

I'd stay clear of the Phenom II, i7 or quad core
Why? for Wow and DVD watching there's NO point.
As are some of the more powerful GPU's mentioned, WoW is just not going to push them even with a 24" monitor.
2GB memory is a minimum, lower latency memory the better. MMO's highest demand is on the memory and even that's not too great.

What I'd get in your position...

at last someone is actually listening to this guy!! world of warcraft and movies will NOT require these huge systems with mega cache and l33t clock speeds, any 2Ghz dual core with a few mb's of cache will feel exactly the same in those situations as a mega cache 3.6ghz and wont make and difference in games
and if he's got the money then GTX260/280/285 etc. would be awesome, but when i play on my ancient dual core 1.86ghz with a 9600gt on a 22" screen with most games on full settings (other than cryrape warhead) makes me kinda think that it'll be HUGE overkill

get ANY (ANY...) cheap dual core on a half decent mobo, nice WD blue hard drive for all your fully legal torrent downloads, 2GB RAM (4GB if you MUST but complete overkill) and a nice gpu (9600GT maybe? or 9800GTX+ or wait for 200 series version when they change them AGAIN) and you'll literally be laughing at an overal cost of sweet f a

spend the rest of ur budget on ... well up to you

[shbris]

if anything, he should save money on general stuff and buy a KILLERNIC

[Salazaar]

shbris - Your first post is full of good sense, but a Killer NIC? What a total waste of cash!

[Webby]

Pob the current X3's perform all right (the is one in that review so you can get an idea of how they perform) but they suffer from the same low clocks (and poor overclocking 3GHz is pushing them) that the X4s do the new Phenom 2 X3 (700 series, AM3) will be along soon they will come clocked faster and will probably be very good value for money at a guess the 720 BE (2.8GHz) will come in ~£120 and will have plenty of headroom for overclocking http://www.techpowerup.com/84225/Phe...on_Tested.html in that little mini teaser of a review they had one up at 3.7GHz which puts it well into the any more speed really is diminishing returns for everyday use bracket.

As to a KillerNIC your having a laugh aren't you they are a waste of money when your running on a wired network at a LAN let alone when you have an ADSL or Cable Internet connection to contend with.

Finally when somebody says I have £2.5K to spend on a computer people tend to look big rather than sensible yes a low cost duel with a midrange graphics will obliterate WoW but its always nice to have that little bit extra available for when you decide you want to play Crysis or whatever.

Right so trying to keep to the brief this time a system to run WoW well 2.5K to play with and a really nice monitor (missed that bit completely first time round)

CPU: AMD X2 7750 BE - £65
MB: DFI DK 790FXB-M2RSH - £130
RAM: 4GB DDR2-1066 5-5-5-15 - £60
HDD: Western Digital 640GB AAKS - £55
Optical Drive: DVD-RW Samsung or LG or Whoever you like - £15
GPU: ATI HD4870 1GB - £190 (bare with me on this)
PSU: Enermax Modu82+ 525W - £85
CPU Cooler: Scythe Ninja 2 or Thermalright Ultima90 (+fan) - £30
Case: Whatever you like I would look to spend £60+ and be looking at brands like Lian-Li and Silverstone both very High quality.
Monitor: Hazro HZ30W 30" - £690 - S-IPS screen 2560*1600 resolution Homepage Decent review @ TFTCentral

Total Cost: £1400 (Included £80 for a Case)

There we go need to add an OS (or you could use Windows 7 beta I guess or Linux)

Other options:

Move to a µATX motherboard (perhaps DFI JR 790GX-M2RS £115) and get a smaller case.

Quad core processor Phenom 2 940BE £190 (but as people have said its power will be wasted running WoW)

[Pob255]

Ooooo Nice monitor

Actually with that money to spend I'd also be tempted to a Zalman 3d monitor
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/22-Za...-Speakers-VESA
Granted it's only 22" but 3d

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Pob the current X3's perform all right (the is one in that review so you can get an idea of how they perform) but they suffer from the same low clocks (and poor overclocking 3GHz is pushing them) that the X4s do the new Phenom 2 X3 (700 series, AM3) will be along soon they will come clocked faster and will probably be very good value for money at a guess the 720 BE (2.8GHz) will come in ~£120 and will have plenty of headroom for overclocking http://www.techpowerup.com/84225/Phe...on_Tested.html in that little mini teaser of a review they had one up at 3.7GHz which puts it well into the any more speed really is diminishing returns for everyday use bracket.

As to a KillerNIC your having a laugh aren't you they are a waste of money when your running on a wired network at a LAN let alone when you have an ADSL or Cable Internet connection to contend with.

Finally when somebody says I have £2.5K to spend on a computer people tend to look big rather than sensible yes a low cost duel with a midrange graphics will obliterate WoW but its always nice to have that little bit extra available for when you decide you want to play Crysis or whatever.

Right so trying to keep to the brief this time a system to run WoW well 2.5K to play with and a really nice monitor (missed that bit completely first time round)

CPU: AMD X2 7750 BE - £65
MB: DFI DK 790FXB-M2RSH - £130
RAM: 4GB DDR2-1066 5-5-5-15 - £60
HDD: Western Digital 640GB AAKS - £55
Optical Drive: DVD-RW Samsung or LG or Whoever you like - £15
GPU: ATI HD4870 1GB - £190 (bare with me on this)
PSU: Enermax Modu82+ 525W - £85
CPU Cooler: Scythe Ninja 2 or Thermalright Ultima90 (+fan) - £30
Case: Whatever you like I would look to spend £60+ and be looking at brands like Lian-Li and Silverstone both very High quality.
Monitor: Hazro HZ30W 30" - £690 - S-IPS screen 2560*1600 resolution Homepage Decent review @ TFTCentral

Total Cost: £1400 (Included £80 for a Case)

There we go need to add an OS (or you could use Windows 7 beta I guess or Linux)

Other options:

Move to a µATX motherboard (perhaps DFI JR 790GX-M2RS £115) and get a smaller case.

Quad core processor Phenom 2 940BE £190 (but as people have said its power will be wasted running WoW)

I would go for the following motherboard instead:

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

I would also go for a Phenom II 920 or 940 as they have lower idle power consumption than even a 7750:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpu...-920-review/13

Since they are quicker clock for clock when compared to the orginal 65nm Phenom and are built on a 45nm process average power consumption probably is not as high as people think!!

With more games supporting quad cores in the near future it does give the system a bit more breathing space.

The Xigmatek 650w is good for the price too:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...source=froogle

Also the standard Phenom quad core heatsink seems to be quite good according to staffsMike so there is no point in getting an aftermarket one unless you are overclocking. Basically the 90 quid saved on the motherboard,PSU and heatsink will buy you a Phenom II 920. Hence the total build will cost around the same!!

[Pob255]

I would also go for a Phenom II 920 or 940 as they have lower idle power consumption than even a 7750:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpu...-920-review/13

Since they are quicker clock for clock when compared to the orginal 65nm Phenom and are built on a 45nm process average power consumption probably is not as high as people think!!

No the idle isn't but that down more to the cool'n'quiet system
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/15186
A whole 7w less at idle than the x4 65nm, far more under load, which points at the underclocking from c'n'q works far better than shrinking the die.
However at the same time c'n'q does a good job reguardless of quad or dual core
The difference at idle is only 3watts
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-at...50-be-review/3
However the load power is another story.

And while other games may use the quad core WoW does not, So you've still not justified spending 3 times the price of the x4 over the x2.
£65 vs £190

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What about if in the near future there are updates to WOW for it to use quad cores better then??

What if the OP wants to play another game in the future which can use quads??

The OP has a high budget in the first place and for £85 difference it is worth it. If this was a build on a restricted budget it would be understandable.

Anyway I included the quad in your original total of £1400 anyway so there is no extra cost involved. The Phenom II 920(£155) is not only faster clock for clock but is even clocked 100mhz higher in the first place than the 7750.

Anyway the OP can buy a Phenom II 920 complete system for £750 including a 22 inch monitor in the first place:

http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/ind...1&limitstart=1

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...UCT&KEY=477584

You can configure the same system with a Phenom II 940,1TB hard drive a 26" monitor and an HD4870 512mb for under £1200:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...UCT&KEY=477584

[Webby]

Cat I'm all with you on the Phenom 2 if I was spending the money that is where it would be going.

I think it is a bit unfair to compare those Mesh systems with the Spec I wrote up though after all I budgeted the best part of £700 for a monitor and who knows what PSU they stick in those machines...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The PSUs are made by HEC. I think they reasonably reliable PSUs from what I have heard but not earth shattering though.

I think with the budget that the OP has he/she could afford two of the screens you suggested!!

[Ciber]

My mate has an 18 month old mesh PC with a failing PSU. Seems to me this part of their systems could definitely be too cheap. For that reason I might not reccomend their PCs.

[shbris]

if anything, he should save money on general stuff and buy a KILLERNIC

haha i was just making the point that if ur throwing money away, might as well get something that looks cool. and it does looking bloody sexy, you have to give it that

[SuGaR847]

I am building my own system as well but I aim for not more than half your budget.
I am still waiting for the Phenom II X4 925 to arrive which will be socket AM3 and will support DDR3.
Also a good MOBO to go with that will be ASUS M4A79T Deluxe or the ASUS M4A78T-E.
DDR3 memory from OCZ at 1333 MHz with low latencies.
GPU Sapphire HD 4870 1GB for the moment. Maybe I will buy another one for Crossfire latter.
A really nice monitor I bought recently is the ASUS VH226H 22" Full HD with 2ms response.

With a decent HDD, Case, BR-player, keyboard and mouse you wouldn't spend more than £1300.

[bm0nk]

Thanks to all that gave their advice. I went to a PC fair on Sunday. Ended up getting all my components there (and had it built for free infront of me by a very skilled man).

If anyone cares, here's what I got.

Asus P5Q-E
Intel Q8200
4870 1GB
4GB Geil 1066Mhz Ultra Low Latency
Antec 300
Thermaltake 750w
LG Flatron W2452T 24"
Logitech G15
Razer Lachesis
Total - £1190

I'm very very, very, very happy with my new system, regardless of what I may have got instead for cheaper. Warranty on all the parts, the shop where the guy who built my PC resides is very close, easy to sort out if something goes wrong!

I hadn't tried out vista yet, even though I KNOW lots of you wouldn't put it on a new machine...but I was curious. Legit vista license!

This machine BLAZES. I set the res to 1920x1200 in World of Warcraft, set every single setting to maximum, and it FOKIN flies. I'm chuffed

Vista is pretty....glidy...smooth....all for show so it seems so far! (which I don't mind)

I don't like background processes, I don't know much about Vista, though I have turned off system restore and indexing. This G15 keyboard has a little screen, which takes up a fairly decent amount of CPU/RAM for what it is (not that I can notice on this quad without checking process manager), So I've turned that off for the moment.

Anyone decent with Vista? Got any starting tips for a seasoned XP user starting out on Vista? My start menu looks the same as XP, thats about as far as I've got

Thanks again to everyone who posted for me, 'nuff respect.

P.S. I used ESET/Nod32 & Comodo firewall on my xp machine, ran perfectly for years with no virii....the tech guy highly recommended AVG, so much so that he loaded his version of it on my pc. It seems fine at the moment, hesitant about switching back to NOD/Comodo. Hmm.

bmonk