Doing a pseudo-econo-build

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I prefer Asus over Gigabyte TBH but YMMV!

[Queelis]

I compared the Asus to the Gigabyte and it seems Gigabyte is the way to go: supports up to 16 gigs of RAM, has more expansion slots. So, I suppose it's settled now; I'll write my impressions when I get the PC, pity it may take a month. Thanks for all your help

Though anyone with a word to say is welcome to

[Queelis]

By the way, I have another question considering the SATA connections.

Both the hard disk and the optical drive are SATA. When booting from a cd and installing an OS, will I need a SATA driver, or will the install have the driver (e.g. Vista)? Since there's no floppy drive, so I've no idea what I would have to do should I need the SATA drivers.

[Sputnik]

You should not need a driver for SATA. You would only need a driver during install if your going to use a RAID set up.

[scaryjim]

Hiya: just to answer earlier question:

770 motherboards use a cut down version of the 790 chipset - so no integrated graphics, generally full ATX mobos, and the older SB600 chipset. 780G (AFAIK) only use SB700 (generally better performing all round), 790GX only use SB750 (slightly better performing than SB700, plus special overclocking wizardry!). Most 790X/FX boards use SB600, but there are a few coming out with the SB750 (see link below, for example!).

If you're not dead-set on using a mATX mobo, it might be worth seeing if you can find the Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 AMD 790X Socket AM2+ (product link at UK etailer) which is the 790X chipset with the new SB750 - it is a bit more expensive than the 780G, but generally a bit cheaper than most 790GX boards!

[Queelis]

Hiya: just to answer earlier question:

770 motherboards use a cut down version of the 790 chipset - so no integrated graphics, generally full ATX mobos, and the older SB600 chipset. 780G (AFAIK) only use SB700 (generally better performing all round), 790GX only use SB750 (slightly better performing than SB700, plus special overclocking wizardry!). Most 790X/FX boards use SB600, but there are a few coming out with the SB750 (see link below, for example!).

If you're not dead-set on using a mATX mobo, it might be worth seeing if you can find the Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 AMD 790X Socket AM2+ (product link at UK etailer) which is the 790X chipset with the new SB750 - it is a bit more expensive than the 780G, but generally a bit cheaper than most 790GX boards!

Thanks for the info; however, I was curious whether there is any other difference besides not having an integrated graphics core. And specifically I was talking about this board:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159073 (770X and SB700, see?)

About the mATX, my opinion was exactly the opposite - since Antec Solo accepts ATX mobos, I was looking for that. The Gigabyte I was (previously) decided upon was full ATX as well.

Anyway, thanks for a great suggestion. It's exactly the board I was looking for! No unnecessary graphics, decent chipset and the newest southbridge. And it's listed here as well, only there's none in stock currently. Let's hope they get some, as it certainly looks the deal to me.

[scaryjim]

And specifically I was talking about this board:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159073 (770X and SB700, see?)

Good spot! I hadn't realised that board was SB700. I'll have to look back at the Hexus 770 / 790 review and see if there's any real difference: if not I might consider that board for my next build! Thanks!

EDIT: This is what the Hexus review says about the 770 chipset northbridge: "On the lower end of the scale is the budget RX770 that ships with a single PCIe x16 slot and basic overclocking - in the BIOS- and within the operating system. Support for DDR2-1066 is also likely to be stripped out." I believe DDR2-1066 was kept in, but otherwise it's distinctly stripped down: perhaps not such a good option after all.

Anyway, thanks for a great suggestion. It's exactly the board I was looking for! No unnecessary graphics, decent chipset and the newest southbridge. And it's listed here as well, only there's none in stock currently. Let's hope they get some, as it certainly looks the deal to me.

You're more than welcome What's the price like? At just short of £100 here it's very much priced as an enthusiast board (albeit a reasonably priced one!) - Although I guess coupled with a X3 710 and 4GB of RAM it would only set you back £250 for a decent CrossFire capable subsystem...

[Queelis]

You're more than welcome What's the price like? At just short of £100 here it's very much priced as an enthusiast board (albeit a reasonably priced one!) - Although I guess coupled with a X3 710 and 4GB of RAM it would only set you back £250 for a decent CrossFire capable subsystem...

With today's (16th March) exchange rates it's basically the same, £100, give or take £10. It is a bit on the higher end of what I'd be willing to spend, but it seems to be worth it.

Well, the plan is similar as you may have read - a 720 BE, 4 Gigs ofcourse, yet I'm not planning on doing any CrossFire - now it's the 4830, later on, some two generations (of graphics cards, of course ) in the future I'll probably change that to a new midrange card. It's just that any of the more decent motherboards comes with two PCIe x16 (x8) slots - oh, well, I can live with that I suppose the CPU will still be sufficient by then. If not - go go unlocked multiplier

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Keep as informed of how the build goes. It is always useful to get feedback!!

[Queelis]

It's here! Finally got everything (i.e., the PC and the monitor), so just had to tidy the cables and was set to go.

Ok, so final specs are these:
Case - Antec Sonata Plus (w/ NeoPower 550 PSU)
MoBo - Gigabyte MA790X-UD4
CPU - AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE
RAM - Corsair 4gig kit (those with simple heatspreaders, don't even know how they're called)
Graphics - Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 (640SP, sadly )
HDD - Samsung F1 640GB (suspended)
A Samsung DVD burner.

I'm using Samsung T200 monitor.

About the noise of the system - well, it isn't intrusive, especially when the TV is on, but if it's the only thing working, I can hear it, a low hum. Since I don't have anything to compare it to, can't say whether it's quiet or loud, but doesn't bother me.

Speed - well, got encoding audio (FLAC to MP3) twenty times faster than my previous lappy - I'm okay with that I haven't got round to checking out the graphics card, so maybe I'll write something about it later on.

But there is an annoying thing - when I hook up the headphones and do basically anything (use the mouse, e.g.), there is something like interference noise - and it stays on even when the sound is turned off.

By the way: there are two ways of connecting the front panel audio ports - AC97 and HD Audio. Which one should I go for? Edit: seems that HD Audio is the way to go. Will try to change that, maybe the interference will go away