£750 For this lot:

[scaryjim]

According to this Hexus review (comparing 2GB / 1GB / 512MB Sapphire 4870s) the only game in which 1GB makes a significant difference over 512MB is Far Cry 2. Otherwise there's no real benefit. So if I was you I'd save yourself £35 and get the £115 4870.

Unless of course - you may want to look at novatech's Sonic Edition which has a custom cooler and is slightly overclocked (along with having a switch to turn the overclocked settings on and off?!). It's only £126 so it'd save you a bit more money, and it has a very unusual set of outputs - DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort AND VGA! I really like the look of it, and could quite fancy one if I was doing a gaming build at the minute...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would probably go for the £137 HD4870 Scan are selling TBH.

If you look at this review the extra 512mb means that additional settings can be activated at certain resolutions improving gameplay:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...50aHVzaWFzdA==

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You can get two HD4870 1gb cards for under £143 delivered:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...VI-I-HDTV-HDCP

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164557

[scaryjim]

If you look at this review the extra 512mb means that additional settings can be activated at certain resolutions improving gameplay

You'd have to be absolutely anal-retentive about image quality to care about 2x MSAA at 2560x1600! Quite apart from having to have a 30" WUXGA monitor anyway (since at 1920 x 1200 the 512MB version can cope with 4x MSAA according to the linked review). And the 1GB with 2xMSAA is slower than the 512MB without MSAA, so I wouldn't say that would improve "gameplay". And if you've got a 30" monitor already you can probably afford the extra 1GB without batting an eyelid... (or a 4850 X2 / 4870 X2, probably )

For normal purposes up to 1920 x 1200 resolution, at acceptable levels of image quality, 512MB is sufficient for most current games. Stick 2 in crossfire, and they should murder any other graphics system available for £230...

(oh, and p.s. the second graphics card you linked to is a 512MB version)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You'd have to be absolutely anal-retentive about image quality to care about 2x MSAA at 2560x1600! Quite apart from having to have a 30" WUXGA monitor anyway (since at 1920 x 1200 the 512MB version can cope with 4x MSAA according to the linked review). And the 1GB with 2xMSAA is slower than the 512MB without MSAA, so I wouldn't say that would improve "gameplay". And if you've got a 30" monitor already you can probably afford the extra 1GB without batting an eyelid... (or a 4850 X2 / 4870 X2, probably )

For normal purposes up to 1920 x 1200 resolution, at acceptable levels of image quality, 512MB is sufficient for most current games. Stick 2 in crossfire, and they should murder any other graphics system available for £230...

(oh, and p.s. the second graphics card you linked to is a 512MB version)

Except in a very demanding game like Crysis Warhead the extra 512mb makes a huge difference.



At 1680x1050 you could probably increase the settings to mostly enthusiast which looks great BTW. With future games the extra 512mb will start to make more of a difference.

Also the ability to play both Crysis and Crysis Warhead at higher settings is worth the extra £20 IMHO.
If the OP can go for a pair of HD4870 512mb cards in crossfire it would be even better but the budget would be exceeded. Even a pair od HD4850 cards for around £170 will be pretty fast too.

[scaryjim]

Except in a very demanding game like Crysis Warhead the extra 512mb makes a huge difference.

At 1680x1050 you could probably increase the settings to mostly enthusiast which looks great BTW. With future games the extra 512mb will start to make more of a difference.

Also the ability to play both Crysis and Crysis Warhead at higher settings is worth the extra £20 IMHO.

Fair enough. I've always been more concerned with the gameplay than the pretties, and will quite happily turn settings down to get smooth frame-rates, so for me the extra memory probably wouldn't be worth it. I guess that OP will have to decide what they care most about

If the OP can go for a pair of HD4870 512mb cards in crossfire it would be even better but the budget would be exceeded. Even a pair od HD4850 cards for around £170 will be pretty fast too.

True, but the OP could save £30 now by getting a 512MB 4870, turn the settings down on their games for now, and get a second 4870 in a few months, at which point they can crank up the settings again. True, they could do that with 1GB cards as well (and then have a better performing crossfire system too) - but at that point it comes entirely down to personal preference of the OP as to whether they'd rather save a decent amount of money or have the option of extra image quality. And the one thing we don't know yet is what resolution the OPs existing monitor is! If it's a 17" CRT then all our discussion is moot!

Anyway, it occurs to me - didn't we tweak the original build so the OP could afford a 4890? I'm sure we saved about £35 somewhere to make it an option...

[Scroffy]

Hi all,

Many thanks (again) for all the replies.

My monitor is a Samsung BW226 22" and I think the resolution is 1680 x 1050

I think I'm going to get the following:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 3GHz Socket AM2+ 6MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor156.27
Cooler Master Storm Scout Case 79.91
640GB Hard Drive WD6400AAKS 50.74
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe 790FX Socket AM2+ 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard 134.54
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Dominator Memory Kit CL5(5-5-5-15) 53.33
Sapphire HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card 154.07
NQ-4775-650B-FLEX - 650W NorthQ Black Magic Flex Compact Modular PSU 80%+ Eff' 135mm Ultra Silent Fan OEM 68.94
LG GH22NS40 22X SATA DVD±RW/DL/RAM Black Bare Drive - OEM 16.43

Total = £714.23


The reasoning for the Sapphire is that the reviews and warranty for it are good - also I'll get another 1G card and crossfire them next Christmas.

The thing concerning me at the moment is the power supply - the PC will be sited nexdt to my 17-montjh-old's nursury and I don't want to wake him - Mrs Scroffy will kill me if that happens. The PSU I've chosen is a noisy one at full cooling.

Can anyone recommend a quieter alternative for roughly £70?
Is 650W overkill for the system?

[scaryjim]

650W looks slight overkill, even if you do add another 4870 later! I'm not so well informed on PSUs though, so I'll let someone else give you specific advice.

Also at 1680 x 1050 (you're quite right that that's your maximum resolution) you'll see very little benefit from the 1GB as oppose to the 512MB, and crossfiring will be massive overkill: that'd only be worth doing if you plan to get a higher res monitor in the future too! Still, you should be ready for more demanding games in the future. Otherwise that's pretty much exactly what I'd go for at the minute

[McPhee]

The thing concerning me at the moment is the power supply - the PC will be sited nexdt to my 17-montjh-old's nursury and I don't want to wake him - Mrs Scroffy will kill me if that happens. The PSU I've chosen is a noisy one at full cooling.

Can anyone recommend a quieter alternative for roughly £70?
Is 650W overkill for the system?

Would you be interested in a 2nd hand (but good condition) Corsair HX520? I've recently built a new system and have no use for it anymore. Also got a 5.25" Samsung DVDRW, an Antec Nine Hundred and a Xiggy HDT-S1283 if they're any use?

[Jasp]

Had a quick play about hope you don't mind, got the following for £691.48 take off your free shipping and its £680.08 the lot.

650W TX Corsair PSU, single 12V rail, energy efficient, quiet & cool, fully compatible, 5yr warranty £78.76

Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P, AMD 790X, AM2/AM2+, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1066/1333, SATA 3GB/s, RAID, ATX £94.30

CM Storm Scout Mid Tower Black Case w/o PSU (Gaming) £79.91

Today Only offers !

1GB HiS HD 4890, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), Mem 3600MHz, GDDR5, GPU 850MHz, Cores 800, 2x DL DVI-I/HDTV £178.24

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2, PC2-8500 (1066), 240Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15, EPP £43.64

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition, Deneb, S AM2+, 3.0GHz, 8MB Total Cache, HT 2000MHz, 125W, Retail £143.74

640Gb Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B, 3.5", SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, HDD £43.69

LG GH22NS40 22x DVD±R, 16xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6 ,12xRAM SATA, Black, OEM £16.09

If you want silence i'd suggest going from the scout to the HAF 932 this will run you to £712.80 or £700.26 with free shipping, the HAF is a full tower case so is large but has several 230mm fans so is very quiet.

[Infinite]

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...tory4&reid=114

The 650W Black Magic is pretty poor.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hi all,

Many thanks (again) for all the replies.

My monitor is a Samsung BW226 22" and I think the resolution is 1680 x 1050

I think I'm going to get the following:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 3GHz Socket AM2+ 6MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor156.27
Cooler Master Storm Scout Case 79.91
640GB Hard Drive WD6400AAKS 50.74
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe 790FX Socket AM2+ 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard 134.54
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Dominator Memory Kit CL5(5-5-5-15) 53.33
Sapphire HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card 154.07
NQ-4775-650B-FLEX - 650W NorthQ Black Magic Flex Compact Modular PSU 80%+ Eff' 135mm Ultra Silent Fan OEM 68.94
LG GH22NS40 22X SATA DVD±RW/DL/RAM Black Bare Drive - OEM 16.43

Total = £714.23


The reasoning for the Sapphire is that the reviews and warranty for it are good - also I'll get another 1G card and crossfire them next Christmas.

The thing concerning me at the moment is the power supply - the PC will be sited nexdt to my 17-montjh-old's nursury and I don't want to wake him - Mrs Scroffy will kill me if that happens. The PSU I've chosen is a noisy one at full cooling.

Can anyone recommend a quieter alternative for roughly £70?
Is 650W overkill for the system?

As suggested earlier the Corsair TX650 seems to be a good choice and it should hopefully last you for a while!!
Also(as suggested earlier) many of the bits are on Scan Today Only too!!

AMD Phenom II X4 940 ~ £144

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

This will save you around £12.

Corsair 1066mhz DDR2 RAM ~ £44

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

This will save you around £9.

The DVD rewriter that you chose is also slightly cheaper on Today Only too!!

I assume that you are getting the following card due to the cooler:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1Gb-S...MHz-PCIE-2xDVI

The card is £5 cheaper at Novatech though:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...html?SAP-48701

I would probably still go with the reference XFX HD4870 1gb for £135 on Today Only though:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

It has a 2 year warranty too.

The Corsair TX650 costs around £10 more than the PSU you choice but is a better choice IMHO:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-...e-5yr-warranty