Build advice

[Cornholio]

Would you change anything ? main purpose gaming.

[alsenior]

i'd say swap the board for something p45 based. appaerently the p43 not great

[staffsMike]

If it were me.. most of it tbh. Not that those aren't bad components but just not to my taste.

AMD X3 720 Black Edition
780G or 790GX based mobo
HDD is ok, I'd prefer a 640GB or 1TB Western Digital.
Graphics is nice and cheap these days so I might keep that. HD4870, 4890 or Nividia GTX275 might be worth a look.
Case is down to personal taste, I might consider a coolermaster CM-690.

[Cornholio]

See, im in two minds about the cpu...i run a 6600 in my main pc, runs fine love it, but in my media pc im running a 5200 and to be honest...it seems faster than my e6600, ive always been an AMD fan boy but i dno .

You reckon it would out perform the 8400 then mike ?

If so which mobo would you recommend ? im tempted towards gigabyte as my Ds3 has never failed me...

[Cornholio]

Stupid edit..

[Cornholio]

If i bought the

AMD X3 720 Black Edition

Asus M4A78T-E

It would work out about £12 more expensive (both cpu's are on today only), question is, which would be better ? That ^^ or the intel e8400 w p43 mobo.

[Cornholio]

Stupid edit.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You could always go for a cheaper AM2+ motherboard and DDR2 RAM for the Phenom II X3 720 instead. The processor has a DDR2 memory controller too.

The 3ghz Phenom II X4 940BE was available on Today Only yesterday for only £144! It is an AM2+ processor so it only has a DDR2 memory controller.

Here is an overclocking review for the Phenom II X3 720:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpu...ii-x3-720-be/1

The HD4870 1gb is available for under £140 from Scan BTW.

[Powderhound]

Why have you included diesel in the price?

[Cornholio]

You could always go for a cheaper AM2+ motherboard and DDR2 RAM for the Phenom II X3 720 instead. The processor has a DDR2 memory controller too.

The 3ghz Phenom II X4 940BE was available on Today Only yesterday for only £144! It is an AM2+ processor so it only has a DDR2 memory controller.

Here is an overclocking review for the Phenom II X3 720:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpu...ii-x3-720-be/1

The HD4870 1gb is available for under £140 from Scan BTW.

I saw that, but again..ive always been an nvidia boy, i thought the hd4870 looked good on paper but failed in reality.

What would be the best combo to go for, as we have 3 options now...E8400, the Am3 and that ^ am2.

And i always include fuel costs lol

[Cornholio]

The 3rd option is looking tempting...

[staffsMike]

third option gets my vote, I'm sure you only really need PC6400 ram though

I'd atcually build around the 780G and save an extra £30 ( and get a nice small system as most of the good ones are uATX)

[Cornholio]

If i went the 6400 route for him, i could get 6GB for roughly the same price..

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-C...eitme-warranty

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-(...d-CAS-5-5-5-18

Although i was under the impression, 4gb at 1066 would be roughly the same as 6gb @ 800mhz.

So how does this look instead then mike..

Cheaper too !

Although the board might look out of place in that case lol


Typo, mobo is MA-78 not 778.

Whats the AMD Phenom™ 9950 Black Edition like ? instead of the X3 720

[Cornholio]

Or could go full size atx on 780g chipset..

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...D-HDCP-VGA-ATX

[staffsMike]

Yeah full size is cool too. As long as you go for a black eddition then the board doesn't need to be a fantastic overclocker tp squeeze the extra from the cpu.

I don't honestly know about the RAM speed's difference in performance tbh, I haven't looked in a while but I run PC6400 with my phenom and it's pretty snappy.

I actually have a 9950 BE and it's a good chip but a bit power hungry and the Phenom II's do make it pretty obselete, so I'd stick with them in either x3 or x4 guise.

This is the uATX board I would buy
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150278

It's got every video output known to man I think, and it should be a solid performer, not to mention a bit cheaper albeit not from scan.

[Cornholio]

Do we really need all video outputs though if we are running a 4870 ?

He wont be overclocking on it, just a nice stock fast system is what hes after within budget.

I run 6400 OCZ and my systems fairly quick, and yeah ive just realised the X3 kinda makes the 9950 a pointless buy.

So it looks like Is gonna be the final spec, apart from the mobo, not sure if i should go gigabyte or the asus you said from scan.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-uATX-VGA-HDMI

Dont really need any video outputs on the board tbh, so im struggling to decide which to buy, ive used both gigabyte (current) and asus in the past, and couldnt fault any really.

So it looks asthough its either..

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...D-HDCP-VGA-ATX

or

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-uATX-VGA-HDMI
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...ATA-3Gb-s-mATX