New Build

[Cheapy]

Hi im thinking of building myself a new PC for gaming and study and fancy seeing what I could manage for £300 to £400 budget. I dont need a screen or anything like that so looking around at reviews and what scan has to offer I have come up with the current system.

Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edtion -£76

Motherboard: Biostar TA790 GX AM3 -£90

Memory: 2G corsair XMS DDR3 -£30

Hard drive: 320 GB Samsung HD322HJ Spinpoint F1 -£34

Graphics: XFX HD 4850 XXX 512Mb -£86

Case and power:Antec Sonata 3 with 500W power supply -£105

I would link it all for you but iv not got enough posts yet as you can see

Comes to about £425 but im willing to stretch the extra £25 if its worth it. I dont know if there are cheaper cases and power suppplys that will do the job. I went for AM3 as it seems more futureproof as I indend to keep this system for about 4 to 5 years with mayby a midlife graphics and processor and some more memory updates. Im open to all ideas on what to change.

[staffsMike]

I'd get

Antec NSK3480 + 380W earthwatts ~£70
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130946

Or
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129891
+
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144086

Asus 760G ~£50
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161330

7750 Black Edition (AM2+) ~£55
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164048

4GB PC6400 ~£35

640GB Western Digital ~£50
Optical ~£15

Geforce 250 ~£90

Total ~£355 - £370 depending on case and psu

Not sure on the relative advantage of the AM3 cpu and board though, it may be worth it.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hi im thinking of building myself a new PC for gaming and study and fancy seeing what I could manage for £300 to £400 budget. I dont need a screen or anything like that so looking around at reviews and what scan has to offer I have come up with the current system.

Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edtion -£76

Motherboard: Biostar TA790 GX AM3 -£90

Memory: 2G corsair XMS DDR3 -£30

Hard drive: 320 GB Samsung HD322HJ Spinpoint F1 -£34

Graphics: XFX HD 4850 XXX 512Mb -£86

Case and power:Antec Sonata 3 with 500W power supply -£105

I would link it all for you but iv not got enough posts yet as you can see

Comes to about £425 but im willing to stretch the extra £25 if its worth it. I dont know if there are cheaper cases and power suppplys that will do the job. I went for AM3 as it seems more futureproof as I indend to keep this system for about 4 to 5 years with mayby a midlife graphics and processor and some more memory updates. Im open to all ideas on what to change.

You maybe able to unlock the X2 550 to a quad core using the 790GX based motherboard if you are lucky. Toms Hardware Guide did this IIRC.

I would look at getting 4gb of DDR3.

Buy some of the bits off Ebuyer too.

From Ebuyer:

4gb OCZ Reaper DDR3 ~£58

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164791

This is higher end DDR3.

Antec 300 ~£47

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854

I would get a VX450w:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131052

The 320gb hard disk should be enough unless you like downloading. Of course you can add another hard disk later if required.

Some of the other bits are on Scan Today Only this weekend too. The rest of the build looks fine for the price.

[Cheapy]

Thanks to both of you for the advice.

I think ill stick with the AM3 and DDR3 setup. It will be running XP which can onlly take 4G memory but does that include the memory on the graphics card as well?

Looking at cases and power supplys I found these two both are pretty much the same case but each has a different power supply. Off Ebuyer is a CoolerMaster Elite 333 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU. Quickfind code is 161317.

The other is on scan and is a Coolermaster Elite 340 MicroATX Case with Coolermaster 460W PFC PSU. Code for that is LN26046. I dont know if these are good quality power supplys.

[staffsMike]

They are reasonable at best imo. There's much better around which I why I would try and avoid them but there isn't anything terribly wrong with it.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks to both of you for the advice.

I think ill stick with the AM3 and DDR3 setup. It will be running XP which can onlly take 4G memory but does that include the memory on the graphics card as well?

Looking at cases and power supplys I found these two both are pretty much the same case but each has a different power supply. Off Ebuyer is a CoolerMaster Elite 333 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU. Quickfind code is 161317.

The other is on scan and is a Coolermaster Elite 340 MicroATX Case with Coolermaster 460W PFC PSU. Code for that is LN26046. I dont know if these are good quality power supplys.

The Phenom II can only run two channels of DDR3 so it is better to buy 4gb and OCZ Reaper is good memory and Ebuyer has it very cheap at the moment. It is the range above the normal DDR3 RAM OCZ makes. You will see around 3.25gb as this is how much XP and Vista recognises with a 512mb graphics card.

Also the VX450W is a very solid PSU too and is actually more like a 500w TBH.

[Cheapy]

So looking at what has been said and reviews of what you suggested this seems like a good final set up.

Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edtion -£76

Motherboard: Biostar TA790 GX AM3 -£90

Memory: 2G corsair XMS DDR3 -£30 4gb

Hard drive: 320 GB Samsung HD322HJ Spinpoint F1 -£34

Graphics: XFX HD 4850 XXX 512Mb -£86

Case: Coolermaster RC-331 -£30

Power: Cosair VX450w -£55

This comes in at just under £400 but if i can get the extra £45 togthere I will go for the 4gb OCZ Reaper DDR3 memory at £58 and the Antec 300 case at £45 as it definatly seems worth the extra.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

So looking at what has been said and reviews of what you suggested this seems like a good final set up.

Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edtion -£76

Motherboard: Biostar TA790 GX AM3 -£90

Memory: 2G corsair XMS DDR3 -£30 4gb

Hard drive: 320 GB Samsung HD322HJ Spinpoint F1 -£34

Graphics: XFX HD 4850 XXX 512Mb -£86

Case: Coolermaster RC-331 -£30

Power: Cosair VX450w -£55

This comes in at just under £400 but if i can get the extra £45 togthere I will go for the 4gb OCZ Reaper DDR3 memory at £58 and the Antec 300 case at £45 as it definatly seems worth the extra.

I would at least get the 4gb of DDR3 TBH as I told you earlier the AM3 Phenom II X4 only can run two channels of DDR3. Also TBH 4gb should be enough at least until the end of next year TBH as many people are still running 32 bit operating systems.

If you are not interesting in trying to unlock your CPU to a quad core(this is not guaranteed) you can get the following AM3 motherboard for a much lower price:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165438

It has the SB710 southbridge which in theory can be used to unlock a Phenom II X2 550 but not all motherboards with the SB710 southbridge have the BIOS options to do so!! However the 790GX has the better SB750 southbridge so I would be aiming to get the Biostar motherboard instead. Also the integrated graphics of the 790GX may prove useful between graphics card upgrades.

[scaryjim]

I would at least get the 4gb of DDR3 TBH as I told you earlier the AM3 Phenom II X4 only can run two channels of DDR3.

This isn't strictly accurate - you can run an AM3 processor with 4 sticks of DDR3, but it will automatically be set to DDR3-1066, rather than any faster speed you might wish to run it. So if you're going to buy DDR3-1333+ (and if you're not, then why are you buying DDR3 at all! ) you are much better off buying 4GB straight up - if you get 2x1GB now and add more later it will reduce its clock speed.

[Cheapy]

You have persuaded me to go with the more and faster memory then. The corsair power supply i take it gives me a fair bit of room to upgrade? Looking at the eXtreme power supply calculator it does and I know it isnt dead accurate just gives a rough idea of what you need i believe.

The AM3 motherboard on Ebuyer is a amazing find CAT-THE-FIFTH thanks for it. I didnt even know Ebuyer exsited until you linked it to me.

I know the HD 4850's run hot but the cooler on the XFX one seems to be a huge improvement on the stock one but is it still worth getting a extra fan for the coolermaster case or will the cooling be fine as it is?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

With orders over £49.99 you get free postage at Ebuyer. I like the 790GX motherboard more though as I would obviously like to see if the X2 550BE would unlock to a quad core or not (if it were my choice). This not a given though as unlocking is not very common though.

However if you rather save the money the MSI motherboard will still do the job. If MSI have implemented the BIOS properly and it has ACC you should be able to unlock using the SB710 if your CPU can be unlocked. Hence with the MSI motherboard I am uncertain whether it can do this but from what I have read the Biostar 790GX motherboards have ACC in the BIOS.

[Cheapy]

I have never messed around in the BIOS or done any overclocking before. Looking at people who have done it though it seems easy enough to have a go at if u have a compatable motherboard like you said. I tried looking up the sucess rates of getting a quad core but couldnt find anything useful.

[lego batman]

If you do think of getting another fan (maybe a good idea if you will be overclocking it much) then spend a bit and get a nice quiet one, maybe this one: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm...-and-Long-life
It's better than getting a loud one and then regretting it...
If you do get an Antec 300 they are good cases for airflow but can be quite noisy if you choose the wrong fans. Not sure about the coolermaster.

[Cheapy]

Thanks lego batman. Reviews on the case seem to say its a good buy for its price and it does seem worth fitting the extra slient fan just in case.

[Cheapy]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but its only a small question.

At the moment I can get a Phenom II X3 710 for the same price as a Phenom II X2 550 BE. I dont do overclocking, so im looking at it stock to stock for gaming performance which is better?

Im leaning towards the Phenom II X3 710 at the moment.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but its only a small question.

At the moment I can get a Phenom II X3 710 for the same price as a Phenom II X2 550 BE. I dont do overclocking, so im looking at it stock to stock for gaming performance which is better?

Im leaning towards the Phenom II X3 710 at the moment.

For games which support multiple cores the X3 710 will be faster but for games that don't the X2 550 will be a better choice. In the future more and more games will support multiple cores though IMHO. Also for any multi-tasking the X3 710 should be a better choice.