Help a noob with an mATX for <£450

[Zhaoman]

this link should help you out:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1046/9/

as you can see, the 905e sits just between an 9400 and a 9300 in the overall futuremark score. it's a fair indication of the performance you can expect.

the silverstone 120mm fans will cool a high spec system no problem, but i'd be slightly worried about the 80mm fans in the lian li. the main concern for me is noise when it comes to 80mm fans.

[dynamoboy]

Sweet guys...

Now, lastly, before I go ahead and buy - is there anything else I need? Aside from the case, which, following Zhaoman's previous post, I'm still unsure about, I want to know if all the parts needed to build my system are present?

Also, with the components I'm getting, do I need to do anything out of the ordinary? I.e. mess with anything in the BIOS etc? Or is it a straightforward build that I can use the countless tutorials on the web for?

And LASTLY, how quiet do you think this system will be, both in the Lian-Li and in the SilverStone?

[dynamoboy]

anyone??

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You may want to consider the Antec mini-P180 case:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140996

It has good reviews:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article810-page1.html

It is heavy but is meant to be relatively quiet.

You will need a copy of an OS and some screwdrivers too. A few normal sized flat and cross head ones will do. I would look at ones with a toughened head and one long handled screwdriver for screwing the motherboard into the tray.

Of course make sure to follow some simple rules to protect against static discharge:
1.)Do not wear clothes with any synthetic fibres.
2.)Do not assemble the PC on carpet. Assemble the PC on a clean wooden floor or a wooden table.
3.)Earth yourself by touching a radiator before handling any parts.
4.)When mucking around with components only do so when the PC is not plugged into the mains.
5.)Handle components by their edges and have minimal contact with their PCBs and electrical contacts.

Some other tips:
1.)Take your time when assembling the PC.
2.)Have a laptop or another computer nearby which has the motherboard manual on display.

[dynamoboy]

thansk again.

Do you guys know of any easy way that I can fit say a black or white dvd burner, but like stick a bezel on it to make it the same colour as my case? coz a black dvd drive will look ugly on my silver aluminium case...

[Pob255]

Well for my mind, the simplest solution would be to take the bezel off the dvd drive and paint it.

Getting a dvd/cd drive apart is very easy, getting the front off of the disc tray can be a little tricky without damageing it.
The tray front slides off vertically but is held inplace by a plastic clip or two at the bottom.
You may snap these when trying to get it off, it will still go back on solidly but no longer lock inplace, it's not that big a deal in all honesty.

Finding a paint colour that exactly matches the colour of the case will be slightly more tricky, but taking the drive blank to a shop will help you/them match it.
For what shop a good car repair place is your best bet, they can ether paint it themselves (no idea on a cost for that) or sell you a can of spray paint that should match. which will be about £5

[dynamoboy]

Lol, so, in English, you're saying to basically "unclip* the front bezel of any CD/DVD drive that I get and just take the front plate/bezel to a shop to get the spray for it?

Will the sprayed paint effect match the silver Aluminium of this SilverStone case?

[Pob255]

Lol, so, in English, you're saying to basically "unclip* the front bezel of any CD/DVD drive that I get and just take the front plate/bezel to a shop to get the spray for it?

Yep that's what I'm saying
If you've never taken a dvd/cd drive apart before, you need to eject the tray to remove the front of that, then remove the tray front and finally unclip the bezel

Will the sprayed paint effect match the silver Aluminium of this SilverStone case?

Yes and No
The case front is brushed Aluminium so has a definate pattern to it, which will be hard to replicate, however it looks like the blanks are not brushed so it shouldn't be too out of place.

Taking the bezel to a place that actually paints cars and having them do it will mean they should be able to colour match it very accurately but I've no idea how much they would charge for that.
getting some paint and doing it your self will be cheaper but harder to get an exact match.

Other options would be contact someone like www.chilledpc.co.uk and see if they can make you one.

You can get brushed aluminium stick on plates but I don't know where you can find them in the UK
e.g. http://www.frozencpu.com/products/13...html?tl=g1c143
Lian-Li make a stealth drive cover part number is C-01A but again getting hold of one will not be easy.

EDIT: If you're feeling very adventrous you could cut up the drive bay blank and make one.

[Zhaoman]

most dvd drives will come with different coloured bezels, my hp one came with black and beige and my lite-on came with black, biege and silver so if you're not too fussy then a silver coloured one shouldn't look out of place. just search around for a drive that has a silver bezel included

[dynamoboy]

sooooo...

after all this, I'm reverting back to CAT-THE-FIFTH's original suggestion for the AMD 720... Honestly speaking, is it a good processor? Would I really notice that much of a difference between that and the 905e?

Saving money on the CPU will allow me to get one of the f0ollowing (also suggested by CAT-THE-FIFTH):
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512Mb...PCI-E-VGA-Card

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-P...I-I-HDMI-D-Sub

The first one is obv cheaper - but will it play most/all games? and smoothly?

EDIT andthanks Pob for the bezel info.. will look into it!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

sooooo...

after all this, I'm reverting back to CAT-THE-FIFTH's original suggestion for the AMD 720... Honestly speaking, is it a good processor? Would I really notice that much of a difference between that and the 905e?

Saving money on the CPU will allow me to get one of the f0ollowing (also suggested by CAT-THE-FIFTH):
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512Mb...PCI-E-VGA-Card

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-P...I-I-HDMI-D-Sub

The first one is obv cheaper - but will it play most/all games? and smoothly?

EDIT andthanks Pob for the bezel info.. will look into it!

The X3 720 will do the job fine IMHO.

Also I would get the following motherboard:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-M4A785D-M-PRO

It has the the SB710 southbridge!! This means that it maybe possible to unlock the X3 720 to a quad core if you are very lucky!!

The HD4850 also will also be a good choice too. I use an overclocked HD4830 512MB (which is very near to a stock clocked HD4850 512MB) and I play Crysis Warhead at 1440x900 with a mixture of enthusiast and gamer settings reasonably smoothly under XP!!

[Yosh]

ahh, i got you... so while the CPU's are quite comparable in price, you need to look at the chipset as the compatible motherboards will make up the difference.

That's cool.. If you guys are recommending the AMD, then I'd be happy to go with it.. If you could compare this AMD Phenom II 905e to an Intel CPU, which would it be?

Thanks again!

(and possibly an answer on the question about the stock case fans and cpu cooler?)

The lads are offering a solution to the type of build you want. So a straight forward "my cpu is better that your cpu" argument, shouldn't really come into it.

Just remember you can listen to the advice of the people here and take it onboard. Then when your making a purchase you can discuss this with the Retailer and see if their choices match/ come close.

[dynamoboy]

Guys - what do ya think? Good specs for a multimedia all rounder?

Any addition or changes?

Thanks again!

[dynamoboy]

any comments? have i got it right? wasnt sure about the HDD choice...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

any comments? have i got it right? wasnt sure about the HDD choice...

You need to go for this hard drive:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1TB-S...ache-89-ms-NCQ

The F2 is a slower drive meant for storage and media purposes as it runs cooler and consumes less power IIRC.

Also some of the items you have chosen are on special offer too!

CPU ~ £89:

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

1TB Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F1 ~ £54

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

RAM ~ £46

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

DVD rewriter ~ £17

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

Don't forget the PSU!!

450W Corsair CMPSU-450HXUK ~ £56

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

[Pob255]

Loads of good offers this weekend

they've got the 700W FSP700-80GLN for £40, it's not modular or pritty but that's a heck of a load of cash off the normal price

They also got the 500W Silverstone Strider ST50F for £49, it's modular, based off a slightly older design (FPS epslion if I remember correctly) with uprated MOSFET transistors and rectifiers to improve it's efficiency.
Here's a review of the non-modular version http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/548/10
It does look a little small and sparce inside which is one of the reasons the Epslion design is still in use, it's simple, reliable and well proven.
However it's only a small saving over the Corsair at the price and it lacks the 5year warranty of the corsair, if you need to shave off a couple of quid this would be a fine choise.

Oh and personally I'd swap the Lightscribe DVDr/w for a basic DVDr/w
I'm not sure about the current Sony dvd drives, I would sugest the LG drives for quietness.
Again Today Only for £15.81

Remember these "Today Only" offers are actually all weekend not just today