Help a noob with an mATX for <£450

[dynamoboy]

Hi guys,

Pay day is here and I am in the market to build my own PC from scratch and save some pennies in the process. Pretty new to it all, apart from the odd upgrade to my existing machine now and then.

I'm seeking a mATX space-saving but sexy solution that has enough power for HD, v.light gaming, multimedia and multi-tasking etc. Would also like the build to be quiet as possible.

I'm hoping you guys can spec-me.. Or at least tell me the names of the components I need (i.e. which CPU for which mobo etc)..

Starting it off, I;ve seen these 2 cases that I think are idea:

1. The Lian-Li v300 mATX

2.The Silverstone TJ08S

I'm planning on buying it all in one go from http://www.scan.co.uk/

Thanks in advance guys for any help! Really appreciate it as I'm a bit lost at the component choosing..

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Do you need an OS too??

This is what I would be looking at getting:

Corsair HX450W PSU ~ £54

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

A modular PSU is important for an SFF build as it simplifies the internal cable layout in the case.

Asus M4A78-EM ~ £53

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

The integrated graphics would be enough for older games and HD video decoding. The motherboard also has all solid capacitors which have a longer life and have better stability at higher temperatures too. The motherboard also a large number of connections too.



AMD Phenom II X3 720 ~ £91

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...che-95W-Retail

This is a triple core processor.

4GB PC2-8500 DDR2 RAM ~£48

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-%...S-5-6-6-18-EPP

Samsung F1 1tb hard drive ~ £54

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

SATA DVD rewriter ~ £16

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

HD4850 1GB ~ £78

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

This would be great for newer games.

Alternatively an HD4670 GDDR3 may do the job too and is cheaper:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512Mb...PCI-E-VGA-Card

The HD4670 Ultimate is passively cooled too. The money saved could go towards some Noctua or Scythe fans for the case.

The total comes to just under £400 with the free Scan postage if you get the HD4850.

[Zhaoman]

i reckon you should leave the graphics card out of the initial build and see how the 780G integrated graphics gets on. i reckon that might be enough for what you need and if it isn't you can always get a new card later.

[dynamoboy]

I think 4gb of ram and a TB of hdd is a bit much.. I would prefer to go with 2gb and like 320-500gb of HDD and fit in a better Intel processor?

And am I gonna go with the external GPU or not??

[dynamoboy]

Oh and importantly - will the items of those specs or similar fit into and function well inside the Lian-Li mATX case in op?

[[GSV]Myocardial]

I think 4gb of ram and a TB of hdd is a bit much.. I would prefer to go with 2gb and like 320-500gb of HDD and fit in a better Intel processor?

And am I gonna go with the external GPU or not??

Why wouldn't you want 4GB and a 1Tb when to drop down to 2Gb and a smaller Hdd is probably a £20 saving? An Intel solution won't be much better and you'll pay slightly more for an intel solution with similar capability to the 780G chipset.

CAT-THE-FIFTH's spec leaves you with enough spending room to get an OS on top of the hardware. And how would anyone know whether you need to go with an external GPU as what is light gaming to you?

The 780G integrated graphics are pretty good for media playback and would work for me for very light gaming. You could purchase everything bar the Graphics card and see if it meets your needs and if necessary purchase the grphics card subsequently.

Will fit in either case perfectly well.

[Pob255]

Why wouldn't you want 4GB and a 1Tb when to drop down to 2Gb and a smaller Hdd is probably a £20 saving? An Intel solution won't be much better and you'll pay slightly more for an intel solution with similar capability to the 780G chipset.

CAT-THE-FIFTH's spec leaves you with enough spending room to get an OS on top of the hardware. And how would anyone know whether you need to go with an external GPU as what is light gaming to you?

The 780G integrated graphics are pretty good for media playback and would work for me for very light gaming. You could purchase everything bar the Graphics card and see if it meets your needs and if necessary purchase the grphics card subsequently.

Will fit in either case perfectly well.

Dropping down to 500gb and 2gb is more like a £40-50 saving.
However as it's not over budget you should only really consider shaveing them off later if you need to bring the total down.
Both can be done without major impact on performance atm, although personally if you need to reduce the total by £20 to keep it in budget I would reduce the hard drive before the ram.

You should be able to drop down to DDR2-pc6400 ram, which will be cheaper and that "should" still work.
But I'll admit to being a little confused by how AMD handles the fsb


I'll give you a warning here about the Lian-Li case, it's a cube, so while it's shorter the actual foot print is larger than a normal case.
If you want a "short" case that still allows a full ATX motherboard then consider the NZXT Panzerbox
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/NZXT-...r-Case-w-o-PSU

The CPU is a good one better than c2d (@ stock) and a c2q will only be better when you have something that actually uses all 4 cores.
Actaully one of the cheaper athlon II x2 cpu's may be better for you, all depends on what it is you're atually doing/palying on this pc.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you want a smaller hard drive this single platter 320gb Samsung F1 is excellent value for money:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/320-G...MB-Cache-89-ms

Also the Phenom II X2 545 dual core is faster than any equivalent Intel dual core for under £70:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...che-80W-Retail

[dynamoboy]

Thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated! All sounds good.. Except I was really geared toward getting quad-core? Can anyone re-spec with that in mind?

[dynamoboy]

any1??

[Zhaoman]

if you don't get a discrete graphics card then your budget will easily stretch to a quad core.

Using Cat-the-fifth's build just swap the cpu for one of these:

This is slightly cheaper, uses a lot less power and should be more than sufficient for your needs:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...MHz-65W-Retail

This one is faster and overclockable and is only a little bit more expensive so is great value for money imo but you might not notice the performance difference at all:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...he-125W-Retail

The tri-core in Cat's first build is much better value for money tbh but if you're set on a quad then these are your best bets.

edit: you'll need a different motherboard from Cat's first build as well. this looks like fantastic value for money:

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

[Pob255]

If you want a quad core I'd lean towards that AMD Phenom II X4 905e
The lower power and temps in a small case that cannot use a large cpu cooler would be best.
Also leaves more leway on the PSU if you wish to put a discrete graphics card in at a later date.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Phenom II X4 905e is also on the Scan Today Only web-page too currently:

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

[dynamoboy]

awesome guys thanks - and im not being a pain on purpose, but i am interested to know wh it is none of you have recommended an Intel CPU? Coz this Intel quad core is about the same price as the Phenom II 905e.. Just wondering.

Also, are the stock fans (3x 80mm with the Lian-Li and 2x 120mm in the SilverStone suitable for cooling a semi-high spec'ed system in a small'ish chassis?

And same goes for the stock CPU cooler?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The problem is that to get an Intel motherboard with a comparable level of integrated graphics performance(especially when it comes to HD video acceleration) to a 780G you are looking at either a G45 based motherboard or a 9300 based one and these are over £75.

The Asus M4A785D-M PRO has the 785G chipset which is a slight update to the 780G and is also good for the money:

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

The Phenom II X4 940 and 945 are around the speed of a Q9400 whereas the Phenom II X4 955 is comparable to a Q9550. The Q8000 series have less cache than the Q9000 series and are hence slightly slower.

The Phenom II X4 905e is a low power consumption processor with a TDP of 65w. TBH,an X3 720BE is more than fast enough for general purpose usage.

[dynamoboy]

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?)