New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Hi guys!
This is my 3rd post (i'm very new here!) so be gentle please!
I've been one of the lucky ones to get a P55-GD80 motherboards and starting to build a new PC from scratch.
I've got my mind set on the Intel i5 750 and need to decide which other components to choose in order to make a full system.
Can someone please advise me on a decent set of:
RAM to get (around 4gb)
PSU (around 650w should be ok?)
Heatsink (I had the new artic cooling freezer 7 pro v2 in mind - how good are these?)
and graphics card (nothing special just good enough to connect to one HD TV (720p) and one 1080p monitor).
*deep breath* I know its bit of a mouthful but any advice would be much appreciated. I've not heard about half the new types of technology out there (my last computer purchase was 5+ years ago!).
Thanks in advance!
:)
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Hello and welcome to the forums!
I posted here before asking for advice on system building, the people here are helpful and give lots of useful information. I'm not as experienced as some of the others, but I'm building an i5 system right now so might have some relevant info to pass on to you.
For RAM, you can look at one of the Corsair kits, people on this forum seem to like Corsair RAM, and why not, they're a reputable brand. You could pick up a DDR3-1333 kit for under £70, or a DDR3-1600 kit which is £78 on Scan last I checked, Ebuyer has them slightly cheaper: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173122
For graphics card, what's your budget? You can easily pick up a Radeon HD 4850 1GB for around £100, but I suspect you'll want a bit more power than that. A 4870 or GTX260 Core 216 costs about £30 more and may suit your needs better. At least 0.8GB of RAM is essential (0.8GB is the RAM on the GTX260 cards). What kind of gaming will you be doing? If you're not planning to do a lot of gaming then you don't need a very high end GPU.
Perhaps if you don't mind letting the i5 and GD80 sit in their boxes for a bit you could see what DX11 hardware ATI come up with this month, at least it could push the prices of current hardware down.
Your choice of graphics card will strongly influence your PSU needs, but if you're running just a single card 650W is very comfortable. You could save a bit here and go for the Antec Sonata III which comes with a good 500W PSU, PSU and case total £95.
It's very wordy, but I hope it is useful to you. Good luck.:)
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sunny112
Hi guys!
This is my 3rd post (i'm very new here!) so be gentle please!
I've been one of the lucky ones to get a P55-GD80 motherboards and starting to build a new PC from scratch.
I've got my mind set on the Intel i5 750 and need to decide which other components to choose in order to make a full system.
Can someone please advise me on a decent set of:
RAM to get (around 4gb)
PSU (around 650w should be ok?)
Heatsink (I had the new artic cooling freezer 7 pro v2 in mind - how good are these?)
and graphics card (nothing special just good enough to connect to one HD TV (720p) and one 1080p monitor).
*deep breath* I know its bit of a mouthful but any advice would be much appreciated. I've not heard about half the new types of technology out there (my last computer purchase was 5+ years ago!).
Thanks in advance!
:)
BTW,with the RAM you have to make sure that it is low voltage stuff with a maximum operating voltage of 1.8v unless you want a kaput CPU!! 4gb will be enough too.
Unless you are going for a crossfire setup (or a single card like an HD4870X2 or GTX295) or a decent 500w will do the job. I would look at ones made by Corsair,Be Quiet!, Enermax and Seasonic.
Make sure that the OEMs are a decent ones like Seasonic or CWT at least.
I would also wait and see what the new DX11 cards look for and especially what their DX10 performance is like too.
And HD4890 is a good DX10 card for the price though:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-P...-DL-DVI-I-HDTV
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...DTV-HDCP-Ready
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Thanks for the replies guys!
I think I will steer towards Corsair...i had my eye on the GSkill ones but heard theirl RMA process requires return overseas which could be a long winded issue (can anyone correct this if im wrong?). How are they in terms of perfomance/reliability?
In terms of graphics cards, i should have mentioned before that they will only be used for watching HD movies and general use. Gaming will be considered but only in the future (and even then i'll probably upgrade the graphics card or add another for xfire at the time when needed). So in terms of its current use, is there any decent cards worth looking at?
Lets say I did pick one mid range card for around £40, would 650w still be needed or shall I go for something like 500-600w?
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
I have heard that the G.Skill performs brilliantly, especially for the price:
xtremesystems .org/ forums/ showthread.php?t=233620 (Sorry can't post links yet)
Plus you can get tighter timings on the 1600MHz versions and they say they were designed for i5.
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sunny112
Thanks for the replies guys!
I think I will steer towards Corsair...i had my eye on the GSkill ones but heard theirl RMA process requires return overseas which could be a long winded issue (can anyone correct this if im wrong?). How are they in terms of perfomance/reliability?
In terms of graphics cards, i should have mentioned before that they will only be used for watching HD movies and general use. Gaming will be considered but only in the future (and even then i'll probably upgrade the graphics card or add another for xfire at the time when needed). So in terms of its current use, is there any decent cards worth looking at?
Lets say I did pick one mid range card for around £40, would 650w still be needed or shall I go for something like 500-600w?
The cheaper cards like the Radeon 4550 and 4670 draw so little power that they are powered off the bus (i.e. no extra power connectors to the card) and you won't need a big power supply if you're using them. However, given you want the possibility of Crossfire a 500W PSU would set you up nicely. Also I would suggest springing the extra £10 or so for the 4670.
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Go Corsair for both your PSU and RAM. For graphics just grab a cheap Radeon, the new line-up will be coming very soon so there's not much point spending lots on graphics at this moment in time.
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Hows this one?:
HIS HD 4670 IceQ Edition 1GB VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card
ebuyer. com /product /171659
As long as it does 1080p to my monitor (via dvi) and 720p (to my hdtv) without any struggle then i'll be happy.
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
That should cetainly do what you currently need it too, it will also allow a bit of gaming too, though don't expect to run Crysis at max settings with a playable frame rate ;)
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sunny112
Hows this one?:
HIS HD 4670 IceQ Edition 1GB VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card
ebuyer. com /product /171659
As long as it does 1080p to my monitor (via dvi) and 720p (to my hdtv) without any struggle then i'll be happy.
Go or the GDDR3 version of the HD4670 and not the DDR3 version which is much slower:
http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sort=pr...imit=10&page=1
IMHO,you should go for an HD4770 if you want to do some gaming:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164568
If you are not doing any gaming an HD4350 will do the job.
One of these PSUs should do the job:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152009
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152606
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Looks fine, only suggestion that I'd make is that aria are doing a 1.5tb WD HDD for the same price as the 1tb. Don't know how they compare performance wise though. But to save on postage your choice is probably best.
Re: New i5 Build - Advice needed!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CAT-THE-FIFTH
Fully agree with CAT here, you have a lot of options for graphics cards depending on what you want to do with this pc.
If you're not gameing or doing any 3D work or CAD or such and all you are going to do is use office, internet and watch video files/dvd's Then you need very little in the way of graphics power.
Ati HD4350 will be fine or nvidia 9400GT
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155626 (passive, might as well ;) )
If you are looking for a gameing card, then ether wait a couple of months for the new cards to come out.
Full 1080p is 1920×1080 resolution is fairly hefty on the graphics requirements, but it depends on the games you want to play.
As these new motherboards are both crossfire and Sli, it leaves you open to explore both options.
You could look at a GTX260 for £120 and consider putting a 2nd one in later
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150276
Or a HD4870 1gb for £112 and consider putting in a 2nd later
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164557
For ether option if you consider going for crossfire or sli then get a good 600-750watt PSU
eg http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159060
Don't get some sub £40 psu which clames to have 600w or more because it'll be a lie, you will be looking at around £80
Remember everything in your pc is dependent on the PSU and the quality of the power it can provide, this is not an area you should skimp on.
