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Thread: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

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    New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    Hi

    Time to build a new machine as mine is slow ( took ages to load latest Blackberry desktop) Don't play games, but my daughter plays a few kiddie ones. Main use is MS Office stuff, browsing and email.

    Was going to go for an i5 based system as want to keep it for a few years before upgrading.

    Intel Core i5 750, S 1156, Lynnfield £143
    Prolimatech Megahalems Super 6 £45
    120mm Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1450 rpm £14
    4GB (2 & 2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 ( 1600) £80
    Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L £83
    Samsung F3 500GB £36
    Samsung F3 500GB £36
    Optical Drive £15
    Graphics £130
    Coolermaster CM-690 £52
    525W Enermax MODU82+ £75

    Total circa £710

    Have got XP and will use till I get WIndows 7 from the US when I visit (soon).
    Also is 4GB of RAM enough for Windows 7?
    Need the machine to be super quiet.
    Only open issue I have is the GPU - have budgeted circa £130 for it. Any advice on which to get?
    Any help or advice greatly appreciated.

    Almost all of the above is available on Scan today only so hoping to close out before noon on Monday.

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    hexus.zombeh! format's Avatar
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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    Get a single TB HDD and save a bit of cash.
    For graphics, you could get a Radeon 4890.
    If you are not overclocking you could probably save a few quid by getting a cheaper HSF too.
    ~'Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence--those are the three pillars of Western prosperity'~ Aldous Huxley




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    Keep it sexy Zhaoman's Avatar
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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    4890 for office? And kiddies games? I would get something like a passive 4670 because that will last you a long time based on your current usage

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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    Was thinking of RAID ( mirror) hence the two disks
    Liked the Prolimatech as its silent....

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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    A Core i5 based system for light gaming and word processing is OTT. Even my Q6600 based system would be good for the next few years for those things and with more software being GPU accelerated I don't see the point in spending so much on a CPU. Windows 7 is also more efficient than Vista too.

    An HD4670 would be more than enough for light gaming unless your daughter is playing Crysis or something like that and even an HD4670 can run that at lower settings.

    I would probably look at a Core2 or Phenom II based system and save yourself loads of money. If you can wait a bit longer the Core i3 is also coming out which would fit your needs even better.

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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    I agree with cat... maybe look at an AMD Athlon II setup?

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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    Thanks CAT, did look at AMD as that what I am running at the moment. The Phenom chips are not hugely cheaper. Phenom 2 X4 940 with mobo is around £180, i5+ mobo is around £226 ( both from Scan). Since I've always gone the cheaper route I was thinking an i5 would be a nice luxury

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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    You could an X4 925 and a 770 based motherboard for under £160 or an X3 720 and a 770 based motherboard for around £140. If you go with an X4 620 the cost will even be lower.
    TBH,upgrading from a 1400MHZ Athlon to even a dual core chip will be a massive increase in performance.

    The X4 925 is available from Ebuyer:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177044

    It has a good review:

    http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/mot...board-review/1

    The CPU should be around the same speed as a Q9300.

    The X3 720 is available from SVP:

    http://www.svp.co.uk/technology/comp...md-x3-720.html

    This is the motherboard I would look at getting:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-7...dio-GB-LAN-ATX

    The Phenom II can also use higher voltage DDR3 so you can use this cheaper DDR3 RAM for around £60:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166996

    Even a Athlon II X4 620 for under £75 is similar in speed to a Q8200 for most thngs.
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 29-11-2009 at 03:00 AM.

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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    Oh if you're prepared to ditch the i5 then I would definitely change the whole setup to suit your usage better. IMHO an Athlon X4 would be more than good enough for what you plan to use it for, since the only difference between it and the Phenoms is lower cache and cache is only really beneficial to gaming. Pair this with a good integrated graphics mobo and you're looking at a much cheaper build that'll perform pretty much the same to the one you first suggested. The money could be saved towards an SSD which you will notice the performance benefits of much more than a better processor or gpu. (The 4670 was way over-specced for your uses tbh but it was a hell of a lot better than spending £130 on a gpu that you won't even use 5% of the power of). Overall I think the biggest thing you're going to notice is the performance boost from a good SSD so here are the core components that I would get if I were in your situation:

    Athlon X4:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...MHz-95W-Retail

    785G Mobo:

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

    DDR3 memory:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-(...d-CAS-9-9-9-24

    Intel SSD drive:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/80GB-...ite-70MB-s-OEM

    Add whatever extra add-in cards and extra storage to that and you will have a pretty slick system. Enjoy your build

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    Keep it sexy Zhaoman's Avatar
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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    Saw this Lian-Li in the clearance section, it looks like a really sweet little case for £40:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Lian-...luminium-Black

    I think this PSU might be more suitable for you too:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/350W-...ready!-24-740C

    Since your PC is likely to only draw around 150W at load I worry that maybe you won't be straining the 525W PSU enough when idle so your efficiency drops considerably. Buying a lower specced PSU should save you some money both at the outset and during the lifetime of it's use. The only time you will stress that PSU is if you decide to overclock your CPU to the extreme and get a high-end graphics cards and several HDs to boot. And even then you are not likely to hit 300W at max so I think 350W would be more than enough for you. Just a thought
    Last edited by Zhaoman; 29-11-2009 at 04:43 AM.

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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    Thanks for you help so far chaps, but really like to go Intel this time round. Might hold out for the Core i3 as per Cats suggestion. Other than paying a little more, is there any disadvantage to having redundant processing power? e.g. do the quad cores put out a lot mroe heat?

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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    Yes they do put out a lot more heat lol, most quad cores are at rated at least 95W except for a few 'energy efficient' ones but they are typically underclocked.

    Fair enough that you want to be future proof, then your first suggestion of a system would do fine. You could save some more cash and get a 4350 which would be fine as a gpu for your build. An i3 with a gpu on the die would be ideal as an Intel setup but you will have to wait several months before that hits the retailers.

    The main reason I suggested an Athlon X4 based build is because you save a lot of money that you can get an SSD with and that is the main component that you will notice a performance jump with. An Athlon X4 would be overkill for office, web and 'kiddies games' so it's best to spend the money on other parts of the computer that could be faster: i.e., the hard drive. You mentioned that Blackberry desktop was taking ages to load, a faster hard drive (i.e., an SSD) would sort that out for you whereas a better processor wouldn't. Just some things to think about

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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    Guys I went for the i5 chip and other bits as per my original post - just need to settle on the graphics card and as per your advice about looking at the ATI4670. Will this be able to run my Dell 22" 2209W E-IPS monitor?

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    hexus.zombeh! format's Avatar
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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    That will be fine kmac.
    ~'Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence--those are the three pillars of Western prosperity'~ Aldous Huxley




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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    Actually looking at the Scan today only ATI cards, am I better off getting the 1GB 4670 or the 512MB 4770. I'm concerned about getting the 1680 x 1050 resolution

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    Re: New Build Advice - sanity check before ordering

    It most likely would not be any issue. I ran a similar screen on an old 8800GT 512Mb. But it's always nice to have the extra video memory just in case of future needs. A new bigger monitior down the road ?
    Society's to blame,
    Or possibly Atari.

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