New £500 build

[thomson]

Building a new computer for my brother for round about £500. Usage will mostly be for games. This is what I'm looking at so far.

Personally, I would have put it in an Antec 300 or something and spent the difference on a better processor or something, a HAF 922 seems a bit too much. Plus they are ugly. But he insisted .

AMD Athlon 635 II X4 2.9GHz £77.12
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz £75.03
LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA - OEM Black £14.80
Coolermaster HAF922 Windowed Version bundled with FREE Coolermaster TX3 CPU Cooler £84.99
Western Digital 500GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM Caviar Blue £36.99
Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-US2H 760G Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard £49.39
OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W PSU - 1x PCI-E 6/8pin, 2x SATA 12cm Fan £39.94
1GB MSI HD 5770 HAWK £129.92

Total £508

Anyway, opinions anyone? About £530 is the most he could spend on it.

[MSIC]

Assuming that you want it for general use / some gaming up to 1920x1080 resolutions, i'd say you've got a nice balanced system.

Do you need to factor in the cost of Windows, or is that taken care of?

I would suggest perhaps, at least to compare and contrast, looking at a few pre-built systems. Not that they are better, or even better value, but just to ensure that you have what you want.

DinoPC Mini Carnivore TR review

Cyberpower Core i5 TR Review

[Domestic_Ginger]

Downgrade to a tricore; I think they run a little faster. You'll have o check the benchies.
Perhaps a newer chipset; the 760 might be a little old. You can try and get lucky and unlock a dual core 555 or FX5000.

Not tempted by an i3 overclocked bundle?

Swap the 5770 for either a gtx260 (Rob_B linked it in the bargains section) to save £46 (this is debatable; no DX11 but imo a faster card) or up to a gtx 460 (768) for £20. As long as the PSU has two 6pin PCIe cables.

Can't comment on the case; mostly personal taste!

Samsung F3 instead for the HDD perhaps.

[thomson]

Is there a reason that GTX 260 is so cheap? Seems too good to be true lol.

I looked at the i3 530, but other than for gaming it looked like the athlon was better for cheaper. And for gaming I didn't think the athlon would be a bottleneck anyway. I don't know though, I could be wrong.

I don't know if I'll be overclocking it yet, so I didn't look much into how good the processors were for overclocking. I've never overclocked before, and I don't know if I want to do my first overclock on my brothers computer . And mine already runs too hot, so can't really try on that...

I'll go have a look at the tri cores.

Does the GTX 460 need 2 PCIe cables? If I got that GTX 260 I'd be able to upgrade the PSU with the savings, but couldn't afford to upgrade the PSU and get a 460, unless I can find a PSU with 2 cables for the same price as this one.

Most of the prebuilt ones I looked at seemed to be similar specs, but with terrible graphics cards

[Cheapy]

Have a look at this anandtech comparsion of CPUs to get an idea of what ur gaining or loosing. For most games a fast dual core is good enough but some see a slight improvement with 3 cores. I understand it as the higher the resolution the less important the CPU becomes for framerates.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/84?vs=109

I would fancy a HD5770 over a GTX 260 mainly for the cooler temp, reduced power consumption and D11 might allow it to last longer if he doesnt upgrade often. If you want everything full on some games you might need somthing with more of a kick than a HD5770 or GTX 260 for 1920X1080.

With regards to overclocking theres a wealth of information on it in the internet and im sure many on here could give you pointers on how to start. Its easier than you might think if u do it right.

Mayby for the motherboard look at the MSI 770-C45 as an alternative to allow unlocking of Phenom II's if you pickone.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-7...dio-GB-LAN-ATX

Other than that a good build. Shame he wont budge on the case though.

[Champman99]

If it doesnt come with two PCI-E power connecters but still puts out the required juice on the 12v rail you could always use an adaptor (usually 2 molex to 1 pci-e, available for a few quid).

I just tried to make a build which downgraded the processor a bit to try to stretch to the lower GTX460. I'm not convinced by the 5770 as a card to be honest. Dont get me wrong I love Ati (I run 5850) but the 5770 doesnt really outperform something like a 4850/4870 consistently, and they can be had alot cheaper second hand. Anyway I didnt have much success in keeping the build underbudget (that damn case!) I tried on ebuyer because Scan didnt have the tricore chip i wanted to use in stock.

Some items to think about.

Alot here would recommend switching to a Samsung F3 drive. Much of a muchness as I'm concerned but the 500GB Samsungs are nice single platter drives.

You've spoken about the case - of course its his choice but it eats up a massive part of the budget and its cooling is well over the top for the needs especially if no overclocking is being done. I would definitely have another go at convincing him, there are plenty of garish hideous cases that are cheaper, and that 40 or 50 saved could really be put to good use boosting the graphics card.

I would be tempted to go for a newer 800 series chipset, preferably an 880,
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/218921 for instance, but again this adds to the price. Good overclockers and USB3 support is nice too. Motherboard choices are all about thinking ahead beause they are hell to change.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-SATA-RAID-ATX another choice

PSU from a good make with 2x PCI-E connections to increase graphics choice:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/530W-...n5xSata4xMolex
I think only a few pounds more than your current choice on scan (although out of stock, in stock at ebuyer for £7 more)

You came up with a pretty nicely balanced build, but I would tend to want less CPU power and more GPU power, especially in terms of cores. 2 highly clocked cores will probably serve you better in pure FPS terms than 4 lower clocked cores. Although of course apps are being coded more multithreaded as we move forward. I run a Core2Duo (stock 2.16ghz run @ 3.2ghz) with a 5850 and I wouldnt say the CPU holds me back in gaming terms!

[thomson]

I would fancy a HD5770 over a GTX 260 mainly for the cooler temp, reduced power consumption and D11 might allow it to last longer if he doesnt upgrade often. If you want everything full on some games you might need somthing with more of a kick than a HD5770 or GTX 260 for 1920X1080.

I'd normally prefer the 5770 over the GTX 260 too, but for £85... Even if it is horribly noisy and makes the room too hot, it helps with my budget .

I'll try convincing him a bit more about the case, but unless its big and nasty with loads of lights he probably won't budge . He doesn't know or care much about computer hardware, so what it looks like is top of his priorities. He tends to stop listening when I start telling him about the graphics cards an extra £40 would buy him.

For the motherboard I just went for the cheapest I could find that had what I needed . I could have went £5 cheaper, but I thought more ram slots might come in handy one day.

Is there any advantage in the Samsung drive? I thought all 7200rpm drives were basically identical, I just picked the WD one because I've had a WD external sitting on my desk for a few years and it hasn't died yet.

[kalniel]

Is there a reason that GTX 260 is so cheap? Seems too good to be true lol.

It's ebay, so much harder to enforce your usual statutory rights. It's a BFG card, and I think BFG are going under. Basically, if you buy it 'as is' and can live without the safety net of being able to return it then it's fine.

Does the GTX 460 need 2 PCIe cables? If I got that GTX 260 I'd be able to upgrade the PSU with the savings, but couldn't afford to upgrade the PSU and get a 460, unless I can find a PSU with 2 cables for the same price as this one.

It does, but you can just use a molex to PCI-E adaptor.

[thomson]

Thats if I have enough left over from plugging in all that stupid case's fans

[geezerone]

The Seagate 7200.12 1TB drive may be worth a look too.

The AMD BE 550x2 has a high rate of unlocking cores and THIS Gigabyte board comes with lots of features and the ability to unlock cores/overclock.

[Domestic_Ginger]

[QUOTE=kalniel;1956564]It's ebay, so much harder to enforce your usual statutory rights. It's a BFG card, and I think BFG are going under. Basically, if you buy it 'as is' and can live without the safety net of being able to return it then it's fine.QUOTE]

They offer a one year warranty from the retailer; the seller is part of the dixons/curry lot selling off what I presume is their excess stock. I would be confidnet of getting the one year and then for as long as the 10yr carries on for.

[thomson]

I can't decide weather to get that motherboard or not. Ordered the GTX 260, so I have another £50 or something to play with.

How good is it to have usb 3.0? This computer won't get replaced for a good few years, so is it likely to be essential for future devices? If I don't get the mobo, the £50 will go into a better processor, and possibly a bigger hard drive.

Also, how difficult is overclocking to do for a complete overclocking noob?

Oh, if I go for buying a better cpu instead of a better motherboard.... Is a 1055t overkill?

[Ulti]

Put it this way, I'd rather have a Phenom II 550 + HD5870 than an Intel i7 920 + GTX260 for gaming. But you've already bought the graphics card so can't convince you now. I'd suggest for you to grab the Samsung F3 500GB or 2x 1TB from Scan when they're on offer as they're usually £30/£86 respectively.

I'd also suggest you to get a 770/790/870/880 chipset motherboard and not go for the one you listed. Personally I'd choose either Biostar TA870+ £55 or the Biostar TA880G-HD £50. I've owned a Biostar board before and it was pretty good. Do go for the 870 one over the 880G one unless you want a mATX board. Keep in mind although it is brand new, it is ebay though so you're taking a slight risk, on the listing it also has the wrong picture for the 870 chipset board though, you have to scroll down for the "real" picture of the board.

If you get the Biostar 870 board and a Samsung F3 500GB you might be able to fit in the 1055T you listed and of course that would be great if you could as it would certainly last a long time and you could add storage or USB 3 support easily and cheaply at a later date.

Some reviews of the board:
Trusted Reviews
User review on Benchtec

Although it has no heatsink on the mosfets, it seems it still says cool enough when overclocking the the 1055T if you do go that route.

If you somehow manage to spare some more money, the same seller is selling a Biostar TA890FXE for £85 which is a bargain I think but it's probably unneeded.

[thomson]

There is no way I'd ever afford a 5870. I only got the GTX 260 because it was going for £83. If I was going ATI, the highest I think I could go would be the 5770. Apart from the lack of DX11, I think the GTX 260 performs better right? As it's saving my £50 over the 5770, I thought I'd go with the 260.

The only reason I'm looking to get a far too good processor for my graphics card is because I now have money left over .

If I did go for the 1055t, would the Be Quiet psu linked above me enough to power them both? It's only 530W... I think that 260 comes a little overclocked.

Everyone seems to be reccommending the Samsung drive, so I'll get that.

I'd rather not buy too many parts from ebay if I can help it .

[Ulti]

Yes it would be able to as the a GTX260 and Q6600 draws about 300W max with all the other stuff plugged in and a 1055T should use a max of about 50W more and the PSU can provide 400W max easily.

The cables on the PSU aren't sleeved though if it bothers you.

[thomson]

I'll blame you if it doesn't lol. I don't mind about the sleeves.