My £400 budget to finish a full rig (need a quick check before I press buy please!)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Cheers for the help folks. All food for thought and much appreciated! I can't help notice that i'm getting a lot of reference to Scan when eBuyer is often cheaper - obviously not always however... To be honest i'm a little worried some people work there? or have just built up good reputation here? Anyhow ... horses for courses.

Actually,many of the prices at Scan can be cheaper than those on Ebuyer and you get free next day postage with Scan too. Scan also has daily offers on items so you need to check the Today Only and Shop Offers webpages too.

I 'think' i'm happy with the CPU choice as i'm keen to see if the 'AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition 3.2GHz' will unlock, i.e. take the chance. If it don't then no worries i've still got a good CPU. If it does i've hit gold.

Many RTS games can run better on triple and quad cores. Hence, in games which scale well with more cores the Athlon II X3 will be faster whereas in games which run better on two cores the Phenom II X2 will be faster.

I'm now very interested to hear how the 'MSI 770-C45' fares against the 'Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 785G' as a board? From what i'm reading here the latter seems the better choice for me. Mainly as it has onboard gfx that I can upgrade if/when needed and save the extra cost.
If I get the '512MB Gainward 9800GT' and 'MSI 770-C45' combo it just seems like my budget is spiralling upwards to £120. Something the 'Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 785G' provides for a mere £65.

The HD4250 integrated graphics on the 785G motherboards are much slower than a 9800GT. If you intend to play any modern games then TBH you need a get reasonable graphics card.

[ERU]

Ok all the advice has been taken on board. I have just updated the original post with many of the items recommended Again thanks for help folks! It is much appreciated!

I guess i've now gone over budget so would be looking at ways to get it back to the £400 mark. For example one cut I made was to remove the aftermarket CPU cooler and just go with the retail boxed one.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Ok all the advice has been taken on board. I have just updated the original post with many of the items recommended Again thanks for help folks! It means a lot!

The PSU is cheaper at Scan!!

[geezerone]

Glad you're nearly there.

I could be wrong but if you're going for the Dominator Ram (which has a very high heatsink) you may have problems getting it in beside an aftermarket cooler. This depends on which orientation it faces of course. May be worth going for the classic Corsair at about £1 more to ensure it doesn't hit your aftermarket cooler should you choose one in the future even.

[geezerone]

I guess i've now gone over budget so would be looking at ways to get it back to the £400 mark. For example one cut I made was to remove the aftermarket CPU cooler and just go with the retail boxed one.

Given that you're getting a screen too you've got a very good setup for the money. It soon adds up and add the fact you've a decent GPU as well you would be hard pushed to get the cost down as there is a limit to which components won't drop - instead of prices falling you get more value for the same money.

Have you any old components you could sell even to try and offset the price?

I will be offloading some very old stuff to try and get a few pennies myself after some rebuilds.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This monitor looks good for the price although it lacks DVI:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/193681

However,like I said before if you want a colour accurate display for any serious photography you should look to spend between £200 to £300 on your monitor. You will be getting the higher end TN type panels and lower end VA and IPS type panels for this price range.

This website will be good start to calibrate your monitor:

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

[ERU]

The PSU is cheaper at Scan!!

Your right ... every penny counts! I've also just found a 'PALIT 9800GT' a few pounds cheaper at Ebuyer too

This monitor looks good for the price although it lacks DVI: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/193681

Just swapped it

Have you any old components you could sell even to try and offset the price?

Nope .. i've ebayed them all about a year ago. Even my much loved (...which I even did a review on Hexus for once!) watercooling rig went ...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would check the monitor calibration page I mentioned in post 22.

Edit!!

Makes sure you set up your free Scan postage.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There is also this Asrock motherboard worth considering too:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174597

It can support 140W CPUs officially unlike the MSI one. However,the MSI motherboard has all sold capacitors though and seems to have got decent reviews:

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

http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/m...s/msi-770-c45/

The Asus M4A77T/USB3 is very similar to the MSI motherboard but adds a pair of USB3.0 ports and official 140W CPU support:

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=lktfeydH7jRKCfWT

It is on offer for £56:

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

[ERU]

Makes sure you set up your free Scan postage.

Is this easily done? I assume there is a thread about it here somewhere?

There is also this Asrock motherboard worth considering too

I'm not interested in an Asrock over an MSI to be honest. Every Asrock I have used in the past was a disappointment in some way. They are made by Asus arnt they?
I've also had bad experiences with Asus but if someone can prove that the 'Asus M4A77T/USB3' is a better board than the MSI in the first post I may sway for it.

Edit: Just read the reviews. The 'MSI 770-C45' board looks great. I'm going to need a dam good reason to be swayed now! The complete rig in the first post is looking like what i'll really be buying.

[Terbinator]

http://forums.hexus.net/general-disc...tup-guide.html

[ERU]

http://forums.hexus.net/general-disc...tup-guide.html

Cheers - all setup and sorted now

Edit: The rig now shown in the first thread is now ordered and in the post! Thank you all for all the help! I'll let you all know how the build goes...

[shakerist]

might be a bit late now but about drilling holes in ur wall for wired connection, you might want to check this out http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/29New...lugs-Twin-Pack . home plugs i use a netgear pair and i highly recommend it

[ERU]

might be a bit late now but about drilling holes in ur wall for wired connection, you might want to check this out http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/29New...lugs-Twin-Pack . home plugs i use a netgear pair and i highly recommending

Yeah I heard of them before and know they work ok in most situations. I'll make do with wireless for now and assess my next steps from there. Personally I think i'd prefer a good old cat cable and get the faster speeds

[DanceswithUnix]

Haha.

With that said, and as suggested, minimum you wan't to be looking at is an X3.

I notice Civ V says 4 cores recommended as well. Is this the end of the old "2 cores is enough for gaming" mantra? Worked ok on the wife's X2 7750 mind.

[kurosagi01]

Personally you could of saved yourself £20 and get the Corsair 400w whick can power that system easily.