It's been a long time since I built a computer

[mr_anderson187]

Which has never been more obvious since reading through all the 'suggest me a rig' threads here.


I think i'm taking first prize for outdated rig though, with outdated knowledge to match, eek

Basically I need a new PC:

• For some Photoshop/Lightroom work
• Office work
• General Browsing
• Occasional DVD watching

Here is what I have at the moment that I would like to carry over:

• 320gb SATA Boot drive
• 1Tb SATA Storage drive
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• 2x Iiyama 26" TFTs
• Case
• 650 Watt PSU
• 2x X1950XTs

Here is what I figure i'll need:

• New mobo
• New CPU
• SSD as a boot drive (possibly)
• Ram (4/6Gb)

I'd like to keep both of these graphics cards that I have for the reason that I have been using 3 displays for some time now and the second card has been useful for that - also giving me the option of a fourth display at a later date.

I really wouldnt want to have to go back to being limited to 2 displays if possible, So i guess I'd need a mobo with 2x PCI-E slots? is that right?


I literally have no idea what to choose for the items in the 'what i need' section - so i'm throwing myself upon your collective mercy, suggest for me anything in that category please

Budget wise: £350-400, posibly more if there was a good reason for it.

Thanks in advance,
Rich

[Terbinator]

The newer ATI cards support 3 screens off one card, so you could ditch your dual-card set-up.

Also, what PSU is it your running ?

I would say with your budget your looking at around Athlon X3/4 territory - possibly Intel i3 depending on how the first two questions pan out.

[mr_anderson187]

The PSU is an OCZ 500w modular.

I would like the possibility of going up to 4 displays at a later date, which is why im keen to keep the 2 cards. (also to reduce cost!!) Does this cause a problem though with potential mobos?

Hopefully me answering your questions has helped,

Rich

[scaryjim]

As T says, a new ATI card would let you run up to three monitors, but you'd be limited to needing either a native Displayport monitor, or an active adapter (like this Sapphire single link adapter for up to 1920x1200 displays) to get one output via Displayport. Since you have a couple of X1950XTs already there's not a lot of point updating, unless you're concerned about power draw on your PC (a single 5670 will draw massively less power than 2 X1950XTs!).

You will need 2 PCIe x16 slots, but by the sound of it you're not considering gaming with the build so you'd be fine with a motherboard that runs the second slot at x4, which gives you a lot more options.

Can I ask what brand / model the PSU is? An OCZ 500W modular PSU should be fine (although your original post says a 650W PSU?)

It doesn't sound like your general workload is very heavy, so I'd personally go for an Athlon II X3 CPU for ~ £70, an AMD 770, 870 or 880 based motherboard for ~ £70 - £80, and 4GB DDR3 RAM for ~ £70. That'll leave up to ~ £200 for your SSD, which means you should be able to get a reasonable 120GB drive.

Here's links for the components:
Athlon II X3 455 £68.41
ASUS M4A77TD Pro £65.76
4GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1333 CL9 £68.07
And for the SSD perhaps
OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB £190 (£180 with promocode!)

[mr_anderson187]

Your help is MUCH appreciated Jim, you're right to assume very little gaming, not my forte really.

I like the idea of keeping my gets cards, simply because im familiar with it and I know it works.

Apologies, I got the PSU a while back and forgot what output it had

I see your reasoning Jim, but would I see any benefit from spending more on the ram/CPU/mobo? And not worry about a large SSD?

What I mean is, what's the step up like in performance and price, is it noticable and worth the extra?

Thanks again,

Rich

[scaryjim]

If your majority usage is going to be office, web browsing, DVDs and "some" photoshop, I honestly think you'll see the best performance gains from a decent quality, reasonably sized SSD. With a 120GB drive you won't really need to think about what programs are going on the SSD - you can stick them all on there as long as you keep all your data, photos etc on the mechanical drives. With a 64GB you'll be forever wondering if you can spare the space for this or that app!

That said, I'm sure some of my fellow hexites will have other ideas, and there are definitely performance benefits to be gained from going for a Phenom II X4 or X6, or even looking at the intel Core i range (probably the i5 760). If, for instance, you use a lot of filters or effects in Photoshop that are CPU intensive to apply then you might benefit from a better CPU. But an SSD will make almost everything you do with your PC faster and more responsive, whereas a faster CPU will only make some things faster: it certainly won't help you type faster in Word or make files and web pages download quicker. For a lot of your usage pattern *you* will be the system bottleneck!

[mr_anderson187]

Hey again guys,

Well, Scaryjim mostly!

I've had a think about your sage advice (thanks for it by the way!) and i'm ready to make an order after scrounging up some cash!

I'm trying to work inside the 400'ish budget, but make the most of what I can get for that.

Basically im set on the Mobo and RAM; Its the hard drive and cpu that im just deciding upon.


For the hard drive: Would I be able to get away with 64Gb?

My main applications are just - Firefox, Office, Photoshop Elements, VLC, Free Download Manager, Skype, RAW editor.

As far as I know, I dont really use any other apps than those ones on a day to day basis, unless i'm installing something for a trial then uninstalling (i'm quite tidy in managing my programs)

Its for this reason I think that possibly downsizing from 120 to 64gb would be possible for the SSD?

With the money I would save from this change, I could invest in a bigger CPU. When I described my needs earlier, I mentioned some casual photoshop, truth is that I use photoshop quite a lot - and you have mentioned the use of a lot of filters possibly requiring a higher spec CPU, with this in mind I have been looking at:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190673

I have no idea what these Phenom CPU's are like in performance compared to the one you selected, so if you think this is rubbish, or there is a better one for the money, please let me know!

SSD wise, I had a quick look and came up with this Corsair model:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/233258

How does this stack up, im not sure of the read/write speed numbers, are these competitive?

Is my logic sound here? or am I just off target?

Your help is much appreciated guys!

Rich

[scaryjim]

If you're disciplined with your progam installation then a 60GB should be fine: just make sure that you save all your pictures & stuff on the mechanical drives not the HD! I'm lazy with installation which is why I'd go for a 120GB, but there's no reason why a 60GB drive shouldn't do you (after all, I make do with a 60GB drive in my laptop for everything!). The ones to go for are either the Corsair F60 you've already selected, or the OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB, which I think is a few quid cheaper than the Corsair. There's really not much to choose between them though.

The Phenom II processors have a lot more cache memory than the Athlon IIs, which make them a bit faster for some tasks, and about the same for others. The Phenom II 955BE you've picked out is definitely the pick of the Phenom IIs for value for money at the minute - obviously it's a fair bit more expensive than the Athlon II X3 I suggested, but it has the huge advantage of an entire extra core, which I imagine will help considerably with any complex filtering and effects you do in photoshop. If you reckon you can keep a 60GB SSD tidy, I see no reason not to invest the left over budget in a Phenom II instead of the Athlon.

The one thing you might want to look at though, if it still fits in thge budget, is the Phenom II X6 1055T. It's ~ £150, but obviously it's got 2 extra cores as compared to the 955, and it also has the Turbo Core feature, which means when it's using 3 or less cores it automatically boosts its speed up to 3.3GHz. If it fits in the budget (which it might if you're dropping from a 120GB SSD to a 60GB SSD) I'd give it serious consideration.