How's this for a build?

[Joe of Loath]

Hi all

Before ordering, just wanted to check that I put together a reasonable load of stuff for our new build. It'll be running Ubuntu LTS or whatever the latest OpenSUSE is, and XP or Win7 (If I can find a copy cheap) for games.

Thoughts? Budget is about £400, I think I did pretty well considering.

http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/50...a3c6a2660060a2

Thanks
Joe

[Terbinator]

Screw the fan, the stock one will be fine judging by the fact your buying a £5 HSF. With the £5 saved i would be looking at a 4GB kit of RAM.

[Joe of Loath]

Think so? I just went for the biggest size for the price.

[scaryjim]

Get a better motherboard. Seriously, the NF520 chipset is ancient, only supports HT1, and is cheap for a reason: you're buying 4 year old tech! I'd go for this AMD 770-based MSI instead.

As Terbinator says, you almost certainly won't need that after-market heatsink, and I personally wouldn't bother with a £2 case fan either, so if you ditch both of those you can comfortably afford to get a better motherboard

EDIT: having had a quick look at the case you've chosen, it comes with an 80mm fan already and can take a 120mm in the front, so if you want extra case fans get a 120mm for the front, and put the included 80mm in the back.

[Terbinator]

You could probably even drop down to a tri-core to save a few £££'s and not lose much performance. Most triple core CPU's can be unlocked into a quad-core as well

Depending on the price difference it may be best just getting a 'stock' GTS 450 and doing the overclocking yourself.

[scaryjim]

You could probably even drop down to a tri-core to save a few £££'s and not lose much performance. Most triple core CPU's can be unlocked into a quad-core as well

This is a great point actually: if you went to an X3 450 you get a higher clock speed, decent multithreaded performance, a £12 saving, and the chance to unlock a 4th core anyway if you go for the MSI motherboard I recommended. Then you could drop the cooler and 80mm fan and buy one decent 120mm fan instead. I reckon that'd be a much better use of the money...

As to the GFX, the Palit Sonic is actually the cheapest currently available on Scan, and has dropped to £96 since you took that screen shot, so I don't see any good reason to change it really

[Joe of Loath]

Got it, I didn't think a case that cheap would come with fans...

I switched the motherboards, checked the card but it's about the same price as all the others, so I'll leave it. I think I might go for the tri-core, I like the idea of a higher clock speed and the chance of a 4th core.

Thanks for the help, that saved me some bother!

[Joe of Loath]

(I just found the 'Share basket' button, heh)

Here's the updated basket: http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/8e...e5ba4cf4cda455

[Terbinator]

Drop the RAM and buy it form Aria instead, they've got same spec Mushkin available for £44.99 - add £7P&P still cheaper than Corsair's (have you checked Scan's TodayOnly page ?).

Edit: http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...roductId=41783

[Joe of Loath]

WOW that RAM is cheap. Might be worth getting two sets...

[nibbler]

not for 1 pc but yeah maybe for future. I would get a better case (silverstone precision series), a tri core CPU (my athlon II x3 445 is great), the ram linked to and the motherboard suggested above. If you can tretch to it that is, otherwise I think that the casecom 6788 or something like that is recommended as a cheap case.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would get the superior CX400W over the CX430W:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...U-400CXUK.html

There is also cashback on Novatech purchases from TopCashback and Quidco IIRC.

Also,I would get the GTX460 768MB over the GTS450:

http://www.scan.co.uk/search.aspx?q=gtx460

The Asus GTX460 768MB for around 122 quid has better stock cooling though.

[Pob255]

Yes drop the corsair cx430w for something good

The slightly older CX400w is actually a much better psu and is more the equivalent of the new cx500w

Drop the fan not because it's £2 but because it's 80mm
Drop the cooler because it's not much better than the stock cooler
Personally drop the seagate for a samsung F4 or western digital (Cadavar Blue or black, not green)

Case, Change it thoes Asus cases are not very good at all, Cooler master Elite 330 or 331
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/coole...r-case-w-o-psu
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/coole...r-case-w-o-psu
£10 more but much nicer and more room inside which will make putting it together and cable management easier.
Add on to that 1x120mm fan, if you don't mind Amber these xcilo fans are actually decent for the cost http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm...h-4-orange-led
If you want Blue LED go for the Lian-Li 1000rpm fan http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm...-with-blue-led it's very good and still low cost.

Go to £35 and the NZXT Evo Beta or CM Elite 370
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-...r-case-w-o-psu
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...r-case-w-o-psu

I'd add 2x120mm and 2x140mm for optimal performance, or 1x120mm and 1x140mm now and add the others later.
For 140mm again Lian-Li or the low rpm Sharkoon system fan
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/140mm...n-black-no-led (you can get a blue led version, scan just don't have it atm)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/140mm...pm-22db%28a%29

CPU cooler, low cost, very quiet and better than stock cooler
CM Hyper 212+ or Xigmatek HDT S1283
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...m2-am2plus-am3
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/xigma...uad-core-ready

(all sugestions from Scan to keep it simple, if you go to ebuyer to get parts then Look at the casecom 6788 + 2x120mm & 1x140mm fans, but also the Sunbeam cases, the internal layout is slightly older but they are very well made and higher quality than you'd expect for the cost, also come with fans)

[Joe of Loath]

Right, how's this? XD

http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/50...a3c6a2660060a2

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Right, how's this? XD

http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/50...a3c6a2660060a2

The PSU is not that great for a Corsair unit. Also a GTS450 is not worth the money when you can have a GTX460 768MB for around £20 more. If you can get an HD5770 1GB for around the same price as a GTS450 it would be a better choice as it is faster. However,the GTX460 768MB is faster than an HD5770 1GB.

[Iron Sights]

If you are a student you might be able to score yourself a copy of win7 for £30

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/studentoffer/

Plus it should be noted that the CPU is never guaranteed to unlock, however for your needs even a triple core will still do the job nicely. However for gaming I would be tempted to go for a better GPU like the one cat recommended