Build advice

[planet436]

Hello, am going to build a new computer for my girlfriend to replace her 4 year old dell, she will mainly be playing WoW at a res of 1650x1080 (eventually once I give her my LCD). Budget is around £500 and looking for advice on the following components.

AMD Athlon II X3 450

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-a...mhz-95w-retail

MSI 870-C45

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-8...-sata-raid-atx

500GB Seagate ST3500412AS Barracuda L

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb...mb-cache-16-ms

768MB Asus GTX 460

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/768mb...2xdl-dvi-mhdmi

Silverstone Precision PS04B, All Black, Mid Tower Case w/o PSU

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...r-case-w-o-psu

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 PC3-10666

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-(...-9-9-9-24-150v

520W Seasonic S12II-520

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/520w-...fc-fan-atx-v23

Optical drive + windows 7 ~£80

This comes to around £480. The PSU is quite expensive, but it seems the 460 requires 2x6pin connectors which rules out the cheap corsair builder and antec units from consideration. I've had several cheap units burn out on me over the years so am willing to spend more on a decent manufacturer. Would the 460 be CPU limited on the AMD without an overclock?

Also, is it worth getting an cheap aftermarket cooler for the CPU if running at stock clocks? It's a long time since I've used stock coolers and she's quite sensitive to noisy fans. Thanks in advance for any help can provide.

[tony_dudz]

Hello, am going to build a new computer for my girlfriend to replace her 4 year old dell, she will mainly be playing WoW at a res of 1650x1080 (eventually once I give her my LCD). Budget is around £500 and looking for advice on the following components.

AMD Athlon II X3 450

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-a...mhz-95w-retail

MSI 870-C45

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-8...-sata-raid-atx

500GB Seagate ST3500412AS Barracuda L

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb...mb-cache-16-ms

768MB Asus GTX 460

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/768mb...2xdl-dvi-mhdmi

Silverstone Precision PS04B, All Black, Mid Tower Case w/o PSU

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...r-case-w-o-psu

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 PC3-10666

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-(...-9-9-9-24-150v

520W Seasonic S12II-520

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/520w-...fc-fan-atx-v23

Optical drive + windows 7 ~£80

This comes to around £480. The PSU is quite expensive, but it seems the 460 requires 2x6pin connectors which rules out the cheap corsair builder and antec units from consideration. I've had several cheap units burn out on me over the years so am willing to spend more on a decent manufacturer. Would the 460 be CPU limited on the AMD without an overclock?

Also, is it worth getting an cheap aftermarket cooler for the CPU if running at stock clocks? It's a long time since I've used stock coolers and she's quite sensitive to noisy fans. Thanks in advance for any help can provide.

sounds like mine
but i would get an aftermarket cooler. I just installed this one today http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176157
to the exact same motherboard, but be aware that if you want to upgrade your RAM to 4 sticks you wont be able to, as that cooler covers a small bit of the 4th RAM slot, so you mite want something smaller

[tony_dudz]

sounds like mine
but i would get an aftermarket cooler. I just installed this one today http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176157
to the exact same motherboard, but be aware that if you want to upgrade your RAM to 4 sticks you wont be able to, as that cooler covers a small bit of the 4th RAM slot, so you mite want something smaller

actually mate im using an msi 870A–G54 so that info is useless. sorry

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The HD6850 1GB is more energy efficient. It basically it has similar performance to a GTX460 1GB but only requires a single PCI-E power connector.

At load an HD6850 1GB consumes less power than a GTX460 768MB:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/H...D_6850/26.html

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4002/a...asus-xfx-msi/8

You could get a Corsair CX 400W for around £35 delivered from Novatech:

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

TopCashBack and Quidco also do cashback on Novatech purchases too.

The money saved can be spent on an HD6850 1GB:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p.../NOV-6850.html

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-g...i-i-dvi-d-hdmi

I would also get a Samsung F3 500GB instead of the Seagate drive as it will be much faster:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb...-cache-8ms-oem

The OP should also check the Scan Today Only and Shop Offers web pages and also make sure that they have activated their free Scan postage.