computer components suggestion

[pollock]

Hi there,

I am new on the forum and I need some advice regarding economic but efficient PC components.

I will use this computer in graphic design field (photoshop, indesign) sometimes 3D applications (cinema 4d).

Any advice appreciated.

I forgot to add that I can spend up to £400

Thanks.

p.s.

I would be nice to play some games sometimes...

[Phage]

Do you have a case, screen, OS or peripherals ?

[pollock]

Do you have a case, screen, OS or peripherals ?

I have only screen and the operating system.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would look at the following parts:

Athlon II X4 630 ~ £86

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176579

MSI 770-C45 ~ £49

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165438

4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 ~ £80

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/178943

Inno3D 9600GT Green Edition 512MB GDDR3 ~ £62

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176115

CUDA can be used to accelerate certain Photoshop plugins.

Corsair 400W CX PSU ~ £40

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150985

This is made by Seasonic.

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB Hard Drive ~ £38

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146252

This is a single platter hard drive.

Coolermaster Elite 334 Black Mid Tower Case ~ £25

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160805

OR

Casecom 6788 Black Mid Tower Case ~ £26

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172779

SATA DVD rewriter ~ £15

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145450

The Corsair CX400W has an excellent review from Hardware Secrets:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/750

It can actually deliver upto around 480W.

The total comes to around £395 to £396 with free postage.

[mac124]

Cat does it again, nice one , doubt you could do better for the price.

[pollock]

thanks guys,
but which online store do you recommend? scan or ebuyer?

Thanks

[The_Wheelhouse]

Both are good but you can get free shipping at ebuyer with goods over £49.99
Scan also offer free shipping as well but you need 20 or more posts on this forum so for you i'd go with ebuyer.

[pollock]

AMD Phenom II X2 545

what do you think about this?
Do I really need a quad core?

[mac124]

Seeing as you listed CAD / Photoshop etc in what the pc would be used for, and i assume some of the apps at least can utilise 4 cores, then yes the quad could well be better suited for your needs, even though the PII X2 has more cache and is faster.

Upto you really.

[pollock]

thanks for your answer

what about graphics? is 9600GT strong enough?

I have considered ATI 4850 or GTS 250 before but now I need to review my budged I am afraid...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Is the processor or the graphics card more important for the OP??

[pollock]

Both I think...but I am not an expert

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Both I think...but I am not an expert

You can go two ways with this:
1.)Get an X2 545 or 550BE and put the money saved into the graphics card. The X2 545 or X2 550BE would be faster in games but are slower in many other applications.
2.)Get an an X3 440 instead of the X4 630. The X3 440 has better performance in games than the X4 630 but are slower in multi-threaded applications. The X2 545 and 550BE tend to be better in games which are not multi-threaded.

The X3 440 is the best compromise of single threaded performance and multi-threaded performance when compared to the X4 630,X2 545 and X2 550BE.

With the money saved you could get a GTS250 into the build. You can run CUDA using this which could be of use to the applications you are running.

I would look at the following parts:

Athlon II X3 440 ~ £66

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191955

MSI 770-C45 ~ £49

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165438

4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 ~ £80

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/178943

PowerColor HD 4850 PCS 1GB GDDR3 ~ £83

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173209

Corsair 400W CX PSU ~ £40

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150985

This is made by Seasonic.

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB Hard Drive ~ £38

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146252

This is a single platter hard drive.

Coolermaster Elite 334 Black Mid Tower Case ~ £25

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160805

OR

Casecom 6788 Black Mid Tower Case ~ £26

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172779

SATA DVD rewriter ~ £15

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145450

The Corsair CX400W has an excellent review from Hardware Secrets:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/750

It can actually deliver upto around 480W.

The total comes to around £396 to £397 with free postage.

Their are a pair of GTS250 512MB cards available for a few quid more:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168911

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160711

However the problem is that the first card may actually need a pair of power connectors and is clocked lower than normal GTS250 cards. With the second card there are conflicting reports of the card being either nearly 11" long or under 9" long and this possibly indicates that there are two versions of the card.

[pollock]

You are great!

I will go for quad core Athlon II X4 630 ~ £86 and a cheaper option of graphic card I think.

What do you think about protect against installation damage offered by scan.co.uk?
Personally I have never build computer myself (except changing some components-RAM, graphics, drivers etc.) and this insurance gives me more confidence...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

In my previous post I meant to say X4 630 not X4 620. I have now corrected the post.