Forum Noob! - Needing new build advice

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Antec TruePower New 650W can be had for around £60 to £70 from Scan. It is made by Seasonic.

[Stey C]

motherboard.......na
Processor...........na
Cooler................Corsair a70...........................................£38.27
Graphics Card......XFX HD 6950 2GB GDDR5.........................£220.43
Ram...................Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR3 1600 MHz.....£44.54
PSU...................Corsair 650W TX Series PSU....................£63.79

okay so here is basically what im looking at... minus the mobo and cpu. Need opinions on the rest, do you think 650 is enough? and the antec true power is 69.99 at scan atm. Which one would be better? corsair vs antec.

Would it be okay to purchase a cooler such as the A70? im assuming it will fit the am3+ bulldozers upon release and phenoms II's?

Ste

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would go for the Antec since it is semi-modular and is made by Seasonic. The current TX650 is a CWT unit and is not modular:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6937

On Scan Today Only the Antec TruePower 650W has been around £60 a few times IIRC.

TBH,even a decent 450W to 500W would probably be fine with an HD6950 2GB and I would probably get the cooler when Bulldozer is released.

[Stey C]

The corsair is also made by seasonic... but i didnt notice that the tx range are the non-modular. So considering that, the Antec looks a really good PSU for the money. Much cheaper than the corsair equivalant and other manufacturers in fact.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Downloads/Antec-650W-PSU.pdf

custom pc gave it a 94%, so it looks like im going for that

do you have the antec in your system?

Ste

[Biscuit]

The corsair is also made by seasonic... but i didnt notice that the tx range are the non-modular. So considering that, the Antec looks a really good PSU for the money. Much cheaper than the corsair equivalant and other manufacturers in fact.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Downloads/Antec-650W-PSU.pdf

custom pc gave it a 94%, so it looks like im going for that

do you have the antec in your system?

Ste

No actually the Corsair model you have suggested is not, as cat suggested (and proved with his link) its made by CWT.
I have the 750w model and its ace! Very quiet and the semi modular thing is pretty sensible. It comes recomended from me!
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...tory3&reid=140

There is a review of mine, on that specific page it confirms its a seasonic unit, the 650w will be the same and yes it will be plenty

[Stey C]

I was switching between so many products i must have got the seasonic bit mixed up with the antec... my bad!

Just read that review and for the money (as well as your recomendation) its definately it! So thats settled then. Will try and get it within the next 2 weeks along with the GPU

Which version of the 6950 can anyone reccomend? Ive been looking at the XFX one retailing at £220.43 at scan. There is also a new one thats just been added which i this here but its only a 1GB version.. when compared the 'older' one has slightly slower core & memory clock speeds but its 2gb as appose to the newer one which is 1gb.. so surely the older one is better?

Ste

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The HD6950 2GB is better IMHO. At around £200 the HD6950 1GB makes more sense. Also,you have the chance to unlock an HD6950 to an HD6970 although the RAM will run slower. Luckily the reference HD6950 cards have a dual BIOS system too.

[Domestic_Ginger]

Will try and get it within the next 2 weeks along with the GPU

Unless you can use it now I would hold off as the pricing is going to get a little bit more competitive with th eintroduction of the 1gb models and the 560. Shouldn't be long until 28nm chips are out.

[Pob255]

I'd look at adding a couple of fans to the R3, it only comes with two at stock and on two fans alone the cooling is not so good.

Depending on how much you're willing to pay, another 120mm fractal fan http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm...ber-fan-mounts and two 140mm fractal fans for the top http://www.scan.co.uk/products/140mm...ber-fan-mounts will be just short of £30

A cheaper option would be some of the bitFenix fans, not currently in stock , the 120mm should be around £4 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm...fdb%29-1000rpm and the 140mm is £5 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/140mm...fdb%29-1000rpm
So around £14

[Stey C]

yeah im going to get the fractal ones, around the time i buy everything else... i would have used the thermaltake ones out my old case but they are too small for the fractal, but i think it will take up to 6 more fans in total.

[Pob255]

I wouldn't bother with a fan on the bottom or the side panel unless you find temps are too high.
I would add two to the top and one to the front (also use 140mm where you can)
The fractal fans are low rpm which give very low noise but also means less air flow.

[Iron Sights]

Which version of the 6950 can anyone reccomend? Ive been looking at the XFX one retailing at £220.43 at scan. There is also a new one thats just been added which i this here but its only a 1GB version.. when compared the 'older' one has slightly slower core & memory clock speeds but its 2gb as appose to the newer one which is 1gb.. so surely the older one is better?

Ste

when choosing a graphics card you might also want to consider warranty, xfx are not the best when it comes to rma's in the UK.

http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-car...ml#post2034225

[dfour]

Dont forget most of the current range of 6950/6970 2gb models ara all stock AMD cards with differing stickers on them so warrenty is a good consideration until the custom models arrive.

I have 2 bitfenix 14cm fans to repalce the standard nzxt ones and they are very good especially for the money. Also have the xfx 6950 you where thinking off flashed to 6970 and works at 6970 speeds with no problems.

[Stey C]

Okay so the only alternative really is the Gigabyte 6950.. but with a little price difference. This may not matter though as when it comes to purchasing the board and CPU they might be cheaper than they are now... so the difference can go on graphics

Also been looking into the Corsair Vengence Memory, which are the middle spec'd memory between the XMS and Dominator. In tests though 12gb of vengence seems to be slightly slower than 6gb of dominator.

Considering this, would it be better to just go for a lower amount of memory with higher spec as oppose to lower spec with higher Gigabytes? (i could always stick an extra few more sticks in every 6 months for example)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This HD6950 2GB looks interesting:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=28893

[Stey C]

This HD6950 2GB looks interesting:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=28893

Definately one to consider, The overclock feature is a nice touch too. Hopefully out by the time the builds ready to be bought