I've decided to build a new PC as this one is something like 7 years old and my motherboard isn't even in production anymore. I'm gonna get it custom built and I haven't included harddrives or DVD drives as I already have some and will include them in the build. Here are the items I am currently looking at, my budget is about £400 and I'm focusing on a gaming PC, I'd appreciate someone to take a look and give me some feedback, thanks, all help greatly appreciated. Motherboard - http://www.pcwb.com/catalogue/item/V0002588?cidp=Froogle - £82 Memory - 2gb DDR2 - http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/Team_Branded_2_Gig_DDR2_800_Memory.html - £30 Processor - AMD Phenom X4 Quad-Core - http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=60761&source=froogle - £120 Power Supply - http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/Cooler_Master_600W_eXtreme_PSU_V2.01_Passive_PFC.html - £45 Graphics Card - http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/HIS_HD_3850_HDMI_Dual_DL-DVI_512MB_256MB_GDDR3_PCI.html - £100 Case - http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/Apevia_Xplorer_ATX_SILVER_Neon_Gaming_Case__Transp.html - £33 Fan - http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/Thermaltake_CL-P0411_Blue_Orb_Mini_SKT-AM2.html - £12 Total Including £20 building price - £397 I'm not particularly bothered about an insane gfx card yet, my budget is fairly strict and I will ugrade it when I can, so the one listed is the maximum im willing to pay for it.
Perhaps you might consider leaving the phenom for a Q6600 which then would mean you would have to go for a different Gigabyte board. The Q6600 is probably around the same price but much superior.
How about this ? Motherboard - Asus P5KC Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Memory - 2gb DDR2 - http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/Intel_Core_2_Quad_Processor___Motherboard___Memory.html - £227 Power Supply - http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/Cooler_M...assive_PFC.html - £45 Case - http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/Cooler_Master_600W_eXtreme_PSU_V2.01_Passive_PFC.html - £33 Fan - http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/Thermaltake_CL-P0411_Blue_Orb_Mini_SKT-AM2.html - £12 GFX Card - http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/X_Vision_512mb_Geforce_9600GT_PCI-Express.html - £77 Total + Building Price - £419
Those are all pretty low quality components. You ought to use low speed, but high quality stuff or your system won't last anywhere near the 7 years your old one has.
Which parts in particular? You say "Those are all.." but surely the motherboard and the processor are pretty good quality. I'm aware the RAM is pretty low quality, in addition to the fan and perhaps the PSU, but these can be replaced down the line fairly quickly.
Okay. The bundle deal, leave it. Even if you buy the components separately, you will still get it for the proposed price ££227). You just have to shop around. Memory- http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?prodID=B94173 It's decent memory and good price also. Q6600- http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=4DWF That leaves us with about £60 left for your board. Mobo- http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=MBA-P5KC A little bit over but much better memory. Fan- Your choice of fan doesn't support the CPU socket which is LGA 775. For that type of price go for Arctic Freezer Pro. GPU- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Powercolor-HD...3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:2|39:1|240:1318 Not bad for price. Perhaps you would change the PSU to something that supports crossfire. It will be a better purchase.
I'll voice a note of caution on that, you've recommended an HD3870 card, and are suggesting crossfire. Having used it on both platforms, crossfire works far better on the HD4000 series than the older 3800s. I would strongly recommend buying one faster new gen card and having done with it, or Crossfiring two cheap cards if you must. Lower power usage all round for a start. Here are my recommendations: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148468 or 2 of these http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149184 It's your call which setup you use, performance wise they're pretty well matched, the HD4670 pair will pull ahead slightly in the better-optimised games, but fall behind in the ones that aren't. As for a power supply, either setup will run on one of these: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131052
Sam, I had a look at the PSU you suggest and of course your opinion matters however, isn't there just 1 PCI-E connector on the suggested PSU?
That is correct, However, the HD4670 does not require a PCIe power connector, and the HD4850 only requires one.
Well, as I said, the HD4670 doesn't need any connectors, so you still won't need any even if you use two. Crossfiring two HD4850s on a budget isn't realistic, as it's wholly unnecessary unless you use a 24" monitor or bigger, and if you're on a tight budget, you won't be buying another card any time soon, so consequently by the time you get round to it, there will be one card you can buy that will be faster than the pair.
I'll be ordering the parts for this within the next week or so, so here is the updated and revised build. Is the motherboard going to be suitable for the case? I'm aware it comes with a PSU, but I won't be using it, I'll be using the corsair one. Thanks again, any comments greatfully appreciated. edit : Apologies for the resolution, it's pretty difficult to read so I'll just paste in the parts. PSU : Corsair VX Series 450W Active PFC PSU http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=PSC-450VX Motherboard : Asus P5KC LGA775, DDR2/3, SATA2, GBLan, http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=MBA-P5KC GPU : Sapphire 512Mb Radeon HD 4850 PCI-Express VGA Card http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=GCS-XR485H512 Fan : Arctic Cooling Freezer7 Pro Socket775 Cooler http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=HFA-F7 Processor : Intel Core2 Quad 6600 2.4Ghz LGA775 Processor http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=CPI-Q6600 Memory : Corsair TwinX 2Gb DDR2-6400 (2x1Gb) w/ Heat Spreaders http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=MEC-D22048T80K Case : Galaxy III Black Gaming Case, Window, Bubble Lights http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=CA-XGAL3-BK
For the record, Eclipse Computers have the worst service of any UK store. I highly suggest you look elsewhere for parts, you won't have to pay much more.
Ah right. Reason is eBuyer doesn't list the motherboard and it is cheaper to order from eclipse. I'll just order elsewhere, but in terms of the parts, how is that looking?
I didn't even spot the motherboard actually, it's not even a very good choice. Use ebuyer and get this instead: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150880
