Goodbye XP3200 - Hello .....

Fel · 13 May 2010 at 23:13

I am going to replace my ageing Xp3200 Barton and BFG 6800GT (AGP) self-build. I have Antec P180 case already.

Will be used for Gaming and some photo editing

Upper budget is really £1,000.00. (Although strong temptation to fork out £1,350 for the Ultima Raptor with Win7)

My attempt at keeping in the budget is :-

Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £119.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) £127.98
Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler £29.99
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit £105.99
HIS iCooler V ATI Radeon HD 5850 Turbo 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card *Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Edition* £259.99
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache £79.99
Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply £93.99
Sony Optiarc DRU-870S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) £22.98
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound £6.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail £94.99

This comes in at £950 without case and I cannot help but think that I would be better off going for pre-overclocked bundle.

Any thoughts comments suggestions welcome.

marcus_667 · 13 May 2010 at 23:20

The ultima raptor seems a really good system for the money bud

KarlMcWade · 13 May 2010 at 23:43

why are you going for an amd when a intel quad will be much faster and the same price to boot.

i still have my m-xp 2600 rig /x800xt pe combo too

Fel · 14 May 2010 at 00:31

KarlMcWade said:
why are you going for an amd when a intel quad will be much faster and the same price to boot.

i still have my m-xp 2600 rig /x800xt pe combo too

That is why I am posing the question, a month ago my decision was between i5 750 and i7 920. Now it looks like AM3 might have better longevity and that is more appealing to me.

The real question for me is should i try another self build or take the opportunity to have someone take the strain for me.

Pate · 14 May 2010 at 12:15

In fairness I would be expecting a lot more of a pc for £1,000.

KarlMcWade · 14 May 2010 at 17:19

kenmare said:
In fairness I would be expecting a lot more of a pc for £1,000.

I agree Your basket should look more like this

Base
Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £149.99
Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard £82.99
OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600lV4GK) £89.98
Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W Power Supply £77.98
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £57.97

Graphics
Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £224.99

Os
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99

optional (but hey this is OC uk) but fun part

Time to get wet !!!!

EK HD 5850 Acrylic Full Cover VGA Water Block £75.99
Black Ice GT Stealth 120.3 120mm Triple Lite Radiator £46.89
XSPC X2O 750 Pump and Reservoir - Clear £41.99
OCZ HydroFlow HF-MK1 CPU Waterblock (754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366) £28.99
OcUK Value 1/2" barbed fitting G1/4 with O-Ring (Perfect Seal) x6 £17.88
Masterkleer 7/16" Tubing - 4m £9.96
Sharkoon Silent Eagle 2000 120mm Fan - 3/4 Pin x3 £30.63

Total £1,031.26

we bit over but a much faster silent running p.c that will crunch anything you set in front of it and you have loads of headroom to oc both the cpu and gpu like mad!!!!

Fel · 14 May 2010 at 21:32

Thanks for the pointers

I stuck the 955 into the build so that I could replace with Hex Core when they dropped in price.

Not sure I want to invest the time and effort on water cooling - i will only be looking for a modest overclock and silence is not a priority.

I will continue my deliberations - Ultima Raptor ummmmm

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 14 May 2010 at 21:56

Fel said:
Thanks for the pointers

I stuck the 955 into the build so that I could replace with Hex Core when they dropped in price.

Not sure I want to invest the time and effort on water cooling - i will only be looking for a modest overclock and silence is not a priority.

I will continue my deliberations - Ultima Raptor ummmmm

The thing is that your original build has decent parts.

The Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L for example cannot do symmetrical Crossfire,has no USB 3.0,no SATA 3.0,no VRM cooling and the Asus 890GX motherboard also has all solid capacitors and even an IGP.

The nearest P55 motherboard on OcUK to have such features is the Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4 which costs £155:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-226-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1693

If you don't need USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 then look at the Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 for around £140:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-203-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1495

The Coolermaster PSU only has a pair of PCI-E power connectors.

Sycho · 14 May 2010 at 22:12

You should consider the Titan Viper system it has very good components and would last a good while for highest gaming level.

Fallen god · 14 May 2010 at 22:21

Here my go at it. I think 955BE > i5 cause its more future proof, mobo is a lot better for a lot less money and gaming would make no difference, money could be spent better parts. KarlMcWade build is good.

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £323.99

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £127.98

Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £109.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version) £94.99

Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650HXUK) £93.99

Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £89.99

OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600lV4GK) £89.98

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £57.97

Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £29.99

Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99

Comes in at £945,
not 100% sure about the mobo but it seems like its a really good one and you can as you said upgrade to hex-core somewhere down the line and maybe even another 5850 and SSD one there cheaper. I know some poeple will aruge that a 5850 can over clock to 5870 speeds, but in all fairness a 5870 can overclock well past that.

Intel Option, I really think with the price of 920 and the price of a good i5 mobo you should always go with i7, heres my go.

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 DirectCU 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £248.99

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66GHz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM £167.99

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £151.99

OCZ Obsidian 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600Mhz Triple Channel Kit (OCZ3OB1600LV6GK) £114.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version) £94.99

OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600lV4GK) £89.98

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £57.97

Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £29.99

Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99

Cost £985, personal i would go with 955BE build 5870 > 5850 in games and i7 wouldnt really make a big differnce but since theres a lot of intel fan boys here he would say amd isnt good enough for 1k build heres an intel option, both still very good.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 14 May 2010 at 22:24

I would reuse the case as it is an Antec P180!

Anyway here are three builds the OP might want to consider:

AMD based build

AMD Phenom II X4 955BE ~ £128

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM

Titan Fenrir ~ £30

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-009-TI

Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 ~ £120

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-393-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1782

The motherboard has an enhanced VRM with cooling, 6 SATA 3.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports and does symmetrical Crossfire.

4GB low latency 1600MHZ DDR3 ~ £90

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-180-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

HIS iCooler V ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 ~ £233

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-004-HS

OR

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 DirectCU 1024MB GDDR5 ~ £249

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-225-AS

Antec TruePower New Modular 650W ~ £77

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-117-AN

This is made by Seasonic and has 4 PCI-E power connectors.

Pioneer SATA DVD rewriter ~ £19

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-069-PO

Windows 7 Retail ~ £95

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-124-MS

Samsung F3 1TB ~ £58

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA

The Western Digital hard drive you chose its fast but IIRC there is no speed difference for the 640GB SATA 3.0 version if used on a SATA 2.0 interface.

Intel X25-V Value 40GB ~ £87

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-006-IN&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910

The total comes to around £937 to £953 excluding delivery.

The first iteration of AMD Bulldozer is meant to be on socket AM3 so it maybe possible it will work with some of the newest AM3 motherboards.

You could fit in a Phenom II X6 1055T into the budget if required or maybe even an HD5870 1GB.

Intel socket 1156 based build

Core i5 750 ~ £150

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-299-IN

Titan Fenrir ~ £30

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-009-TI

Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 ~ £140

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-203-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1495

Does symmetrical Crossfire and SLI and has an enhanced VRM with cooling. No USB 3.0 or SATA 3.0 ports.

4GB low latency 1600MHZ DDR3 ~ £90

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-180-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

HIS iCooler V ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 ~ £233

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-004-HS

OR

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 DirectCU 1024MB GDDR5 ~ £249

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-225-AS

Antec TruePower New Modular 650W ~ £77

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-117-AN

This is made by Seasonic and has 4 PCI-E power connectors.

Pioneer SATA DVD rewriter ~ £19

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-069-PO

Windows 7 Retail ~ £95

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-124-MS

Samsung F3 1TB ~ £58

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA

Intel X25-V Value 40GB ~ £87

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-006-IN&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910

The total comes to around £979 to £995 excluding delivery. However socket 1156 is EOL in Q1 2011 AFAIK.

Socket 1366 based build

Intel Core i7 920 D0 ~ £168

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-283-IN

This is an OEM CPU and has a 1 year warranty. The retail versions costs a few quid more and has a longer warranty.

Titan Fenrir ~ £30

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-009-TI

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R ~ £152

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-235-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1692

Has a pair of SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0 ports. The motherboard does symmetrical Crossfire and SLI.

6GB 1600MHZ DDR3 ~ £115

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-179-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1389

HIS iCooler V ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 ~ £233

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-004-HS

Antec TruePower New Modular 650W ~ £77

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-117-AN

This is made by Seasonic and has 4 PCI-E power connectors.

Pioneer SATA DVD rewriter ~ £19

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-069-PO

Windows 7 Retail ~ £95

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-124-MS

Samsung F3 1TB ~ £58

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA

Intel X25-V Value 40GB ~ £87

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-006-IN&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910

The total comes to around £1050 excluding delivery.

The Western Digital hard drive you chose is fast but IIRC there is no speed difference for the 640GB SATA 3.0 version if used on a SATA 2.0 interface.

Edit!!

You will also need this mounting kit for the SSD in all the builds:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-059-AK&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=72

Fel · 15 May 2010 at 00:20

Liking this build - having lived with my trusty 6800GT for so long i know how important the GPU is and if i can slip a 5870 into this build for < £1,000 then i think i can live without the Hex Core but still have a straightforward upgrade by swapping the CPU out in a year or so.

Happy to keep looking at options though - hopefully OCUK will suddenly come up with a killer deal just built for me

Fallen god said:
Here my go at it. I think 955BE > i5 cause its more future proof, mobo is a lot better for a lot less money and gaming would make no difference, money could be spent better parts. KarlMcWade build is good.

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £323.99

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £127.98

Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £109.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version) £94.99

Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650HXUK) £93.99

Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £89.99

OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600lV4GK) £89.98

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £57.97

Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £29.99

Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99

Comes in at £945,
not 100% sure about the mobo but it seems like its a really good one and you can as you said upgrade to hex-core somewhere down the line and maybe even another 5850 and SSD one there cheaper. I know some poeple will aruge that a 5850 can over clock to 5870 speeds, but in all fairness a 5870 can overclock well past that.

Intel Option, I really think with the price of 920 and the price of a good i5 mobo you should always go with i7, heres my go.

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 DirectCU 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £248.99

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66GHz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM £167.99

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £151.99

OCZ Obsidian 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600Mhz Triple Channel Kit (OCZ3OB1600LV6GK) £114.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version) £94.99

OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600lV4GK) £89.98

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £57.97

Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £29.99

Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99

Cost £985, personal i would go with 955BE build 5870 > 5850 in games and i7 wouldnt really make a big differnce but since theres a lot of intel fan boys here he would say amd isnt good enough for 1k build heres an intel option, both still very good.

DireEmblem · 15 May 2010 at 09:22

Could yout not go for FEL's build, without the Coolermastercase(as you have a P180), and drop the PSU, for a slightly cheaper model?

That would save you some kudos to get a SSD for boot drive?

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 15 May 2010 at 10:06

DireEmblem said:
Could yout not go for FEL's build, without the Coolermastercase(as you have a P180), and drop the PSU, for a slightly cheaper model?

That would save you some kudos to get a SSD for boot drive?

I have listed an SSD and the Antec TruePower New Modular 650W in the builds I suggested but the OP probably wants to get a new case it seems.

The Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H also has uneven performance when compared to the Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/18539/5

"I've liked a lot of the Gigabyte motherboards I've seen over the past few years, but the GA-890GPA-UD3H has some issues that must be addressed. The board's USB 3.0 performance was flaky at best, and its CPU utilization was consistently higher than the Asus model across multiple peripheral performance tests. We've contacted Gigabyte about those problems, and while the company is looking into the issues, they've yet to be resolved. Those problems may be easier to fix than the UD3H's comparatively high power consumption and its lackluster BIOS-level fan speed controls, making the Gigabyte board difficult to recommend, even if it costs $15 less than Asus' M4A89GTD PRO/USB3.

Normally, I wouldn't dream of paying $15 more for a board with essentially the same feature set, but not all else is equal this time around. The M4A89GTD offers better peripheral performance, lower power consumption, and useful BIOS features like automatic overclocking and robust fan speed controls. "

Fallen god · 15 May 2010 at 11:21

I didnt even notice the OP had a case, well if he dropped the case in my AMD build and changed the Mobo for the one CAT spec'd (not really experience with AMD xD) could find a nice SSD.

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £323.99

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £127.98

Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £119.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version) £94.99

OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600lV4GK) £89.98

Intel X25-V Value 40GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (SSDSA2MP040G2R5) £86.99

Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply £76.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £57.97

Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £29.99

Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99

Total : £1,037.61

Its abit over the budget, but myself I wouldnt get a SSD just cost too much to see faster boot times.

Fel · 15 May 2010 at 23:11

Using my P180, drop the SSD and 955 and go straight to the Hex core.

Comes to £1,055.88.

AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1090T Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £244.99

Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £119.99

OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600lV4GK) £89.98

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £323.99

Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply £76.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £57.97

Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £29.99

Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version) £94.99

stulid · 15 May 2010 at 23:16

Fel said:
Using my P180, drop the SSD and 955 and go straight tot he Hex core.

Comes to £1,055.88.

AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1090T Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £244.99

Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £119.99

OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600lV4GK) £89.98

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £323.99

Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply £76.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £57.97

Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £29.99

Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version) £94.99

beast

danewesley · 15 May 2010 at 23:35

if i could turn back time i would have had hex core and 890fx and possibly a 5870, im just so impatient, i think once im on the members market i will flog some bits and buy the newer things.

Fallen god · 16 May 2010 at 02:24

Looks perfect Fel.

jazzy182 · 16 May 2010 at 12:04

Thats a good rig

. I just keep thinkin tho that motherboard is wayyy over priced, espeically for an . Could you swap it to another?