Spec needs looking at

Teifiterror · 25 Jul 2010 at 08:57

Looking for some bits to upgrade my pc, not looking for somerthing bleeding edge and do very little gaming but want the option to drop in a relatively decent graphics card like a GTX 460 at some point in the near future. Is the spec below compatible and can anyone suggest any changes? Is the quad core worth it over a dual core at the moment?

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 635 2.90GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £77.54

Asus M4A785TD-V Evo AMD 785G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £74.99

Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-10666 1333MHz Dual Channel £70.49

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £39.99

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99

Ryan-3 · 25 Jul 2010 at 09:08

I'd believe it to be fine, but not sure how much power a GTX 460 needs, but shall look for you now

Ryan-3 · 25 Jul 2010 at 09:13

768mb = 250W at full load.
1gb = 280W at full load.

I would say you'd be just about fine with that, and I guess you won't be overclocking so you should be okay. And Quadcores are starting to get used more now by programs so it will add performance.

Destination · 25 Jul 2010 at 09:22

Ryan-3 is that the system draw or the card draw?

A 400w PSU at 80% efficiency will give you 320watts to play with.
How many hard drives, case fans and USB stuff will you be running?
I'd think you're pushing the limit of what that PSU will manage.

Vidar · 25 Jul 2010 at 10:35

I agree over the PSU, Personally I'd use nothing below 600W mark often opting for a bit of overkill, not only for future proofing but also because it wont be running at full whack so is probably going to last longer IMO

Teifiterror · 25 Jul 2010 at 11:00

Ryan-3 said:
768mb = 250W at full load.
1gb = 280W at full load.

I would say you'd be just about fine with that, and I guess you won't be overclocking so you should be okay. And Quadcores are starting to get used more now by programs so it will add performance.

That would be system load looking at some of the review sites, so why would a quality 400W supply not be suitable?

stulid · 25 Jul 2010 at 11:07

that CX400 will be good for a single GTX460

Destination · 25 Jul 2010 at 12:04

Teifiterror said:
That would be system load looking at some of the review sites, so why would a quality 400W supply not be suitable?

Well at 100% output you'll likely hit around 80% efficiency.
So you'd have 320watts to play with.
If those figures do equate to full system load, then you will probably be okay, running the PSU at full output and full fans for its entire time on.
Personally I think it is better to have some overheat, keep efficiency up, and heat down. Also means you cna add an extra usb item or two or a hard drive and not have to worry about your PSU being overloaded.

Redmint · 25 Jul 2010 at 12:23

Hikari Kisugi said:
Well at 100% output you'll likely hit around 80% efficiency.
So you'd have 320watts to play with.

Pretty sure that's not how power supply ratings work.

400W power supply should be able to _supply_ at least 400W, not 320W.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Corsair-CX400W-Power-Supply-Review/750/7

At 100% load the AC power is 500.2 W and the power supplied is 402.9 W.

honosuseri · 25 Jul 2010 at 14:16

I would opt with the Phenom II X2 555BE. Your board supports the unlocking of cores, you may just get a X3 or even X4 core unlock from the 555BE. Most games only use 2 cores anyway, the quad core advantage is minimal unless you do a lot of video editing etc etc.

Your choice of CPU is going to draw 211 watts under full load. If you are going to add a graphics card (especially nvidia) 400 watts won't cut the mustard. The nvidia gtx 460 will draw 270 minimum under load (depends on the card and memory config).

Do you own a DVD drive already? The board has an IDE connector you could reuse an old drive and put the money towards a higher spec PSU. Good luck with your build, hope we have given some food for thought

fozzybear · 25 Jul 2010 at 14:29

Teifiterror said:
Looking for some bits to upgrade my pc, not looking for somerthing bleeding edge and do very little gaming but want the option to drop in a relatively decent graphics card like a GTX 460 at some point in the near future. Is the spec below compatible and can anyone suggest any changes? Is the quad core worth it over a dual core at the moment?

AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 440 3.00GHz - £58.99

Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AMD 880G - £93.99

Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-10666 1333MHz Dual Channel £70.49

OCZ ModXStream Pro 500w Silent SLI £56.99

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99

Or you could make the changes in bold above.

The motherboard is more 'future proof' and it's likely to unlock the 4th core in the 440 (as I've just done). Also the 500w PSU just to play things safe.

I think it's worth paying around £17 extra for that.

thingemajib · 25 Jul 2010 at 14:37

power supply efficiency doesnt work like that.

a 80% efficient 400w psu means that it will draw 500w from the mains to provide 400w output power.
a 90% efficient 400w psu means that it will draw 444w from the mains to provide 400w output power.

If you're feeling lucky, you could try your hand at core unlocking with a tri core athlon/dual core phenom (ive got a dual core phenom here that unlocks perfectly). If you want to play it safe, the the athlon quad youve got there shuold be fine.

And i would say go for a board with an 880G chipset. It had native sata 6gbps, more likely to support next gen cpus (making upgrading simple), and ... well ... 8>7 XD

Ryan-3 · 25 Jul 2010 at 16:36

I said, you'll probably be fine with that, and I think it was full system, similar to yours.

And yeah, you could try the 800series chipsets to be more future proof