Beginner advice

Associate
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Another one of these threads unfortunately. I saw lukefinch got some great advice in his thread and being big on forum etiquette, I decided to make my own thread instead of hijacking his!

I'm looking to build a PC, I've got some experience but it is far from expansive; I am therefore seeking help from you!

I used to be a hardcore PC gamer, however that has kind of diminished over the years (possibly due to lack of computer performance).

Looking to spend £400 max for everything, excluding dvd drive, the computer will be used for general use with some gaming, nothing major

I've taken some (OK, a lot) of inspiration from lukefinch's thread (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18154752&page=2) due to such positive feedback from other forum members, however I am nearing my preferential price limit and might need to make some adjustments.

I would very much appreciate it for any input/feedback of what I've got some far, possibly some alternations/suggestions!


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

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) £135.99

RAM: Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel £88.99

HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £39.99 - 500gb minimum is required if making a suggestion

Case: Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £41.99 - satisified with this unless anyone can see any glaring issues

Grand total thus far : £384 - leaving roughly £20 for the remainder of the build, alternations needed I feel!



GPU: to be continued

PSU: to be continued

DVD drive: already own

OS : already own

Sound card : if needed?

Finally, do the components come with the required connectors or will I be needing to add these to my cart?

Thanks everyone!
 
Associate
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thanks for the replies


I am pretty happy with my current case and I doubt I would ever install a crossfire system, thanks anyway

What games are you looking to play?
Mite even question the need for a Quadcore.....

At this moment, I'm not even sure myself. I would be interested in picking some future titles for sure though. Would spending the extra on a quadcore now most likely give a few extra years on the computers future lifespan?
 
Caporegime
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thanks for the replies



I am pretty happy with my current case and I doubt I would ever install a crossfire system, thanks anyway



At this moment, I'm not even sure myself. I would be interested in picking some future titles for sure though. Would spending the extra on a quadcore now most likely give a few extra years on the computers future lifespan?

there are already games out that run faster on quad core, it will only increase in usefulness.
 
Associate
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its realistic for the parts you already listed.

you will need more for a psu or graphics card, about another £160

Haha, damn. I'm not sure if I could afford that much right now, would the next step down lose that much lifespan of the computer?
 
Caporegime
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a corsair CX400 psu is £40.

the motherboard has onboard gpu, but it's pants at running games at decent resolution and anything higher than lowish settings.

a ati 5770 is £125.

or a ati 4850 is £79.
 
Associate
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The best I could manage trying to keep it in budget was this:
24127468.jpg


There isn't really anywhere you could save more than about £10.
 
Associate
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Just finished work.

Thanks for the spec above, along with the advice from others.

I'm tempted just to splash out and stick with the original CPU, ati 5770 and the corsair 400w atx

Anyone going to try talk me out of it?

Would it the components come with the required connectors for me just to receive and start building?
Onboard sound would be sufficient to run 5.1? (had problems with my old onboard sound and windows 7 running 5.1)

Thanks for help all!
 
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For ease:

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

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) £135.99

RAM: Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel £88.99

HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £39.99

Case: Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £41.99

GPU: ati 5770 is £125

PSU: corsair 400w atx £40

total : £540ish i believe (on an ancient laptop and finding it hard enough just typing)
 
Caporegime
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only the M4A785TD v supports crossfire at 8X for the first slot and 4X for the second when two cards are installed, this affects performance with the system not running symmetrically.

To get proper crossfire, the motherboard chipset needs to be the 790GX/FX, 890GX/FX
 
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Associate
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Thanks all, will be ordering soon!

Would the components come with the required connectors for me just to receive and start building?
Onboard sound would be sufficient to run 5.1? (had problems with my old onboard sound and windows 7 running 5.1)

Thanks for help all!

Could I get an answer for this please?
 
Caporegime
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Onboard sound is very good these days, its a far cry from the days of BEEP BEEP BEEPP.

and every connector you need is in either the motherboard box, psu box.

screws will come with the case.

thermal compound is pre=apllied to the heatsink that comes with the cpu
 
Associate
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yes, you should get all the cables you need. Onboard sound is pretty good nowadays, but it still won't compete with a dedicated card. It should, however, do what it says on the tin.
 
Associate
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Onboard sound is very good these days, its a far cry from the days of BEEP BEEP BEEPP.

and every connector you need is in either the motherboard box, psu box.

screws will come with the case.

thermal compound is pre=apllied to the heatsink that comes with the cpu

That was quick. Glad to hear onboard sound isn't what it used to be.

Thanks for the help all.
 
Associate
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Oh, one final thing (I promise). Is it worthwhile purchasing any additional fans?

The case comes with a rear and top, possible for an additional 2 on the front and 1 on the side.

I'm not intending to overclock, so maybe there's the answer to my question.
 
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