1st time builder, stuck between builds

cypress

cypress

cypress

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Joined
25 Mar 2009
Posts
116
Hi everyone,
First time poster. I am planning my first build but I am caught between options. I will use the PC mainly for word processing, internet, music and programming e.g. Visual Studio. I don't game and I don't really intend to. I want my PC to run fast and smooth for everything I do. I would like to be able to enjoy the occasional movie. I have arrived at two different builds. One, a clearly lower end one and then one more expensive. My dilemma is if I am spending say £600 the lower-end, but an extra £150 - £200 would make it much better then perhaps should I pay it and not worry about another PC for years. I do want it to run quiet. What keeps affecting the cost is the GPU. One minute I think "I don't game, get a cheap one", the next I think "well I might want to game sometime, get a reasonable one", then I notice the jump between a reasonable, say 4850 512MB, and a great, say 4870 1GB is getting smaller so I should just get a good one. How different would these two builds perform in terms of general speed, noise, smoothness? Would the only noticeable jump come in terms of gaming? Sorry for the long post but I'm in need of some expert advice. Thanks :eek:

Build 1
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.16GHz (1333FSB)
Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775)
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 "Toxic" 512MB


Build 2
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.50GHz (800FSB)
Asus P5Q Intel P45
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX
Western Digital Caviar Green 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB DDR2
 
The difference in the gfx cards is very big, if you want to save money then:
- that PSU in first build is overkill, the one in the 2nd would do, theres actually a bundled option for this case + psu in the bundles section, alternatively you could just get the case that comes with the 500W antec basiq, theyre pretty decent PSU's themselves, maybe not as quiet as the Corsair so thats your call
- Stick with an E8400, the 8500 isnt worth the £20 premium as it is atm
- If you want quiet look at the green versions of the WD HDD's theyre designed to be quiet
- If you're not bothered about gfx performance too much you can just get a P43 board instead of a P45, pretty much the same bar they dont support crossfire, the Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L is very good and only £80, saving another £30
- for an extra £3 you can get the PC8500 version of Corsair RAM, the extra clock speed will help if you want OC the CPU, and on that you need an aftermarket cooler if you're looking at clocking too, the sunbeam is great or slightly cheaper the arctic cooling freezer 7 pro
 
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Thanks for the speedy replies. How do you think the two builds would compare under normal use? Would the WD Green be much quiter than the WD Black or should the speed of the HDD be my main concern?
 
I suspect both the difference in speed and noise levels would be quite small tbh, it depends on what you want, the only difference speed wise is the size of cache, your build with my suggestions would look something like this, though as I say its your call on which HDD - Ive included the 1gig version of the 4870, its on TWO and only £5 more than the toxic you specified, the mobo doesnt support crossfire so the 1 gi version is much better suited anyway

775sys735.jpg
 
cypress said:
I will use the PC mainly for word processing, internet, music and programming e.g. Visual Studio. I don't game and I don't really intend to.

Build 2
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.50GHz (800FSB)
Asus P5Q Intel P45
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX
Western Digital Caviar Green 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB DDR2
Click to expand...

From your description, build 2 is more than enough. There's no way you need an expensive dual core CPU or a 4870. You can save a little bit more money aswell by going down to a P43 motherboard. I can't see you needing the extras the P45 offers. If you want slightly more speed from the CPU, either overclock the E5200 a bit, get it to 3.0ghz easily (You'll need an aftermarket cooler for this), or change it to the E7400.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-271-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793

If you do think you might want to game, then go for a 4830, great card for the price. It won't max out the likes of crysis, but will allow to play pretty much any game at a decent settings.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-125-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938
 
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