£500 Spec Me Please

mrteabag

mrteabag

mrteabag

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Joined
4 Jun 2009
Posts
809
Location
Ireland
Hi there :)

Looking for a gaming machine.I don't want to play everything max on high res,but I want to be able to play most games with half decent settings.
Quite fancy a little overclocked i3 system and I don't mind overclocking myself.

I already have(don't ask me why):

-Corsair TX950(non modular unfortunately,and completely unnecessary,but I might as well use it.)
-Sapphire 5770 Vapor-X(crossfire?)
-DVD Drive

Thats it I think,I'm sure I have forgotten something.
500 is just for the base unit,and the monitor is most likely going to be 1920x1080.

Thanks :D .
 


a couple of reasons "I" would consider getting these parts for are as follows:
youve got the power in the psu to crossfire so why not get a board to go with it? its also a great little overclocker for the price.
if you order before next wednesday you will get the Dominator ram for £70
the coolermaster case can hold a 5970 which is the biggest GPU out at the moment if your worried about space.

but in the end its up to "you" m8 :)


Add: MSI 870A board review http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3494/msi_870a_fuzion_amd_770_motherboard/index.html
 
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Big.Wayne said:
Hey mrteabag :)

Are tech features like SATA 6Gb/s & USB 3.0 important to you in this spec?
Click to expand...

Hey Big.Wayne :)

No,not at all.

Thanks jakesnake,I'm going to wait for one or two more opinions before i pull the trigger.

Apologies for any spelling mistakes or anything like that,Im on my phone.
I'll post back tomorrow,off to bed now. Bye
 
Looks nice jakesnake . . . possible issue with the high-profile memory heatsinks clashing with the tower cooler on AMD® AM3 . . . meaning the memory has to be placed in the slots furthest away from the CPU socket . . .

If ever the O.P is wanting to fill all four memory slots with ram then low profile heatsinks are a safe option . . .

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9

£76.36 inc
 
i didnt think it would have been an issue with the Akasa cooler but having got up a better picture of the board and trying to judge it visualy i think you could be right wayne.

get the lowprofile xms3 ram suggested.

also maybe buying a 140mm to put in the front of the case and redeploy the 120mm that comes in the front to the back roof slot for a boost in airflow.
providing you pick that coolermaster case ofcourse its up to you.
 
Hey jakesnake :)

jakesnake said:
i didnt think it would have been an issue with the Akasa cooler but having got up a better picture of the board and trying to judge it visualy i think you could be right
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% that all AMD® AM2+/AM3 boards have the ram slots exactly the same distance from the CPU sockets but on several boards I have used I had issues trying to fit High-Profile heatspreader RAM into the memory slots nearest the CPU socket while using a 3rd party cooler! :(

This picture gives you a slightly better idea, you can see the standard Low-Profile heatspreaders memory "just" fits under the HSF . . . if that memory had High-Profile heatspreaders the user would be forced to either use the furthest two slots (leaving the first two slots empty) or remove the fan from the CPU-Heatsink and mount it on the side pulling air through instead of pushing it . . .

amdathloniix463016.jpg
 
hey big.wayne is that the thermolab baram?
is it "ok" to mount it without a fan or do you really need to put a fan on it?
 
[Off Topic]

Hello Jony27 :)

The ThermoLab Baram has been designed to run "passive" . . . providing there is a little airflow running through the case . . . works well in a Thermally-Improved chassis where the PSU sits at the bottom and the roof features a Blow-Hole with a quiet fan sucking the air out . . . . the design is good enough to allow a bit of overclocking as well although for best overclock results one would need to add a "quiet" 120mm fan . . .

amdathlonii3.jpg
 
Hi lads,thanks for the advice :)

One little problem I have with that case jakesnake,the power supply I have isn't modular and I don't think from the picture that the case has any holes to put the monstrous amount of cables.

I would like an i3,considering how easy they are to overclock.
A downside to H55 is that I cant crossfire at x8/x8?I think.

Thanks again lads :)
 
how about the akasa xone?
looks "ok"ish and has plenty of cable management only downside is no window(if that bothers you)
 
mrteabag said:
I would like an i3,considering how easy they are to overclock.
A downside to H55 is that I cant crossfire at x8/x8?I think.
Click to expand...
Why get an Intel® Core™ i3 DualCore when it offers less processing power than a AMD® Phenom™ II X4 QuadCore and isn't as easy to overclock? :confused:

 
Big.Wayne said:
Why get an Intel® Core™ i3 DualCore when it offers less processing power than a AMD® Phenom™ II X4 QuadCore and isn't as easy to overclock? :confused:
Click to expand...

It isn't ?
Granted I know very little about overclocking anything AMD,I had the chance to play around with an i3 once and I was able to get it to 4.0ghz pretty handy.

Edit: The i3 won in a few single threaded apps,I don't encode or anything so I don't know if the extra cores are beneficial.
i3's generally clock to 4.0ghz+ while most people get the 955 to about 3.8ghz?

All I'm looking for is the best value for money.
Going AMD also means I have the ability to crossfire,which is a big plus also.
 
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Ok, I'm convinced :D Phenom II it is.

Thanks lads.
I'll post again in a day or two when I'm buying before I click buy.

Thanks.
 
hi heres what i think you should get, the only thing missing is an aftermarket cpu cooler, this can be had after a few weeks. i also included another gfx card for crossfire although i would recommend selling the 5770 and trying to get a 5850 for a little more, mayb from the MM.

buildjj.png
 
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