Advice on a New Build

akbarirfan

akbarirfan

akbarirfan

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Joined
9 Jan 2010
Posts
57
Location
Birmingham
Hi Guys,

The time has arrived for me to update my PC to a better spec, so am going for a new build..socket A's can only go so fast!!

The PC is a general purpose machine, however I will be encoding, video camera to dvd, if that is the correct term, so I want it to be able to handle it well!!

I initially wanted an intel i3 system but then after speaking to a user on another e-retailer forum AMD came into mind. Here are the rigs I have priced/speced up. Could you please advise which one is better? Is it not best to go with the newer technology?

i3

ASUS P7H55-M PRO H55 Socket 1156 i5/i7/i3 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 CHannel Audio MATX Motherboard £89.08

Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz Socket 1156 4MB L3 Cache Retail Box Processor £112.46

Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz Memory Kit Unbuffered £84.99

Casecom MA-1199 Shiny Silver with Black Front MATX Tower Case - No PSU £17.27

Coolermaster 400W Extreme PSU £35.50

Sony AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM Internal SATA Black Bare Drive - OEM £16.77

All in 1 Internal Card Reader Plus One USB2.0 Port (Black) £5.35

Total £361.42

AMD

ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO 785G Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard £71.48

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor £122.36

Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz Memory Kit Unbuffered £84.99

Casecom MA-1199 Shiny Silver with Black Front MATX Tower Case - No PSU £17.27

Coolermaster 400W Extreme PSU £35.50

Sony AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM Internal SATA Black Bare Drive - OEM £16.77

All in 1 Internal Card Reader Plus One USB2.0 Port (Black) £5.35

Total = £353.72

(Btw the prices are from another retailer, I have not priced them up on overclockers just yet)

Thanks,

Irfan
 
The AMD build will be considerably better for video encoding.

I think the i3 is too expensive for what it is atm simply because it has just launched.
 
Ok which one is more future friendly?

I have had my current rig (AMD Athlon XP 3000, MSI K7N2G, 1GB RAM) for 4-5 years now..over the years I upgraded the RAM and HDD, but now it is all outdated, it still works nicely but sometimes it does not move and I wait for ages for something to load up. As for encoding 2 hour film = 6+ hours!! I want to get that down to like very little..

Also I should add that in the future I am thinking about buying an LCD screen to use as a monitor..which would give me the best output? the i3 or AMD? Do they put out 1080p? The i3 has Intel HD graphics...

Thanks
 
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The AMD will be more 'future friendly' - 6 core CPUs and who knows what else to come will be supported by the AM3 socket. The LGA1156's future is less certain - Intel may bring out 6 cores on it, but we don't know - we don't even have a whiff of a rumour suggesting they will.

I'm not sure it's worth getting the 965 over the 955, as I understand it, it's the same processor with +1 on the multiplier.
 
The AMD integrated graphics packages have always been better than Intel's attempts, though the new on-die integrated graphics on the i3s look to be much better.

Have a read of this article for better information on the integrated graphics packages. Bear in mind they're using the i5-530, which has a higher clocked IGP than the i3. Also, they're using the slightly better integrated graphics chipset from AMD over the one you have picked (790GX vs 785GX), but this still serves as a good indicator.
 
Thanks guys, after reading about X6 on sale in Q2, I think I might delay a bit as the X4 prices may decrease a bit..what do you guys think to that theory?
 
Thanks, looking for mATX though! That Asus one seems to be the best all round..would be nice if there was a 790 rather than a 785 in the same price region for more future proofing
 
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