Alright! its time to buy + eventual build log

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lo again.. probably getting sick of me by now :D

well tomorrow is the day i order my parts, thought id make a new thread to keep it cleaner and such but this will eventualy be a build log with pics :)

so far i have in my basket ready to click buy these parts, would like one final checklist before the big day if you wouldnt mind yet again hehe

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM

Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-251-GI

XFX Pro 750W Core Edition Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-XF

Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel (PGS34G1333ELK)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-030-PA

Zalman CNPS9900-LED CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/775/1156/1366)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-036-ZA

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-206-SE

what do you think? anything youd change bearing in mind this is THE limit of my budget

ill be pairing with an old 9800gt for now till i can upgrade to a single 5850 then a 2nd
gaming at 1680*1050 with win7 64bit home premium

changed the ram from what was previously suggested as this board aparently doesnt handle 1600mhz ram so dropped to 1333
changed psu from one nathwraith sugested to an xfx same 750W but cheaper price + lifetime warranty with xfx :)
im hoping this is still enough juice for all the stuff in my basket plus the 2 future 5850's and a card reader + dvd re-writer + 1tb harddrive

have i made any mistakes? or am i good to go? a lot of the original parts either are stil out of stock or are no longer listed on this site so i tried my best to list a system myself (to learn) but yea im blabbering on.. lol

so any comments/suggestions? before the big day tomorrow? :D
 
Cooler won't fit :p I'd swap it for this Akasa Venom - it performs better anyway :p

You could save a chunk of money by swapping the ram out for Geil DDR3 - cheaper, but no loss in performance! Board will handle 1600MHz, you just need to set it to that in the BIOS :p

750W will be more than enough for your future set-up and lifetime warranty is always good!

You could save £55 by swapping the mobo to the Foxconn A7DA-S 3.0 - pretty much the same except no USB3.0 or SATA 6GB/s (both pretty useless atm and will be for a few years until it becomes more mainstream).
 
didnt know it wouldnt fit thanks :) as for ram.. Yea id like somethinng i can just drop in, wouldnt hve a clue what to do in the bios :p
Usb 3.0 n sata 3 is more for future proofing plus ive not heard the name foxconn before... Rather stick with a board whos naame ive heard before/good things about :) thanks for suggestions
 
Remember this Geil RAM which is on offer on "this week only" will not be available at that price tomorrow.;)

Again if you could post your budget and see what we can come up with?
 
for the money, once you have stuck the Geil ram into your basket, its a good selection of bits.

but sandy bridge!!!

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £141.98
(£118.32) £141.98
(£118.32)
Foxconn P67A-S Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
XFX Pro 750W Core Edition Power Supply £72.50
(£60.42) £72.50
(£60.42)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £33.98
(£28.32) £33.98
(£28.32)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £26.53
(£22.11) £26.53
(£22.11)
Sub Total : £338.31
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £69.56
Total : £417.37

the motherboard does sli/crossfire at 8X/8X so you keep that.

and look at the pretty graphs - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500-2400-2300_7.html the 2300 beats the AMD 975cpu.
 
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as nice as your sandy bride systems are i dunno

i just have amd in my head, maybe its cos there supposed to be easy to overclock... especialy for people like me who have never done it before :D

i know that the phenom 2 x4 955 can be overclocked using overdrive just by turning up the multiplier which seems nice an easy... i bet id do something wrong in the bios n fry my chip lol

+ what is the diference between that i5 2300 n a 955? i couldnt find a benchmark for it on anandtech
 
alright after some consideration im gunna go with the build in the OP but with the geil ram instead :)

ive been hearing some things about sandy bridges regarding voltages n stuff...

so id prefer to go the phenom 2 route as its less likey to seriously break with me fiddling :D

any little tips on setting the ram to 1600mhz in the bios? never fiddled with bios stuff before so anything would help :)
 
alright after some consideration im gunna go with the build in the OP but with the geil ram instead :)

ive been hearing some things about sandy bridges regarding voltages n stuff...

so id prefer to go the phenom 2 route as its less likey to seriously break with me fiddling :D

any little tips on setting the ram to 1600mhz in the bios? never fiddled with bios stuff before so anything would help :)

so you want a less powerful pc, for the same money? because a few people killed their cpus while trying to overclock to far?
 
lol sorta...

im also planning ahead as in a future update i could upgrade to a am3+ motherboard, then a buldozer cpu depending on price/performance

as am3 cpu's will work in am3+ socket boards so...

am i right in doing this or should i go for sandy bridge like everyone else?

n its more than just overclocking to far.. ive heard a few stories about them living very short lives even with "safe" voltage levels, few had problems with install, plus the one you linked isnt a k series so it wouldnt overclock well anyways would it?
 
Go sandy bridge, and when funds allow, get a kick-ass cpu and drop it in, there could be something extreme on the horizon from intel for socket 1155( as well as the current 2500K/2600K)

you would be doing the same thing effectively by getting a 955be cpu and the switching to AM3+ motherboard, and later a Bulldozer cpu.

only your getting a faster cpu right now.


the non "K" cpus do overclock a little.
 
switching to a 2400 would cost a tenner more.. im already stretching my budget as it is :(

but from stuff ive read a 955 @ 3.8 should easly beat a i5 2300, and 3.8 is very easy to get on a 955

but yea i dunno why id just prefer to go the amd route for future buldozer upgrades so i think ill go with the 955 system i robably wouldnt notice the diference between the 2 anyways lol but if i was wrong then meh, gota learn by mistakes right? :D
 
why cant you?
whole point of comparing is to see what you get for your money, if you can overclock id say its a bonus = more value for money so u can compare overclocked to none overclocked..

if u pay 120 for a cpu u can OC to 3.8

why pay more for one thats stuck at 2.8-3.0.. doesnt make sence to me

comparing them price for price...
955 is cheapest @ £120..
i5 2300 is £140 stuck at stock...
i5 2400 is the most expensive @ £150

id rather take the cheaper route... seems more bang for buck to me 3.8ghz quadcore for 120 quid what else do i really need..

plus intel.. meh only thing it has going for it is hyperthreading.. once buldozer comes around..

as for this "extreme thing on the horizen" for intel.. yea probably but i wonder how much its gunna cost compared to buldozer cpu's...

besides theres barely anything i do thatl eat up a phenom 2 x4 @stock speeds, so why would i need sandybridge? i mean 2-3 years ill need to upgrade again no matter what i chose so why pay the extra for sandy? i dont do any video editing, in games main problem is graphics cards.. not like a phenom 2 x4 955 is gunna bottleneck me anyways
 
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