AMD 840 build...

Cliste

Cliste

Cliste

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Joined
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Dublin, Ireland
I was just about to buy from a previous build but now that OC have a Xenon 840 bundle, I need your advice.

I need the PC for gaming really and a bit of audio recording.

It's just for the Summer so will pretty much not be used until I come home from Uni during Christmas time, then after I'm finished, won't be used as much (unless I can't get a job :eek:). I want to be able to play COD: BO, Crysis, BF2 etc.

I have Win7, mouse, keyboard but need a monitor that won't waste the graphics card.

Here's what I have so far:

Xenon AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.20GHz Bundle - Quad Core - £166.36

Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) - £65.53

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - £31.24

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - £14.11

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £126.03

Total: £403.28 (without delivery)

Can anyone explain the "Xenon" processor?

I've got about £580 to mess around with but if I don't need to spend that, it would be cool.

Need a monitor.

I've been tempted with Sandy Bridge but I don't think paying the extra bit of cash is necessary (considering I don't really have it) as the computer will not be used for quite some time after the Summer.

I don't think I'll be overclocking neither.

If there's anything cheaper that I could get to replace those parts, that would be great.

Cheers guys :)
 
Xenon is just the name of the bundle. The processor is the AMD Phenom II X4 840. However the 840 is based on Deneb but without the L3 cache. Which is the basis for the Athlon II lines. So really the 840 should be branded an Athlon II X4 650. No idea why AMD have chosen to brand it as a Phenom. I posted a review on the processor here.
 
"...it would be silly to pass on this chip".

Good stuff, that pretty much sums it up for me.

Hopefully it should suffice for what I'm using it for.
 
The "Phenom" II X4 840 is probably the best value gaming chip around at the moment, and it's more than capable of pushing high to max settings on pretty much every game.

Your other parts look fine, except there's no real reason not to double your HDD capacity to the F3 1TB, which is a cracking drive, and your graphics card. At a difference of £20, it really is worth upgrading to the GTX 460 1GB, which not only has the extra VRAM but also has other nice bits that nVidia cheekily dropped from the 768MB model. In addition, with this powerful a graphics card it may be worth reconsidering that 500W Elite Power PSU- they don't have the power and reliability record like the Corsair (non-builder) or XFX lines, and it only has one PCI-E 6 pin power connector, which you need two of for the 460.

As for the monitor, pretty much any TN film panel at 1900x will suit you just fine for gaming. Stick with a known brand for reliability purposes.
 
Cheers for the reply hybrid.

Considering what was said, a newer build:

Xenon AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.20GHz Bundle - Quad Core - £166.36


Gainward GeForce GTX 460 GS 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £137.99

Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black - £38.80

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - £14.11

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £126.03

BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black - £110.39

Total: £497.14 (without shipping)

So I just need a PSU. I looked at the Corsair (non-builder) models but they're fairly expensive. Sure i can fit it within the budget but are there any other alternatives. I do know how important a good PSU is, but when you're cheap like me, you gotta be a bit cheeky and ask for less. If not, I guess I'll have to go for the expensive models.

Cheers :)

Edit: I might check out the F3 500GB drive instead, as I don't need that much space. It's around the same price as the Samsung.
 
Last edited:
You have two graphics cards there :). Drop the 768MB, the Corsair PSUs will seem decent value.

The OCZ StealthXStream models are a lot cheaper and have a reasonable rep, but don't cheap out on a PSU.
 
Xenon AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.20GHz Bundle - Quad Core
£164.99

Gainward GeForce GTX 460 GS 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£137.99

Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) £74.99

Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black
£38.80

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £30.98

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99

BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black
£110.39

So thats that then.
 
i believe its actually cheaper to get the non bundle version of that xenon bundle.

will edit the post in a few mins

*edit*
yes, it is considerably cheaper to get the non bundled version.

non bundled version with better RAM:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 840 "95W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 (AM3) Motherboard - Retail £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Sub Total : £124.97
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 : £26.89
Total : £161.36


bundled version (with worse ram)

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Xenon AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.20GHz Bundle - Quad Core £164.99
(£137.49) £164.99
(£137.49)
Sub Total : £137.49
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £29.50
Total : £176.99
 
Last edited:
Hmmm ok, what about he Motherboard? Are there better ones?

Plus the RAM says (Value), is that a cheap ram?
 
nothing wrong with that ram. whichever is cheapest of the OCZ platinum, OCZ special ops or Geil Value ram is the usual suggestion for gamers.

the ram you get from the xenon bundle is actually a slower version of the Geil value RAM.

as for the motherboard, that was my first thought on what to spend the money on. heres what i would do with £580:
(between my posts, the OCZ special ops has come down in price, so i went for that instead)

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £124.99
(£104.16) £124.99
(£104.16)
BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £110.39
(£91.99) £110.39
(£91.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 840 "95W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £53.98
(£44.98) £53.98
(£44.98)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £38.80
(£32.33) £38.80
(£32.33)
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £28.99
(£24.16) £28.99
(£24.16)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
Sub Total : £465.07
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £95.51
Total : £573.08

the reason i went for the new processor cooler is because the standard one is incredibly loud when gaming. i thought i could cope with its loudness myself, but it really is unacceptable
 
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