Assistance with a new build please

noileum

noileum

noileum

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Right - after making sure I had the funds, and more importantly the ok from er indoors :cool: I checked the location of where I was going to install the htpc/gaming pc and came upon a problem . . . .

I've got a lot less space than I first assumed. Height isn't an issue, but it's got to fit in a space next to the TV which is only 22CM wide x 35CM deep. This has left me with needing to find a case to fit to start with, and finding new components to fit in it.

A bit of searching last night and I found the Silverstone FT03 (silver is on sale for £100 at the moment) case which has the right footprint, but needs an SFX PSU which come to around £190 for the pair. This is about half of my budget which kinda changes the build options quite a bit (plus means I will need to think more about cooling as well I guess)

What would you say would be my best option for getting a rig that can handle the current games? Would something like the AMD A10-5800K's inbuilt gfx manage for a couple of months while I scrape another £150 or so for a half decent GPU?

Any assistance would be massively appreciated, as I was hoping to order the stuff and build it this weekend (which may be impossible given that I'm having to re-spec the whole thing).

Thank god I actually measured up last night at least :)

edit: initial budget was £350 - £400. given that I'm looking at a much more expensive case\psu combo than I initially intended, I can prob stretch to £450 ish give or take (if a few more quid is the difference between this being possible or not then I can always dip into some other funds).
 
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The FT03 is an amazing looking case.

I don't know where you looked but the FT03 doesn't need a SFX PSU, it takes stanard ATX: http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=291

For your situation the A10-5800k sounds perfect, you may just end up keeing it GPU-less. :)

A good A75/A85 Matx motherboard should be pretty cheap too..

I'd look at getting a XFX 450W core PSU, there only £40 and will easily run a A10 and 7850 (if you go that way, i would)

Make sure you get Fast RAM 2133Mhz, it helps trintiys on-boards. :)

Sorry i can't spec you specific part, i can't at work :)
 
bugger, it was the FT03-mini I was looking at! I was reading so many pages last night and watching youtube vids til the early hours trying to find something that would fit the space my brain was obviously frazzled :-)

Thanks for the help though, with a bit of luck I can squeeze the FT03 in next to the TV with a bit of wriggling as it's about 0.5 cm too wide (but bringing the TV forward an inch might sort the problem out.



With that all in mind, here's the build as it stands at the moment

  • MSI HD 7850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards [R7850-1GD5/OC] -£120

  • AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) [AD580KWOHJBOX] - £96

  • Silverstone Fortress FT03 Tower Case (SST-FT03T USB 3.0) [SST-FT03T USB 3.0] - £118

  • Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) [CP-9020046-UK] - £40

  • MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard [FM2-A75IA-E53] - £72

  • Adata XPG Xtreme v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C10 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit - £48

Total approx £490

So it's about £50 more than I wanted to spend, but seeing as I didn't need to spend the extra on the SFX psu I figured I could spring for the MSI GPU as it's on special this week.

Would I be better off going with something like the Asus HD 7770 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card which is comparable in cost but is 2048MB?


Have I forgotten anything obvious, and will the bits all fit in the case etc? Will I need additional cooling for the CPU (as if I need to buy anything extra I'll be looking at dropping the GPU and picking one up after I get paid at the end of the month)
 
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just when you think you've got the build all sorted :-)

Will the dual fan type card be a problem with the FT03 case? It suggests that you should really go with a GPU that kicks the head out of the back of the card . . . . .

That is proper tempting though
 
 
noileum said:
what's better about a mATX board? Last time I build a PC there was only 1 option :-)
Click to expand...

Comparing the one i picked to the one you specced:

The mATX board:
  • Has more RAM slots
  • Has more Sata Ports (all sataIII)
  • Has room for a sound card/Wifi Cards
  • As it is Gigabyte has UK service and RMA
  • Cheaper
 
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