Check the spec

iviv

iviv

iviv

Soldato
Joined
2 Jun 2007
Posts
6,839
Location
Mornington Crescent
Hey, I've been asked to draw up a PC for my friend, top budget was about £500, though as usual lower is better. Its mainly going to be used for gaming and image editing, though he's only on a 19" monitor at the moment. I'd eventually decided on something like this:


But then I looked at the 'This week only' that just came out, and have jiggled around a few things, now having this as the final build:

spec3.jpg


There's just a couple of questions I have, firstly regarding the motherboard and PSU choice. Reading a review of the PSU, it says that there's no 8 Pin EPS CPU power connector, and that this is needed for some CPUs/motherboards and I'm not sure if that would be the case here?
And I know the graphics card is probably the weakest part, but would it be worth upgrading? How well would the current system do with current games like Dawn of War 2, and would it be futureproof? I'm a little tempted by the 4870 1Gb that's on TWO as well, that would just poke it over the budget, but I think it may be a little overkill for a 19" monitor.

Also, OS wise he's going to get XP64 from his university for free, so no OS needed. As mentioned, he's got a monitor, as well as mouse/keyboard.

Anyone got any feedback on this? Thanks!
 
Last edited:
ocuk99.jpg


If your talking about future proofing, then the 4850 will be better than the 4830, especially if he decides to upgrade the monitor at some point. Although the 4830 will manage fine with his monitor and should play DOW2 with no problems.

I've changed the PSU to corsair, it's a more reliable PSU than OCZ, granted it costs a little bit more, but would be more than enough for this setup.

I've added in a CPU cooler for the E7400, so your mate can get overclocking, the CPU should see 3.6ghz easy ;) This will show a big improvement in gaming.
 
Thanks for the input, though he's not too keen on the idea of overclocking, so that's not really an option. Out of interest, that Corsair PSU you mentioned, and the 4870 1Gb. Would they play ball, or would a meatier PSU be needed?
 
iviv said:
Thanks for the input, though he's not too keen on the idea of overclocking, so that's not really an option. Out of interest, that Corsair PSU you mentioned, and the 4870 1Gb. Would they play ball, or would a meatier PSU be needed?
Click to expand...

It should do the job, the corsair is a solid unit and I doubt the power usage would go anywhere near 450W. If you want a slightly more powerful one for the 4870 then the 520W coolremaster is a good bet, plus it's modular.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-150-CM
 
Thanks again,

spec4.jpg


Decided to move to that modular one anyway since its just £5 more, and would be easier to work with, and popped in a 4850 which should last for a while. This ok?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom