Complete newbie after build help

jaysus

jaysus

jaysus

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25 Dec 2009
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I've got the PC mentioned in my sig and want to upgrade it, keeping whatevers viable and using whats left over as a basic for a media PC at a later date. Slight problem: I've not got a clue where to start, and for some unknown reason my PC doesn't like the OCUK forums and takes 30 odd seconds to load a page - so leeching off the advice given to others isn't particularly practical.

I'm looking to use it for gaming and browsing only, have a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream case (which from previous posts I believe should be re-usable?) and I've got a budget of £400 (can stretch to £500 tops, but has to be worth the extra) and whilst I'm capable of putting stuff together I don't know whats compatible with what, the last time I did any series digging I was told AGP was a dead end option - so you've some idea how out of date my knowledge is.

Its a big ask but could someone give some help putting together a build?
 
Hows this look?

I know you said you got case but if youre going to be relegating your existing build to a HTPC youll need a case for that, maybe use this new case for the HTPC and your Tsunami Dream for this build

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.89 (£147.99)
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £82.24 (£69.99)
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C9) £76.36 (£64.99)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £69.99 (£59.57)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £32.99 (£28.08)
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £32.99 (£28.08)
OcUK Athena Tower Case - Black £18.99 (£16.16)
OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.98 (£11.05)
Total: £500.44
 
Is your OS a retail version or an OEM version? Will make the difference between 50-80£ finding an OS to fit in to your budget.

You can probably keep the DDR2 if you go for an AMD2+ setup, as your not looking at sli/x-fire GPU's in your set-up you can re-use the CX400 PSU.

What sort of games on what res are you looking at playing?
 
Hadn't thought about the OS. I've got a retail version of XP Pro but will upgrade to 7 after a couple of months, so budget won't need to include that.

At the moment I'm playing stuff like BFBC2, Napoleon TW etc on 1600x900, and it struggles frankly - particularly with the TW games when theres a lot going on.

I'm looking for this to be as futureproof as possible as I won't be able to justify a big upgrade for a few years. I'm not sure how much of an improvement running two GPU's in SLI/x-fire is, if its a decent one then buying one card now and then getting a second a few months down the line is an option.
 
If you dont need an OS then the build suggested 2 posts up is a very strong one and just as good as what you will squeeze out of your budget. You could potentially save £50 by keeping your old case and the PSU. Shifting the DDR2 ram in to your media PC may be a better option than trying to include it as going down the DDR3 route as suggested will give you a little bit more future proofing.

The build above gives you a decent step up from your machine. I think if you try to build a machine for less the difference between what you have now and what you want built with be marginal.

The 460 is a good card, should run most things on 1600x900.. may not have all the slider bars ramped up to full but it will do you proud. The mobo wont let you x-fire in the future as it only has one pci-e slot.. but it is capable of housing the x6 chips (not that they are fantastic for games) and overall its had some good reports and is a pretty strong board.
If your looking at maybe saving £50 you could always buy a decent cooler for the CPU, I've read reports that you can OC them to 3.7 with relative ease, but this could be done as and when the cash demands it.
 
A thought occurs to me that hopefully isn't too stupid:

XP can only utilise a max of 3gb RAM can't it? So presumably I'm going to have to look at a copy of Win 7 as well?
 
95thrifles spec looks pretty sweet to me and keeps your old machine in 1 piece to use as your HTPC. I'd suggest you consider the 768MB version of the 460 though - that's even better value for money than the 1GB. The saving will allow you to swap the Athlon II for a Phenom II 955 or 965 which are much better gaming CPUs. Or if you dont mind scavenging from the old rig, save the money there to go for the Phenom II.

Also, for less than a tenner more than the one 95thrifles suggested, get this case...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-002-XG&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1572

I have it and it's awesome for the money.
 
Given the size of my existing case I can't use that as the basis for an HTPC. Is it worth the extra for the case mentioned above? If it's worth upgrading to a better case I'll do it.
 
In that case I say keep your existing case and PSU for this build and maximise the performance. Something like this...

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.89
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £111.61
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £86.99
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C9) £76.36
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £32.99
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Sub Total : £495.84

Has a Phenom II, 1GB 460 and full size mobo (I dont like MATX myself) with USB 3.0. The mobo doesn't support SLI/X-fire for later, but never mind. For a start you can only x-fire (ATI) on AMD, not SLI (Nvidia), so you'd have to get an ATI card, and I'd be loathed to spec anything other than an Nvidia 460 at this level as bang for buck it destroys ATI's offerings (sharp turnaround from the situation only a few months ago!). Secondly, the best laid plans for future SLI/x-fire rarely come to fruition - the simple fact is it's almost always preferable to sell the old and buy a new single GPU.

There is a mobo you could go for that would support later x-fire...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-366-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481

...but it's older and has no SATA 6Gb/s or USB 3.0 so is a little less 'futureproof' for the questionable benefit of X-fire support.


Then in your own time think about your HTPC. Swap your old mobo for an MATX version on the second hand market - net cost close to nowt. Get a bigger HDD for it, then stick it in a cheap small MATX case the Mrs wont mind under the TV :)
 
That sounds to me like a very good plan. I can live without sli/x-fire. I take it my 400w PSU will be enough? And do I need to think about any additional cooling if I'm not looking to overclock?
 
Yeah that CX400 will be fine. The retail cooler will be fine to start with. You can add an aftermarket cooler later if you want to OC. I'd strongly recommend reading up and gaining the confidence to have a go! It's really not scary or difficult and this generation of CPUs/GPUs are really good overclockers. Anyone concerned with bang-for-buck would be missing a trick not to have a go. The spec above will eat games at stock settings for a good while though :) Will be a massive leap from your current system. Enjoy
 
Cheers for your help mate. Think I'm going to order the HDD and get a copy of Win 7 early and get everything shifted over to the new HDD - gives me something to do while I'm saving for the bulk of the stuff.
 
Youd be able to home network both PCs to transfer files or even easier physically disconnect your old HD from the old PC and plonk it in the new one for a while.

I would advise getting Win 7 and the HDD for the new build when you get the components and not as a future upgrade, it will save you from potential headaches/licensing issues if your Win 7 is OEM.
 
Okay, what's the thoughts on this setup? Will be able to order everything except Win 7 shortly. And have I picked the right version of Win 7?

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £128.98
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard - £84.99
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C9) - £75.99
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with HAWX2 PC-Game - £151.99
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) - £33.98
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version)(GFC-00025) - £123.36
Total: £599.29

I've already got a PSU (Corsair CX400) and it will be going into a Tsunami Dream case. Is it worth upgrading the cooling? I won't be overclocking straight away but might further down the line.
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with HAWX2 PC-Game £151.99
(£129.35) £151.99
(£129.35)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version)(GFC-00025) £123.36
(£104.99) £123.36
(£104.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £117.49
(£99.99) £117.49
(£99.99)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £84.99
(£72.33) £84.99
(£72.33)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £65.99
(£56.16) £65.99
(£56.16)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £33.99
(£28.93) £33.99
(£28.93)
Sub Total : £491.75
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 17.50% VAT : £87.81
Total : £589.56

get the 955be cpu its identical apart from a tiny speed difference that can be made up with a small bios tweak because the black edition chips have an unlocked multiplier.

and the Corsair ram above is a small bit cheaper, same timings i believe too.
 
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