Component Recommendations

Dozer 360 · 25 Mar 2009 at 12:35

Hi im new to the overclocking scene and i was just wondering if anyone could advise me on a good PSU and Graphics card to put in my new build.

atm in running on a crummy 450 watt psu and im using the ASRock k10n78's onboard 1gb nVidea 8200 tc.

also the PSU has to be 14cm or less to fit in my case (i know some good ones are 16cm or more) and id prefer it if they were less than £100 each.

Ben M · 25 Mar 2009 at 12:38

Welcome,

What is the rest of the spec of your pc? Is the motherboard AGP or PCI-E?

Dozer 360 · 25 Mar 2009 at 12:42

its pci e

Ben M · 25 Mar 2009 at 12:52

Dozer 360 said:
its pci e

Sorry, I didn't read your OP properly evidently, you did name the mobo.

What make is your psu? Because, provided the rest of your spec isn't massive, 450W should be enough to power your rig and something like:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-175-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1274

or maybe

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-125-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938

Dozer 360 · 25 Mar 2009 at 12:57

i dont know the make of the psu its just some cheap one that i picked up, it says win power on it but i have never herd of them.

and as for the graphics card i was hoping for somthing along the Geforce lines to utilise the hybrid sli support on the mb. or is this not worth it?

Ben M · 25 Mar 2009 at 13:09

According to this http://www.legitreviews.com/article/708/1/

NVIDIA Hybrid SLI Ready GPUs:

* GeForce 9800 GTX
* GeForce 9800 GX2

And the 9800GTX is over £100. Personally I wouldn't bother, the only benefit of hybrid sli is the power saving, which isn't worth much when you've spent more than you would otherwise on a new gpu.

If you definitely feel that you don't trust that PSU, I'd go for this (it's a bit over, but probably worth it)

Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB DDR2 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (471846200-9702) -£57.49
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply - £51.74
Total (inc. shipping) : £119.29

Dozer 360 · 25 Mar 2009 at 13:19

Ben M said:
According to this http://www.legitreviews.com/article/708/1/

And the 9800GTX is over £100. Personally I wouldn't bother, the only benefit of hybrid sli is the power saving, which isn't worth much when you've spent more than you would otherwise on a new gpu.

If you definitely feel that you don't trust that PSU, I'd go for this (it's a bit over, but probably worth it)

Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB DDR2 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (471846200-9702) -£57.49
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply - £51.74
Total (inc. shipping) : £119.29

thanks i'll have to look into that it looks like a bargin.

but on the price thing i ment £100 each item so is there room in the price for a better graphics card? i know that crysis recomends a 7??mb card.

Dozer 360 · 25 Mar 2009 at 15:24

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Ben M · 25 Mar 2009 at 15:31

Dozer 360 said:
thanks i'll have to look into that it looks like a bargin.

but on the price thing i ment £100 each item so is there room in the price for a better graphics card? i know that crysis recomends a 7??mb card.

Sorry, my reading skills are failing me today.

What res are you using?

With a £200 budget then you could get that PSU and one of these:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-188-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939

and be a few quid over budget. But that is a damned good card at a very good price.

Slightly less over budget, and again at a very good price is: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=927

If your budget is strict, then the other very good value for money card at the moment is http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-127-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938

As for using the hybrid sli, I wouldn't bother, as the 9800GTX is old tech (it's a rebranded 8 series card)

danielmp007 · 25 Mar 2009 at 15:43

Get this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-127-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938

And this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-037-OC

Should be a good upgrade.

Go for the 4870 @ £164.99 if you can aford it. Defo worth it

dP

Guardsmon · 25 Mar 2009 at 15:54

What are the specifications of the rest of your rig? CPU, memory, are the more important.

Dozer 360 · 25 Mar 2009 at 16:23

danielmp007 said:
Get this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-127-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938

And this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-037-OC

Should be a good upgrade.

Go for the 4870 @ £164.99 if you can aford it. Defo worth it

dP

that psu is too big for my case. but thanx anyway.

i might go with Ben M's idea of

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-026-OC
and
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-188-SP

it comes to £230 inc postage so its a bit over budget but i think it would be worth it.

Roll on pay day

Dozer 360 · 25 Mar 2009 at 16:26

Guardsmon said:
What are the specifications of the rest of your rig? CPU, memory, are the more important.

amd phenom 9950 BE
ASRock k10n78 mobo
8gb ram
500gb hdd

atm most of the ram is going to waste on xp 32bit because i no longer have access to a vista cd. i do plan on getting vista ultimate 64bit soon to.

Dozer 360 · 25 Mar 2009 at 16:31

actually what would you recomend out of

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB

and

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB

the xfx would look better in my case

danielmp007 · 25 Mar 2009 at 16:32

Dozer 360 said:
that psu is too big for my case. but thanx anyway.

i might go with Ben M's idea of

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-026-OC
and
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-188-SP

it comes to £230 inc postage so its a bit over budget but i think it would be worth it.

Roll on pay day

Good choice on the 4870,

Yeh sorry, I forgot about the PSU size.

dP