Decision Time

[taz488]

posted a related topic but some things have made me decide to think a bit more in depth. heres the thing.

im getting the following pc

amd athlon 64 3800 sckt 939
1024mb RAM
nvidia 7600GT PCI-E
Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9 NF4, S939, PCI-E (x16)
120gb seagate barracuda 7200
samsung dvd +/- rw
17" crt monitor

and i have a tight budget of £70 for psu+case and was thinking of getting the

Enermax FMA Series 460W PSU (not sold at ocUK )

and been advised to get the

antec super lanboy case (rediculously cheap at acUK )

this comes to £80 when you add on delivery, is there any way to get a psu that will handle my rig and not be of poor quality as well as having this fantastic value case? or should i to compramise on something else in my rig to afford these two?

i see there are some cheap but quite high wattage enermax psu's available at ocUK, are these to be trusted? or should i spend more for better quality, as ive heard many-a-time in forums.

 

[WJA96]

Akasa Ultra Quiet 400W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.0 PSU is £40+delivery - I would strongly suggest you cut something else rather than the PSU.

 

[taz488]

would 400w be enough for my rig if its a good psu then? if so would a aspire x qpack do the job with its 420w psu? or will this not be upto the job.

also say i get these two things, and the only thing i can see of downgrading is my processor or my graphics card, which one should i change? should i get a 7600 GS...this leads into the x1600 range, or should i get a lesser processor, and try and overclock if its not too hard.

ive decided to reduce my graphics card and spend £20 less and get either a saphire x1600 XT or an XFX 7600 GS, costing about £100, advice on which is better will be helpfull.

now i am going to purchase the antec super lanboy because of all the amazing reviews and the amazing OcUK price. --> http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Antec_Cases.html

and the Akasa Ultra Quiet 400W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.0 PSU - Black Nickel with Blue LED Fan; as it will go with the blue case and appears to be of good quality and of adequate power.

the only question left to ask is...

x1600XT -->
http://www.sapphiretech.com/uk/products/products_landing.php

OR

XFX 7600 GS --> http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product...jspa?productConfigurationId=198679#openLarger

 

[Yewen]

I would go with the 3700 over the 3800 AMD 64, and I did a while back.

The Qpack is a mATX case, your motherboard is ATX I think and thus not compatable.

You need a mATX motherboard for that case, and if you want a top end PSU case combination you need to look at ATX 2.0 compliant Antec bundles from OcUK.

NSK4400 it is not brilliant, but for the money is the cheapest PSU you could possibly go for safely.

PSU though, the most important part of the PC and I would drop your rig all the way down to a 3200 processor to get a good PSU, the PSU ultimately dictates how stable your PC will be and how safe the components hooked up to it are; never take the cheap route on them as a good one can last you for several systems, long after the processor is out of date.

Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN) Its £77 but a great bundle, solid PSU + solid case. What I would do, drop the processor down to a 3700 and get that.

 

[taz488]

edit was a bit late, ill drop my processor to a 3700+ then, ill take a look at your advice and stay with the 7600GT then, im happy bout that. by the way is that the 3700+ san diego?

 

[Yewen]

Yeh, the 3700 San Diego and the 3800 Venice are almost identical in performance, and I mean REALLY close.

 

[taz488]

i dont know what to get im stuck with these two options, can somebody help me please =S

Either
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Antec_Cases.html

Or
Antec Super LANBOY Aluminum Super Mini Tower Case
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Antec_Cases.html

and

Akasa Ultra Quiet 400W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.0 PSU - Black Nickel with Blue LED Fan (CA-013-AK)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Akasa_Power_Supplies.html