First build, thoughts & ideas welcome

macca72

macca72

macca72

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Evening All,

I'm about to embark on my first PC build, been doing some research and am trying to spec up 2 different options, so I can play with my budget a little bit.

I'm working to around (less than ideally) £500 as a starting point.

Intel build
Intel Core i5 4670k
Asus Z87-A Motherboard
ASUS Nvidia GeForce GT 640
Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance 8GB

AMD Build
AMD FX8320 Black Edition
ASUS Nvidia GeForce GT 640
Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance 8GB

I know I need a case and a power supply (and probably a blu-ray drive) but I can work my own way around these, just wanted to get the real important stuff.

I'm basically suck on a motherboard for my AMD build, I want HDMI and minimum 16gb ram capability (32 would be ideal), but I want to spend £100 or less.

Am grateful for any advice. Thanks
 
Jumper118 said:
what are you going to use the pc for?
Click to expand...

Yeah, should have mentioned that, sorry.

I am looking (over time) to build a media centre / hub for the house, I'll keep all of our media (we're gathering a lot with a little one).

In addition I play Football Manager quite a lot, no other games of note, but should I decide to get into other games, I want to be able to do it.

So summary would be, a home hub media centre that can handle FM at full graphics and process quick.

Cheers
 
You want a good 970 or 990fx chip set on the amd. Asus 970 evo is probably the best starting point.

The gt640 is a very weak graphics card, although FM won't need much I don't think.
 
BurntProc said:
You want a good 970 or 990fx chip set on the amd. Asus 970 evo is probably the best starting point.

The gt640 is a very weak graphics card, although FM won't need much I don't think.
Click to expand...

Cheers, can you advise what I'd need to do to get HDMI up and running then, sorry probably a stupid question. The M5A97 doesn't seem to have it.

Take your point on the Graphics card, what about the Radeon HD 7850, is that better?

Appreciate the help.
 
Ok, think I'm getting closer, would be great for some advice on the 3 below...

Asus 2GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 650Ti Boost Graphics Card
AMD FX8320 Black Edition 8 Core
Asus M5A97 R2.0 Motherboard

Thoughts?

That leaves me with a power supply (which I know nothing about so anything here would be great) the rest I'm ok with...

Would also be great if I could get some advice on the HDMI question, having looked at the Graphics Card, I'm guessing I would plug my TV into that, rather than the Motherboard?

Sorry for the dumb questions, really appreciate the advice.
 
First off the 7850 is the better card. For HDMI you just plug it in! One end in the monitor and the other in the GPU.

Is £500 the budget for the whole build, including storage drives and case? What about the OS?

When it comes to the PSU you must not skimp out. Probably the most important component in your PC!
 
Rhyswh said:
First off the 7850 is the better card. For HDMI you just plug it in! One end in the monitor and the other in the GPU.

Is £500 the budget for the whole build, including storage drives and case? What about the OS?

When it comes to the PSU you must not skimp out. Probably the most important component in your PC!
Click to expand...

Nice one, thanks. Yeah I get it now, I realise you only need a HDMI on the motherboard if you don't have a dedicated graphics card...

My original budget was £500 excluding OS & monitor, I realise that would be a stretch.

That said, however, I've probably over done it and may look to just downgrade a couple of the bits I've been looking at (maybe go down to the hex core AMD, and go for the GeForce GT 640 card).

I know the above aren't the greatest, but it get's me up and running and will leave me a few quid should I want to start upgrading in 6 months time. I am still learning, so am happy to under spec a few bits and learn over time.

PSU wise, I realise it's crucial, so I'll 100% be buying the Corsair Builder Series CXM 750W Modular.

Cheers.

EDIT: Of course, if you want to help me with the 500 budget, I'm happy to listen.
 
I think with your budget you'd be better off with an APU and not getting a GPU, especially the GT640. 750W is massive overkill.

Give me 20mins and I'll see what I can come up with.

Edit: Sorry wrong thread with the budget!! Should be able to get a 7850 in there!
 
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For your needs I recommend an AMD APU based system with an SSD for the OS and programs. :)

With an APU the CPU and GPU are integrated onto one chip, it will be perfectly capable of working as a media centre and running Football Manager.

The SSD will reduce system startup times and drastically improve application load times and overall responsiveness.

It should also come in a-lot cheaper. It sounds like an i5 4670K and an HD7850 would be overkill for your needs at the moment.

Unless of course you intend to start doing some more intensive gaming, in which case you might want the more powerful system.
 
acme15 said:
For your needs I recommend an AMD APU based system with an SSD for the OS and programs. :)

With an APU the CPU and GPU are integrated onto one chip, it will be perfectly capable of working as a media centre and running Football Manager.

The SSD will reduce system startup times and drastically improve application load times and overall responsiveness.

It should also come in a-lot cheaper. It sounds like an i5 4670K and an HD7850 would be overkill for your needs at the moment.

Unless of course you intend to start doing some more intensive gaming, in which case you might want the more powerful system.
Click to expand...

I didn't know anything about APU, so thank you for that. I agree most of the first post was overkill, I'll be honest a major part of this project is about learning as well as coming out with a system (sounds silly I know), on that basis would you still recommend an APU, can I upgrade to a separate / additional GPU later if needed ?

I was planning on an SSD anyway, so thanks.
 
Here is a full APU spec including an SSD, 3TB HDD, Blu-Ray drive, a motherboard with the best available APU chipset, some high speed memory (helps as it is used by the APU for graphical work), a CPU cooler and additional fan (mostly to quieten the system down, but it will also allow for you to overclock the APU a little more than on the stock cooler)

:)

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-6800K Black Edition 4.10GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Quad Core Processor (AD680KWOHLBOX) £109.99
1 x Toshiba 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA300) HDD £79.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £74.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £71.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 micro ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £55.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) £39.95
1 x Cooler Master Elite 344 Micro ATX Case - Black/Silver £32.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo CPU Cooler £19.99
1 x Arctic F9 PWM Case Fan - 92mm £3.49
Total : £563.96 (includes shipping : £10.50).



The APU has an integrated Radeon HD8670D. You can add an HD6670 or HD7750 later on and it will work in "hybrid crossfire mode" which essentially combines the power of the APU's integrated graphics processor, and the graphics card. :)

Here is how the A10-6800K compares to an FX6300 as a CPU: http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-FX-6300-vs-AMD-A10-6800K

Remember that the 6800K has an integrated Radeon HD8670D GPU however, whereas the FX6300 is a CPU only. It was just to show that the CPU isn't half bad either. :)
 
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If you are planning on adding a GPU in then personally I wouldn't go with an APU. This is what you could do to start and then add an SSD at a later date. One thing is the blu ray drive, is this essential?

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7870 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H787QN2G2M) £143.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G1600HC9DC01) £59.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x Dominator 4 x 120mm Blue LED Fans USB3, Card Reader Black Interior Fan Control £34.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £520.51 (includes shipping : £10.50).



I realise the case isn't the best but it comes with 5 fans and is something you could upgrade in the future if you wanted.

The 7870 is more than capable of running FM at high settings and would be good for other games if you wanted. Especially if you overclock it.
 
Ok, firstly thank you for all your help, got the following ready to order, just wanted one final checkpoint...

I blew my budget by around £70, and I haven't got a Blu-Ray / DVD drive yet, but I can live with that for a little while.

AMD FX-6300 = £89.99
Asus GeForce GTX650Ti = £109.99
Asus M5A97 Motherboard = £65.99
Corsair Vengence Pro-Blue 8gb = £79.99
Samsung 120gb 840 EVO SSD = £79.99
Corsair CX 600W V2 PSU = £59.99
Corsair SP120 Quiet Fans (2 Pack) = £25.99
Lian Li PCA05 FNB Case - £63.60

Total = £575.53 (excl Shipping, but everyone pays for that)

So, what do you think, is there anywhere in this build I could do significantly better for less money? Also, have I loused up anywhere and got incompatible / unsuitable bits?

Again, thanks.
 
Rhyswh said:
7850 is a better card for an extra £10. No HDD in that build?
Click to expand...

I'll have a look at the 7850, thanks. No HDD, I have a spare 250gb kicking around, so I can use that as a temp measure. I'll invest in another SSD in a few months time.

Other than that, everything else look ok?

Cheers
 
I would drop the SSD and upgrade the CPU to an fx8320 and GPU to a 270x.

Then 6 months down the line, chuck the SSD in. At the end of the day this is more cost effective frame rate wise and will require minimal effort when adding the SSD.
 
Morning All, I've been thinking over it for a while (i'm nervous I get it wrong ha). And have come up with the following, not massively different, but still keeps me under £600.

AMD FX-6300 Processer
Asus M5A78L Mobo
8gb Corsair Vengence
Kingston V300 SSD 120gb
MSI HD7850 GPU
Aerocool DS Cube Black Edition Case
Corsair RM550W PSU
Pioneer BDR208-DBK BluRay

Comes in at £570.90

I don't think that's too bad, but hey, you guys know better. What do you think?

Thanks for all the help.
 
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