Hardware Compatibility Queries

davidbarry101 · 6 Apr 2011 at 23:56

From brief browsing I can see that computer spec question threads are all the rage, so if you'll permit me to ask about mine I shall be on my way.

I'm slamming together components for a gaming PC that'll stay on my desktop for a good few years, with a bit (a lot) of help from a techie friend, and I considered getting an expert opinion on whether my mobo's compatible with my cpu, ram, gpu, psu, etc.

My Basket:

AMD Phenom II X6 Black Edition 3.2GHz -£159.00

ATI Radeon HD 6850 1GB Gigabyte -£146.39

Kingston 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 -£42.00

Asus Crosshair IV AMD AM3 DDR3 Mobo -£158.54

CiT 600W Black PSU -£25.52

Plus a Seagate 1TB SATA II HD, plus a Sony SATA II optical drive, plus a Corsair 40GB SATA II SSD, plus 64-bit Windows 7.

Main question is are they stable together, and will they work fine? Will the PSU provide enough wattage, and does it have enough outputs (Molex, SATA, etc)?

I've checked that the Mobo has the right sockets at least, and I'm probably not looking to OC until a year or two down the line, but I have the AMD Black for that.

Cheers.

Shadz · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:01

Yes the components look fine they should all work no problem.

2 things though.

Remove the links from the post you made as this might be seen as promoting another
company on the forum and might get you banned.

2nd thing and this is definately a big thing, get a different PSU, thats a cheap PSU
that will probably last you about 2 minutes, if you get a cheap PSU then you will definately
suffer in the long run.

Get a PSU link this one http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-035-CS

dk345 · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:08

As above really. You need to remove your links to that competitor's site as this is OcUK's forum... You'll end up getting suspended.

As for the hardware, they should all work together. But get a better PSU. Something like this is reliable and will last you a good while: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-008-CS

Surveyor · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:10

Welcome to the forums.

For your own good remove the links to competitors.

From the FAQ:

We, Overclockers UK (OcUK) are happy to provide the resources of these forums to responsible individuals without charge. They cost a substantial amount of money to maintain and use considerable amounts of bandwidth which is paid for exclusively by us. As you know OcUK are in the computer hardware business and therefore the promotion of OcUK's competitors is forbidden. Examples of promotion are :-

Posting links to competitors websites
Posting links to reviews that promote competitors
Quoting the names or contact details of competitors
Offering to provide the names or contact details of competitors
Hinting about product availability at competitors and their pricing
Using the forums to notify a member of intent or actual supply of names or contact details of competitors
Listing competitors names, URL's or e-mail addresses in signatures
Listing competitors names, URL's or e-mail addresses in profile
Posting links to or the mentioning of auction sites
Disguising attempts to do any of the above

And get a better quality power supply.

sk82jack · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:12

Shadz said:
2nd thing and this is definately a big thing, get a different PSU, thats a cheap PSU

+1 Never skimp on the PSU, as the saying goes

Modular is better too imo but depends on your budget

cmndr_andi · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:22

As above, remove the links (or change them to OCUK ones) and get a much better quality PSU or you will be seriously risking the health of your other components.

If you are making a gaming system, then I would suggest going with a much faster Intel Sandy Bridge system like the i5 2500K CPU and a P67 motherboard like this.

This review shows how these new CPUs perform. Also, this CPU overclocks extremely well (aim for 4.5GHz) so make sure you get a decent CPU cooler like this.

As for PSU, I would go with this one at the very least, but ideally this one. On the GPU side, this HD 5870 is currently a great price and is a fair bit faster than the 6850 - have a look at this comparison.

Shadz · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:25

cmndr_andi said:
Also, this CPU overclocks extremely well (aim for 4.5GHz) so make sure you get a decent CPU cooler like this.

Says in the post that he wasn't looking to overclock his system.

Looking at reviews of the Hex Core and the i7 though there really aint that much
in it, in terms of performance. Depends on what you are running and what your
preference is as well really.

davidbarry101 · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:33

Duly noted, and thanks for the info. I'll definitely get a better PSU, and I'll take a look at alternative CPUs and GPUs.

J-FRO · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:34

cmndr_andi said:
As above, remove the links (or change them to OCUK ones) and get a much better quality PSU or you will be seriously risking the health of your other components.

If you are making a gaming system, then I would suggest going with a much faster Intel Sandy Bridge system like the i5 2500K CPU and a P67 motherboard like this.

+1 tbh.

For that money and because these benchmarks speak for themself.

cmndr_andi · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:37

Well he says he doesn't want to overclock it yet, but will consider it in a year or two. Since the 2500K overclocks in a very similar way to the AMD BE (using the unlocked multiplier) then overclocking the intel won't be any harder than the AMD, but the intel overclocks much higher.

As for the performance comparison, this is how the i5 2500K compares to the Phenom II X6 at stock speeds

Shadz · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:41

Yeh i see your point to be honest.

My mistake i must have been looking at a different processor benchmarking.

J-FRO · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:42

Also David, what sort of limit of funds have you got?

I've pieced together a sandybridge system excluding case with very similar specs to what you requested but with a slightly bigger SSD and a decent PSU but no case and got it at a price of £724.91 including delivery.

davidbarry101 · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:46

I'm looking to spend around £500-600, hard limit on £700. The SSD is just for OS and most frequent games/programs to be honest, I could probably do without.

Shadz · 7 Apr 2011 at 00:48

davidbarry101 said:
The SSD is just for OS and most frequent games/programs to be honest, I could probably do without.

To be honest with the price of a SSD on OcuK at the minute you cant really go
wrong, and there will be a noticable performance difference as well. I will
definately be getting a SSD in the next week or 2.

J-FRO · 7 Apr 2011 at 01:06

The only problem with this budget is £600 tops means really you need to sacrifice something like the GPU for a slightly cheaper one and most probably the SSD altogether at the moment.

The cheapest SSD OcUK will be selling is this and even still thats £47.99, not in stock yet and is only 30GB. Valid 64-bit Windows 7 will only take up something like 20GB but even then you will only have 10GB free for games etc.

And then adding the software on itself add's another £70 to the budget even when you do a software bundle and put in a 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue HDD.

My suggestion on that budget would be something like this:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £114.98
(£95.82) £114.98
(£95.82)
Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £104.98
(£87.48) £104.98
(£87.48)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache WD10EALX - OEM £47.99
(£39.99) £47.99
(£39.99)
XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply £65.99
(£54.99) £65.99
(£54.99)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Sub Total : £501.09
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £102.32
Total : £613.91

Have a look at thesebench marks of the 6850 against the 5850 as well and you'll see that the 5850 is actually better but for the power consumption which with a 650W PSU shouldnt be too much of an issue.

sk82jack · 7 Apr 2011 at 01:14

+1 for J-FRO's build. One the best set-ups your gonna get for £600 right now

Monster ninja · 7 Apr 2011 at 12:18

stick with your AMD build grab a good dont go with that intel rubbish

SouthEastBlue · 7 Apr 2011 at 13:14

Monster ninja said:
stick with your AMD build grab a good dont go with that intel rubbish

Are you serious? If he has the money, Intel is a much better option than AMD at the moment. :rolleyes:

Hydrogoo · 7 Apr 2011 at 14:24

Monster ninja said:
stick with your AMD build grab a good dont go with that intel rubbish

Fanboyism doesn't go far these days in the ways of Trolling

SouthEastBlue said:
Are you serious? If he has the money, Intel is a much better option than AMD at the moment.

Performance, Intel is better, price wise, AMD is better. individual choice IMO. Personally I'm hitting up on Intel as they do perform, no doubt about it!