Help me spec please - £300-£400

fRostiE · 3 Feb 2010 at 09:34

Hey,

I'm very behind on the latest trends and ins and outs of computer specing... but i've had a go!

Im looking to go Quad Core... 4Gb RAM... new motherboard needed to accommodate this... approx £400 budget.

You'll notice the two options below don't even max the budget... is there much reward for spending more than this... is it really needed?

I'm not hellbent on a pursuit for speed, just want something a bit quicker than my 2.6Ghz dual core / 2gb RAM / 8800GTX... please assist!

option 1 - Intel
___

Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - OEM - £143.03

Geil Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (GV34GB1333C7DC) - £82.98

Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard

Total : £317.58
___

option 2 - AMD
___

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £121.89

Geil Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (GV34GB1333C7DC) - £82.98

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AMD 770 (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £73.99

Total : £290.03

___

Right then, interesting questions... any benefit of Intel over AMD or the other way round?... any benefit on going for a different CPU / RAM / Motherboard?

As long as it runs some of the latest games (I know graphics isn't being purchased here... i currently have a 8800GTX of some description... if there is a major benefit in spending another £100 on a new graphics card then feel free to pop one into a spec.

I'm looking for bang for buck... but don't let the budget limit... if it comes out at £420 and there is a good return for going slightly over budget then I'm happy to hear it.

Help please

, you all know more than me!

SfnX · 3 Feb 2010 at 09:44

id definetly go for the core i5 sys, youll get a decent percentage in performance from the 955. plus overclockign it will do even more!

jamesgoss · 3 Feb 2010 at 09:59

Perhaps go for some ddr3 1600 ram for almost the same price? Could give you more flwxibilty with overclocking,though I suppose the same could be said of lower frequency but tighter latency memory. Someone else care to comment on this?

stulid · 3 Feb 2010 at 10:02

Maniacfest · 3 Feb 2010 at 10:05

Option 1 gets my vote. For gaming this is one of the strongest processors availible. As for GFX the 8800 will be able to run most of the latest games but you will have to reduce the settings quite a bit. Save up and get a 5850 would be your best bet imo.

fRostiE · 3 Feb 2010 at 10:51

Maniacfest said:
Save up and get a 5850 would be your best bet imo.

why not something like this for almost half the price:

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £119.98
- Core: 850MHz, Memory: 1024MB 4800MHz GDDR5, Stream Processors: 800, DirectX 11 Support, ATI CrossFireX Ready, ATI Eyefinity, ATI Stream, ATI Avivo HD, 2 Year Warranty.

instead of:

Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £240
- Core: 725MHz, Memory: 1024MB 4000MHz GDDR5, Stream Processors: 1440, DirectX 11 Support, ATI CrossFireX Ready, ATI Eyefinity, ATI Stream, ATI Avivo HD, 2 Year Warranty.

Just trying to learn, there is probably a very valid reason... is it those Stream Processors? worth the 50% extra price tag?

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 3 Feb 2010 at 11:34

fRostiE said:
Hey,

I'm very behind on the latest trends and ins and outs of computer specing... but i've had a go!

Im looking to go Quad Core... 4Gb RAM... new motherboard needed to accommodate this... approx £400 budget.

You'll notice the two options below don't even max the budget... is there much reward for spending more than this... is it really needed?

I'm not hellbent on a pursuit for speed, just want something a bit quicker than my 2.6Ghz dual core / 2gb RAM / 8800GTX... please assist!

option 1 - Intel
___

Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - OEM - £143.03

Geil Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (GV34GB1333C7DC) - £82.98

Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard

Total : £317.58
___

option 2 - AMD
___

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £121.89

Geil Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (GV34GB1333C7DC) - £82.98

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AMD 770 (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £73.99

Total : £290.03

___

Right then, interesting questions... any benefit of Intel over AMD or the other way round?... any benefit on going for a different CPU / RAM / Motherboard?

As long as it runs some of the latest games (I know graphics isn't being purchased here... i currently have a 8800GTX of some description... if there is a major benefit in spending another £100 on a new graphics card then feel free to pop one into a spec.

I'm looking for bang for buck... but don't let the budget limit... if it comes out at £420 and there is a good return for going slightly over budget then I'm happy to hear it.

Help please , you all know more than me!

You will need to add a cooler or go with the retail version of the Core i5 750 hence you are looking at another £15 to £20 on top of the price of the Core i5 750 setup.

If you have a reasonable motherboard then upgrading to a Core2 quad or AMD quad core (depends on what motherboard you have)and 2GB extra of RAM would be the best value option.

Here is an alternate AMD specification:

AMD Phenom II X4 955BE ~ £122

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=cp-244-am

asus m4a79xtd evo ~ £86

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

has an 8+2 phase vrm,vrm cooling and can do symmetrical crossfire at pci-e 2.0 8x. there are many motherboards under £100 which do asymmetrical crossfire meaning one card runs at pci-e 2.0 16x and the other at pci-e 2.0 4x and this affects crossfire performance afaik.

4gb 1600mhz ddr3 ram ~ £87

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=my-154-cs&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

if you get an hd5770 1gb you could add another one at a later date when prices are much lower and this would give you a huge performance boost.

a pair of hd5770 1gb cards in crossfire can at times even surpasses an hd5870 1gb:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1105/1/

these articles about crossfire performance and the cpus needed is good to read:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3533&p=1

http://www.modreactor.com/english/r...md-phenom-ii-955-be-vs-intel-core-i7-920.html

If you go for the Core i5 750 based setup I would advise you to go for a better motherbaord:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-363-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1495

It has an 8+2 phase VRM and all solid capacitors too. This will be useful when overclocking the processor.

fRostiE · 3 Feb 2010 at 12:44

Thanks Cat,

in terms of

8+2 phase VRM

what is this?

in terms of

symmetrical Crossfire at PCI-E 2.0 8X / asymmetrical Crossfire

could someone explain this a bit more to me please, is my top i5 spec (2x PCIe 2.0 x16 Slots) symmetrical (equal balance of both cards)???

fRostiE · 3 Feb 2010 at 13:38

Revised my spec:

Thoughts?

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 3 Feb 2010 at 13:43

fRostiE said:
Thanks Cat,

in terms of
what is this?

in terms of
could someone explain this a bit more to me please, is my top i5 spec (2x PCIe 2.0 x16 Slots) symmetrical (equal balance of both cards)???

The 8+2 phase VRM is generally better for overclocking especially if you are applying excess voltage.

If you run two graphics cards in Crossfire on the GA-P55-US3L one will run at PCI-E 2.0 16X and the other at PCI-E 2.0 4X:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...rboard&ProductID=3168&ProductName=GA-P55-US3L

This what it says on the specifications sheet for the motherboard:

" 1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16) (The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
2. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
3. 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
4. 4 x PCI slots "

The PCI-E slots are 16X PCI-E in length but electrically the second one is only running at PCI-E 2.0 4X.

In the more expensive P55 motherboards both slots will run at PCI-E 2.0 8X with two cards in Crossfire as this leads to better Crossfire performance!

This article has a list of P55 motherboards to avoid and why there is this limitation for the cheaper motherboards:

http://www.hardware-revolution.com/p55-motherboards-crossfire-sli-performance-problem/

Anyway if you only intend to go for a single card setup then what you have chosen will do the job very well!

fRostiE · 3 Feb 2010 at 13:51

Right i understand now, so for upgrading graphics capability in the future its best to have them running on a balance at 8x each... and I'm guessing its a fairly big difference in performance? Would be odd having 1 card do 3/4 the work and the other sitting there at 1/4 capacity when they're both as capable as the other?

Sorry for asking yet more questions, but what would be the cheapest motherboard for the i5 which would run both slots at PCI-E 2.0 8X ?

looks like it just became a £500 budget

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 3 Feb 2010 at 14:04

These are the cheapest symmetrical Crossfire capable P55 motherboards available on OcUK:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-208-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1495

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-204-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1495

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-359-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1495

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-359-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1495

They can all do Crossfire and SLI(obviously not at the same time though)!!

Here are the webpages for the motherboards:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...rboard&ProductID=3166&ProductName=GA-P55M-UD4

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...erboard&ProductID=3161&ProductName=GA-P55-UD4

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=j02KziJq95KbCQNm

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...erboard&ProductID=3159&ProductName=GA-P55-UD5

These comparions will give you an indication of the performance boost the Core i5 750 will have over the cheaper X4 955BE in games:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=109&p2=88

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/09/07/intel_lynnfield_core_i5_i7_processors/5

fRostiE · 3 Feb 2010 at 14:45

OK, I'm going to pass on the symmetrical Crossfire... i've not overclocked this machine in the 2.5 years i've had it so in another 2.5 years time i'll probably be upgrading again by £500 rather than wanting to slap another graphics card on... so does this setup below look alright? Anything to change (ignoring the symmetrical Crossfire)?

No compatibility issues... no major issue using the stock cooler?

Ricardox1 · 3 Feb 2010 at 15:18

Yep although I would go for the OEM version of the i5 to save yourself a few quid.

fRostiE · 3 Feb 2010 at 15:24

Ricardox1 said:
Yep although I would go for the OEM version of the i5 to save yourself a few quid.

but then you need to spend more than the amount saved on buying a heat sink dont you?

UltimateBadger · 3 Feb 2010 at 17:43

Good spec. Go buy and enjoy.

vocch · 3 Feb 2010 at 18:15

fRostiE said:
but then you need to spend more than the amount saved on buying a heat sink dont you?

But you would also be ready for clocking...as although your board is budget it is also very capable of hitting 4ghz...

you have the ram, chip, and board..the only thing missing is a decent cooler...

if you want a cheap capable cooler look at the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-029-CM&tool=3

fRostiE · 4 Feb 2010 at 11:08

sorry to bring this one back from the brink...

would all this run fine it all run on a 520w OCZ PSU?

also running 1 DVD-RW / 2-3 HDDs... nothing major

JimAroo · 4 Feb 2010 at 12:51

fRostiE said:
sorry to bring this one back from the brink...

would all this run fine it all run on a 520w OCZ PSU?

also running 1 DVD-RW / 2-3 HDDs... nothing major

It should cope fine. The i5's and 5770's are very efficient.

I'm looking at purchasing the exact same parts. Just can't bring myself to press the buy button!