MY first time building a computer - Just a couple of questions

z-layrex · 22 Jun 2011 at 09:57

Hi all. Finally at a point in my life where I can afford to get a gaming PC again. I'm not very good with computers but my Dad is going to help me build it, I just thought this would be the best place to ask a couple of questions I have.

Been doing a lot of reading, as you can imagine for someone where most of this is alien, it has been very hard to even begin to understand it all.

I'm only looking to spend under £700 because that is all I can really justify spending, and all I want is a decent PC for playing games to a nice enough standard, listening to music and obviously the internet.

Here is what i'm buying after much deliberation:

XFX ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz (Socket AM3)
Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 PCI-Express ATX Motherboard
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599)
Antec High Current Gamer 620W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ)
Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

I want to go AMD as I have fond memories of it as a teenager (I know they don't compare to intel at the moment, but it means I can get a better graphics card and have an easy route to upgrade in future apparently).

The 2 questions I had were, will I need any extra fans if i'm not overclocking anything? Also, I have found 8GB of 1333 corsair RAM for very cheap on another site, would I notice the difference between this and 1600?

Thanks for any help everyone.

z-layrex · 22 Jun 2011 at 10:19

stulid said:
Hi there.

If your positive you are set on AMD? then thats a fine build, but a few little tweaks.

Antec100 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-161-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160

Cheaper/newer/black interior.

Which ever case you decide add an extra 120mm fan as the 100 and 300 dont come with one fitted to the front.

AMD 955BE - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1943

£10 less and because these have unlocked multipliers its real simple to increase this figure and reach the same clock speeds as higher rated CPU's

Oh ok, are you sure that wouldn't require more cooling?

Yeah kind of sure, that AMD will be more than good enough for anything coming out this year surely, and it means I can just get a BD CPU next year and have the nice GPU now. Also the Antec 100 looks ace, shall swap that in the basket.

Thank for the replies!

z-layrex · 22 Jun 2011 at 10:32

Knew this place wouldn't be a let down, thanks so much. I will get the 955, add a fan to front and think i'll grab that offer on the ram too.

For the past few years I always thought you had to spend over a grand to build a decent PC, what nonsense!

z-layrex · 24 Jun 2011 at 16:42

Hey, sorry to res my topic, but I managed to get a bit more money aside so decided to go Intel using the advice given. Just thought I would check this with you before I buy:

-Antec 100 case
-Corsair 600w PSU
-i5 2500k
-MSI P67A-C43
-MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB
-6gb RAM
-Samsung 1tb HDD
-Sony 24x DVDR
-120mm case fan for front of antec 100

Thanks once again for any help, really appreciate having a trustworthy board like this to ask on when it involves spending this much money.

z-layrex · 24 Jun 2011 at 16:50

stulid said:
6GB of RAM sounds like a triple channel kit, Sandybridge needs dual channel in 2X2GB=4GB or 2X4GB=8GB

Apart from that issue the spec is ok.

Oops! Better change that.

Thanks again.

z-layrex · 25 Jun 2011 at 17:54

daveash said:
Just out of curiosity, what made you choose the 570?

Well I said to myself I want to spend around 250 on the graphics card, the 570 seemed to get really positive reviews. I'm not ordering until sunday evening so i'm open to suggestions. I've just realised I didn't account for bloody windows 7 in this build, might have to go for a sub £200 card anyway! How's the 560Ti or 6950?

Have you considered a z68 instead of a p67?

I just don't think the features of the z68 boards really matter for me (not that I know much, just did a quick google when I was looking at motherboards). Feel free to tell me i'm wrong!

Thanks for the advice for the PSU and motherboard guys shall swap them over.