Need help with emergency build £600

xsistor · 26 Dec 2010 at 00:14

My laptop broke down so I need a computer super quick. :/ I heard the GTX 460 had some quality control issues so there are some faulty parts out there. Should I be worried? I really need this system ASAP for university work. I can't afford downtime at this point :/

Also please recommend a better mainboard if I want to go SLI with dual GTX 460s later. If a cheap SLI mainboard can't be bought I may just have to upgrade my mainboard when i am upgrading to SLI.

Thanks!!!

Parts List:
Asus GeForce GTX 460 Direct CU TOP 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£110.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-238-AS

Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156)
£82.24
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-312-IN

OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply
£63.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-032-OC

Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard
£61.69
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-233-GI
Please suggest a different board if I can get SLI support cheap

Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
£56.39
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-041-PA

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM
£51.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-342-WD

Coolermaster RC-600 Gladiator Case - Black [RC-600]
£50.98
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-178-CM

Logitech UltraX Premium Keyboard - OEM (920-000189) [920-000189]
£12.98
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=KB-106-LG

LiteOn IHAS124 - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM drive - Serial ATA
£11.74
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-097-LO

Total with shipping: £517.68

BenQ G2220HD 22" TFT Monitor 1920x1080 300cd/m2 40000:1 (dynamic) 5ms 16:9 VGA/DVI Glossy Black
£97.99
http://www.******.com/product/158568
I think this is the ideal monitor. There are some that are about £15 cheaper but at 1440x900 resolution and smaller screen.

GRAND TOTAL: £615.67 with delivery (£603.17 without )

Freddie589 · 26 Dec 2010 at 01:24

that PSU does not support SLI i would recommend using this one instead, the GTX 460 will be fine although it would be worth pushing for the 1GB card as their will be a significant improvement, i3 will be suitable for uni work and gaming, the board you selected will surport SLI but im not sure how much speed each port will give out, you preferably want 8x both ways (i will have a look in the morning for you), nice hard drive, although do you really need a sata 6GB/S hard drive? you could proberly knock the price down a bit by getting this which is a much bigger drive for the money and the performance increase would not be massive on the WD.
just to say you would be better off waiting for sand bridge but in your situation this is the suitable system.
freddie589

**edit**
got this from gigabytes website:
# 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16) (Note 5) (The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
# *1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4) (Note 6)

it says that in SLI one slot would be running at 16x and the other at 4X so SLI would not be worth it on this board

xsistor · 26 Dec 2010 at 02:16

How do you do? I do maths. So my uni work is research on fractal geometry, which means I have to load tonnes of huge fractal shapes on and off the hard disk. I also forgot to mention, I will be gaming during my time off from uni! That's why I picked the WD Black because hard drives are usually the slowest link. And I do have a separate 1.5 TB drive for my data storage needs. At any rate, I will consider your Samsung F3 suggestion. It does knock a bit off the total.

I'll swap out the PSU for the Antec one. (Heh, I actually thought the 700w one saying SLI certified was a sureshot-- go figure!)

The mainboard I picked says (Supports ATI CrossFire) -- do the new boards support SLI even if they don't mention it? Would I need a P55 board instead of H55 for 8x/8x SLI support? ... On another note, I heard somewhere that H55 is needed to make use of the on chip GPU on the i3 processor. Any truth to that? (I'm thinking of worst case scenarios where my GTX 460 fails out of the blue and I have to finish a report in a few days -- crappy on chip GPU would be better than nothing :/ )

Thanks for the input!

xsistor · 26 Dec 2010 at 06:51

hi. I've swapped a few things out. I decided -- to hell with upgradability. I'm going to put this together as a throw away system. If I need something better in some time, I'll just build a new one. It's pretty tight sticking to my budget and also getting in upgradability. Here's my current build.

Asus GeForce GTX 460
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-238-AS

Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-312-IN

Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-233-GI

Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-041-PA

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-342-WD

Corsair CX 500W ATX Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-034-CS

Coolermaster Elite 335 Case
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-160-CM

Keyboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=KB-106-LG

DVD Drive
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-097-LO

TOTAL: £480.69 with delivery

Monitor comes to another £100. So that's just under £600. I am planning to order late on the 26th. Please lemme know if there are any probs with my build.

Thank you.

Tuvoc · 26 Dec 2010 at 06:53

Google "samsung f3 humming" and decide if you still want one. Mine drives em crazy, worst purchase I have ever made

RJC · 26 Dec 2010 at 08:33

The 2nd spec looks ok, only certain Intel boards do SLI and Crossfire. Mainly this is on the P55 chipset.

I have been running several Samsung F3 1tb abd they have been very good and quiet.

Freddie589 · 26 Dec 2010 at 10:14

if you want to SLI then you will have to change that psu (you will have to change it anyway becouse it only has 1XPCI 8 pin connecter and you need at least 2X 6 pin)

so this if SLI

this if not

xsistor · 26 Dec 2010 at 13:29

Thanks, chaps! That's a cool PSU there. That's the computer sorted. I've only got 1 last question...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-127-MS&tool=3

This says OEM but it will work fine on a new system won't it?

Just thought I'll make sure before I buy.

Cheers!

RJC · 26 Dec 2010 at 13:36

Yes, but being OEM is tied to the motherboard it was first installed on, if you change the board ideally you will require a new license.

xsistor · 26 Dec 2010 at 17:10

That makes sense. I went ahead and ordered the lot.
Thanks for al the help.
Now we play the waiting game...

Waiting game sucks :/ bored already.

Freddie589 · 26 Dec 2010 at 19:47

xsistor said:
That makes sense. I went ahead and ordered the lot.
Thanks for al the help.
Now we play the waiting game...

good luck hope it goes well for you