New build, first time and on a budget ;)

chunky975

chunky975

chunky975

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23 May 2010
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3
Hey everyone, this is my first post here so hi :)

I am going to be building a computer soon which will be my first one so I am just wanting good specs but nothing that is terrible and nothing that is amazing.
[Updated]So far i have this:

PSU - OCZ 400W Stealth XStream PSU - 140mm Fan 1x PCI-E 4x SATA

ODD - Pioneer DVR S18LBK 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA - Retail Box Black with Software

CPU Cooler - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 Socket 775, 1156, 1366, AM2, AM3 Heatpipe CPU Cooler

Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Socket AM3 3.2 GHz 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

RAM - Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V

HDD - Western Digital WD5001AALS 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM Caviar Black

Motherboard - Asus M4A87TD EVO 870 Socket AM3 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard

Case - NZXT Tempest EVO Midi Tower Case - No PSU

Graphics Card - Sapphire HD 5450 1GB DDR3 HDMI DVI VGA Out PCI-E Low Profile Graphics Card

Please note that i pretty much just copy and pasted that so sorry if it is a bit messy.

I would just like to know if these specs would be good for a decent computer for a guy on a budget. As i said, this is my first build i am a complete noob and would like a bit of guidance please and i want to keep costs low and the build nice and easy.

Also i would like to get a good case because i hopefully can just keep getting new components and upgrading this instead of building entirely new computers.

This in total is costing me £518 and I don't want to spend much more than that.

I also came across Compaq CQ5306uk Desktop which is about £120 cheaper and has similar specs but includes peripherals and OS (i don't need these as i have them lying around but it was just to give you an idea of what you're getting).

So thanks for reading this and any advice is appreciated
 
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the psu is a cheap budget one, buy a good ocz or similar.

and the money spent on a SSD could get you a graphics card upgrade.

something like this

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I would go for the OCZ StealthXStream 400W or the Be Quiet Pure Power 530W if you are going to get the parts from that retailer.

If you could spend the extra on a 500GB Caviar Black it would be worth it if you drop the SSD as suggested earlier.

I would normally recommend the F3 500GB but it seems some of the newer F3 drives have issues with the SB850 southbridge (even drunkenmaster confirmed this as he had the same issue too).

One of my mates did a build a few days ago with the Asus M4A87TD EVO and an F3 500GB and the disc would not work with the motherboard but was fine with two other motherboards he tried.
 
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Thanks for the advice guys :)

I did what you said and upgraded my graphics card, my PSU, HDD and CPU. I also downgraded my RAM slightly (from 1600MHz to 1333MHz) just to save £20 and i got rid of the SSD.

For the PSU I picked the OCZ Stealthxstream 400W and for the graphics card i went with the Sapphire HD 5450 1GB. The HDD i just went for the Caviar Black and i went for the Phenom II 995 quad core :)

And Gary* i will only be using this for some video and photo editing and maybe a couple of games but i have an xbox so i will rarely be playing games on this.
 
If you are not gaming the Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 would be worth a look. The IGP will be fine for normal usage and even has 128MB of dedicated DDR3 RAM.

The cheapest card I would get from that website for gaming would be an HD4670 GDDR3. The next step up would be an HD5670 GDDR5 or 9800GT GDDR3. The GTS250 and HD4850 are even faster.
 
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