New Build on a Budget

Rigaut

Rigaut

Rigaut

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Joined
3 Apr 2011
Posts
7
Hi to all,

Having been some 5/6 years since i built my last pc i have decided now is the time to upgrade my system.As always with my builds there is a constant struggle to get the best build for my budget so i thought it would be a good idea to share my thoughts and see what people could add to them.Having spent the last 4 days searching various forums and sites to try and find the best best spec per £ tower im struggling with making my descision on various components.Below is a list of my needs and the build ive come up with,i would appreciate anybodys views on this build and any improvements they can make.

I love gaming but also enjoy 3D modeling and animating in my spare time. I will be starting a degreee in September in Computer Animation so i would like to try balance my rig for both gaming and use of 3D software programs like: 3DS Max, Maya, Zbrush and various Adobe software.For this reason i have cancelled out buying any quadro or firegl cards .My original budget was a very weak £500 ( Just for tower. I already have monitors and dvd rom drives) but i have now pushed this amount up to around the £700 mark.As the budget has already risen im pretty much at the limit of what i can spend but i may be able to stretch further as long as the extra spend is justifiable.

Below is my shopping list and the total cost.

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99

AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1100T Black Edition 3.30GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £167.99

Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 AMD 890FX (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98

OCZ StealthXStream 2 700W Power Supply £57.98

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD6402AAEX) £49.99

Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £38.39

All items will be purchased from this site and the total cost of the build is £693 (although some items are "this weeks offer items")

The mainstruggle for me is the long battle of "amd vs Intel" There are core i7's that can be bought for the same price as the X6 and im struggling to compare to two.Im also looking into "Ati vs Nvidia" as the specs of Ati cards within the same price range of the 560 ti are quite attractive also.
In the past ive been a big nvidia fan but ive been hearing better things from ati cards since the were taken over by amd.


As i said earlier im really struggling to make descisions when it comes to this build and im desperate to get the most bang for my buck! so all help/improvents/views are welcome and much appreciated.

Thanks,


This post was supposed to be Five lines long!
 
Get an i5 2500K, a P67 board and an aftermarket cooler instead of the X6 and board (despite the lack of hyperthreading, the i5 is so much faster that the X6 is pointless), and instead of the 560Ti, get yourself a GTX 460, or AMD 6850. (Or, if you're ordering tonight, a 5850 for £107). The 560 is massive overkill for 1080p.

I'd also switch your hard drive for the F3 1TB- it's cheaper, has more space, and is just as fast.
 
Wow! quick response. I have only just found this site yesterday but it seems like a really good forum.Thanks for your advice and thoughts.There are so many different gpu's,hdd's,cpus' and motherboards on the market within similar price ranges it can be hard to weigh up the different specs between them.The reason i chose the 560ti over the 460 was for the improved stream processing power which i believe would be an advantage for my modeling and rendering needs.The 6850 was my choice card for Ati but was still unsure of how that card would perfom over the 460 or 560.Point noted on the hd. i have never owned a samsung drive and was going for the WD as they have seemed a good drive in the past. Heres some benchmarks for the i5 vs X6.if true or accurate the i5 looks impressive.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Prod....48.49.50.51.52.53.54.55.56.57.60.61.62.63.64

Thanks again for your post
 
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I'd go for this if it was my budget

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE Shogun 2 Game £167.99
(£139.99) £167.99
(£139.99)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £144.98
(£120.82) £144.98
(£120.82)
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £114.98
(£95.82) £114.98
(£95.82)
Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £58.98
(£49.15) £58.98
(£49.15)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £38.39
(£31.99) £38.39
(£31.99)
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
(£12.49) £14.99
(£12.49)
Sub Total : £541.06
Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £108.21
Total : £649.27

A 460 is an option, so is a 5850. The case is also 100% personal preference.

GPU comparison, http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/313?vs=291
 
Thanks Rexton Thats a nice setup there and youve brought it alll in for a really nice total price.i must have overlooked the 6850 for £144.98 as the one i was looking at was nearer to £200.Considering i wont be needing the dvd writer i could shave another £15 off the total build cost.I think i would have had a clearer view had i just been gearing the build towards gaming.But trying to balance my needs towards 3d software has left me questioning everything.What do you feel about the i7 2600k vs the i5 2500k? the difference in price vs performance doesnt see worth it.
 
The 2600k only really offers hyper-threading at an extra cost, it's of no advantage towards gaming, and little to 3d rendering. The 2500k will suffice perfectly.
 
Thanks again m8. Im questioning the 530w psu you have up there. although for now once the rig is bought i willl only be running a single hd, dvd,and graphics card i would like to have the option and watts if need be to pack the tower out with extra drives and cards. I was thinking that i would prob need a 600w psu atleast and was opting for a 700w just to be safe. ive never heard of the bequiet any comments on the quality? as i really wanted as solid a psu as i could for the price.I was also looking at the Corsair TX 650W V2 .

Thanks again.
 
A more power hungry system with two 6850's won't pull more than 450w under heavy load, I'm safe in saying you won't need more. The BeQuiet is also a good solid PSU with high popularity, I wouldn't worry about that.

Edit: Seen your below post, this weeks offers won't end until wednesday, so if you order before then you should be fine.
 
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To be honest J fro im not even sure there that much performance difference between the 1600 and the 1333 i was jsut going on the "bigger is better " theory.Unfortunatley for me i have only just found this site and its prob gonna be mon/tues before my finances are in order so i will miss out on some of this weeks offers i have seen.

Cheers bud,
 
Much appreciated m8.Theres nothing worse than paying your ££'s and then realising you could have done better for your money.Its nice to be able get advice from people and make more of an informed decision.

Cheers ;)
 
Hi all i was just looking at this Graphics card as extra option. I am unsure as to whether the extra stream processing would be more of an advantage for my modeling/animation needs.Also im unsure of how this 5870 measures up against the 6850

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=

I think im quite settled on the rest of the build now but im still struggling with whether or not to go with ati or nvidia. Im prob looking at the the card above,the 6850 black editon mentioned by Rexton above or the nvidia card below or similar nvidia cards

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-136-GW

I would welcome any extra thoughts towards ati vs nvdia As far as customer service,Drivers,bang for ya buck etc that could make this decision easier.The problem is the lack of uderstanding i have between how ati and nvidia rate the stream processor systems and which i can benifit from the most.Does anyone know for example if nvidia cards are more stable and less buggy for use with 3d modeling software over Ati?

Thanks again youve been a great help :)
 
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