** New PC build - Your advice please! **

Gigglinpin

Gigglinpin

Gigglinpin

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Joined
16 May 2006
Posts
4
Location
Manchester, UK
Hi all,

The last time I built a PC was a good 4 or 5 years ago, I guess. I am looking to rebuild my current PC over the next week or so with a new:

  • CPU & Fan
  • Motherboard
  • RAM
  • Graphics Card
I have recently purchased a new PSU (Thermaltake PurePower 560W) and the HDD I have is fine (not ‘SATA’, if that makes any difference?!).

I do not use my PC for gaming, so the graphics card doesn’t need to be anything majorly fancy in that respect. I use it mainly for amateur web design, DVD creation, photo manipulation in Photoshop, DVD copying and using MS Office software. Quite often, I will be running several apps at one time. I am not really interested in overclocking, either, mainly because I don’t know why I’d need to do it, and even if I did, wouldn’t know where to start!!!

A major consideration is that I need the PC to be as quiet as possible, since it is used in the bedroom and I like to leave it on overnight to download.

I have a budget of around £400, and would like to buy something which is as future-proof as currently possible! I have been looking at both the single and dual core processors from Intel and AMD, and have been looking at these two bundles from OC:

  • Intel P4 LGA775 930 Dual Core 3.0GHz Retail / Abit AW8 / 2GB Corsair PC5400 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-038-OK)
  • Price: £299.85 (£352.32 Including VAT at 17.5%)

  • AMD Athlon X2 3800 Retail / Asus A8N-SLi SE / 1GB Geil PC3200 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-030-OK)
  • Price: £274.85 (£322.95 Including VAT at 17.5%)

I have no idea what is compatible with what, so am not sure where to start with all this really. I am completely out of touch with all this, so please make your replies newbie-friendly! :)

Your suggestions would be much appreciated!

Many thanks :D


Gigglinpin

P.S. I am in the process of reading through the ‘Ultimate Guide - What to buy, and how to build!’ thread, but am just after some of your opinions on what YOU think I’m best buying.
 
Both bundles look pretty good. I would probably go for the AMD bundle personally.

The stock cooler on the X2s is pretty good, though I am not sure how quiet they are. If you want absolute quiet then a Scythe Ninja is probably what you are after.

Intermediate option is an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro. At about 15 quid its one of the best coolers going and isnt overly loud, nearly silent at idle.

Since you dont need a fancy gfx card, I would just get the cheapest one you can, although watch out for any that rob system RAM.

EDIT: Welcome to the forums! Kiss a third of your day goodbye :P

SiriusB
 
AMD seems to be flavour of the year, but Intel's conroe system is a month or two away.

If you *need* a system now, go AMD, if you can wait, wait for the Conroe's to appear, it'll change the market regardless of wether you go conroe or not.
 
Welcome to the forums, as said if buying now I'd go X2 but I'd try to go with 2gb Ram. Maybe something like this, it has onboard graphics which will be fine for non-demanding tasks, the chipset is passively cooled and I've included an Arctic Freezer 64 so it should be about as quiet as you can reasonably get for the price. Your old hard drive will be fine as well as motherboards still have IDE ports :)

CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£159.95 £159.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£14.49 £14.49
MB-119-AS Asus A8N-VM CSM Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI Express Motherboard (MB-119-AS)
£47.95 £47.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£104.95 £104.95
Subtotal £327.34
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.25
VAT £58.73
Total £394.32
 
SiriusB - thanks very much for your advice. I currently have an AMD and have been very happy with it. It was just that the Intel chip appears to outperform it (from the chip comparison tables on the 'Tom's Hardware' site). Regarding the graphics card, which type would I need to get though - AGP or PCI? Or does that depend on which mobo I choose? And which of the main makes is the best? :confused:

Earlyflash - thanks for that info. I could wait a month, I guess, but is it REALLY worth it?? Bearing in mind that technology changes every month or two anyway, won't I be advised in July to hang on for another couple of months for some new technology on the horizon?

semi-pro waster - yes, I agree that 2GB RAM would be a good idea. Thanks a lot for working out that package for me :) With regards to on-board graphics capabilities, will it be able to handle the work I'll be doing on Photoshop or will an additional card be necessary? Do most new mobo's have suitable on-board graphics to deal with what I need?


I guess the main question on my mind at the moment is: should I buy now or wait a few months till this new Intel technology comes in?

Thank you all for your replies - keep 'em coming! :cool:
 
Whenever anyone has asked "should I wait for Conroe/AM2" I just say no lol. You could be waiting for the rest of your life for the "best time" to buy.

As for the comparison between the chips... meh its your choice. Go with whatever you think is best. I still say AMD :D

As for graphics card I used Photoshop CS2 with absolutely no trouble on an ATI 9600 so anything remotely newer would handle it no problem. As for whether you go AGP or PCI-E is another matter.

If you want to go AGP you have to make sure your board supports it. The problem with this is if down the line you want to upgrade, having an AGP board will severely limit your choice. Personally I would get a PCI-E board and a PCI-E card. This way you have the luxury of being able to upgrade if and when the mood strikes lol :D

SiriusB
 
The Abit AW8(Intel solution) uses PCI-E graphics cards. Most times I've checked the A64s were ahead of the Intel equivalents for a similar price but it does depend slightly on what you are doing, I'm mainly looking at gaming performance. I tend to use Asus motherboards as I've always found them to be solid and stable but I don't know if that applies for Intel as well, I'd assume it does though.

The onboard graphics should be fine for Photoshop I'd think as from what I understand a large amount of Ram is more important but ideally I suppose you'd have both 2gb Ram and a separate graphics card to gain maximum performance. Maybe the onboard capabilities need looked into a bit more as Intel and an separate graphics card may work out cheaper and better in your situation.

Most motherboards don't have any form of onboard graphics cards any more, it is normally only the MicroATX models that do.
 
Honestly, I think that it is worth waiting. As I said, if you NEED a machine now, go buy one, if you can wait, I would. Even if you get the AMD, it'll most likely be cheaper as a result.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Welcome to the forums, as said if buying now I'd go X2 but I'd try to go with 2gb Ram. Maybe something like this, it has onboard graphics which will be fine for non-demanding tasks, the chipset is passively cooled and I've included an Arctic Freezer 64 so it should be about as quiet as you can reasonably get for the price. Your old hard drive will be fine as well as motherboards still have IDE ports :)

CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£159.95 £159.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£14.49 £14.49
MB-119-AS Asus A8N-VM CSM Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI Express Motherboard (MB-119-AS)
£47.95 £47.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£104.95 £104.95
Subtotal £327.34
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.25
VAT £58.73
Total £394.32
Click to expand...

personally i say go with this spec, should do very well for your intended use.
this system will be just ass good now as in a months time, & youll have had more time to enjoy it, which is why we buy these things isnt it.. to use & enjoy!
 
Thanks all for your replies.

I think I'll go for that setup then... so long as you're sure the onboard graphics on the Asus A8N-VM CSM Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI Express Motherboard will be able to cope with the Photoshop tasks?
 
Ok, after doing my research and following your wonderful advice, I think I've decided on my final spec:

Asus A8N VM CSM Socket 939
AMD Athlon64 X2 3800 512K Retail Socket 939
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 PRO
Corsair Twinx 2x1GB matched XMS3200 3200PT Platinum

Total: £405.85 inc VAT

What do you think? The mobo has onboard graphics capabilities, so that should do me for what I need (for now, anyway!) :)

One question I do have is with regards to the memory. I have a choice of two types of Corsair memory, with about £3 difference between them. They are:

3200PT
3200C2PT

Which one should I get?

And will this system run really quiet for the price? :rolleyes:
 
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