New Tower Build -Spec Advise

MoFish · 14 Jan 2011 at 19:41

Hello all,

I'm looking to get myself a new PC (tower only) for general use and the odd bit of gaming, but have not been in the loop of new computer parts for a while now and am not sure what is the best bang for my buck.

I would be looking to spend around £400-£500.

Any help would be much appreciated in spec'ing me a computer system based on components or suggesting a pre-build system from OC-UK which you think would be suitable.

Obviously I would like the best PC for my money, and would like the ability to play some of the new PC games out if possible.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Mofish

stulid · 14 Jan 2011 at 19:45

Need an operating system?

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £112.79
(£93.99) £112.79
(£93.99)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5830 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card supplied with AVP PC-Game £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £83.99
(£69.99) £83.99
(£69.99)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £50.03
(£41.69) £50.03
(£41.69)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.49
(£10.41) £12.49
(£10.41)
Sub Total : £422.16
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £86.53
Total : £519.19

========================================================================
without win7

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £112.79
(£93.99) £112.79
(£93.99)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £81.70
(£68.08) £81.70
(£68.08)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.49
(£10.41) £12.49
(£10.41)
Sub Total : £395.23
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £81.15
Total : £486.88

MoFish · 14 Jan 2011 at 19:49

Thanks for the quick reply stulid, I will take a look into these parts you suggested.

Will this manage to run some of the latest games etc?

Much appreciated,

stulid · 14 Jan 2011 at 19:52

MoFish said:
Thanks for the quick reply stulid, I will take a look into these parts you suggested.

Will this manage to run some of the latest games etc?

Much appreciated,

yes it will easily, but here are the builds again with a 500Gb hardrive, made a slight booboo with speccing a 1TB drive, the prices are now a lot more keen.

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £112.79
(£93.99) £112.79
(£93.99)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5830 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card supplied with AVP PC-Game £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £83.99
(£69.99) £83.99
(£69.99)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £50.03
(£41.69) £50.03
(£41.69)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £27.98
(£23.32) £27.98
(£23.32)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.49
(£10.41) £12.49
(£10.41)
Sub Total : £411.32
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £84.26
Total : £505.58

======================================================

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £112.79
(£93.99) £112.79
(£93.99)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £81.70
(£68.08) £81.70
(£68.08)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £46.99
(£39.16) £46.99
(£39.16)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Silverstone SST-PS03B Precision Midi Tower Case - Black £40.84
(£34.03) £40.84
(£34.03)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £27.98
(£23.32) £27.98
(£23.32)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.49
(£10.41) £12.49
(£10.41)
Sub Total : £403.97
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £83.14
Total : £498.86

MoFish · 14 Jan 2011 at 19:55

Sorry forgot to mention i dont need an OS but noticed you posted one without for me.

Thanks for your help

stulid · 14 Jan 2011 at 19:57

altered the one without win7 slightly, to include a better psu and case,

MoFish · 14 Jan 2011 at 19:57

I noticed on these bottom builds you used on one a GeForce GTX 460 and the other a XFX ATI Radeon HD 5830 1024MB. Are these just options available? Which of these bottom two specs would you suggest?

MoFish · 14 Jan 2011 at 19:59

Is the following your latest one? ie the one you suggest?

without win7

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £112.79
(£93.99) £112.79
(£93.99)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £81.70
(£68.08) £81.70
(£68.08)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.49
(£10.41) £12.49
(£10.41)
Sub Total : £395.23
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £81.15
Total : £486.88

Thanks Stulid!

stulid · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:00

Heres a comparison of 5830 vs GTX460 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/171?vs=156

It use to be 5770 vs GTX460 but now the price of the 5830 is the same as a 5770 its a no brainer(comparing 5830 vs 5770)

The very last build above without win7 is now at its best optimal selection (have changed the case and a psu with two PCI-E connectors)

MoFish · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:03

Thanks for all your help Stulid.

Just to clarify before proceeding, this is the final list we decided on..

------

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £112.79
(£93.99) £112.79
(£93.99)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £81.70
(£68.08) £81.70
(£68.08)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £46.99
(£39.16) £46.99
(£39.16)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Silverstone SST-PS03B Precision Midi Tower Case - Black £40.84
(£34.03) £40.84
(£34.03)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £27.98
(£23.32) £27.98
(£23.32)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.49
(£10.41) £12.49
(£10.41)
Sub Total : £403.97
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £83.14
Total : £498.86

----

stulid · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:04

MoFish · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:05

thanks

stulid · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:20

I have a spec thats a little different if you would like to see it? buts its mainly a gaming setup.

MoFish · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:23

sure let me have a look

stulid · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:24

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £89.99
(£74.99) £179.98
(£149.98)
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Foxconn A7DA-S 3.0 AMD 790GX (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £46.99
(£39.16) £46.99
(£39.16)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £27.98
(£23.32) £27.98
(£23.32)
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £26.99
(£22.49) £26.99
(£22.49)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.49
(£10.41) £12.49
(£10.41)
Sub Total : £405.33
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £83.42
Total : £500.50

two 5770 in crossfire are as good as a 5870.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5770-hd5750-crossfirex.html

A 5870 vs GTX460 768mb - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/162?vs=156

but to get the price down have had to swap the cpu - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/188?vs=88

Cookeh · 14 Jan 2011 at 21:04

I wouldn't say an Athlon II is suitable to run Crossfire.

The 500W PSU in the bundle should be enough to power the CF set-up, so would it be better to do that and combine above build with a Phenom II

stulid · 14 Jan 2011 at 21:15

Cookeh said:
I wouldn't say an Athlon II is suitable to run Crossfire.

what makes you say that? the chipset on the motherboard controls all the pci-e lanes.

Cookeh · 14 Jan 2011 at 21:38

stulid said:
what makes you say that? the chipset on the motherboard controls all the pci-e lanes.

Well, seeing as a Phenom II X4 can be a bottleneck for high-mid/high graphics cards in CrossFire I imagine a Athlon II X4 would be a bottleneck for Crossfire mid range graphics.

Feel free to correct me, I actually want to be wrong about this

Dave0w · 14 Jan 2011 at 21:50

simple, it will play games and will last a long time before needing upgrade AMD X6

Edit: lol forgot ram pushing it £40 over budget
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

stulid · 14 Jan 2011 at 21:54

There will be a performance difference, thought you meant Crossfire would just fail big time with an Athlon.

Did find this - http://www.legionhardware.com/artic...ossfire_cpu_scaling_performance_part_1,5.html

shows some cpus with a 5870 crossfire setup