PC Build check

Vaglin · 27 Dec 2008 at 11:45

Morning guys,

I hope you all had a god christmas

anyway, I've been asked to build a machine for my brother in law, with a budget of £550 max.

I've put the following together and would like your feedback, If you think I can do better for the price, please let me know.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

semi-pro waster · 27 Dec 2008 at 11:49

That looks pretty much fine, you might be recommended to go for an Intel based machine as they can often overclock further but if that isn't a consideration that ought to be decent enough. I might be tempted to go for a larger hard drive though since they are so cheap at present.

OneTime · 27 Dec 2008 at 12:24

Intel would be the smarter option. Gives you better room to upgrade in the future (Although i7 is the next generation chip).

Something like:

Could drop down to a 500watt PSU to get the £550 budget. 600watt just gives you room to add a 2nd GPU etc.

Atrox Moris · 27 Dec 2008 at 13:02

I'm putting together an AMD based machine myself with either the; Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H or Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H motherboards. Both use the AMD 780G chipset which has gotten very good reviews.

The Gigabyte boards I listed will support 16GB of 1066 DDR2 with AM2+ and will support AM3 processors (when they're out in January or February time). So in terms of "future proofing" you'll definately be able to upgrade more than you would with an Intel 775 based board and CPU.

Bundle 1 : AM2+ & 1066 DDR2 MicroATX.
Bundle 2 : AM2+ & 1066 DDR2 ATX.
Bundle 3 : AM2 & 800 DDR2 ATX.
Bundle 4 : AM2 & 800 DDR2 MicroATX.

What you choose to use along with those recommended bundles is up to you

Vaglin · 27 Dec 2008 at 20:46

Thanks for the help guys

You've given me some additional options to think about, luckily I have until January to come up with a solid spec and go from there.

Which do you think is better? the Antec 300 or a Llan-Li PC-7A Plus II?

Thanks again

Atrox Moris · 27 Dec 2008 at 21:52

Personally I've always used Antec enclosures for my builds. No other reason than personal preference really. If your machine needs a floppy drive (for RAID drivers or whatever) I suppose the Lian Li would make more sense as it has floppy bays, whereas you would have to use a USB floppy with the Antec (and I'm not even sure that would work as I've never done it myself).

Aesthetically, I prefer the 300. The major point is going to be cost and either way, once you bundle it with a PSU, you're going to be paying £100 or around that for either, so again it's down to personal preference.

Edit: I placed my order earlier today for the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H with a 5000+ processor and an Antec NSK3480, it's going to be my Linux box.