PC refresh - seeking advice

GoldenHornet · 12 Aug 2010 at 09:12

I'm looking to refresh my current machine which is getting pretty outdated. In fact I'm keeping the case, power supply and optical drive and replacing everything else

I had a build in mind but have a couple of questions...

1. The page for the motherboard actually links to Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit which as far as I can see is faster than the motherboard can handle but is cheaper than the 1333MHz equivalent. Can I use this instead?

2. Would I be better off with the OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive instead of the Intel drive? I use the machine almost exclusively for playing City of Heroes and so only use about 30-40GB of disk space currently.

3. Lots of people in the GTX460 thread seem to be loving the Gigabyte card which OCUK isn't stocking. Is this better than the MSI one I've listed? Is it worth sourcing that elsewhere?

Cheers.

Biz.Kid09 · 12 Aug 2010 at 09:23

I would go for the 64gb C300 instead of the 80gb as its faster and 64 is more than enough for windows and a game or two then store everything else on another hard drive....the rest of your pc looks pretty much perfect i would suggest a aftermarket cooler though so you can overclock

and with regards to GTX 460 if you can get the Gigabyte cheaper elsewhere then get that if not MSI are still a good brand

Orcvader · 12 Aug 2010 at 10:53

Yes you can use 1600mhz RAM, a lot of us are including myself

I would take on Biz's advice, then you'll have a nice perfect build. What PSU do you currently have? Just want to make sure it can power everything

wilko49 · 12 Aug 2010 at 12:27

Yes you can use the faster RAM. It will default to running at 1333MHz though, so you will have to set it to run at 1600MHz.

GoldenHornet · 12 Aug 2010 at 13:36

The current power supply is a Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 650W which I hope is enough.

1. Thanks for the info re: the RAM, I'll swap that over.

2. I hadn't considered the Crucial C300, it seems to be much slower writing than the OCZ? Is the increased read speed noticeably quicker? Does it make up for the slow write speed?

Do people have a recommendation for a cheapish, quiet cpu cooler for AM3?

Cheers.

EDIT:

While I'm here, does anyone have a recommendation for a cheapish sound card? I've always stuck with the on-board sounds up to this point but if there's a decent budget option that would noticeably improve the sound quality I can squeeze it into the budget somewhere