Please check my build :)

Tancred · 26 Aug 2009 at 13:14

Hi

Long time reader, first time builder.
I need a new system. It will dual boot Debian and Windows 7. For gaming I play WOW, and want to play games like Wolfenstein and the new Star Wars MMO. In a perfect world I would like this box to be hitting the recommended specs for new games for 2-ish years.

Oh and I run a media server at home so this box does not need lots of disk.

Any advice would be great

Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 896MB GDDR3 £109.99

Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 £66.99

Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply £54.99

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.60GHz £52.99

Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 £48.99

Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775) £48.99

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £45.99

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II £34.99

TOTAL £463.41

mattyfez · 26 Aug 2009 at 13:30

Dont forget DVD drive, unless you already have one

CPU cooler maybe a little excessive...

R3DBuLL · 26 Aug 2009 at 13:34

What's your budget? AM3 would be better if you could spend a little more

Plec · 26 Aug 2009 at 13:38

If ~£463 is your budget i would drop the cooler and put the money towards an AM3 build.

You can get a decent AM3 MB for approx £70 and adding the £50 saved from the Noctua you could get a AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition for £90. This would be a significanlty faster system and more future proof - and the black edition is a great clocker. (You could buy a cheap and cheeful 3rd party cooler to tied you over or stick with the supplied cooler until you can afford a decent one.

I would also swap the 260 for a 4890 - link.

AM3 MB £70
AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition £90
4890 £126

Total - £286

The above total added to your other components and factoring the slightly more expensive DDR3 memory would only take you approx £20 -£30 over your budget (~£480 for AM3 build) - but would be a much faster and more future proof system.

Temi_D · 26 Aug 2009 at 13:40

The cpu cooler seems like overkill. The akasa nero is enough: http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-052-AK

Also this hard drive is faster: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-206-SE&tool=3

Do you plan to overclock?

ashrobbo · 26 Aug 2009 at 13:44

For the money you are planning to spend go for an AM3 Build.and agreed the cpu cooler is overkill. from a personal point of view i'd stick with samsung over seagate.

mtb_kng · 26 Aug 2009 at 17:13

Tancred said:
Hi

Long time reader, first time builder.
I need a new system. It will dual boot Debian and Windows 7. For gaming I play WOW, and want to play games like Wolfenstein and the new Star Wars MMO. In a perfect world I would like this box to be hitting the recommended specs for new games for 2-ish years.

Oh and I run a media server at home so this box does not need lots of disk.

Any advice would be great

Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 896MB GDDR3 £109.99

Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 £66.99

Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply £54.99

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.60GHz £52.99

Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 £48.99

Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775) £48.99

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £45.99

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II £34.99

TOTAL £463.41

Definatly don't get that processor and cooler, you could get a quad core for that price.

Go AM3 or else wait for the Core i5's and i3's

Tancred · 26 Aug 2009 at 21:32

Thanks for the advice everyone

I will be moving to AMD/ATI and getting a cheaper cooling fan

and yes I already have a DVD drive for it.

If I go for a AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition, and match it with a Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AMD 785G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard I believe I will need DDR3 Ram.

Which would be the better RAM to go for?

Corsair Dominator XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600C9D Twin3X (£72.99)
or
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C9 1333MHz TwinX Dual Channel (£72.99)

Humm, final thought, will the CPU come with thermal paste, or will I need to get some of that as well?

Thanks again

mtb_kng · 26 Aug 2009 at 22:25

Tancred said:
Humm, final thought, will the CPU come with thermal paste, or will I need to get some of that as well?

Yes but buy some Arctic Silver 5, well worth getting.

PermaBanned · 26 Aug 2009 at 22:32

Some coolers come with some or have some pre-applied, it's worth checking.

Namak · 26 Aug 2009 at 23:30

Meh. To me that spec looks pretty good.

The e5300 should overclock pretty well but you should be able to find a cooler for about half the price that is nearly as good. AMD maybe better money at this price range but for a low budget intel build this is pretty robust. HDD.... well Samsung are pretty good but the Seagate recommendation some gave is newer technology with a higher denisty platter so theorietically should be faster. That seems to be overclockers choice now in their pre-builts. On the otherhand it has also had reviews suggesting that it isn't as good as it should be and the Samsung is a tried and tested favourite so don;t think you are going to go wrong with either.