Please help total newby pick components for new PC (£1000 budget)

Oswald · 29 May 2006 at 15:07

Hello

,

I've been reading all through these forums and this is my first post. I want to build a new PC from scratch, however I am bewildered by what order I should choose the components, and in which part of the forums I should ask for help

.

It seems to me that the motherboard is central to the PC, so I've decided that maybe I should pick this item first before I start looking at the rest of the components? I will be using an AMD CPU, most probably dual core (not 100% on exact model yet) and I think I will be using a (high end) nVidia graphics card (undecided on model etc). I want 2GIG matched RAM (but don't fully understand timings/latency etc so don't know which make/model yet). I have no experience of overclocking, but DEFINATELY want to learn and have a go. My PC will be used mainly for video editing/encoding etc, and gameing. I have a total budget of around £1000 (excluding monitor).

With this in mind and by what I have read on here, I have provisionally selected from the Overlockers catalog:

ASUS A8N32-SLI DELUXE NFORCE SLI X16 (MB-118-AS) £135-07 INC VAT

Is this a good choice? I also looked at the PREMIUM version (model number MB-111-AS) which comes in at £105-95 inc VAT but I can't really see what the difference is? Would I be better going with the cheaper version?

I would appreciate any help/comments. Please bear in mind I am a computer numpty. Previously, my mate has always built/fixed my PC's, but I want to get more involved myself. Also, you lot seem much more up to date with whats good and whats crap

Cheers!

lee87 · 29 May 2006 at 15:47

Hi, the asus premium is a good board as it has passive cooling but I would save money and spend more on other components.
This spec should be excellent for gaming and video editing as it has one of the best graphics cards out and a fast dual core cpu
I've chosen a good overclocking motherboard aswell.

FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) 1
£14.95 £14.95
HD-017-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2004C 200GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-017-SA) 1
£46.95 £46.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF) 1
£74.95 £74.95
CA-027-AN Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN) 1
£24.95 £24.95
CD-035-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE) 1
£19.95 £19.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL) 1
£114.95 £114.95
CA-006-TG Tagan TG580-U22 580W ATX2.01 2Force SLi Compliant Silent PSU (CA-006-TG) 1
£66.95 £66.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO) 1
£234.95 £234.95
CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM) 1
£264.95 £264.95
Subtotal £863.55
VAT £151.13
Total £1,014.68

Beenom · 29 May 2006 at 16:27

That spec looks perfect I'd say, expect maybe change the NEC drive to the newer one? The 4570 iirc, otherwise that looks good

Indy500 · 29 May 2006 at 16:31

Above spec, but with the Pioneer 111D for the DVD-RW, and add in a Zalman NB47J cooler for the chipset.

Turbanation · 29 May 2006 at 16:32

that spec killed it except get the 7900gtx

hp7909 · 29 May 2006 at 17:13

Oswald said:
{snip}I have no experience of overclocking, but DEFINATELY want to learn and have a go{snip}

Addressing that:

DFI LanParty UT CFX3200-DR RD580 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-019-DF) £129.95
G.Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000 (2x1GB) CAS3 Dual Channel Kit (F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ) (MY-008-GS) £124.95
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM) £161.95
HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-053-HT) £264.95
Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA) £38.95
NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE) £21.95
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) £14.95
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL) £48.95
FSP Sparkle AX500-A Blue Storm 500W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-005-SK) £49.95
Subtotal £856.55
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £10.95
VAT £151.82
Total £1,019.32

Slightly over budget, but lots of overclockability :cool:

Oswald · 29 May 2006 at 17:59

Wow, thanks for all your replies

I've been looking through and trying to understand your recommendations

One thing I don't really understand too well is memory. I have a question about this suggestion:

hp7909 said:
DFI LanParty UT CFX3200-DR RD580 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-019-DF) £129.95

G.Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000 (2x1GB) CAS3 Dual Channel Kit (F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ) (MY-008-GS) £124.95

When I click the spec link on the Overclockers catalog for the above motherboard, you get these details

Under the "memory" section, it says it "Supports PC2100 (DDR266), PC2700 (DDR333) and PC3200 (DDR400) DDR SDRAM DIMM"

Surely this means it won't work with the above G.Skill memory as its PC4000? Or have I got it all wrong? :confused:

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but just when I think Im starting to understand something I get all confused again.

Cheers

fenderbass86 · 29 May 2006 at 18:07

Anything above PC3200 will run just fine. e.g. the PC4000 G.Skill specced will run at PC3200 (DDR400) until it is overclocked to PC4000 (DDR500).

Oswald · 29 May 2006 at 18:18

fenderbass86 said:
Anything above PC3200 will run just fine. e.g. the PC4000 G.Skill specced will run at PC3200 (DDR400) until it is overclocked to PC4000 (DDR500).

But if the motherboard only supports up to speeds of PC3200 (DDR400), then isn't using PC4000 (DDR500) memory a waste because it can't take advantage of its extra speed?

What do you mean by "until it is overclocked to PC4000 (DDR500)"? Until whats overclocked? The memory? But the memory already runs at PC4000 (DDR500)

:confused:

crashuk · 29 May 2006 at 19:15

MSI K9N Platinum nForce 570 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-070-MS £93.94 Including VAT

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-164-AM)
£109.95 +VAT

a)Patriot 2GB (2x1GB) PC7200 900MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £252.57 Including VAT at 17.5%
or
b)GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) for just £109.95 +VAT

ATI Radeon X1900 ***Crossfire Edition*** 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-045-CO) £293.69 Including

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 300GB 6V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £72.79 Including VAT

OcUK Value Floppy Drive - White (HD-000-OK) £5.29
FSP Sparkle AX500-A Blue Storm 500W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-005-SK) £58.69

Thermaltake VA7000SWA Shark Aluminium Full Tower - Silver (CA-009-TT) 82.19

Plextor PX-755A 16x16 Dual Layer DVD±RW ReWriter £45.77

a)£1008 inc vat or b)£865

crashuk · 29 May 2006 at 19:32

MSI K9N Platinum nForce 570 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-070-MS £93.94 Including VAT

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-164-AM)
£109.95 +VAT

a)Patriot 2GB (2x1GB) PC7200 900MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £252.57 Including VAT at 17.5%

BFG GeForce 7900 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)£211.44 Including VAT
or
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (220 in vat)

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 300GB 6V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £72.79 Including VAT

OcUK Value Floppy Drive - White (HD-000-OK) £5.29
FSP Sparkle AX500-A Blue Storm 500W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-005-SK) £58.69

Thermaltake VA7000SWA Shark Aluminium Full Tower - Silver (CA-009-TT) 82.19

Plextor PX-755A 16x16 Dual Layer DVD±RW ReWriter £45.77
Icemat - Blue 2nd Edition 23.44 Including VAT
Razer Diamondback Plasma 1600dpi Gaming Mouse Limited Edition - Retail (KB-013-RA) £35.19 Including VAT

= £999.30p

fenderbass86 · 29 May 2006 at 19:46

Oswald said:
What do you mean by "until it is overclocked to PC4000 (DDR500)"? Until whats overclocked? The memory? But the memory already runs at PC4000 (DDR500)

No, the memory will run at DDR400 stock, until it is overclocked to DDR500. The CPU speed will also go further with the faster memory speed. Did that clear up the confusion?

fenderbass86 · 29 May 2006 at 19:54

AM2 system:

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
CP-167-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4000+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-167-AM) 1
£199.95 £199.95
MB-069-MS MSI K9N Platinum nForce 570 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-069-MS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
GX-048-HT HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-HT) 1
£249.95 £249.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) 1
£51.95 £51.95
CD-038-PO Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-038-PO) 1
£22.50 £22.50
CA-054-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL) 1
£48.95 £48.95
CA-025-EN Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN) 1
£59.95 £59.95
Subtotal £833.15
VAT £145.81
Total £978.96

939 system:

CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM) 1
£171.95 £171.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF) 1
£74.95 £74.95
MY-000-MK Mushkin 2GB DDR XP4000 Extreme Performance Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) CAS3 (991483) (MY-000-MK) 1
£139.95 £139.95
GX-048-HT HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-HT) 1
£249.95 £249.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) 1
£51.95 £51.95
CD-038-PO Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-038-PO) 1
£22.50 £22.50
CA-039-AN Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Silver) (CA-039-AN) 1
£64.95 £64.95
CA-025-EN Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN) 1
£59.95 £59.95
Subtotal £836.15
VAT £146.33
Total £982.48

Oswald · 29 May 2006 at 20:03

fenderbass86 said:
No, the memory will run at DDR400 stock, until it is overclocked to DDR500. The CPU speed will also go further with the faster memory speed. Did that clear up the confusion?

But the memory is listed as "Speed : DDR 500MHz (PC4000)". There is no mention of needing to clock it to get to that speed. If it only runs at DDR400 out the packet then surely it should be listed as that. Its like advertising a car saying it has 150BHP only to find it has 120BHP, and that you need to chip it to get 150BHP.

Also, the motherboard specs say the fastest memory it will accept is "PC3200 (DDR400)". So I don't understand why they would say that if you can actually use PC4000 (DDR500)

Sorry, but I just don't get it :confused:

Indy500 · 29 May 2006 at 20:06

The whole point of the ram is it has headroom for overclocking. When you put it in the motherboard it will run at the PC3200 standard (as the board doesnt automatically set ram at PC4000). That doesnt mean you got ripped off, its because of JEDEC standards, and the fact the motherboard wont run with every single type of PC4000 kit\module around.

In any case, I dont feel having PC4000 ram in an AMD system is worthwhile.

Oswald · 29 May 2006 at 20:11

sr4470 said:
In any case, I dont feel having PC4000 ram in an AMD system is worthwhile.

Why? I'm trying to learn. I said I'm a PC numpty and I meant it.

Indy500 · 29 May 2006 at 20:16

Oswald said:
Why? I'm trying to learn. I said I'm a PC numpty and I meant it.

Doesnt bring much benefit, with there being a memory controller on the CPU. The CPU thus have direct access to the ram and high ram speed hasnt shown much of an improvement, given the costs of the "overclocking" kits. Personally, I'd just get a regular Corsair\Crucial 2GB kit (or 2 seperate 1GB modules of the same part number if this works out cheaper). The money can go on faster graphics, bigger hard drive etc..stuff which makes a difference.

Oswald · 29 May 2006 at 20:22

sr4470 said:
Doesnt bring much benefit, with there being a memory controller on the CPU. the CPU thus had direct access to the ram and high ram speed hasnt shown much of an improvement, given the costs of the "overclocking" kits. Personally, I'd just get a regular Corsair\Crucial 2GB kit (or 2 seperate 1GB modules of the same part number if this works out cheaper). The money can go on faster graphics, bigger hard drive etc..stuff which makes a difference.

Thanks

When you start overclocking, do you need to tinker with the RAM or is it mainly all to do with FSB speeds and CPU voltages? I've read through some of the guides on here but I got a bit confused. Before I looked on here I would have just bought two 1GIG matched sticks (2GIG total) of Corsair as I thought you should stick with "well known" makes. I would have just gone for the highest speed within my budget. All this about RAM latency and timings is confusing the hell out of me, I didn't realise there are so many variables to consider. I want to learn but just deciding on components is a real headache.

Thanks for your reply, and thanks for all the other spec suggestions from everyone else, its much appreciated

Indy500 · 29 May 2006 at 20:35

Oswald said:
Thanks

When you start overclocking, do you need to tinker with the RAM or is it mainly all to do with FSB speeds and CPU voltages? I've read through some of the guides on here but I got a bit confused.

Theres a ram divider to allow you to keep the memory within its limits, and still allow overclocking of the CPU.

Oswald said:
Before I looked on here I would have just bought two 1GIG matched sticks (2GIG total) of Corsair as I thought you should stick with "well known" makes. I would have just gone for the highest speed within my budget. All this about RAM latency and timings is confusing the hell out of me, I didn't realise there are so many variables to consider. I want to learn but just deciding on components is a real headache.

I'd just stick with the Corsair Value, you can tighten the timings a little anyway with increased vdimm (ram voltage). CAS2.5-3-3 isnt really hugely slower than the kits that do 2-3-2, but much cheaper.

Oswald said:
Thanks for your reply, and thanks for all the other spec suggestions from everyone else, its much appreciated

You're welcome

Keep in mind DDR2 works slightly differently, my comments are about socket 754\939 DDR systems. The value DDR2 kits can clock much better

hp7909 · 29 May 2006 at 20:40

Oswald said:
{snip}Surely this means it won't work with the above G.Skill memory as its PC4000? Or have I got it all wrong?{snip}

Just to clear it up a bit: Yes, the motherboard says it supports up to PC3200 (DDR400) but you see what's been happening is that people have been overclocking NOT only their processors out of spec but also memory (RAM). The latter produces very good results than just overclocking the processor alone. What the marketing people at companies like G.Skill did is picked up on this and started making and selling RAM advertised & guranteed to to run at up to 250MHz (DDR500 ~ PC4000) meaning that you are guranteed to get the RAM running at that speed. There is a rough guide on this here

You'll also find other good guides as stickies at the top of most of the sub-forums under Hardware