Quite a few questions!

yellowputty

yellowputty

yellowputty

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Joined
22 Jan 2005
Posts
186
Hello Overclockers Forum,

You have helped me many times before. Once again, it's time for me to get a new system. I've been running an AMD x2 6400+ for a few years, in a server style case, and yesterday when playing Fallout, I got quite a lot of jerkyness. Knowing that it was my GTS 250 GFX card, as Fallout isn't exactly a graphics hungry game, I realised straight away that I might have an overheating problem. Booting into bios immediately, told me the CPU was at 80 celsius! I realise this particular processor was notorious for heat issues. Goodness knows what it was during play.

Anyway. A few questions about a new system I would like:

1) Am I better buying the AMD Phenom II x4 965 (3.4Ghz) for £130 or the AMD Phenom II x6 2.80Ghz for £135?

2) If the former, will the stock fan suffice? If not, can you recommend a sensible choice?

3) Can you name 'cool' cases? I'm looking at the Antec 300…is this a sensible choice? I have limited space, so I need to emit heat from the top, back and front rather than the sides.

4) Is there much difference between the RAM clock speeds? Is there a middle ground in terms of price? I intend to buy either 4GB or 6GB worth…Is the 6GB going to make much difference?

5) My new system will have one of the top two processors, RAM as stated, 3 hardrives, a LOT of fans, and a GTS 250 graphics card…Would the Corsair TX 650W PSU be sufficient and reliable?

Bare in mind, that I use this for medium-heavy gaming, and I am generally a person that goes mad if an application takes a while to load. Impatient :p

Thank you so much in advance for any advice you can give me :)
 
Normally I'd spec the x4 955 but if you want to get the x4 965. The x6 is a great cpu but for your uses i would go for the 965 as a hex cofre is unnecessary at this point in time.

I like the Coolernaster CM 690 II. But I'm biased :)

The stock fan is fine but soem people complain due to noise.

Buy the 4gb over 6gb as you will want to run in Dual channel mode as only intels I7 runs Tri channel 6gb.

I believe the 650 will be more than fine but i'm no expert.
 
I like the look of the Coolermaster Cm 690 II, very nice. Also looking into water cooling now with the Corsair Hydro H70, should be able to overclock the 965 to 4Ghz hopefully.

Thanks for the ram advice, certainly makes things cheaper.
 
Something like this? Although if you went for something like an Antec 300 or silverstone P series case you could come in slightly closer to budget. The lite version of the CM 690 II is just a cheaper version. Again I would recommend the H50-1 cooler to anyone as I find it does a good job quietly. You could go for a cheaper mobo but I am not too sure on the AMD route anymore. (I was until I was convinced of the Intel route for gaming)


Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £129.24
(£109.99) £129.24
(£109.99)
XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular Power Supply £69.99
(£59.57) £69.99
(£59.57)
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 MA770 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £67.99
(£57.86) £67.99
(£57.86)
G.Skill RipJaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C8 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit £64.99
(£55.31) £64.99
(£55.31)
Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £62.99
(£53.61) £62.99
(£53.61)
Titan Fenrir Evo CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366/AMD K8/AM2/AM2+/AM3) £35.99
(£30.63) £35.99
(£30.63)
Sub Total : £366.97
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 17.50% VAT : £66.06
Total : £443.53

It's actually my first spec for someone else! Let me know what you think/ what you already had in mind.
 
While I have not used one I might steer clear of XFX products. I have heard as of late anyways that they has really bad customer service from what I have been reading online from various forums over the past year. Corsaire offering are much better from a quality and Cs standpoint and they have a 650 thats the same price. Think it was 70.99 inc vat.

Everything else looks fine.
 
skylineboy said:
It's actually my first spec for someone else! Let me know what you think/ what you already had in mind.
Click to expand...

Thank you skylineboy, I appreciate what you've found! I'm just looking through the individual parts, as a lot has changed since I last built a PC. As Superjeep says, I will probably change the PSU to Corsair as I put in the OP, as I have dealt with them before, and they seem high quality.

I'm still very confused about the motherboard though. There are two different types, chipset 700 and 800.

The Asus Crosshair III Formula AMD 790FX looks like a nice board. (It's successor looks incredibly sexy, but far too overpriced for me I think, unless someone can sell me the features of it :p)

Need to look into the ram...never heard of it?

Also, I would love to overclock this time round, so is there a very good air cooling unit, or will I have to go down the Corsair water cooling route?
 
Might want to download CPU-Z, it will tell you the make and model number of your motherboard. It may be worth a look, perhaps your board can support newer CPUs, which will reduce your upgrade cost.
 
I agree that it isn't an ideal board for overclocking, but with the 5001 BIOS it does support up to a 95W Phenom II X4 955. This means it will run at stock speed (3.2GHz) but I wouldn't bet on overclocking it very far.

That said, it would be a cheap upgrade and a 3.2GHz Phenom II X4 can handle pretty much any modern game. Throw in a decent graphics card (GTX 460 perhaps) and you have a solid gaming upgrade for £250, instead of £400. You can always upgrade the motherboard and RAM later (in fact new AM3+ boards will support AM3 processors), so you can start that upgrade when bulldozer comes along if you want.
 
yellowputty said:
Thank you skylineboy, I appreciate what you've found! I'm just looking through the individual parts, as a lot has changed since I last built a PC. As Superjeep says, I will probably change the PSU to Corsair as I put in the OP, as I have dealt with them before, and they seem high quality.

I'm still very confused about the motherboard though. There are two different types, chipset 700 and 800.

The Asus Crosshair III Formula AMD 790FX looks like a nice board. (It's successor looks incredibly sexy, but far too overpriced for me I think, unless someone can sell me the features of it :p)

Need to look into the ram...never heard of it?

Also, I would love to overclock this time round, so is there a very good air cooling unit, or will I have to go down the Corsair water cooling route?
Click to expand...

The only reason i selected the ram was due to price, but to be honest steer clear of OCZ Gold. Too many people have had issues with it for me to want to go there.

Getting a 955 to go in your current board and build it up gradually does sound like a great plan to be honest. Maybe you could get a new case to house your developing project and work from there? But it all depends if you want to change the core of the system now.
 
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