Tech virgin is ready to make a build

ellingham

ellingham

ellingham

Associate
Joined
29 Jun 2010
Posts
360
Okay so i know how to use a computer and that's as far as it goes. But for a while now building a pc has been a goal of mine so I have done a bit of research and am trying to get this underway. I am not going for some high spec beast just something that looks nice, is nippy, quiet and lets me perform multiple tasks such as; photoshoping, video editing, movie streaming etc...
And so far these are the parts I have come up with (my budget is £400 and below)

Motherboard - Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 785G Socket AM3 onboard DVI VGA HDMI 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

RAM - Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz Memory Kit Unbuffered CL9

Processor - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-249-AM&tool=3

PSU - Corsair 400W CX PSU - 12cm Fan 80Plus Certified Efficiency 6x SATA 1x PCI-E

Hard drive -
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-342-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=
or
Western Digital WD5001AALS 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM Caviar Black
or
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM

What do you think about the main components i have chosen?
 
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greywolf said:
Welcome to the forum.

If you fancy a read here is my build guide: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18046396

Seems a solid build, personally id choose the WD 640GB caviar black hard drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I was actually pointed towards your guide during my research! Very informative and will come in handy :D
I just wanted to see what people thought about the specific parts i have chosen. Also that is why i am undecided about the hdd as you say western digital while other people (like above you) say the samsungs are better! And as i have very little knowledge on the subject it is hard to make a decision.:confused:
 
Is the 400 pound budget for the entire computer?
Or just for the HDD/CPU/MOBO/RAM/PSU that
you listed? If it's 400 for the entire computer I'd
suggest something like this personally:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-180-OC
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-265-AM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-210-GI
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-017-CS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-002-XG
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-090-LG
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-002-AR
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=OA-001-AK

I realise that this is slightly over budget, but if
you were to buy some of the parts from
another website, you'd be slightly under 400.
Hope this helps.

The reason why I changed the motherboard was because the one that you linked
is out of stock on OCUK. The Phenom 555 has a significantly higher chance of
unlocking than the 550. As said above the Samsung F3 is known for being excellent
quality. You can find the PSU/RAM for cheaper on another site. The MX-3 and
Akasa cleaner keep the CPU cooler than the TIM that comes with the CPU/HSF.
The Sticky in this forum is pretty straight-forward and is a good guide to help
you build you comp :)

PS: When you build the comp, don't forget to send us some pics!
 
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welcome to OCUK forums :)

you've got a fairly good build there (cant help but notice theres no case there. Are you reusing an old one?). I would suggest using this motherboard, as it features a newer chipset and has new technologies such as USB 3, and sata 6gbps. Basically, its a tad more futureproof

If you aren't already aware, the AMD processors are fitted to motherboard in a slightly different way to intel ones (as featured in greywolfs guide). They have the pins on the cpu instead of the motherboad. im sure you can figure out how to install these easily though ;)

those phenom dual cores also have the potential to "unlock" into quad cores. More on this when you've got everything set up and running...
 
kalvindeane said:
Is the 400 pound budget for the entire computer?
Or just for the HDD/CPU/MOBO/RAM/PSU that
you listed? If it's 400 for the entire computer I'd
suggest something like this personally:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-180-OC
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-265-AM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-210-GI
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-017-CS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-002-XG
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-090-LG
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-002-AR
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=OA-001-AK

I realise that this is slightly over budget, but if
you were to buy some of the parts from
another website, you'd be slightly under 400.
Hope this helps.

The reason why I changed the motherboard was because the one that you linked
is out of stock on OCUK. The Phenom 555 has a significantly higher chance of
unlocking than the 550. As said above the Samsung F3 is known for being excellent
quality. You can find the PSU/RAM for cheaper on another site. The MX-3 and
Akasa cleaner keep the CPU cooler than the TIM that comes with the CPU/HSF.
The Sticky in this forum is pretty straight-forward and is a good guide to help
you build you comp :)

PS: When you build the comp, don't forget to send us some pics!
Click to expand...

i forgot to add the dvd drive (i'm not very computer literate so sorry if i call parts by the wrong names:o)
But what ever money i can save from that £400 will be going towards a case & monitor. Can you explain the bold part to me as i don't have a clue what it means... Also is a SSD better than a HDD?
 
thingemajib said:
welcome to OCUK forums :)

you've got a fairly good build there (cant help but notice theres no case there. Are you reusing an old one?). I would suggest using this motherboard, as it features a newer chipset and has new technologies such as USB 3, and sata 6gbps. Basically, its a tad more futureproof

If you aren't already aware, the AMD processors are fitted to motherboard in a slightly different way to intel ones (as featured in greywolfs guide). They have the pins on the cpu instead of the motherboad. im sure you can figure out how to install these easily though ;)

those phenom dual cores also have the potential to "unlock" into quad cores. More on this when you've got everything set up and running...
Click to expand...

Thankyou for the welcome. :)
And yeah i have been reading a bit more into unlocking those extra cores on the phenom, even though i don't know what a core is :D
 
TIM is Thermal Interface Material, and is designed to help transfer heat between the not completely flat surfaces of the CPU's heatspreader and the cooler's base.

MX3 is a popular TIM.

A core of a processor (CPU) basically can handle a task on its own. So a dual core, would be like having 2 individual processors - they are independent and can therefore increase productivity.

An SSD is better, performance wise. It'll speed up a fairly good computer far more than better RAM or a better CPU would. Laptops become much better with an SSD. They use less power, are cooler and are silent as there are no moving parts, when compared with a traditional HDD. The thing that lets them down at the moment is a lack of capacity for the money. But prices are coming down, and will certainly be worth a look in the future.
 
ellingham said:
Can you explain the bold part to me as i don't have a clue what it means... Also is a SSD better than a HDD?
Click to expand...

The CPU of a computer has a layer of TIM (which looks like a paste) to help keep them cool. The Akasa TIM Cleaner is in my list so that you can get rid of the old TIM and put on some new Arctic Cooling MX-3 which I linked. This will lower the temperatures on the CPU.

As for SSD's, they're much faster than normal HDD's, however, they cost more and cannot hold as much data on them. I would suggest buying the Samsung F3 1TB HDD that I linked, or, if you want to save money, buy the Samsung F3 500GB HDD (which is just as fast, but smaller).

I'll write an alternative computer spec for you within the next 10 minutes.
 
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-039-KS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-180-GI
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-081-SA
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-017-CS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-002-XG
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-090-LG

This comes to 275.74 but doesn't include a processor.
Some dual core and tri core CPU's can be turned
into quad core CPU's. The 555 has a good chance
of becoming a quad core, I'm not sure if this site
sells other dual/tri core CPU's that can become quad
core CPU's.

If you buy the 555 which I've linked here:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-265-AM

Then the total comes to 359.73 which includes a
case. Leaving you with 40quid left to go towards
the monitor you were talking about.

You could build a cheaper computer but it wouldn't
be as fast as the one I posted above. In my opinion
it's better to pay the little extra for the performance
that you get. Also, when you become a bit more
familiar with your computer, you might try to
overclock it (which makes it faster, and the 555 is
a decent overclocker).

Hope I've helped:)
 
ellingham said:
Thankyou for the welcome. :)
And yeah i have been reading a bit more into unlocking those extra cores on the phenom, even though i don't know what a core is :D
Click to expand...

Marvin said:
A core of a processor (CPU) basically can handle a task on its own. So a dual core, would be like having 2 individual processors - they are independent and can therefore increase productivity.
Click to expand...

Marvin pretty much nailed it.
back in the old days of the pentium 4, processors were just single cores. Think of a core as a brain. A dual core is exactly like having two brains in one, and a quad core, four. It is like having four processors in one chip. I personally have found that having more that one core shows the best performance increaces in multitasking.

software is starting to take advantage of running on more cores (windows 7 included), as that is the way processors are going (ie, more cores instead of higher clockspeeds).

In regards to core unlocking, every Phenom II is made from the same silicon die. This means that technically, every phenom II is identical under the hood - a full fat quad core. The reason there are dual and triple core phenoms is because there are manufacturing defects in the process. If one or two cores are faulty, AMD may disable them, and sell it cheaper instead of binning the whole thing. Of course, when demand is high and there arent enough defects, AMD may have to disable some perfectly good quad cores just to fill demand.

So, the dual core phenom you're looking at has two extra "brains" sitting there dormant. With the right code, these extra cores can be turned on. Its pot luck as to wether the extra cores are stable or not, but last time i checked, the sucess rate was about 70-80%.

just for the record, i have a phenom II 555, and it unlocked just fine
 
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A RAID set up, is where you combine two or more hard disks (though they may need more than that as a minimum depending on how it's set up), which can increase performance (RAID0), or you'll have two drives, where one is an exact copy of the other (RAID1), which means you have essentially a permanent back-up. The other RAID set ups are based along these two themes.

Check Wikipedia for full details.

Since you need onboard graphics, you can't really have the second motherboard. I'd go with the first if I were gaming, but for general use, the third would probably be better, due to USB3 which will eventually make its way into consumer space.
 
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Marvin said:
A RAID set up, is where you combine two or more hard disks (though they may need more than that as a minimum depending on how it's set up), which can increase performance (RAID0), or you'll have two drives, where one is an exact copy of the other (RAID1), which means you have essentially a permanent back-up. The other RAID set ups are based along these two themes.

Check Wikipedia for full details.

Since you need onboard graphics, you can't really have the second motherboard. I'd go with the first if I were gaming, but for general use, the third would probably be better, due to USB3 which will eventually make its way into consumer space.
Click to expand...

I won't be gaming for now, i'm a console player i'm afraid...
But if i do make the switch over to pc gaming can i just add a graphics card at a later date and be all set?
 
ellingham said:
So out of these 3 motherboards which one is better?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-403-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1782

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-180-GI

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-355-AS

Also what is RAID0?
Click to expand...

The gigabyte one does not come with integrated graphics, so yu would have to pay extra for a seperate graphics card. It is also incompatible with your RAM. As i have mentioned before, i would go withh the board with the 880G chipset for the reasons i mentiond above
 
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