what would you change

SupermotoMX

SupermotoMX

SupermotoMX

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22 Feb 2010
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this is a pc for my dad. its uses would be Ebay + music, hence the soundcard, just wondering if you guys could reccomend anything better or something to change or add?

currently:

AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £46.99

Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H AMD 740G (Socket AM3/AM2+) DDR2 microATX Motherboard £45.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £41.99

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Sound Card - OEM (PCI-Express) (30SB104200000) £33.99

OCZ StealthXStream 400w Silent Power Supply £32.99

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency Dual Channel (GX22GB6400UDC) £30.64

Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black £29.99

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99



Sub Total : £244.80

what do you guys think? he has monitor / keyboard. and i can get OS with my student card. (win 7)


my main conserns:

Will it all fit together?

temps should be okay? with stock cooler stock clock.

power supply. pretty sure it will power it all with ease?
 
he likes his music, old school rock n roll. and would want to plug it into his stereo which WOULD pick out any crackles, so im assuming this sound card would cut down on them and give songs a better sound than the onboard sound
 
I would change the sound card to this. its a bit more, but for playing music it is better. Here is a review.

The PSU will do the job, but I would suggest going for this instead. It is better quality (but £7 more expensive), here is a review.

As for the rest - looks great and it will all fit together.
 
I would get a DDR3 motherboard and ram.

You can still get decent cheap ones with the onboard graphics for a low price.
 
dont think DDR3 is needed. as the only games around when he was young was space invaders :) this will basicaly be his pc for the next 5 years. doing the same thing every day :)
 
now i have,

AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £46.99

Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H AMD 740G (Socket AM3/AM2+) DDR2 microATX Motherboard £45.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £41.99

Asus Xonar DS 7.1 PCI Sound Card (90-YAA0F0-0UAN00Z) £38.99

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £39.99

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency Dual Channel (GX22GB6400UDC) £30.64

Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black £29.99

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99

total : £290 will probs be getting this in a few weeks unless some1 has any better suggestions
 
I would go with the OCZ PSU over the Corsair one. The OCZ has better efficiency and can deliver its rated power upto nearly 50C. The CX400W uses mostly Taiwanese capacitors in it secondary whereas the OCZ PSU uses mostly Japanese ones.

Hardware Secrets reviewed the CX400W before the StealthXStream 400W and they still consider the OCZ PSU the best entry level PSU they have ever tested.

Hardware Secrets and JonnyGuru are the best PSU review websites IMHO.
 
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CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
I would go with the OCZ PSU over the Corsair one. The OCZ has better efficiency and can deliver its rated power upto nearly 50C.

Hardware Secrets reviewed the CX400W before the StealthXStream 400W and they still consider the OCZ PSU the best entry level PSU they have ever tested.

Hardware Secrets and JonnyGuru are the best PSU review websites IMHO.
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I often wonder how reliable these reviews are being honest Cat. Throw me a few quid and i'll publish the greatest review you have ever read. Corsair PSU's are made by Seasonic who are the daddies. Im not saying OCZ are a poor brand but I wouldn't believe everything I read either.
 
Most of the people on these forums only have experience with other OCZ units which are made by FSP. These tend to use Taiwanese and Chinese made capacitors not Japanese made ones.

CWT builds many of the Corsair units themselves. Not all Corsair units are made by Seasonic.

Seasonic,CWT and Delta tend to make the best units (in most cases at least).
 
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after hearing that, EVERYONE i know or have seen videos rants on about how good japanese capacitors are, so i guess ill be sticking the the OCZ

thanks for your help guys! should make an awesome birthday present for him!
 
CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
I would go with the OCZ PSU over the Corsair one.
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Ah, good shout - not seen that review before. The OCZ certainly seems like an excellent PSU, probably best to go for that then.

Truth be told, I got my Grandad the OCZ PSU about a year ago for his PC, has been working great. I just got it because it was a reasonable make and a good price, turns out it is actually a rather nice unit.
 
I remember when hardocp reviewed the ocz modxstream 700w.

Slagged it right off!

Then had to review it again because it needed to be tested at a lower temperature, where as all the other makes were fine.
 
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SupermotoMX said:
after hearing that, EVERYONE i know or have seen videos rants on about how good japanese capacitors are, so i guess ill be sticking the the OCZ

thanks for your help guys! should make an awesome birthday present for him!
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One of the Corsair selling point's is they use Japanese capacitors ;)
 
i dont really care about brands :P just get what works right? and i doubt even at max load it wil pull more than 250watts. so i bet even an tesco value 400wattpsu could provide that :P
 
SupermotoMX said:
i dont really care about brands :P just get what works right? and i doubt even at max load it wil pull more than 250watts. so i bet even an tesco value 400wattpsu could provide that :P
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The OCZ will be fine. It does the job and is not too expensive either.

It is not like some crappy EZ Cool which will explode even before you take it out of the box.
 
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