Curse

Armageddon · Sep 08, 2010, 02:46 PM // 14:46

This is what Im thinking of getting, I need to buy 2 of these so Im trying to keep the cost down, will be used for gaming and web browsing

Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Mid Tower Case - With 500W EarthWatts PSU - £79.56

Palit GeForce GTX 460 768MB - £112.79

OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz - £66.96

ASROCK M3A770DE 770 Socket AM3 - £51.16

AMD Athlon II X3 440 3GHz Socket AM3 - £57.70

Samsung SH-S223L/RSMN 22x DVD±RW SATA - £13.49

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive - £46.99

£428.65

Id like to keep it under £450 as I have to get a decent gaming keyboard and mouse as well

can anyone see anything I should swap out? the PSU has 2 17A 12v rails, would that be ok? Im planning on a slight overclock on the CPU and GPU

Quaker · Sep 08, 2010, 03:23 PM // 15:23

Personally, I would look into getting a 500gig hard drive -
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HD-206-SE

and use the money saved on that to get a better processor, if possible.

Snograt · Sep 08, 2010, 03:53 PM // 15:53

Try looking at barebones, for example:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...BB-I3534G.html

Includes case, 550W PSU, mobo, Intel i3 530 and 4GB DDR3 1333. £279 - just add the GPU of your choice, plus your HDD and DVDR. Taking the ones you've chosen above, that would bring the total to £452.27.

That's an odd 460, by the way - they generally seem to be 1 or 2GB, whereas that one is only 768MB - and the core clock is 25MHz short of the norm. What's the deal, Borg-leader?

Doc Zenith · Sep 08, 2010, 04:53 PM // 16:53

I have 2 of those cases(antec sonata III) and worked fine so far in pretty heavy usage

BUT..i dont clock at all..some say that it has poor airflow/rotation inside the case so dont know if it's optimal for overclocking?

Elder III · Sep 08, 2010, 08:49 PM // 20:49

Actually 768 or 1gb is standard on the GTX 460 with the 768 being cheaper and naturally a little weaker (higher resolutions esp.)

> OP - Do you need/want a "quiet" case? If it's not that big a deal to you you could save some money with a cheaper case...

Armageddon · Sep 08, 2010, 09:06 PM // 21:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

Personally, I would look into getting a 500gig hard drive -
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HD-206-SE

and use the money saved on that to get a better processor, if possible.

well I looked at the i530 but for the cpu and mobo it would be an extra £40 for each pc, im not sure it would be worth the cost, especially since it has less cores than the x3 (and maybe Ill get a 'good' x3 and unlock the 4th core

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elder III

Actually 768 or 1gb is standard on the GTX 460 with the 768 being cheaper and naturally a little weaker (higher resolutions esp.)

> OP - Do you need/want a "quiet" case? If it's not that big a deal to you you could save some money with a cheaper case...

Im not really bothered about a quiet case, damn kids make so much noise it wouldnt matter if the case blew a trumpet

I picked that one really for the build quality and that it came with the 500W EarthWatts PSU

Lord Sojar · Sep 08, 2010, 10:32 PM // 22:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armageddon

well I looked at the i530 but for the cpu and mobo it would be an extra £40 for each pc, im not sure it would be worth the cost, especially since it has less cores than the x3 (and maybe Ill get a 'good' x3 and unlock the 4th core

)

The AlthonII CPUs aren't very good performers. Core count is a tiny matter to look at. Architecture and execution is the most important decider in a CPU's performance.

Also, the 770 is a really old board, with no upgrade path... I'd advise against it. I'd go with an 890FX board + the AthlonII X2 or X3 for now, and then upgrade to PhenomII X6.

This motherboard:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/220141

With either the CPU you selected or...
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168975

Snog, the GTX 460 comes in a 1GB and 768MB version, and it's base clock is 675MHz. The 2GB version is aftermarket, not an nVidia reference design.

Snograt · Sep 09, 2010, 12:20 AM // 00:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Sojar

Snog, the GTX 460 comes in a 1GB and 768MB version, and it's base clock is 675MHz. The 2GB version is aftermarket, not an nVidia reference design.

Ah, I see. "If you want to know anything about nVidia stuff, ask the Borg."

While his memory lasts...

Undead Cheese · Sep 09, 2010, 08:17 AM // 08:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Sojar

The AlthonII CPUs aren't very good performers. Core count is a tiny matter to look at. Architecture and execution is the most important decider in a CPU's performance.

Also, the 770 is a really old board, with no upgrade path... I'd advise against it. I'd go with an 890FX board + the AthlonII X2 or X3 for now, and then upgrade to Bulldozer sometime in 2011.

By the way, Bulldozer won't work in current AM3 Motherboards.

CPU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/233973

Mobo: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169532

Rest is fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snograt

Try looking at barebones, for example:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...BB-I3534G.html

Includes case, 550W PSU, mobo, Intel i3 530 and 4GB DDR3 1333. £279 - just add the GPU of your choice, plus your HDD and DVDR. Taking the ones you've chosen above, that would bring the total to £452.27.

That PSU is probably a cheap generic one, which is strongly advise against. The Sonata comes with a good Antec EA-500.

Elder III · Sep 09, 2010, 12:57 PM // 12:57

The PSU is a WinPower.... which is maybe not the worst out there, but not all that great either.

Wasn't there talk of a BIOS flash to enable Bulldozer on current AM3 mobos? (ala certain AM2 & Deneb)

Quaker · Sep 09, 2010, 02:43 PM // 14:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armageddon

well I looked at the i530 but for the cpu and mobo it would be an extra £40 for each pc, im not sure it would be worth the cost, especially since it has less cores than the x3 (and maybe Ill get a 'good' x3 and unlock the 4th core

)

I was actually referring to a better AMD processor, such as a Phenom II. The "if possible" part was because I was too lazy to actually research how much money you would save by getting the "smaller" (less large) hard drive and how much better a CPU you could then get on your budget. (You'd want to compare prices and check performance charts for that.)

Btw, I don't recommend trying to unlock the 4th core in an x3 unless you know what you're doing, are aware of the possible problems, and know how to re-lock the core. The 4th core was likely locked out for a reason, and some of those reasons can result in logic or math errors that aren't obvious.

Lord Sojar · Sep 09, 2010, 03:13 PM // 15:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undead Cheese

By the way, Bulldozer won't work in current AM3 Motherboards.

First generation Bulldozer will be backwards compatible with 890FX boards.

That CPU is called Zambezi, and will come in a quad core variant that will go into an 890FX motherboard with a BIOS flash.

Armageddon · Sep 09, 2010, 03:52 PM // 15:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undead Cheese

Mobo: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169532

after reading up about the poor 770 chipset Im thinking of changing to this board, but Im wondering which is better, the 785G or the 790GX, theres only a few £ between them

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

I was actually referring to a better AMD processor, such as a Phenom II. The "if possible" part was because I was too lazy to actually research how much money you would save by getting the "smaller" (less large) hard drive and how much better a CPU you could then get on your budget. (You'd want to compare prices and check performance charts for that.)

Btw, I don't recommend trying to unlock the 4th core in an x3 unless you know what you're doing, are aware of the possible problems, and know how to re-lock the core. The 4th core was likely locked out for a reason, and some of those reasons can result in logic or math errors that aren't obvious.

yep, I think Ill get the Phenom II X2 555 BE (£70) since it has a L3 cache and an unlocked multiplier (also the possibility of getting the extra 2 cores unlocked via the bios)

Ill not be upgrading to the Bulldozer for a while, I usually wait till the high end stuff drops in price a lot and by that time the mobos will be a lot cheaper

Undead Cheese · Sep 09, 2010, 04:23 PM // 16:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Sojar

First generation Bulldozer will be backwards compatible with 890FX boards.

That CPU is called Zambezi, and will come in a quad core variant that will go into an 890FX motherboard with a BIOS flash.

Not according to an actual AMD employee that posts on a different forum. To quote him:

''To put to rest the AM3 question:

AM3 will support current processors but NOT bulldozer
AM3+ will support current processors AND bulldozer

There is no BIOS change or manipulation that will let a bulldozer CPU work in an AM3 Period.

There. We are done.''

Lord Sojar · Sep 09, 2010, 09:57 PM // 21:57

Edit: After some digging, I'm sorry to say it looks true Undead... that's really too bad considering AMD really screwed over a lot of people with this decision.

The decision was made final today too, lol. I'll delete my post above to reflect the change.

Undead Cheese · Sep 09, 2010, 10:13 PM // 22:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Sojar

Edit: After some digging, I'm sorry to say it looks true Undead... that's really too bad considering AMD really screwed over a lot of people with this decision.

The decision was made final today too, lol. I'll delete my post above to reflect the change.

Yeah, alot of people were disappointed, but to be fair AMD has been really good about backwards compatibility in the past few years, the change had to come some time I guess.

Armageddon · Sep 11, 2010, 12:54 AM // 00:54

well this is what Ive went for, thx everyone for your help, even though you cost me an extra £100

but im sure the kids appreciate it

Corsair XMS3 4Gb DDR3 1600 (2x2Gb)
Thermaltake Xaser VI MX Black/Silver ATX Case
Asus M4N75TD AM3, DDR3, hSLI, GBLan, 7.1Snd, ATX
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition
Samsung SH-S223C 22x DVD+/-R SATA DVD Writer
768Mb nVidia GeForce GTX 460
OCZ 600W StealthXStream 2
500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm S-ATAII

£475.28

decided to go with an nforce board so I could sli 2 GTX 460's later on - thats probably the best upgrade path I think for the price, should last a while - and got a better case and higher rated psu, after I priced in fans for the other case it cost almost as much, and this psu has some good reviews, not to mention the kids will like the look of this case more, has a higher 'wow' factor than the Antec