First Build - Budget £400 / Gaming & Editing

James-SS

Honorable
Sep 10, 2013
8
0
10,510
Hi guys,

Basically my dad's old PC is close to its death and rather than build him a new one, I figured I'll donate him mine which I've had for 4+ years so he can continue playing scrabble and whatever else he does on there. Therefore, I'm in need of a new computer and it would be great if you guys could help me out as this is my first proper build. 4-5 years ago I took one apart/put it all back together at college, but things have changed, so if some of this isn't compatible, don't be surprised! :ange:

Purchase Date: Sooner rather than later - but if delivery takes up to a month, that's fine, not in a massive rush!

Budget: £400 for the tower.

System Usage: It's going to be used for a bit of gaming (if I get round to it), possibly some video editing; After Effects/Vegas, hooking up to my TV for films and just general stuff.

OS: Not needed, I hope.

Location: UK, so everything in £pounds where possible!

Overclocking: Never overclocked before, but might consider it in the future if I struggle to play certain games, but I'd say 90% chance of it never happening.

Your Monitor Resolution: Replacing my single monitor with a dual 1080p monitor setup - hopefully looking at a pair of Acer S220HQLBrbd 21.5" monitors! Think they should be okay for casual gaming and I need two for general work stuff. These are excluded from the budget, but feel free to recommend other monitors!

Additional Comments: At the moment the tower is positioned in a pretty lame alcove kind of thing which means I can't go for cases with USB/ports on the side. Everything needs to be on the front/back. Aside from that, nothing particular, would be nice to have it quiet, but don't really want to go over the budget just for that.


PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1Ccsb

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£83.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£38.69 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Kingston Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£37.00)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£46.85 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7790 1GB Video Card (£101.10 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £320.61
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-10 19:42 BST+0100)

PSU: OCZ Technology 500W CoreXStream Series Power Supply (£32.38 @ Dabs)
Case: K9-720B Gaming Case / USB3.0 & Blue 120mm Fan (£25.33 @ Dabs)

Build total: £378.32

Please tear this apart if it's a lame build. If the case/PSU isn't compatible or up to scratch, recommend new stuff please :)

Also should note that the RAM price is on a deal from Amazon at the moment, definitely worth looking at!

Thanks in advance guys,
James
 
Solution


Hmmm didn't notice your mobo is 1333 sorry :#, no worries just get this one instead:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-760gmp34fx

Higher frequency ram allows you to multitask a lot...

James-SS

Honorable
Sep 10, 2013
8
0
10,510

Woops, should've said that I won't be splitting games across two monitors or playing two at the same time. Just need 2 for work/browsing. Will only game on a single screen!
 

James-SS

Honorable
Sep 10, 2013
8
0
10,510

Cheers for the suggestion! Just noticed the the 7790 is actually even cheaper @ Dabs (http://www.dabs.com/products/msi-amd-radeon-7790-1050mhz-1gb-pci-express-3-0-hdmi-oc-8Q96.html) just £85 now + a free game.

2 questions before I drop the money.
Will the motherboard be fine with the FX 6300? People have said they've had to use an old AMD chip to flash/update the BIOS to get it to work with the FX-6300.
Also, is the 7790 fine for dual monitors?

Thanks again!
 

RazerZ

Judicious
Ambassador


1. I think that's if you go with a different mobo. Your current one is fine.
2. If you plan to game on dual monitors, no, otherwise it should work.

Also you should get this ram instead:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004I1JYM2/?tag=pcp0f-21
 

James-SS

Honorable
Sep 10, 2013
8
0
10,510

Awesome, will give it a shot then! Can always send the mobo back for another anyway if it doesn't work out of the box.

Is there any benefit to that higher frequency RAM if the mobo is only compatible with 1333mhz?

Cheers for all the help, much appreciated - will throw best answer your way!
 

RazerZ

Judicious
Ambassador


Hmmm didn't notice your mobo is 1333 sorry :#, no worries just get this one instead:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-760gmp34fx

Higher frequency ram allows you to multitask a lot faster, and will give smooth system performance :)

 
Solution