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Gaming and general use pc ~ £800

Forum Homebuilt Systems : General Homebuilt - Gaming and general use pc ~ £800

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I'm currently using a P4 so need an upgrade..

I want the new build to be future proof and that can be updated easily. Will need a new monitor since i'm using an old crt.

Will use pc mostly for:

Gaming
Media converting
Programming
Internet browsing
Watching movies
School Work

Parts Not Required:

Keyboard
Mouse
Speakers
Floppy Disc Drive

After searching for some time i came up with these but want your opinion on their compatibility and if they're good enough?

Processor:
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CP-244-AM

Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MB-168-GI

Graphics Card:
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =GX-120-XF

Ram:
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C9 1333MHz TwinX Dual Channel
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MY-172-CS

HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =HD-206-SE

PSU:
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CA-008-CS

Optical Drive:
Sony Optiarc AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CD-038-OT

Case:
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CA-101-AN

For monitor I haven't decided yet, probably will buy directly from my country. This build comes to £772 shipping included and I dont want to get much higher than that.

Might want to use crossfire later on, is this system capable to do that?

Thanks

Add a reply

you've done your home work, no big suggestions to make on it. the Samsung F3 500GB performs better than the 7200.12 by a small margin. If you are getting a better price on the 7200.12 than the Samsung F3, or it's not available from the store you are buying at, I'd just stick with the 7200.12.

I just checked the board, and it will do crossfire with 8x/8x lanes, so it should do fine with crossfire on 4870s. If you have plans to go to 5870's you might bottleneck the cards. You will probably need to upgrade your PSU to a Corsair 750TX, since I don't think the 650TX will give you enough pcie power connectors to do crossfire on 4870s.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to wathman

wathman wrote :

Thanks for your suggestions. The Samsung F3 is actually cheaper right now, because its in the offers of the week
If i do crossfire ill'be doing it with 4870s so ill check for that psu then.

Also do you know if Acer is a good name for Tft's? and what's the best price/quality tft 19-22 inch i can get?

Thanks

Reply to msagor

Acer makes pretty good TFT's now, that's the only brand my one friend is shopping around for since it has pretty good quality for the price. It also makes sense since his last Acer TFT he had at work was pushing 7 years old when the inverter finally died. As a systems engineer, and avid computer gamer, he got a lot of hours on that panel. Samsung is another good manufacturer, though they are pricier as I'm sure you've noticed. Very good deals on Samsungs seem to be few and far between. Since you are probably in the UK, your distribution channels are different than here, so you might find better prices on an LG which is almost as good as Samsung in my opinion. Best overall price/quality I hate to admit is Dell over here in the US. Not sure if that holds true in the UK though.

Reply to wathman

yes Acer are looking good with very great prices, LG are also good (Crt is 8yrs and still running..) Dell seem to be a bit expensive here, i'll go for an Acer or LG.

Thanks for your help

Reply to msagor

nice build (with the f3 hd) but it might be wise to check if you can build a i5 setup in that budget. I think I've saw one in similar budget

Reply to Daggs

Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM [SH-S223B/BEBE]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CD-122-SA

XFX ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card [HD-585A-ZNF7]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =GX-148-XF

Asus P7P55D Pro Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard [90-MIB8X0-G0EAY00Z]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MB-359-AS

CMPSU-750TXUK - 750W TX Corsair PSU, single 12V rail, quiet & cool 80%+ Eff

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/750 [...] 80plus-Eff

G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MY-043-GS

Coolermaster CM-690 Pure Black Dominator Case - Black (No PSU) []

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131551

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Socket LGA1156 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755

£796

£814 delivered

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by obsidian86 on 10-08-2009 at 12:05:52 AM

Reply to obsidian86

obsidian86 wrote :

Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM [SH-S223B/BEBE]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CD-122-SA

XFX ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card [HD-585A-ZNF7]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =GX-148-XF

Asus P7P55D Pro Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard [90-MIB8X0-G0EAY00Z]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MB-359-AS

CMPSU-750TXUK - 750W TX Corsair PSU, single 12V rail, quiet & cool 80%+ Eff

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/750 [...] 80plus-Eff

G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MY-043-GS

Coolermaster CM-690 Pure Black Dominator Case - Black (No PSU) []

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131551

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Socket LGA1156 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755

£796

£814 delivered

very nice indeed.

Reply to Daggs

so you think an i5 is better than amd for future upgrades etc.? dont know much about new processors

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to msagor

msagor wrote :

so you think an i5 is better than amd for future upgrades etc.? dont know much about new processors

looking at both builds from a competition aspect, I'll tell you to go with amd to keep the competition alive.
looking at both builds from a best out of the two aspect, I'll tell you to go with intel cause it is better.
both are future proof.

Reply to Daggs

the difference isn't huge right? the i5 would be faster? also is my original card ok with the i5 system because its £90 cheaper and I'm not an extreme gamer

Thanks

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to msagor

msagor wrote :

the difference isn't huge right? the i5 would be faster? also is my original card ok with the i5 system because its £90 cheaper and I'm not an extreme gamer

Thanks

in games the diff isn't that huge they are pretty close, in media converting the diff is noticeable.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Daggs

Daggs wrote :

in games the diff isn't that huge they are pretty close, in media converting the diff is noticeable.

Ok thanks, might go for the i5 as price is the same, the XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 is good with that build as i don't think i need a better one

Reply to msagor

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Gaming and general use pc ~ £800

Forum Homebuilt Systems : General Homebuilt - Gaming and general use pc ~ £800