Good first build opinions?

[adam_x_brookes]

Hey this will be my first build. Just to note I already have a HD5670 and 500GB hard drive to put into it from my current computer. It will be used for gaming, only at 1440 x 900 for now, but might getting a 21 inch HD monitor soon.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H AMD 785G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-210-GI

Cost: £74.89

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM

Cost: £135.99

Ram: Patriot Sector 5 G Series 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-025-PA

Cost: £86.99

Case: ntec 900 Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-065-AN

Cost £73.99

PSU: Cooler Master GX 550W Power Supply

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-201-CM

Cost: £55.99

Plus some £10 cathodes and about £6 of cable tidies It comes up to:

£442.86

What are all of your opinions is this an ok build. I'm going form a C2D 2.2Ghz DDR2 ram etc, will I see a definat performance increase?

PS I know that my graphics card probs is a bottleneck but I wanted to consentrate more on the other components and worry about getting a HD5850 later on in the year

 

[MadAdmiral]

I would personally get a cheaper case (check out the Antec 300, Coolermaster 690 or HAF 922) and definitely get a better PSU. Coolermaster units are really poor quality. Get a unit from Antec, Corsair, SeaSonic or Silverstone to make sure it's quality.

I would also look at the Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3. It's a high quality board that's fairly cheap and feature USB 3/SATA III support, making it more future proof.

 

[adam_x_brookes]

I would personally get a cheaper case (check out the Antec 300, Coolermaster 690 or HAF 922) and definitely get a better PSU. Coolermaster units are really poor quality. Get a unit from Antec, Corsair, SeaSonic or Silverstone to make sure it's quality.

I would also look at the Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3. It's a high quality board that's fairly cheap and feature USB 3/SATA III support, making it more future proof.

Is there an option with a Usb 3 and SATA 3 that has crossfire that isn't overly expensive?

 

[adam_x_brookes]

I would personally get a cheaper case (check out the Antec 300, Coolermaster 690 or HAF 922) and definitely get a better PSU. Coolermaster units are really poor quality. Get a unit from Antec, Corsair, SeaSonic or Silverstone to make sure it's quality.

I would also look at the Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3. It's a high quality board that's fairly cheap and feature USB 3/SATA III support, making it more future proof.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-117-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

would that be a lot better?

 

[MadAdmiral]

That Antec unit would be excellent.

As for a board with USB 3/SATA III and Crossfire, the Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 is a good inexpensive one. I would like to point out that the board you originally choose would NOT be able to Crossfire, as the second PCIe slot only runs at 4x.

 

[adam_x_brookes]

That Antec unit would be excellent.

As for a board with USB 3/SATA III and Crossfire, the Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 is a good inexpensive one. I would like to point out that the board you originally choose would NOT be able to Crossfire, as the second PCIe slot only runs at 4x.

Dont mean to question you, but the description on the website says: " Expasion slots: 2x PCIe 2.0 x16 Slot, 3x PCIe x1 Slot & 2x PCI Slots"??? Sorry

 

[MadAdmiral]

That's why I don't like most retailer's sites. They aren't accurate and don't provide enough details.

The slot is technically called a PCIe 2.0 16x. That doesn't mean it runs at it. The listing at Newegg.com (the best for comparing hardware) says:
PCI Express 2.0 x16
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (Shares bandwidth with two PCI-E x1 slots. When the slot is populated with a x4 card, two of the PCI-E x1 slots become unavailable.)

What that means is physically, the slot accepts two cards made for the PCIe 2.0 16x slot, but the cards will only run at 4x speeds when both are used. Adding to that, if you use a card in the second slot, two of the PCIe 1x slots are turned off.

There are essentially three versions of the PCIe 2.0 16x slot: 16x, 8x and 4x. 16x is full speed, and generally you either pay a LOT more money for 16x/16x Crossfire on AM3/LGA1156, usually around $50-100 more (you automatically get it on LGA1366 boards). 8x/8x is still very useful and generally only marginally more expensive (about $30 more), and it's only a 4% performance loss compared to 16x/16x (only noticeable with 5970s). Finally, 4x/4x Crossfire is useless as all GPUs are severely handicapped. That's why the 4x boards cost basically the same as boards with only one PCIe 2.0 slot.

 

[adam_x_brookes]

That's why I don't like most retailer's sites. They aren't accurate and don't provide enough details.

The slot is technically called a PCIe 2.0 16x. That doesn't mean it runs at it. The listing at Newegg.com (the best for comparing hardware) says:
PCI Express 2.0 x16
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (Shares bandwidth with two PCI-E x1 slots. When the slot is populated with a x4 card, two of the PCI-E x1 slots become unavailable.)

What that means is physically, the slot accepts two cards made for the PCIe 2.0 16x slot, but the cards will only run at 4x speeds when both are used. Adding to that, if you use a card in the second slot, two of the PCIe 1x slots are turned off.

There are essentially three versions of the PCIe 2.0 16x slot: 16x, 8x and 4x. 16x is full speed, and generally you either pay a LOT more money for 16x/16x Crossfire on AM3/LGA1156, usually around $50-100 more (you automatically get it on LGA1366 boards). 8x/8x is still very useful and generally only marginally more expensive (about $30 more), and it's only a 4% performance loss compared to 16x/16x (only noticeable with 5970s). Finally, 4x/4x Crossfire is useless as all GPUs are severely handicapped. That's why the 4x boards cost basically the same as boards with only one PCIe 2.0 slot.

ok thanks for that, you saved me finding out that later and being annoyed. Does the above motherboard that you listed have 8x/8x then? It's around £100 and I will get it if you suggest it. Sorry Im stuck on that case it looks awesome, and my friend as one, and it is a really well cooled case. Thank you for your help

 

[MadAdmiral]

The GA-790XTA-UD4 has 8x/8x. As far as what I recommend, it really depends. Crossfire is a nice upgrade option, but if you don't mind turning down details in newer games on an older build (in 3-4 years), then you probably won't need it. Also, Crossfire will cost more to use, as the boards are more expensive and you need a bigger PSU for it.

I generally say that adding a second GPU in Crossfire extends the life of a build 1-2 years for an investment of about $200 for a second 5850. That amounts to an additional cost of about $250 over the life of the build, but makes the next build more expensive to get something that's drastically better. Not Crossfiring would save you $50 now, and you'd likely need to rebuild sooner, but that new build would be cheaper. So I guess it's up to you to determine which would be best.

 

[adam_x_brookes]

The GA-790XTA-UD4 has 8x/8x. As far as what I recommend, it really depends. Crossfire is a nice upgrade option, but if you don't mind turning down details in newer games on an older build (in 3-4 years), then you probably won't need it. Also, Crossfire will cost more to use, as the boards are more expensive and you need a bigger PSU for it.

I generally say that adding a second GPU in Crossfire extends the life of a build 1-2 years for an investment of about $200 for a second 5850. That amounts to an additional cost of about $250 over the life of the build, but makes the next build more expensive to get something that's drastically better. Not Crossfiring would save you $50 now, and you'd likely need to rebuild sooner, but that new build would be cheaper. So I guess it's up to you to determine which would be best.

Ok I think that I will get the motherboard with USB 2.0 SATA 3 and crossfire just so that I can upgrade to that If I need to, and hopefully the motherboard will last a while. Thank you very very much, you really saved me from a disaster getting my original motherboard which I though was crossfire, I really owe you one. I've swapped the PSU to the Antec true power one as well like you suggested. And all my other parts are up to scratch would say? I appreciate you checking them out, you really saved me.

 

[MadAdmiral]

The only other thing I would look into is if there are any 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 sticks of RAM at about the same price, not counting OCZ (they have compatibilty issues with pretty much everything). It won't make too much of a difference, so if there aren't any available at a good price, I wouldn't worry about it.