Help reduce the price of my first build!

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Darkpagey

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Jul 17, 2010
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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: When i'm happy with the build

BUDGET RANGE: Ideally £600

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Music production, some gaming, general home use (surfing, word processing)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Speakers/mouse/keyboard

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Ebuyer

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK

PARTS PREFERENCES: Perhaps AMD based rig for better value. ATI gpu.

OVERCLOCKING: No, probably not because i don't think i have enough experience with building.

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe in the future

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 20" (1600x900)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

I had already made this build:


23r361j.jpg






What are your opinions on it? If it's good to go then i could probably push the boat out to £700. But still, I'm basically looking for ways to get this a little bit cheaper by £100 or so without compromising on quality.

By this i mean perhaps getting a different GPU, or downgrading to the phenom 555.

Also, what would you say the most important component is for music production? The number of CPU cores? RAM size?


Thanks guys.
 
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Juanchioo

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Jul 21, 2010
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change the psu .. for w brand one.... and the phenom for the 555... maby g.skill ram is cheaper but u need a cl7 not a cl9 and the hhd for a samsung spinpoint f3 its faster
 
calguyhunk

calguyhunk

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2 things ... if you're not looking to overclock or unlock cores why pay extra for the "black edition" ? And in any case, the Phenom II x4 955 makes more sense from the price / performance angle. You save 17 quids. Btw, you say you're in the music business,but I see no sound card or am I missing something? Do you have it already, or are you gonna need it?
 
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Darkpagey

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Jul 17, 2010
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Thanks for the recommendations guys. With your build gkay i can get it down to £550. Excellent! What do you think the potential longevity of this build would be though? Would i be better off getting a phenom processer on this front?

calguyhunk, I will use an external interface to plug in to the PC so i won't need a good sound card for this particular method. And i was initially swayed from the 955 because i was reading everywhere about the poor stock fan and how noisy it can be, so i thought save myself the hassle and just get the 965. Although you raise a good point, why am i buying the OC'd editions when i'm not overclocking? Haha
 
gkay09

gkay09

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Jul 28, 2008
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@Darkpagey, as a gaming PC, the X3 440 is a very good CPU and also good in multitasking compared to Dual-Cores...Also you have the option of upgrading the CPU to a Quad or 6-core later on as these boards would support those...

And if you could spend more, then like RickyT23 said, HD 5750 or 5770 would be better options...
 
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Darkpagey

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Jul 17, 2010
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Well the problem with those GPU's, however much i would like one, is that they're £100+. Maybe sometime in the future. For now i just want to get a little bit of experience with a decent machine.





Well actually i was looking at the FS mobile as an option. Would the FW chips on motherboards in general support the interface or can you not be sure? Also what do you think to USB 3.0? Should i be looking at a mobo with this bus or is it too early for the audio industry to use 3.0?

And gkay, i've heard about this 'unlocking cores' stuff. Would i be able to do this with the X3 440 or would you say there are too many things to wrong kind of thing?

Slightly off topic now but with an OEM drive (HDD, optical etc) will i need any cables or will my mobo/psu come with them?
 
gkay09

gkay09

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Jul 28, 2008
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^ Well the X3 440 also has a locked core, but unlocking it would be a hit or miss so I wouldn't rely heavily on that...

The mobo generally comes with 2 SATA cables...So for a HDD and DVD, you are fine...
 
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Darkpagey

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Jul 17, 2010
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Just quickly wanted to ask what the difference between the Athlon II X3 440 and Athlon II X3 445 was? There's only a £3 difference on Ebuyer so i might as well go for the best one! Thanks in advance.
 
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Darkpagey

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Jul 17, 2010
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Sorry guys, just one more question i promise! :lol:


I'm pretty settled on my build now. I'm just a little bit worried about the actual cables i will need to buy externally, particularly for my Optical drive and HDD, since they are both OEM.

Basically, will i need to buy SATA cables to link them to my motherboard, or will my motherboard include them?

Also, will i also need to buy some thermalpaste to put on my CPU or will it already have some included?

And finally, can you think of any other cables i should be buying or any other checks i should be doing to make sure it's all compatible?

I basically don't want to get all the parts, start building it, then find out i don't have the cables required to connect it all up so i end up having to wait another 2-5 days for them to be delievered!

Sorry to be a pain, but thanks in advance :)
 
calguyhunk

calguyhunk

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1. Your motherboard 'should' include 2 sata cables at least. If it has an IDE port, it should include an IDE connector as well.

2. No, you wont need any thermal paste if you don't want to OC or you don't intend to keep detaching and resetting your CPU every few days.

3. If you're going with either the 955 / 940 then both gkay's suggested Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 and the Asus M4A785TD-V EVO on your wishlist are compatible.

4. You don't need to order connectors from the net in the unlikely scenario of "The case of the missing connectors". You can just pick 'em up from your local neighbourhood store.
 
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