Advice needed on first build

[bargepole]

Hello, Firstly the PC will be used for internet browsing, email, word, exel, charting software, multiple programmes opened at once. It will not be used for gaming.
I need it to drive 4 monitors, and for it to be reasonably quiet.

The list below is some the components I've come up with. There are some items missing like the GPU. As I was thinking of using Hybrid Crossfire to drive the monitors, two will be driven from the motherboard and two from something like a Radeon HD3450, think I'm a bit limited by the hybrid crossfire as to which GPU I can use. Is the is graphics set-up
likely to cause any problems?

Antec Three Hundred Tower Case
ATHLON II X3 440 3.0GHZ
M4A785TD-V EVO - Motherboard
2 x 2GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM HyperX Blu
COOLERMASTER SILENT PRO 600W MODULAR PSU
WD 500GB CAVIAR GREEN
Sony DVD-REW 24x DL RAM SATA
Windows Home Prem 7 64-bit


Is this a reasonable set-up for what I want to achieve and can anyone suggest improvements? Thanks

 

[gkay09]

^ Well if you are fine with having 2 Analog video outs + 2 Digital (DVI/ HDMI) outs, then the HD 3450 + 785G would do the job...
Also I would suggest you a Quad instead, would be better with multitasking...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103882

And you wont need a 600W PSU IMO...
This Antec EA 380 can even handle HD 5750, so the 3450 wont be an issue...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033
Or this...
Corsair CX430
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139017

Check out this case -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163168
Maybe another fan for intake...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185059

 

[bargepole]

Thanks for reply, processor looks a good upgrade. I choose the PSU because it's modular, and I like the idea of the wiring in the case being neat and tidy, and the 600w in case I decided to upgrade and possibly run 2 graphics cards in the future. (see below)

I choose the case because I think it looks good (important) and gets some good reviews.

Also as regards the GPU I have a spare Sapphire Radeon X800GTO pci-e, if I was to pick another one up on ebay could I run them in the 2 PCI-E x 16 slots to drive the 4 monitors and would this be an improvement on the HD 3450 + 785G?

 

[gkay09]

^ PSU - Well if you want a modular PSU, then you can even check out this one -
OCZ Fatality 550W...
Come with a $20 off with this HDD - Samsung F3 500GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.492759

As for the case, IMO the Silverstone would be good enough, actually better in some aspects -
The HDD cage faces sideways, thus it becomes easy installing HDDs and full black interiors...Also Silverstone is very good manufacturer...

As for the graphics, X800GTO is not much of an upgrade over the HD 3450,...

 

[bargepole]

That's a very good deal, unfortunately I am based in the UK, the OCZ PSU is about £20 cheaper in the UK than the coolmaster but it's not modular and there's no bundle like the Newegg deal..

As for the case the company I am buying the parts from don't sell Silverstone although I can source it from eleswhere.

With the graphics, as I already have 1 X800GTO it would just be a matter of sourcing a second, that would then save me having to get the HD 3450. I take it 2 X800GTOs would work in the MB, may even be able to get more DVIs connected. The X800 I already have has DVI, & D-sub ports but I think they make one with dual DVIs. What difference the DVIs would make I'm not sure, currentely running 3 HP L2045w through their D-sub ports and the quality is good, that's using 2 Geforce4 cards.

 

[batuchka]

Actually the feature that allows ATI IGP chipsets when used in conjunction with a Radeon class discrete GPU to do multi display is called ATI Surround View. It has been around a while and its basic ingredients are

ATI IGP chipset 690G or later
Radeon class discrete GPU

IIRC the X800 is fine with Surround View but double check with mobo maker to be 100% sure

Enable SurroundView feature in BIOS (from Auto) to use this feature ^^

Edit

Just to give u an idea that Hybrid CF is independent of Surroundview a recent list of 3-4 display capable rigs i rigged up and tested for peeps

760G chipset + HD 4670
880G chipset + HD 5450
790GX chipset + HD 4850

so nope u dun have to just stick to a HD 3450 for multi display with an ATI IGP chipset hehe

 

[bargepole]

Thanks but every review I've read seems to point to using the HD3450
"AMD 785G can be used in Hybrid Crossfire mode with selected ATI Radeon graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 3450"

Don't think I'll use two X800 as this will add two extra fans and I'd like to keep the noise down so will probably stick with the HD3450 and look for one with passive cooling. So new list is:-

AMD Athlon II X4 635
M4A785TD-V EVO - Motherboard
Radeon HD 3450 passive cooling
2 x 2GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM HyperX Blu
Antec EA 380w PSU (lot cheaper than the modular I was thinking of)
WD 500GB CAVIAR GREEN
Sony DVD-REW 24x DL RAM SATA
Windows Home Prem 7 64-bit
Case will be either Antec Three Hundred or the Silverstone gkay09 recommended
and probably a decent cpu cooler.

Hopefully from the above I will have a quiet PC capable of running 4 monitors

 

[gkay09]

^^ You might want to check out more about Surround view like batuchka suggested, even I had come across that, but never actually checked it out...

Also "Hybrid Crossfire" is only required when you want to do a crossfire, but just for running 4 monitors, you dont have to actually go crossfire...

HDD - The Samsung F3 500GB is faster and must be silent compared to the Blue because the F3 has just 1 500GB platter, thus less moving parts...
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500Gb-Samsung-Spinpoint-F3-HD502HJ-SATA-3Gb-s-7200rpm-16Mb-Cache-8ms-OEM
Or the 1TB ?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804

 

[bargepole]

Must admit I've looked into this in the past but ended up getting a bit confused with the various options available, surroundview, eyefinity, Displayport, hybrid crossfire, what would work with what card etc.

The hybrid crossfire solution just seemed the simplest, there are a lot of horror stories out there of people trying to set-up multiple displays.

The link below deals with the setting up of multi monitors with crossfire/hybrid crossfire.

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/737-GPU-7-Howtoconfiguremultiple.aspx#book3

Not sure what I would need for surroundview, obviously another GPU, but which one, and in the end does it have any advantages over the hybrid crossfire solution?

Thanks for info on HDD.

p.s batuchka, what does "IIRC the X800 is fine with Surround View" mean?

 

[Atotalnoob]

Have you thought of Liquid cooling, if you want to go really quite? the only sound Ihear from my computer if the Harddrive...
Also maybe you could buy a mobo with integrated and run like that? just a thought.

 

[bargepole]

Liquid a bit extravagant for what I require, it doesn't have to be whisper quiet.

The mobo I've chosen has integrated graphics but only runs 2 monitors.

 

[batuchka]

Hybrid crossfire is a feature for peeps who have an ATI IGP chipset 780G or later who want to enhance gaming expereince via the use of supported discrete GPU/s This feature is disabled once a more powerful/non supported discrete GPU is used and HCF is not a condition to be met for multi display. What i meant was :

ATI 690G chipset or later
X800 discrete

is a combination that is fine for multi display via the Surround View feature

 

[bargepole]

Can't find any mention of SurroundView when I did a search of the MB pdf, (M4A785TD-V EVO), only mentions crossfire, so not sure if SV is supported.

Also this Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_Hybrid_Graphics quotes


"The SurroundView technology, is a multi-display technology available in the 690G chipset, and the AMD 780G IGP chipset, this technology supports the connection of multiple monitors."

Don't know if it's up to date but no mention of the 785 chipset.

 

[batuchka]

Have built with thse configs and ran SV sucessfully:

760G chipset + HD 4670
880G + HD 5450
790GX + HD 4850

so no worries ^^