Help with PSU/CASE and opinions please

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clemsy

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Hi, I'm just researching online for the parts I want to use for my PC.

For now I'm not looking to spend a whole lot of money, more of a bang for your buck computer. I'm planning to keep my 9800GT as its not too old, I'm just looking for a MOBO, CPU, RAM, and probably a case and PSU.

Just a NB, this is in AUD and this rig will be for mid-range gaming and daily use.

Until now I've found:

ASRock 890GX-Extreme3 890G USB3 DDR3 Motherboard
http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=3134

AMD AM3 Phenom II x4 965 3.4Ghz Quad Core
http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=1464

2 X Kingston 2GB DDR3 1333
http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=5241

I'm having trouble looking for a case and PSU. as I'm not sure how much power this set up will need? Any ideas please?

Thank you!!
 
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gkay09

gkay09

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PSU -
Corsair 550VX - It can handle any single-chip graphic card out there...
http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=4994

CASE - This would be one of the best budget case
Antec 300
http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=878

Some suggestions for rest of the build -

Mobo - Why do you need that board? IMO going with a Nvidia card right now and also I doubt you would need more than 1 powerful graphic card when you upgrade...So save some money and get a different board...
ASUS M4A87TD-USB3 870 - ASUS board with SATA 6GB/s, USB 3.0...
http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=3151

RAM - Get this kit
Cheaper and as good or better...
http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=5228

CPU - Get the 955 - You can easily set it to run @ 965's speed without any issues...
http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=1463
 
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Silvune

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I think for $7 more the Antec Truepower New TP-550 80Plus Bronze, Modular $105 is a better option, as it has higher efficiency, is modular, has a bit more juice on the 12V rail, 45A vs 41A.

Or you could get the as yet untested Antec High Current Gamer HCG-620 which is also 80Plus Bronze and made by Seasonic. However it is not modular. Altho it has even more power on it's 12V rail, 48A. And costs $110.

I didn't see any case/PSU combos that were likely to be any good.

That Asrock motherboard is perfectly fine if you want the option to crossfire in the future. I guess gkay did not see that as a possibility for multiple reasons, first is that you have a nvidia card now, and you can't crossfire nvidia cards, and your motherboard isn't SLI certified either. Second, for a mid-range system mutliple cards don't really fit in, due to the large cost. Thirdly you'd probably have to make special considerations for the power supply, which could potentially add cost. Altho the Antec HCG is probably quite capable of running two low to mid range cards. It could probably deal with two 6850s, 5850s, 460s for instance. Altho that is not certain atm because it has not been reviewed properly yet as far as I'm aware.

So if you don't see yourself wanting to run two graphics cards in the same system in the future then don't get the Asrock and save money by getting some like the Asus, gkay linked. If you do see yourself getting two cards in the future then get the Asrock, but be prepared to get a PSU either now, or when you know what cards your going to get, and pay for it.
 
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clemsy

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The Antec TP 550 sounds good, but I also saw the http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=4983 for $92 not sure if thats good too? If not, I might get the 550 Antec.

I think in the future I'd be switching to ATi, but I doubt I would in the future run SLi or Crossfire. Just not that many games I'm interested in atm, but I would want a MOBO that would be future proof (eg. if I buy a better GPU that would need the MOBO to be compatiable.)

Do you see any MOBOs on that website for the requirements? (A MOBO that is future proof, for ATi and AMD)

Thank you for your help!
 
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Silvune

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I would not recommend it. If it's anything like it's 750W older brother (it is the same design) then it cannot deal with heat (40C) and the ripple on it's 3.3V rail goes out of spec when fully loaded. It's efficiency is decent up to 50% load, but gets poorer after 60.

You could also get the 520W version of the HCG620, as it is also built by Seasonic, and should have good efficiency. Only costs $90. http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=4949

You are extremely unlikely to be able to buy a graphics card that will be incompatible with any motherboard you can buy today or for awhile in the future.
The slot interface for graphics cards on motherboards is known as PCIe 2.0, this has been the standard for a few years now and will continue to be so for at least another year. And the standard that will replace it is PCIe 3.0, which will be backwards compatible, ie, you can put a PCIe 3.0 graphics card into a PCIe 2.0 slot.
The card would obviously run at PCIe 2.0 speeds and you wouldn't be able to use any PCIe 3.0 features, but IMO these are inconsequential, as graphics cards today hardly saturate PCIe 1.0 speeds.
And the only feature that I know about that you'd be missing out on is the improved encoding scheme, but that's to do with speed anyway and like I said, you are unlikely to be affected.
And PCIe 3.0 won't become mainstream for quite a while.

Anyway, the point is that any motherboard you can buy today will be able to accept and use effectively any graphics card released for a long time.

After looking at msy again I couldn't identify anything cheaper or more worth having than the Asus M4A87TD-USB3.

 
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Silvune

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As far as I can tell the only differences between those two boards is that the Evo has an E-SATA and firewire port on the back panel, 2 SATA 6GB/s cables (vs 1 for the USB3), the disc has an extra utility on it, Express Gate and is 0.4 of an inch wider. So it's up to you if those things are things that you want/need and are worth the extra $12.

The stock cooler will be able to deal with a certain amount of OCing. You should get an aftermarket CPU cooler if you want to get a higher OC, lower temps and/or lower noise.

The CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=1341 $31 is a reasonably good budget cooler, in fact it used to be so popular that over the in the US at one time it had a massive and hardly justifiable price hike. I think I would probably suggest something else or changing the fan if you wanted something that is known for being quiet. You will need to buy a tube of thermal paste for this cooler, as it doesn't, as far as I know come with a tube or any pre-applied. If you're willing to look around you could probably find the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2, as that will have some preapplied, is probably better for noise, despite it's 80mm fan, altho it won't be able to deal with as high an OC as the CoolerMaster, and is usually a bit cheaper.
 
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clemsy

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Oh okay, thank you so much. You've been a great help!

Just another question, a little off topic as I've been browsing the web. Which slot is good for crossfire/SLi (PCi 2.0 x16, x8, x4 x1?) what is the difference?
 
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Silvune

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Usually for single or multiple graphics card configurations you want all the slots involved to be at x8 or above to get optimal performance. x1 is definitely far too slow for anything involving gaming. x4 is probably ok for really slow graphics cards, such as the 5400, 5500, 5600 and possibly 5700 series of ATI cards, or maybe as the location for a PhysX card. But don't quote me on it as I haven't read any tests that specifically involve 5700 series cards, nor impact on PhysX.

Plenty of tests have shown that slots at x8 have single figure percentage performance losses compared to the same number of slots at x16. This site did a test awhile ago on 5870s, and it showed that there was a 4% performance loss compared to x16.

Glad to help, hope you enjoy it.
 
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